Candide Candide. Born François-Marie Arouet, Voltaire (1694–1778), by the time of the Lisbon earthquake, was already a well-established author, known for his satirical wit. He had been made a member of the Académie Française in 1746. He was a deist, a strong proponent of religious freedom, and a critic of tyrannical governments. "Candide" became part of his large, diverse body of philosophical, political and artistic works expressing these views. More specifically, it was a model for the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century novels called the "contes philosophiques". This genre, of which Voltaire was one of the founders, included previous works of his
Marie Émilie de Joly de Choin to the king, they were both exiled from court. The relationship to Louis did not end, however. Marie Émilie married Louis secretly in 1694. No details are known of the ceremony, but on 19 July 1694, Louis referred to her as his legal spouse in a letter to his father's wife, Madame de Maintenon. Marie Émilie did not, however, acquire the title of "Dauphine" but continued to be officially referred to as Mademoiselle de Choin; the marriage was not officially mentioned or recognized, and she did not participate in court life. Marie Émilie resided in the palace of Meudon, where