Zadig; Or, The Book of Fate
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~31,400 words · 149 passages
Cite this work
- APAVoltaire. (n.d.). Zadig; Or, The Book of Fate. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/zadig-or-the-book-of-fate
- MLAVoltaire. "Zadig; Or, The Book of Fate." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/zadig-or-the-book-of-fate.
- ChicagoVoltaire. Zadig; Or, The Book of Fate. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/zadig-or-the-book-of-fate.
What it is about
Zadig: an oriental tale on fate, justice, and what only looks like chance.
Context and history
Earlier than Candide and less bitter. It contains the episode of the dog and the horse, where Zadig deduces animals he has never seen from their tracks alone — the page Poe and Conan Doyle turned into the method of Dupin and Sherlock Holmes. Voltaire wrote in French: this is an old English translation, in the public domain. For citation, the original.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Thou Joy of ev'ry Eye! Thou Torment of every Heart! Thou Intellectual Light! I do not kiss the Dust of thy Feet; because thou seldom art seen out of the Seraglio, and when thou art, thou walkest only on the Carpets of _Iran_, or on Beds of Roses. I here present you with a Translation of the Work of an ancient _Sage_, who having the Happiness of living free from all Avocations, thought proper, by Way of Amusement, to write the History of _Zadig_; a Performance, that comprehends in it more Instruction than, 'tis possible, you may at first be aware of. I beg you would indulge me so far as to read it over, and then pass your impartial Judgment upon it: For notwithstanding you are in the Bloom of your Life; tho' ev'ry Pleasure courts you; tho' you are Nature's Darling, and have internal Qualities in proportion to your Beauty; tho' the World resounds your Praises from Morning till Night, and consequently you must have a just Title to a superior Degree of Understanding than the rest of your Sex; Yet your Wit is no ways flashy; Your Taste is refin'd, and I have had the Honour to hear you talk more learnedly than the wisest _Dervise_, with his venerable Beard, and pointed Bonnet: You are discreet, and yet not mistrustful; you are easy, but not weak; you are beneficent with Discretion; you love your Friends, and create yourself no Enemies. Your most sprightly Flights borrow no Graces from Det
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