Episode 535 - Candide - Part 2

Oh, and re. the monkeys - I'll just leave this here... https://paulandstorm.bandcamp.com/track/hot-monkey-love

The first time I heard you guys say "Cacombo" I thought the name was "Combo" but you stumbled over the name. By the end of the episode I was disappointed no one (read: Chad) had made a "C-C-Cacombo breaker!" joke. But seriously, love the covering of this book!

Christopher

When the Old Woman kept referring to her missing buttock, I thought it was just going to be an odd, unexplained humorous element, but then Voltaire went and delivered a pay-off in the story - definitely a case of ‘Chekhov’s Bum’.

Really enjoying this ride, gents! If you're at all curious about Emilie du Châtelet (Voltaire's lover/companion/collaborator/rival) you should give the 4 February In Our Time podcast a listen. A truly fascinating person.

not gonna lie, when i heard 'a really cool apartment', i thought someone had absolutely nailed the interior design.

Ahhh! You beat me to it!! Yes totally! And yeah, definitely no Sade

Jason Thompson

This book makes an interesting comparison to the Marquis DeSade, who also depicts a world where everybody sucks, but unfortunately Sade thinks it’s great non-ironically

Jason Thompson

Hey guys, the Eunuch portion of this episode reminded me of a lecture by my Musical Appreciation professor. The practice of "creating" Castrato continued much longer than you may think. So long in fact, there a recording of the last Castrato's unique voice exists to this day, which I'll link to. Additionally, this horrific practice resulted in an equally unusual physical appearance do to the castration before sexual maturity. From wikipedia, "As the castrato's body grew, his lack of testosterone meant that his epiphyses (bone-joints) did not harden in the normal manner. Thus the limbs of the castrati often grew unusually long, as did their ribs. This, combined with intensive training, gave them unrivalled lung-power and breath capacity." All in all a bizarre and heartbreaking testament to this truly being the best of all possible worlds. Link to the singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjvfqnD0ws

There is a shortage of perfect buttocks in this world; 'twould be a shame to ruin yours.

Candide is reminding me a lot of Justine by the Marquis de Sade, which was written about 30 years later. Not that I would ever suggest covering THAT book on here.

Pearce Duncan

Thank you so much for covering this book, and finally fixing the embarrassment that my only knowledge of Candide was from the Bloodhound Gang’s “Long Way Home”

I think Chris got his pronunciation from the New Jersey Book of French, either that our he's just doing it to persecute me, in the best of all possible ways.

Steve

Amazing as always! I am Legend: it has Marches it has Draculas it's Weird! Cover it next month!❤️

Tom Král

I’m curious about the translations of Candide, my version doesn’t credit a translator and has some different phrasings, some of which I think add to the comedic effect more than the ones mentioned here. For example, the eunuch says “what a misfortune it is to have no balls!” and the monkeys aren’t biting at the girls’ legs but at their buttocks.

Damnit Chad, just when I was starting to forget about the massive downer that was Turn of the Screw you had to go and mention again. Looks like I’m going to have to stock up on whiskey again.