The French writer and satirist, usually known as Voltaire, was one of the foremost figures of the 18th-century Enlightenment. He published hundreds of letters, dozens of books, plays and pamphlets on everything from politics and philosophy to history and science. He was also a fearless foe of bigotry and tyranny and spent a number of years in prison and exile. Among his best-known works is the satirical Candide published in 1759.
François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire was born in 1694 in Paris. His father was a minor government official who could afford to send Voltaire to the Jesuit Collège Louis-le-Grand. From 1711 to 1713 he studied law then spent time as a secretary to the French ambassador in Holland.
But Voltaire eschewed a career in government and returned to Paris and began writing satires and lampoons of the French government and the Catholic Church. In 1716 Voltaire was arrested and exiled from Paris for five months. The following year he was he was imprisoned in the Bastille for a year for lampooning the royal family. While in the famous prison, he began using the single name Voltaire and wrote the play Edipe. The play was a success and Voltaire through successful some business ventures turned the revenues into a minor fortune.
Over the next 15 years, Voltaire wrote satires that invariably resulted in jail time or exile. Between 1726 and 1729 he lived in exile in England, where he wrote, in English, the essays, "Essay Upon Epic Poetry" and "Essay Upon The Civil Wars In France.” His English exile had a profound influence on Voltaire and he was impressed the country’s judicial system, constitutional monarchy and religious and civil freedoms.
Voltaire returned to France and enjoyed a couple of years of prolific outlook, writing numerous plays and a royal history of King Charles XII. In 1731, however he was again at odds with the authorities following the publication of “Philosophical Letters” in which he compared the political systems in England and France. The book was banned, and Voltaire was forced to flee Paris, although the English edition became a bestseller and established Voltaire’s reputation beyond France.
Voltaire enjoyed an ambiguous relationship with the French establishment. Highly regarded for his intellect and writing ability, he was as often as not forced to flee for his beliefs. From 1745 he was official historiographer to Louis XV and in 1746 he was elected to the French Academy. He remained out of the limelight and lived in the country with the married Marquise de Chatelet.
After the death of the Marquise in 1750 Voltaire, accepted a position with the court of Frederick the Great of Prussia and moved to Berlin. After writing a libelous letter about one of his associates in Berlin he was kicked out of Prussia. France took the opportunity to ban him too and so Voltaire was forced to move to Geneva, Switzerland, where he lived the rest of his life. During this time Voltaire wrote many notable works including Candide and the plays Mohamet  and Meriope. He also produced Le Dictionnaire Philosphique, and the first modern comparative history of civilizations.
Voltaire finally returned from exile and died in Paris in 1778, at age eighty-four.

Candide

Candide, ou l'Optimisme (Candide, or The Optimist) was published in 1759 and is regarded as Voltaire’s most important work of literature. Today it is taught more than any other work in French.  A satire, the novella is concerned by the events and ideas of the time.  If follows the travels of a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life and being indoctrinated with a worldview of optimism by his tutor, Pangloss. Candide’s life is abruptly changed and he begins a journey to reunite his lost lover wherein he witnesses the struggles and hardships in the real world. Candide finally rejects the optimism of his teacher and finally accepts that one must create your own happiness.  
Candide is sarcastic and satirical and is, like many of its literary contemporaries, a picaresque novel that parodies romantic clichés, religion, government, war, philosophy and theology. Pangloss is particularly singled out for assault and it is widely believed he is a stand in for the German philosopher Liebniz. Real life events such as the Seven Years’ War and the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 feature prominently, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake
Candide was a great success and, as expected, a huge scandal on its secret publication. French authorities immediately banned the book because of its apparent blasphemy and seditious ideas. The novel went on to become a mainstay of the French Lit canon and became an enormously influential work.