Zadig

Zadig, first published in 1748, is classic Voltaire—witty, mischievous, and incisive. In  this swift, sparkling tale Voltaire turns the misadventures of one decent man into a comedy of errors about the human condition. Set in a fantastical Babylon of scheming courtiers, fickle lovers, and arbitrary laws, the story follows Zadig—a man whose intelligence and good intentions prove, again and again, to be precisely what get him into trouble.

No sooner does Zadig attempt to live sensibly than the world conspires to prove how little sense it makes. He is betrayed, accused, robbed, enslaved, and repeatedly undone by the vanity, jealousy, and sheer absurdity of those around him. Yet each calamity arrives with a wink: Voltaire delights in exposing how often reason is punished and foolishness rewarded, and how quickly virtue becomes a liability in a society governed by appearances and whim. Light on its feet and rich in insight, Zadig endures as both a satire of human folly and a playful, piercing meditation on how to live with it.

This Warbler Classics edition presents the lively, acclaimed translation of Zadig by Donald Frame with his introduction and notes.

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694–1778) was the leading voice of the French Enlightenment: dramatist, satirist, historian, and relentless critic of intolerance and absolute power. Exiled, imprisoned, and censored, he nonetheless became one of Europe’s most famous philosophers, championing reason, civil liberty, and religious toleration in works that helped prepare both the French and American revolutions.

Donald M. Frame (1911–1991) was a scholar of French Renaissance literature, the Moore Professor Emeritus of French at Columbia University, and a Guggenheim Fellow. He was a recognized authority on the work of Michel de Montaigne, as well as a respected translator of Rabelais and Molière, among other French luminaries.