The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin Classics) |
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
The story of Abelard and Heloise remains one of the world’s most dramatic and well-known love affairs. It is told through the letters of French philosopher Peter Abelard and his gifted pupil Heloise. Through their impassioned writings unfolds the story of a romance, from its reckless, ecstatic beginnings to the public scandal, enforced secret marriage, and devastating consequences that followed. These eloquent and intimate letters express a vast range of emotions from adoration and devotion to reproach, indignation, and grief, and offer a fascinating insight into religious life in the Middle Ages.
Amazon.com Review
Abelard and Heloise are nearly as famous a pair of tragic lovers as the fictional Romeo and Juliet; their shared passion for knowledge, religious faith, and one another sealed their destiny. Abelard was a well-respected, 12th-century Parisian scholar and teacher, and Heloise was his talented young student. The two relate their story through a set of letters to one another and intimate acquaintances. Their ardor is unmistakable; as Abelard writes to his love, "So intense were the fires of lust which bound me to you that I set those wretched, obscene pleasures, which we blush even to name, above God as above myself..." This forbidden lust resulted in a pregnancy and secret marriage, and when their union could no longer withstand the challenges in its path, each lover sought refuge in the church--Abelard became a monk and Heloise an abbess. Their correspondence continued as both achieved success in their new careers but continued to struggle with their feelings for one another; the set of letters powerfully articulates the wide range of emotions they experienced. So timeless is their love story that--after eight centuries--their passion, their devotion, and their struggle still resonate with readers.
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Customer Reviews:
• The Letters Of Abelard And Heloise
10 February, 2010
It's always best to get hold of what was actually written or said, if at all possible. This book is as close to original as can be had. It is a fascinating book because its many letters reveal, at least a little, why some people do potentially harmful things to themselves and perhaps others. At the same time it refreshingly demonstrates that, in the end, people have been doing the same things for just about as long as, well, people have been around!
- Amazon Customer Review
• Sorry-didnt Read Yet-arrived In Good Condition.remind Me In October,d.v.
27 April, 2008
didnt read yet-will review later..have read a fictionalized account of their love affair-looking forward to reading their actual letters
- Amazon Customer Review
• The Letters Of Abelard And Heloise (penguin Classics)
19 March, 2007
Arrived in very good condition as promised.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Not All Theologians Are Boring
13 August, 2008
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise is an intense read. It is no doubt true that the staying power of these writings is owing to the soap-opera-like lives of its authors as well as the poetic and romantic language. This collection brings together Abelard's biography written to a friend, "The History of My Own Misfortunes" in which he divulges from beginning to end, all the drama surrounding his rise from philosophy student to a sort of Scholastic celebrity in Paris. The other part of this book is taken up by the personal letters between Abelard and Heloise, from which the reader discovers much about the relationship of a monk and nun who had a romance outdoing anything Shakespeare could have dreamed up for Romeo and Juliet. Their relationship became more formal for Abelard following his radical nighttime castration by Heloise's father. Heloise displays the passion with which she continues to love Abelard even though she joins a convent at his behest. Abelard's tone changes in his personal letters from what it was in his "History," yet Heloise never changes hers. She remains in love with him and lets it show in each letter to him. He takes on the role of a spiritual leader and writes to her instructions and answers to her questions, but he does not keep up with the romantic language as Heloise does.
The value in this type of book, when the texts themselves are available for free download on the internet, is the translation, introduction and notes provided on the historical situation which allow the reader to enjoy it more fully. The translation and introduction done by the late Betty Radice in 1974, who succeeds in humanizing these two long dead authors so that their writings move the reader to an emotional reaction. The updated introduction added by M.T. Clanchy provides a clear look at what scholarship has done with Abelard and Heloise since Radice's book was first published. Her translation aids the reader's enjoyment because it contemporizes the language. The internet versions available are translated archaically due to the fact that those texts are in the public domain and therefore prior to about 1926, which makes it a slower read. This is not a book of theology, though Abelard was arguably the greatest theologian of the Middle Ages, but of real romance despite the star-crossed lovers' ill fated lives.
- Amazon Customer Review
• The Letters Of Abelard And Heloise
13 March, 2007
This book was definitely thought provoking, or at least the parts I had to read for class were. I'm not sure if I would recommend it as a fun read. However, it was interesting.
- Amazon Customer Review
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