Candide

"Candide" is both a withering satire of the optimistic ideas of the philosopher Leibniz and an exuberant, often violent, picaresque novel. The naive "Candide" ('candid') is forced out of a sheltered life to wander and face the world's violence and treachery, all the while seeking his love Cunégonde and reuniting with his former tutor Pangloss. Some consider it the prolific Voltaire's greatest work; it is generally considered one of the world's great novels.