Why Does Voltaire's Candide Endure? Voltaire's masterpiece of satire Candide was written between July and December 1758 and published simultaneously in Geneva, Paris and Amsterdam in January 1759. The events in the book unlike most works of fiction are astutely based on the current state of Voltaire's contemporary world and culled from the headlines of his day. No major power center was omitted. Arbiters of social status, sex/love, money, war and religion were all lambasted within the pages of Candide.