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Title: La Princesse de Clèves by Madame de La Fayette, Michel Butor, Béatrice Didier ISBN: 2-253-00672-6 Publisher: LGF Pub. Date: 01 February, 1973 Format: Paperback |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (6 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Torn... good or bad?
Comment: The tale of a fictional woman living at the French Court during the 17th century reign of Henry II. It is a very slow read at first, but then the pace picks up. Many real historical figures make an appearance, either in person or in gossip. A nice historical romance thus far, with plenty of detailed court intrigues. While the main character (and her mother) are fictional, the rest of the characters are not (including the Prince of Cleves himself, who never married in real life). Keeping in mind the period this was written, it's quite good. But the constant referring to characters by titles/surnames rather than given names got very old, and I found Madame de Cleves too hypocritical to like the character.
Rating: 4
Summary: 17th Century Modern
Comment: The most surprising thing one finds when reading The Princesse de Cleves is its unbelievable level of modernity. An interesting research study would be to draw parallels between the plot of this 17th century novel and the modern romantic dramas, as I believe the results would be quite surprising. The political and social dramas it raises seem much more at home in a more jaded modern story. The book also features a shockingly unconventional love story that must have raised quite a few eyebrows in the time of its author, Madame de Lafayette.
The plot takes place inside the closed world of the French elite, during the reign of Henry II. Although the novel starts out famously slow, once you get past that tedious interval the story gets much more interesting. We are introduced to the true powerbrokers of France, men and women absolutely possessed with the thirst for power. Those with some education of the French Revolution should find this section of the novel very enlightening, as it highlights their absolute isolation and ignorance of the body politik itself. Instead, the pampered court spends their time stabbing each other in the back and doing everything possible to get close to the king. To do this, they employ everything in the arsenal, including arranged marriages, family ties, and a lot of sex. If one wants a fictional but definitely reality based account of Machiavellian politics in the Renaissance, this is a great book to read.
Then of course, we come to the actual love story. In the beginning, the love between our Princesse and her suitor seems to be a familiar romance, one which numerous writers have regaled us with. A dashing young prince falls in love with a beautiful fair maden. However, this book quickly pulls away from such monotonous convention, and, in glorious French style, takes the reader on a descent into true human nature. That is the kind that harbors jealously and intrigue. The love story quickly becomes a fierce and tumultuous event, with the actual lovers stuck in the middle. A very progressive love story.
This book is definitely a classic, as it really represents a big development in the genesis of the novel. However, it does get very tedious at times, and often drifts into meaningless window dressing. Nevertheless, The Princesse de Cleves is on the whole a very engaging and complex love story that should satisfy any modern reader interested in the multitude of topics it covers.
Rating: 3
Summary: repression
Comment: I read this book because John Updike said it was one of the world's greatest novels of romance -- but I should have known from his other choices (Madame Bovary and The Scarlett Letter, among others) that he likes his romance bleak! The Princess of Cleves is certainly of considerable scholarly interest, being as it is a very early novel, and delving interestingly into the predicament of a woman trying to behave morally despite the frivolity, intrigue and pleasure-seeking of the 17th century French court. But the story is difficult and sad: young woman marries dutifully, then falls in love with a handsome duke, he feels similarly and pursues her passionately, but she struggles against her feelings, which wrecks havoc on everyone. The predicament is closely linked to the context and doesn't feel timeless or grand in theme; rather, the triviality of it stokes up thoughts of what caused the French revolution. Interested readers may prefer the Norton critical edition, which offers a number of essays as well as the text.
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Title: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Oxford World's Classics) by Choderlos De Laclos, Douglas Parmee, Pierre Ambroise Francois Choderl Laclos ISBN: 0192838679 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: January, 1999 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Jacques the Fatalist and His Master (OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS) by Denis Diderot, David Coward ISBN: 0192838741 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Manon Lescaut (Penguin Classics) by Abbe Prevost, Leonard Tancock, Antoine Francois Prevost, Jean Sgard ISBN: 0140445595 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1992 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Rameau's Nephew and D'Alembert's Dream (Penguin Classics) by Denis Diderot, Leonard Tancock ISBN: 0140441735 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1976 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Assault by Reinaldo Arenas, Andrew Hurley ISBN: 0140157182 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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