| Title | : | Principesa de Cleves |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 9739532764 |
| Language | : | Romanian |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 160 |
| Publication | : | First published March 17, 1678 |
Principesa de Cleves Reviews
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***Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Well, I have to say the moment I saw this book I thought that it would be about Anne of Cleves a.k.a. the luckiest wife of Henry VIII.
I never heard about the book The Princess of Clèves before, so, I was in for a surprise.
As for this comics, it was very well done. I liked the art, the muted colours which I felt fitted it very well. The storyline was simple, but I was interested in seeing where it was going.
However, me being me, I have some issues with it. I suppose the story took several years, but the characters kept wearing the same clothing! (Okay, sometimes the main character changed the colour of her dress, but it still felt like the same dress. I'm here for the dresses!)
It may be because it was supposed to help you to tell the characters apart and I can get that because I kept confusing the husband and the uncle of the main character plus another guy was pretty similar but he disappeared pretty quickly from the story.
But the unchanged dresses were bugging me!
I'm not sure how much time has passed, it started in winter 1558, Henry II of France died in July 1559 which is like 2/3 into the story. So, it may be two years or so.
Then, some dialogues were a bit tedious, spreading over several pages, and I had to skip them cause I could not do with the pathos.
But overall, I did enjoy it, it was a fun evening reading this, and I think I may even have a look at the original book!
Overall, I would say 3,5 stars. 👗👗👗 -
(990 From 1001 Books) - La Princesse de Clèves = The Princess of Cleves, Marie-Madeleine de LaFayette
The Princess of Cleves is a French novel which was published anonymously in March 1678. It is regarded by many as the beginning of the modern tradition of the psychological novel, and as a great classic work. Its author is generally held to be Madame de La Fayette.
Mademoiselle de Chartres is a sheltered heiress, sixteen years old, whose mother has brought her to the court of Henri II to seek a husband with good financial and social prospects.
When old jealousies against a kinsman spark intrigues against the young ingénue, the best marriage prospects withdraw. The young woman follows her mother's recommendation and accepts the overtures of a middling suitor, the Prince de Clèves.
After the wedding, she meets the dashing Duke de Nemours. The two fall in love, yet do nothing to pursue their affections, limiting their contact to an occasional visit in the now-Princess of Clèves's salon.
The duke becomes enmeshed in a scandal at court that leads the Princess to believe he has been unfaithful in his affections. A letter from a spurned mistress to her paramour is discovered in the dressing room at one of the estates, but this letter was actually written to the Princess' uncle, the Vidame de Chartres, who has also become entangled in a relationship with the Queen.
He begs the Duke de Nemours to claim ownership of the letter, which ends up in the Princess' possession. The duke has to produce documents from the Vidame to convince the Princess that his heart has been true. Eventually, the Prince de Clèves discerns that his wife is in love with another man. She confesses as much.
He relentlessly quizzes her—indeed tricks her—until she reveals the man's identity. After he sends a servant to spy on the Duke de Nemours, the Prince de Clèves believes that his wife has been both physically and emotionally unfaithful to him.
He becomes ill and dies (either of his illness or of a broken heart). On his deathbed, he blames the Duke de Nemours for his suffering and begs the Princess not to marry him. Now free to pursue her passions, the Princess is torn between her duty and her love. The duke pursues her more openly, but she rejects him, choosing instead to enter a convent for part of each year.
عنوانها: «شاهزاده خانم کلو»، «پرنسس کلو»؛ اثر: مری مادلین دو لافایت؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و سوم ماه ژوئن سال 2001میلادی
عنوان: شاهزاده خانم کلو، اثر: مری مادلین دو لافایت، مترجم: بدری ثابتی؛ انتشارات گوتنبرگ؛ در سال 1335؛ در 228ص؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان فرانسوی سده 17م
عنوان: شاهزاده خانم کلو؛ اثر: مری مادلین دو لافایت، مترجم: فریده مهدوی دامغانی، مشخصات نشر تهران، تیر، 1379، در 320صفحه، شابک 9646581307،
عنوان: پرنسس کلو؛ اثر: مری مادلین دو لافایت، مترجم: فضل الله قنادی؛ اصفهان، نقش خورشید؛ 1381؛ در 204ص؛ شابک 9789646941403؛
مادام دو لافایت، نویسنده سده هفدهم میلادی اهل «فرانسه» بودند؛ رمان «شاهزاده خانم کلو»، به دربار «هانری دوم»، و شخصیتهای تاریخی آن دوران، میپردازد، این رمان با عنوان «پرنسس کلو»، با ترجمه ی جناب آقای «فضل الله قنادی»، در سال 1381هجری خورشیدی، در اصفهان، از سوی انتشارات نقش خورشید، و با همین عنوان: «شاهزاده خانم کلو»، توسط انتشارات گوتنبرگ نیز، در سال 1335، با ترجمه ی بانو «بدری ثابتی»، منتشر شده است
هشدار
مادمازل «دو شارتر»، یک پناهنده ی شانزده ساله است، که مادرش او را به دربار «هنری دوم» آورده، تا به دنبال یک شوهر، با چشم انداز مالی و اجتماعی خوب، پیدا کند؛ حسادتهای کهن باعث میشود، بهترین چشم انداز ازدواج، کنار رود؛ زن جوان، از راهنمایی مادر خویش پیروی میکند، و پیشنهاد خواستگاری میانمایه، به نام «پرنس دو کلو» را، میپذیرد؛ پس از عروسی، او با «دوک دونمور»، دیدار میکند؛ این دو عاشق میشوند، اما با این وجود، کاری برای پیگیری محبتهایشان، انجام نمیدهند، و ارتباط آنها، تنها به یک دیدار گاه به گاه، در سالن شاهزاده خانم کلو، محدود میشود؛ و ...؛ «پرنسس کلو» چنان مجذوب عشق میشود، که در یک لحظه ی بحرانی، همه چیز را به شوهر خویش می‌گوید، و شوهرش به حسادت دچار میشود، به ویژه رفتار متین «دوک دونمور» بر حسادتش می‌افزاید، و پس از چندی با این غم جان می‌سپارد؛ «پرنسس کلو» پس از مرگ شوهر، عشق خود را به دوک ابراز میکند؛ اما برای آرامش ��وح خود، تن به ازدواج نمی‌دهد، و به یک صومعه پناه می‌برد
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 06/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی -
I knew very little about this book. Only that it was written in the seventeenth century, while set in the mid sixteenth century, and that former President Sarkozy of France felt that it was by itself holding back France from becoming a World leading super-power-mega-empire simply by clogging up the literature curriculum in schools . This last point was plainly a good enough reason for reading, if a head of state disapproves of book - read it. A law of nature which obviously I have to ignore with regard to US Presidents or I would be drowning in reading about the blatantly obvious, but I digress.
The Princess de Cleves is, or at that is to say, well... having read it...perhaps the afore mentioned President had a kind of point...I mean it...ahem. Bother. It is a cultural monument. Equally the presidential person in his attitudes towards it exemplified the classic saying of well known Gallic commentator Obelix: "These Gauls are Crazy" (passem). That is to say the Princesse struck me as a cultural monument equivalent to the Effiel Tower, or Notre Dame, or Hunchbacks, or Versailles and appellation d'origine contrôlée wines (and other French stuff). I read with an inner shake of the head and internal commentary of My God, this is all so French.
Being French, and maybe this was the cause of the President's discomfort, it wasn't easy, the first ten pages felt like a forest of names, actually names would have been an improvement, each page was a dense thicket of titles, if any of those aristos had names I don't know, certainly they were not so déclassé as to allude to the possibility, except in the case of the king of course, who was Henri II.
The next ten pages were easier, then round about half way through this short book the author - who apparently may have been Madame de La Fayette, or a radical artistic collective working under the name of 'Madame de La Fayette'- without any warning grabbed my heart and wrung it out like a damp cloth. This effect, I believe, gives rise to the idea that Princess de Cleves is a psychological novel. That would be to go too far, in my opinion, although it has a psychological element - namely two confessions and it achieves a psychological consistency in it's title character which may lead to some not liking the ending. Eventually I remind myself that the literary style was rather like
Oronooko or Daniel Defoe - less like a modern novel and more like sitting round a fire listening to someone telling you a story.
It is a book all about social codes among a terribly refined elite, and so as alien to me as films about US teenagers. It's all so refined that at points it seems close to self parody, just a tiny touch here and there and this would be a comedy, equally it is so refined that it is like listening to Bach or Janacek ( say On an Overgrown Path) a single note suggests entire worlds, implies everything that is not said or done.
The French, I believe, invented the notion of love, it didn't exist at all before the French invented it, before that people just threw bricks at each other as there wasn't anything else to do (apart from make bricks), and this is the quintessential book about love (apart from
The Art of Love by the well known French poet Publius Ovidius Naso) particularly since there is not so much as a hand held and characters may go to extreme lengths to avoid even the possibility of eyes meeting across a crowded room, forest, or tournament field.
An interesting feature is that there is not one code of social conduct but multiple codes on display, so for example Henri II famously has a mistress (Diane de Poitiers) in addition to his wife who we plebeians know as Catherine de Medici, but here of course simply the Queen (who in time is the Queen Mother to distinguish her from her daughter-in-law, the Queen (alias Mary Queen of Scots, as we lowlives know her). The relationship of the King with both women, was fully physical, indeed as mentioned here the mistress had also been mistress to the King's father (among others, he didn't believe in exclusivity) and she had a husband (before she became a widow which I understand is not unusual), she makes political use of her position, indeed the whole royal court seems to play an intricate game wining marriages or preventing them among their children. She is not condemned for this although we sense the frustrations this causes in the royal marriage. However despite or because of all this gallic talk of love the eponymous Princesse follows a different code much to the frustrations of the man who would love her, and possibly her husband too (it is that kind of book). In this sense we might say it is a psychological novel and so a 'modern' book but also the apotheosis of the courtly love tradition (in which love and marriage are two irreconcilable opposites) and so a 'medieval' story, however we see that people have different codes and values, they co-exist, not altogether harmoniously, no way of being is condemned by the author (or the collective known as 'the author') they are simply presented to us. Indeed even more strongly psychological the Princesse understands the difference between herself and the man who loves her and the different nature of their feelings and attitudes towards the idea of love, and this understanding logically leads to the ending, at least for the Princesse, other characters who don't share this understanding are left only to shrug or be hurt depending on their proximity to the non-events.
If it sounds a bit stuffy, or intense, well it is, but equally it is only a few words away from Alexander Dumas and expansive adventure. At one moment a husband is in a bad mood as his wife does not have a certain piece of jewellery for a public occasion and both know, but obviously can't say, that this is because said item has been given to a certain man who is not the lady's husband, she has to send a gentleman to fetch it back - this is basically the plot of
The Three Musketeers, in fairness Princesse features no épées nor peculiar Gascon horses, but it is all here, likewise the Prince of Cleves sends a gentleman to observe the man he thinks his wife is in love with as the man attempts to spy on the wife (who refuses to see the man but displays violent emotion when ever his title (no names remember) is mentioned. But for the absence of taverns and the Cardinal's Guard this is the world of D'artagnan.
That the psychological heart of the book is made up of two confessions pushes me towards a religious reading, or a religious context for the story. There is temptation and integrity. That there is a relationship between earthy love and spiritual love is unsaid but hangs in the background despite the complete absence of priests or explicit religious practise. Roughly at the centre of the novel is the death of Henri II which was foretold by an astrologer, the warning naturally he did not take seriously, in Renaissance europe scientifically minded persons did believe that astronomy was a way of understanding God's will - the universe was for them meaningful and planned by God, the tricky bit was observing creation and drawing the correct interpretation of what God was saying. The ending does not do what it might have done by trumping carnal love with spiritual love, the Princesse true to her nature maybe does not make an unequivocal commitment. -
Il falò della passione
"La principessa di Cleves" viene giustamente considerato uno dei romanzi più belli da quando esiste la letteratura.
L'autrice, Madame de Lafayette, era una dama della corte di Luigi XIV, il Re Sole. Siamo quindi in pieno Seicento. L'opera, che riflette la vita cortigiana di quel tempo, è però ambientata un secolo prima, presumo per ovvi motivi di opportunità.
Il libro è frutto di approfondite ricerche storiche : collocato all'epoca di Enrico II, entrano in scena personaggi storici di primo piano come Diana di Poitier, Maria Stuarda, perfino Elisabetta I d'Inghilterra. Protagonisti sono però La Principessa di Cleves e il Duca di Nemour. Come sfondo, la vita di corte : all'apparenza scintillante e vivace ; in realtà "un luogo dove la virtù era tanto necessaria e dove fiorivano esempi tanto pericolosi. L'ambizione e la galanteria erano l'anima stessa di quella corte (...). Tale era il groviglio di interessi e di intrighi (...) che l'amore era sempre intrecciato alla politica e la politica all'amore". Lì Diana di Poitier, l'amante del sovrano, "dominava il re con tale assoluto dispotismo che si poteva dirla padrona della sua persona e dello Stato".
Lo stile, maturato nella 'civiltà della conversazione', è di grandissima efficacia letteraria, amabile e fiabesco : un giorno "fece la sua apparizione alla corte una bellezza che attrasse tutti gli sguardi" : la giovanissima principessa protagonista, la quale ebbe la fortuna di avere come madre una "donna straordinaria per onestà, virtù e saggezza" ; "tutte le sue cure erano state rivolte alla figlia" e a "cercare di renderla virtuosa e a farle amare questa virtù", che viene messa a dura prova quando conoscerà il Duca di Nemour, il quale si distingueva "per grazia della persona e per la nobiltà dello spirito".
Quest'opera, modernissima, di portata anticonformistica allora e ancor più oggi, si caratterizza per una profonda analisi della passione amorosa che, come tutti gli stati emotivi, tende a consumarsi, magari con un anticipo di sofferenze che i morsi della gelosia portano.
La Principessa di Cleves comprende a fondo le dinamiche della passione ed è consapevole dei rischi che comporta amare un uomo che piace a tutte e al quale molte sono disposte a cedere.
Opterà per una scelta di grande impatto : finale che una scrittrice grandissima ha saputo rendere così convincente. -
Given the list of noble characters, I had trouble getting into the book and got lost among them.
But once this introduction is over, the analysis of the upheavals of morality (I will not personally speak of reason) on feelings, emotions, and feelings is of an uncommon finesse. An immense impression of déjà vu when thinking back to the obstacle courses or the impossible loves of great names in literature, and yet, Madame de Lafayette is before, she is the precursor, with the added fact that she is a woman, when, even well after, so many women will hide under male pseudonyms to be able to write.
So, it is a must-read in more ways than one. Even if the end leaves you wanting more for the rest of the book, hurry up if you haven't read it yet. It's never too late. The proof is right here. -
Мари Мадлен де Лафайет, жившая в семнадцатом веке, по праву считается родоначальницей психологического романа. "Принцесса Клевская" - роман с внешне простым сюжетом: юная мадемуазель же Шартр представлена ко двору и заключает брачный контракт с принцем Клевским. Типичный брак по расчету без любви, но нужно отметить, что мужа своего принцесса искренне уважает. На балу юная красавица встречает первого красавца двора герцога де Немура, влюбляется в него, и страшится своего чувства, которым не может управлять и не может скрыть. Не совсем классич��ский (из-за не раскрытия чувств), но все же любовный треугольник. Но всё идёт не так, как в обычном любовном романе. Принцесса в бесплодной борьбе двух противоречий - чувства любви и чувства долга - в желании разрешить этот мучительный внутренний конфликт, оставаясь при этом честной, признается мужу в том, что любит другого, однако, отказывается назвать его имя. Она признает неординарность такого поступка, что она одна способна на такую смелость. Но разрешает ли это признание внутренний конфликт? В физическом и юридическом отношении да, поскольку муж, испытывая муки ревности, неизвестности, в конечном итоге заболевает и умирает. Но, если бы он не умер, вряд ли эта откровенность разрешила бы это столкновение чувств любви и добродетели, а лишь усугубила ее страдания. Со смертью принца дороги открылись, сердце ее уже было завоёвано с первого взгляда, и герцог де Немур делает ей предложение. Казалось бы, развязка ясна. Но здесь она делает ещё один экстраординарный поступок - отказывает ему. Говоря современным языком, сложный клубок комплексов, сложившийся из чувства вины, что ее признание фактически свело мужа в могилу, представления о чести и честности, долге и добродетели, внушенные матерью и обществом (под этими эвфемизмами можно понимать страх порицания обществом), предсмертная просьба мужа, чтобы она не выходила замуж за Немура, руководили ею. Но, пожалуй, истина заключается в ее словах: "И сейчас Вы так пылко и верно любите меня почему? Потому что Вы встречаете препятствия. Если я эти препятствия устраню, Ваша любовь станет тише. И могу ли я быть уверена, что она не заглохнет?" Это бегство, и движет этим процессом страх.
Принцесса Клевская и замуж вышла по расчету, и не вышла замуж за любимого, верно рассчитав "ставки" в любовной игре. Несмотря на кажущуюся раскрытой формулу любви, как преодоление препятствий или недостижимости объекта поклонения, де Лафайет тут же ее опровергает, показав быстро утешившегося де Немура, и в этом также заключается правда жизни.
Это, безусловно, морализаторский роман, но мораль вовсе не в добродетели.
В романе несколько вставных новелл, интересны исторические детали и герои, хотя супруги Клевские - выдуманные персонажи. -
The first half is rough going--every sentence seems to namedrop at least two members of the French aristocracy, and it is impossible to keep track of who is being mentioned for the first time, and who has already been referred to six lines back. But there comes a point where the narrative suddenly clears and it becomes obvious how this rather tortured excursion through the labyrinthine French royal court not only serves to set the stage, but emphasizes the countless dangers and social traps the titular character must somehow navigate upon her introduction to it.
The story that subsequently unfolds is in and of itself extremely simple: a beautiful young woman (she's of the type that causes every man to gape in astonishment upon entering a room) manages to land an advantageous marriage with a kind and gentle titled man who adores her; unfortunately she doesn't love him, and falls for the most rakish bachelor at court (to further complicate things, the feeling is mutual). The Princess spends the rest of the novella trying to overcome her amorous feelings to love and serve her husband as a faithful wife should.
It might sound then that The Princess of Clèves serves as yet another testament to the historical systems of oppression against women; it is, but to regard it solely in those terms would mean missing a lot of fascinating layers to to the story. Despite the novel being devoid of "traditional" characterization (such conventions were not introduced for another century or two), the Princess somehow emerges as a remarkably nuanced character, as impossible for the reader to pin down as it is for the men in her life. Should her rigid moral beliefs be interpreted as yet another form of mental enslavement or the mark of an intellectually independent woman who refused to play the amorous games of the court? Is it piety or self-preservation that moves the actions of the Princess? The novel refuses to give an answer of any kind, and one way or the other, it is the Princess who ultimately decides her own fate--though whether it was the right one has been fiercely debated since the novel first appeared.
(I read this after seeing the recent film La belle personne, which adapts the story to a contemporary French high school. I recommend it, though it admittedly makes more sense in context with its source material.) -
This classic of early French literature was published in 1678 anonymously, but was later attributed to Madame de LaFayette. It is set in 1558-59 France in the court of King Henry II. It's historical fiction and by most accounts it's fairly accurate in it's portrayal of the people and events of the era. It's the story of a young girl sent to court to find a husband, marries a prince then falls in love with a duke. The intrigues and little dramas that surround these events play out through the novel. It held my interest because I like historical fiction that relates to royal history. But 17th century literature can be tedious and this one starts slow but improves as the story developes. 3.5 stars.
-
I AM SO CROSS RIGHT NOW
like is she actually serious -
The Princess of Cleves is a moralistic tale set in 16th-century France. Madame de La Fayette tells the story of a virtuous woman, a model of moral perfection, amid the Court intrigues and temptations.
The novel is considered a historically important novel for two reasons. One is because it paved the way for the new genre of "historical fiction", and two is because it also paved the way for the new tradition of the psychological portrayal of the characters. It's to her credit that Madame de La Fayette opened the way for two new writing traditions through his novel. Given the time period of its publication (1678), it must have been a daunting task for her. For her courage to experiment and deviate from an established trend, due appreciation must be given to her. And as one of the first examples of these two traditions, the novel has done well even with its faults.
However, the novel also suffers from being one of the first of its kind. Although this is a historical novel, the setting being a century earlier than its publication, Madam de La Fayette has taken care to keep the historical characters anonymous. Now, this can be easily understood; the author may not have wanted to run the risk of a greater censure. However, the allusion is detrimental to modern readers who don't have a thorough knowledge of French royal history. The mysterious nature of the historical characters makes it quite difficult to appreciate the historical significance of the setting. At least, that was the case for me. The psychological portrayal is done better in my view, even though it is not up to the scale of intensity that we have come to see in the 19th century.
While appreciating the novel for its historical significance, I have a few strong complaints against the novel itself. The story was not quite engaging as I hoped it would. The intrigue and temptations that would result in a married woman's passion for a man who isn't her husband, weren't developed enough to grab the reader's full attention. Then, our heroine was too tiresome a character. She was a paragon of virtue, a moral perfection, even though she entertains a passion that isn't seemly for a married woman. Her passion would have made her a human if Madame de La Fayette hadn't taken pain to portray her as a model woman making the character feel artificial and unrealistic. It may have been necessary for Madame de La Fayette to portray her heroine as such given the time it was written. But she completely failed to claim my sympathy. I had more sympathy for her unfortunate lover than for her, for his sincerity. And if I have had the recourse to the enjoyment of the historical subplots, perhaps, my overall take on the novel would have been different. But there too, because of the ambiguity of the characters, I was quite disappointed.
This is my personal take on the novel and I wouldn't want to discourage any prospective reader with my rating and review. Different tastes and appreciations lead you to differing enjoyments. Besides, I think its historical significance has a strong claim on the readers. So, by no means make my subjective view deter you from reading it.
More of my reviews can be found at
http://piyangiejay.com/ -
إنه الصراع الأزلي الذي إنكسر في احتدامه الكثيرون ، صراع العاطفة و المنطق ، القلب و العقل ، الأهواء و الفضيلة ، الرغبة و الواجب ، و حين يكون الموضوع عن المشاعر ، من أفضل من الفرنسيين في الكتابة عنها ! ، بأسلوبهم الذي تنساب فيها العاطفة - على عنفوانها و صخبها - نديّة رقراقة و عذبة ، تتألق مثل ماء في عرس الشمس .
القصة تقليدية ، و مادة خام لكثير من القصص و العلاقات ، شابة في علاقة زوجية بُنيت على الاحترام و الحكمة ، لا على الرغبة و العاطفة ، تلتقي أخيراّ بمن يقلب كل الموازين و يكشف لها عن أجزاء خفية من نفسها ، و مشاعر لم تختبرها من قبل ، تفرض عليها الفضيلة سلوكاّ صارماّ ، و قرارات عقلانية ، تمنعها من اعتناق السعادة حتى بعد أن حررتها الحياة من قيود الواجب .
ما ميّزها في نظري هي مواكبة الجانب النفسي وتحوّل الشخصيات من النقيض للنقيض ، و القدرة على التعبير عن ذلك بصدق و تروّي .
النهاية وخزتني كعادة النهايات الكلاسيكية ، خاصةً بما عللتْ به رفضها للسعادة ، و هو الخوف من الغيرة و انحراف الحب عن طريقه الهانئ ، برأيي أن هذا لم يكن ملائماّ لما صُورت به العلاقة من ثبات و نُبل على طول خط الرواية .
لا أملك سوى مشاعر عنيفة وغامضة ، وليس بمقدوري السيطرة عليها ، لم أعد أجدني جديراً بك ، و لم تعودي في نظري جديرة بي ، إني أعبدك و أكرهك في آن واحد ، أنا أهينك .. أطلب منك العفو ، فأنا معجب بك وأخجل من هذا الإعجاب ، و أخيراً لم أعد أملك لا الهدوء ولا العقل ...
وداعاّ سيدتي ،
ستعرفين الفرق بين أن تكوني محبوبة كما أحببتُك ، و أن يعشقك أشخاص لا يسعون إلا للحصول على شرف إغوائك . -
The idea here was to read this and another short book by the same author for a Literary Birthday Challenge. This book sounded so interesting: the court of Henry The Second of France, with all the intrigue and goings-on that nobility do so well. Enter our young heroine, Mademoiselle de Chartres, whose mother wants to arrange a proper match for her.
Okay so far, but it took paragraphs and paragraphs of names and titles to get to this point. I thought about quitting after needing to go over this sentence half a dozen times:
"...he foresaw great obstructions on the part of the Duke of Nevers his father: the Duke was strictly attached to the Duchess of Valentinois, and the Viscount de Chartres was her enemy, which was a sufficient reason to hinder the Duke from consenting to the marriage of his son, with a niece of the Viscount's."
But I thought no, I am reading War And Peace and keeping everyone straight in my mind, surely I can manage this little book also. So I kept going and our heroine becomes the Princess Of Cleves, but she is not really in love with the Prince, and it sounds to me like they never had a true wedding night. Certainly the Prince is not perfectly happy, that is one clearly expressed fact.
Then our Princess's mother tells her the history of the King's mistress, Diane de Poitiers. But she tells it in paragraphs full of names and titles tossed together like a Caesar salad. Granted that this book was written in 1678, but I was prepared for an old-fashioned writing style; and can usually deal with such things as sentences that go on forever and other marks of past years. However, I could not deal with being served such a confusing, boring platter so I have to mark this one a DNF. I will look for a title about the era, because I am intrigued by the King himself and his times, but I have to put Madame de LaFayette on my never again list. Humble apologies, Madame. -
je sais d'où les dramas dans les anges ont été inspirés maintenant
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No one is more surprised than me at how much I liked this book because this is not my kind of book at all. But the writing was so addicting and the storyline was so interesting.
Around The Year in 52 Books Challenge #8 - A classic with less than 200 pages -
"The least problematic of all literary classics in French," Robin Buss calls this. I took it as a warning. She's thinking of Les Liaisons dangereuses, no doubt - a deeply problematic book that reads like a reverse censoring of Princess of Clèves, as though LaClos read Clèves and thought, I'm going to put the smut in this. He was right and
Les Liaisons dangereuses is fuckin' great. Princess of Clèves is okay.
The action takes place in 1558, a hundred years before it was written in 1678, during the reign of Henri II. Boyd Tonkin calls it a “veiled portrait of the treacherous cockpit that the author knew as a super-observant insider at the court of Louis IV,” which, like, fine, I know zilch about either court so that does nothing for me. They seem complicated? These courts, I tell you. They're always portrayed as absolute snakepits: "a sort of ordered turbulence which made it delightful but very dangerous for a young person," in Madame de Lafayette's own words. The thing is that they're full of teenagers. Madame de Chartres, the Princess of Clèves herself, is sixteen! It's just castles full of extremely wealthy teenagers who do nothing but go to parties and fuck each other; the only difference between this and Mykonos is that they're also the law, and they can kill each other after they break up.
Madame de Lafayette, as drawn by someone who's never seen a human body
Take this minor character the Vidame de Chartres, who tells a long story about fucking Queen Catherine de Medici. She makes it clear that he’s to have no other affairs while he’s her boyfriend, but he’s super into some other girl so he lies to her about it, and then when she breaks up with him because of a third girl, he promptly falls in love with a wholly new fourth girl who he now has to keep secret from the Queen. Funny, right? But it doesn't work. It’s not in this book, but this is a real guy and he dies in prison.
literally all they do is put on wigs and die
Most of the characters here are real, in fact, which is one of de Lafayette's innovations: she's doing some sort of historical fiction, or anyway fan fic. The only invented character is Madame de Chartres herself, who - when the book finally gets started, after a deadly opening that's really just some sort of Old Testamentesque list of names - is nursing an emotional affair with the Duke de Nemours, the sort of creep who's prone to climbing fences to spy on girls. Chartres, already married to a super boring guy, is the sort of girl who's prone to giving speeches about virtue. And if you think you know how this ends, I wish you did. Which is a bummer in at least two ways.
It's all fine. Its other innovation is that it’s the first proper French novel, and its prose is cleaner and more focused than, say, its contemporary protonovel
Oroonoko. It's just that it's a little staid, you know? It comes down to people standing in rooms giving speeches about why they're not fucking. It's frustrating. I want to, like, pick them up like dolls and just mash 'em into each other, shut up and bone, you know you want it. Which, again, is Les Liaisons Dangereuses. That book might be problematic, but it's not boring. -
Un véritable coup de coeur. La description du sentiment amoureux, les descriptions des personnes, les intrigues de la cour de France, j'ai adoré ! L'abnégation de la la princesse, la constance de son mari, et l'amour du duc forcent le respect :)
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Non si può percorrere la storia del romanzo moderno senza aver letto il Don Chisciotte di Cervantes che agli inizi del ‘600 inaugura il genere fungendo da cerniera tra i vecchi ideali cavallereschi - fonte di ironia - e i nuovi slanci individualistici, in una rinnovata lettura della realtà contemplante anche il piano inclinato della follia; a maggior ragione, non si può nemmeno ignorare la novità introdotta, sul finire dello stesso secolo, da questo romanzo che pare poggiare le sue basi esistenziali proprio sul rinnovamento del genere, anticipando anche i moduli del fortunatissimo filone psicologico, senza trascurare di invertire i valori dominanti della società rappresentata. La principessa di Clèves, opera matura di una dama della piccola nobiltà introdotta alla corte del Re Sole, poi divenuta la signora del più prestigioso salotto letterario dell’epoca, è infatti la storia di una giovane sedicenne che per volere materno sposa, con benevola accondiscendenza, il principe di Clèves, introducendosi così nell’intrigante e corrotto mondo di corte, quella di Enrico II, della regina consorte Caterina de’ Medici e della famigerata amante del re, Diana de Poitiers. Una giovane ragazza che non conosce l’amore fino a quando non si sente totalmente attratta e rapita dall’incontro, durante un ballo al Louvre, con il duca di Nemours che, pur essendo tra i più desiderabili uomini di corte, interessato persino al matrimonio con Elisabetta I, non disdegna affatto una parentesi romantica con questa giovanissima e bellissima ragazza, seppur già ammogliata. Inizia così la rappresentazione del tormento interiore della giovane che, finchè è in vita la madre, riesce a tenere testa alle insidie, non tanto dell’uomo quanto del meschino ambiente di corte che la circonda, per poi dover contare solo sul suo estremo senso di onestà che la porta a confessare al marito l’attrazione provata per un uomo del quale preferisce tacere l’identità. L'inverosimiglianza di questa condotta è proprio l’elemento sul quale fa perno la narrazione che, pur continuando ad avvalersi degli espedienti letterari che richiamano la tradizione del romanzo cortese, inizia il ribaltamento di prospettiva, facendo assurgere l’individuo - donna quale essere capace di farsi portatrice di valori morali diversi da quelli dell’ambiente nel quale vive e che non sono neanche i medesimi dei lettori ai quali l’opera che ne narra l’intimo dissidio è destinata: il romanzo nel ‘600 è ancora appannaggio delle sole classi sociali elevate, nobili, occorrerà la nascita della borghesia per farne un genere di più ampia fruizione. Uno stile impeccabile e la rappresentazione rigorosa del contesto storico, ampiamente poggiato su basi documentali inappuntabili, fanno di questo romanzo quindi non solo un archetipo del romanzo moderno psicologico ma anche un anticipatore delle tendenze romantiche da bildungsroman oltre che un gustoso romanzo storico. La trama non manca di colpi di scena e trionfa in un finale aperto che coincide con un respiro di donna eccezionale per intuizione e rigore; senza nulla rivelare, non esito nel dichiarare apertamente che l’analisi offerta dalla principessa è lucida e brillante e di una modernità che si sposa, incredibile dirlo a distanza di secoli, con il più illuminato pensiero di una donna contemporanea ma soprattutto libera.
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I read this book in French, and as a result of this missed a lot of the smaller details of this book because despite taking French for seven years now I still can't really read it. But I got the main idea, and what I understood I really liked. The book's actually pretty exciting - there's lots of court intrigue, tournaments, plot digressions involving the misplacement of a Very Important Letter (on that note, isn't it amazing how many older books like this have plot points that revolve around Very Important Letters being misplaced?), and court gossip. So much court gossip. Most of it isn't even plot-related, but I still found it entertaining.
My only main complaint is that even though Diane de Poitiers is a minor character (the story takes place at the end of Henri II's reign, so it wasn't like they could just leave her out), Madame de Lafayette refuses to let her do anything interesting. She just stays in the background and doesn't serve any real purpose in the novel, which is sad, because Diane de Poitiers was
kind of awesome.
Something else we discussed in my class, which I'll share here because I found it really interesting: so in 2009, French president Nicolas Sarkozy did what he does best and put his foot firmly in his mouth when he said that people didn't need to study the book - especially if they were preparing for low-level public sector jobs. Since going into hysterics over art is practically a national sport in France, everyone proceeded to do just that and organize
the best protest ever.
Essentially, a bunch of people (like, hundreds) got together in cities all over France and staged public readings of La Princesse de Cleves to show their support for the book.
You have to admit, that's pretty damn cool.
Read for: French Literature from the Middle Ages to 1800 -
Mme de Lafayette wrote this during the reign of Louis XIV but the novel is set in the court of Henri II when his queen is Catherine de Medici, the young Mary Queen of Scots is his daughter-in-law and Diana de Poitiers was his mistress. As a courtier herself, Mme de Lafayette knew intimately the intrigues and gossip that went on at court and she conveys that magnificently.
The young and very beautiful Madame de Cleves comes to court, is married rapidly to a man whom she admires and respects but cannot love, and falls in love herself with the Duke de Nemours, who feels the same for her. But tied by her sense of morality and the stories she has been told by her mother and others about the insincerity of court love, she restrains her passions and turns away from love.
This is a vivid, and exquisitely written novel that turns on the small emotions of love, duty and passion lived out in a public court where everyone is watching everyone else, and no-one's secrets remain hidden. -
God, what a heartbreaking novel. Even while I suspected where it would go, I held on to the hope that maybe it wouldn't go there. Ultimately it did and my poor heart could not take it. Move over Romeo and Juliet, the Duke of Nemours and the Princess of Clèves are the patron saints of star-crossed lovers.
The beginning is a chore to get through. The name dropping of the everyone in the French Court is supposed to give you a sense of place along with a cast of characters but it just ended up confusing me even more. Nonetheless, I kept reading.
The Princess of Clèves and the Duke of Nemours are a delight to read about it, mostly because we get to see their character evolution. Their story is nothing short of gut-wrenching; their love so true and genuine. But, by all means, this novel isn't perfect. It suffers a lot from frequent visits of the Goddess of Exposition™ which I believe take away from the main story. Sure I want some backstory on the situation but not pages upon pages upon pages of it. -
Século XVI, corte de Henrique II. Os esponsais de Isabel de Valois com Filipe II aproximam-se, mas antes que o duque de Alba chegue a Paris para fazer a vez do noivo, ainda há um mar de coisas por acontecer. Para já, Francisco I ainda vive; a duquesa de Valentinois continua a preferida do Delfim, dividindo a ribalta com a rainha Catarina de Médici a quem disputa marido, filhos, riqueza e protagonismo; os Guise pairam em redor como abutres à espera da presa e o rei de Navarra (Henrique de Bourbon, futuro Henrique IV de França), valoroso guerreiro admirado por muitos, nem sonha o futuro que o espera... Não se engane ninguém, nesta corte todas as liaisons são perigosas.
A ambição e a galantaria eram a alma daquela corte e ocupavam tanto os homens como as mulheres. Havia ali tantos interesses e tantos conluios diferentes, e as damas eram tão influentes, que o amor era sempre misturado com os negócios, e os negócios com o amor. Ninguém andava tranquilo, nem indiferente; aspirava-se a ascender, a agradar, a servir ou a prejudicar: ninguém conhecia o tédio nem a ociosidade, e sempre se ocupavam com intrigas ou com prazeres.
E é então que entra em cena a princesa de Clèves, ainda mademoiselle de Chartres.
Para a senhora de Chartres, que era extremamente presunçosa, não havia quase nada que fosse digno da sua filha: mas vendo-a no seu décimo sexto ano de vida, quis introduzi-la na corte.
Num cenário histórico em efervescência como aquele em que se desenrola o romance da Condessa de Lafayette há lugar para alguns paralelos entre ficção e realidade, autora e criação literária. Ela própria com uma vida amorosa (aliás, toda uma biografia) bastante semelhante à da princesa de Clèves, M. de Lafayette dedica a vida ao salão onde nascerão este e outros romances - feito não muito comum para uma mulher, sobretudo quando apostada em subverter todo o género do romance contemporâneo. Casada sem amor, e afastada do marido por vicissitudes várias, acaba por viver a relativa distância de emoções fortes, empregando o seu tempo na criação de obras literárias que, como A princesa de Clèves, são pejadas de sentimentos fortes e de uma carga ética que hoje impressiona.
Em estilo de confidência, num diz que disse narrado por várias personagens, vai discorrendo esta pequena novela barroca (chamem-lhe romance, se preferirem). A sua cadência lenta e hipnotizante leva o leitor pelos meandros da corte: faustos, festas, guerras, amor, artifício e convenções sociais, tudo habita este pequenino livro onde, à semelhança da realidade, nada é o que parece:
Se julga pelas aparências num sítio como este - respondeu a senhora de Chartres-, enganar-se-á muitas vezes: aquilo que parece quase nunca é verdade.
E depois, para agravar as coisas, surge a questão do amor. E ele traz consigo outras quimeras - fidelidade, honestidade, virtude...
Casada sem verdadeira paixão, a princesa de Clèves está, mais do que qualquer outra mulher na corte, exposta aos agravos de uma relação extra-conjugal. Prática habitual esta de manter amantes, era também uma prática de galanteria, vista como coisa descomprometida, divertida, quase obrigatória. Mas para a princesa, representa mais do que isso. Por isso a paixão a consome, originando arabescos literários que são um deleite de se ler:
Quando se lembrava de que o senhor de Nemours sabia que ela estava a par do amor que ele sentia por ela e de que ele se apercebia de que, apesar disso, ela não o tratava pior, mesmo na presença do marido, de que, pelo contrário, ela nunca o vira com tão bons olhos, de que fora por causa dela que o senhor de Clèves o mandara chamar e de que acabavam de passar um serão em privado, pensava que estava comprometida com o senhor de Nemours, que enganava o marido que menos merecia ser engana- do em todo o mundo, e envergonhava-se de ser tão pouco digna de estima até aos olhos do seu amante. Mas o que lhe era mais difícil de suportar era a recordação do estado em que passara a noite anterior e as dores lancinantes que lhe provocara a eventualidade de o senhor de Nemours amar outra e de ela estar enganada em relação a ele.
Daqui em diante, desenrolar-se-á a crise espiritual (amorosa ou psicológica, se quiserem) que é o núcleo do romance e que, embora ligada de forma muito particular ao amor marital, não deixa de ressoar no leitor com ecos de familiaridade:
(...)todas as minhas resoluções são inúteis, ontem pensava o mesmo que penso hoje, mas hoje faço o contrário do que ontem decidi fazer.
Lafayette acaba neste romance por expor algo pelo qual é Laclos que vem a ser conhecido - a duplicidade das classes nobres que ocultam aquilo que deveriam mostrar e escolhem revelar aquilo que deveria ficar oculto. E esse jogo de espelhos, tão evidente na corte, mais não é do que o reflexo dos artifícios que usamos connosco, num eterno jogo de toca e foge no qual evitamos assumir o que quer que nos seja penoso:
O senhor de Nemours ia de amarelo e preto. Em vão se procurou a razão daquela escolha. A senhora de Clèves não teve dificuldade em adivinhá-la: lembrou-se de ter dito diante dele que adorava o amarelo e que não podia usar essa cor por ser loura. O príncipe julgou poder aparecer com aquela cor sem indiscrição, pois, uma vez que a senhora de Clèves não a podia usar, ninguém iria imaginar que se tratava da cor dela.
Aquilo a que as convenções limitam a vida, porém, terá um peso muito significativo na vida da princesa. E, embora galante, o romance de Lafayette é trágico - as mulheres apenas são heroínas nestas condições, ainda hoje.
À distância de praticamente um século, Madame de Lafayette reconstrói os reinados de Francisco I e Henrique II com poucas palavras e grande mestria, deixando no leitor uma marca sensorial, muito em linha com a forma de estar típica destes tempos, daquilo que foi a transição renascentista para a sua época (herdeira do artifício que foi apanágio da dinastia Valois). Embora de desenvolvimento muito cadenciado, a princesa de Clèves é uma preciosidade da literatura (de mais do que uma forma) e pouco importa aqui o seu caráter moralista. Refinada, esta é uma obra que reflete as crises religiosas e a contrarreforma que moldam a Europa deste século, mas é, sobretudo, uma tentativa de encarar os sentimentos de forma científica e racional.
O longo desfilar de toda uma galeria de personalidades ilustres, o retrato da aristocracia, de uma corte de enganos e intrigas, e de uma forma de estar tão intensa (é importante não esquecer que se viviam tempos de grande incerteza onde vida e morte se degladiavam a céu aberto, levando a uma reação muito mais sensitiva à vida),
fazem destas 150 páginas espaço insuficiente para saborear as delícias da literatura barroca.
Se calhar gostei mais deste livro do que seria de esperar, e também não fez mal nenhum chegar até ele após a leitura da biografia de
Catarina de Médici (sem ela andaria a patinar em mais de metade desta leitura), o certo é que estava há demasiado tempo longe de uma linguagem tão cuidada e de um livro que me dispusesse tão bem para, já no final de um longo dia, me pôr a ler. -
« Madame de Clèves acheva de danser et, pendant qu'elle cherchait des yeux quelqu'un qu'elle avait dessein de prendre, le Roi lui cria de prendre celui qui arrivait. Elle se tourna et vit un homme qu'elle crut d'abord ne pouvoir être que Monsieur de Nemours, qui passait par-dessus quelques sièges pour arriver où l'on dansait. Ce prince était fait d'une sorte qu'il parut difficile de n'être pas surprise de le voir quand on ne l'avait jamais vu, surtout ce soir-là, où le soin qu'il avait pris de se parer augmentait encore l'air brillant qui était dans sa personne ; mais il était difficile aussi de voir Madame de Clèves pour la première fois sans avoir un grand étonnement. »
J’avais un très bon souvenir de ma lecture de la Princesse de Montpensier de la même autrice, dont La Princesse de Clèves semble en être l’achèvement. En effet, c’est très -voire trop- ressemblant dans le style de l’autrice, mais également dans les mécanismes de l’histoire qui sont les mêmes, ainsi que dans les thèmes abordés : la vertu, la morale, l’amour impossible. Je me suis vite doutée de ce qui allait se passer à la fin. Même la relation entre M. de Nemours et Madame de Clèves est très ressemblante de celle de Madame de Montpensier et de De Guise. Néanmoins, La Fayette réussit toujours à nous happer dans l’histoire avec ses descriptions des sentiments amoureux qui sont, à mon sens, très fines et réussies. Ses descriptions nous donnent une idée de ce qu’a pu être la société aristocratique du XVIème siècle/XVIIème siècle.
A ce propos, Madame de Lafayette se veut historienne, elle fait donc plusieurs digressions historiques qui n’ont aucun rapport avec l’histoire. Ces digressions sont assez désagréables quand on connait très peu ces personnages historiques.
La scène de la première rencontre amoureuse est extrêmement bien écrite, on comprend pourquoi c’est l’une des scènes de rencontre amoureuse les plus étudiées et les plus appréciées. Elle est représentative des mœurs de l’époque avec ce non-dit, ce poids du devoir moral. J’aime beaucoup le personnage de Nemours également.
J’ai été un peu déçue après cette lecture, elle m’a laissé sur ma faim car peut être trop ressemblante avec la Princesse de Montpensier. Ça reste un roman extrêmement moderne pour la littérature, car précurseur dans le genre du roman d’analyse, mais aussi bien écrit. Une lecture qui sera peut-être oubliable malheureusement… -
N.B.: I have never studied French literature and in fact was completely unaware of this work's existence until a week and a half ago. So, although I am going to praise the work of Terence Cave in translating, introducing, and annotating La princesse de Clèves, please don't believe a word I say!
I'm going to come back and put in a paragraph here about how there was one sentence in Daniel Pennac's
The Rights of the Reader that made me want to read this book right away. But I want to quote that sentence and I can't right now because I lent my copy of The Rights of the Reader to somebody.
New paragraph! When Daniel Pennac writes about high school students' reaction to The Princess de Clèves he begins, "This story of a love safeguarded from love..." That is nearly all he said about the book's content and that's what made me want to read it. And it's a good description.
First I tried to read the version of The Princesse de Clèves on the Gutenberg Project. I don't know what translation it was but I could barely get through the first very long paragraph, and I soon realized that I would require a lot of historical and literary context to get anything out of the reading.
I was very lucky to find this Oxford edition at the library. I read the Introduction right away and am so glad I did. Terence Cave says that "the general agreement that The Princesse de Clèves is the first work of prose fiction written in Europe which may unambiguously be assigned to the genre of the novel," which I had never known before.* He explains that its forerunners were romances, that is "the extraordinary adventures of heroes and heroic lovers." I've read a number of those -- for instance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is a story about battles but also about the courtly relationship between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight's wife, which always confused me but which I definitely recognize in the phrase "heroic lovers."
What I think was new about The Princesse de Clèves is, partly, how it is a story of fictional or fictionalized characters set in a specific historical moment. The titular Princess is completely made up, but she is said to marry the Prince of Clèves who was a real person, and most of the other characters were also historical entities living at approximately the correct time and having approximately the same relationship to one another and position in the French court that they are said to have in the novel. However, the central story is entirely made up: it occurs in the private, unrecorded lives of these historical figures, at the same time as the real treaties, battles, and marriages of state that are also mentioned.
The other new thing seems to be how psychological The Princesse de Clèves is. While the main plot is sometimes pushed forward by external, historical events, what really matters is the state of the characters' hearts and minds. This is the story of the Princess, her husband the Prince of Clèves, and the Duc de Nemours. The Prince loves the Princess, the Princess agrees to marry him although she has never loved anyone, and then she and the Duc de Nemours fall in love at first sight. The Princess is determined not to betray her husband, but can't help her feelings, and the real plot concerns her navigation between her inescapable passion and her determination to be virtuous, and the consequences of her choices.
I was already enjoying this edition because of how satisfying the Introduction was to me, but the story itself (mediated through Cave's explanations) surprised me by how appealing I found it.
I have read many modern romance novels and always like it when I get to read about the characters thinking very hard about their position, considering how to reconcile what they want with their own ethics and without hurting others. The Princesse de Clèves has this by the boatload, and it's brave enough to end the way a modern romance novel never will. [Spoilers, of course, to the end of this paragraph, although if you start by reading the Introduction as I did, you'll know what I'm about to say.] I'm sometimes annoyed in modern romances that the hero and heroine end up together! I know that the book wouldn't be a romance novel if that didn't happen, but frankly in some cases things happen during the course of the story that make me think that the couple would either benefit by going their separate ways temporarily and thinking about what they really want from life, or would find that they were really disappointed by living together without any obstacles to their love. Well, at the end of The Princesse de Clèves, the Prince dies and both the Princesse and the Duc de Nemours discuss the happy ending they can now achieve by marrying one another. But they don't. That's what M. de Nemours wants, but Mme. de Clèves says, regretfully, no. She retreats from society and never sees him again.
It doesn't seem to me that the narrator presents Mme. de Clèves' final choice as the absolutely right one, although the final sentence tells us that "Her life, which was quite short, left inimitable examples of virtue." Rather, I think we're meant to understand that it's entirely possible that the thwarted lovers could have been happy with one another, but that there was enough doubt of this, well-explained by Mme. de Clèves, that neither choice was clearly correct and her refusal was also legitimate.
I don't agree with some of the principles that led Mme. de Clèves to this decision (or by some of the principles that motivate all of the characters -- in fact I want to clonk all of them on the head with a copy of The Ethical Slut, even though the political nature of aristocratic marriage at that time would still have prevented them from taking its advice), but I was really happy to see that she was able to make that decision instead of being swept away in order to prove that romantic love conquers all and is more important than anything else.
Another thing I really enjoyed was the balance between hyperbole and reality. The main characters are described in the most extreme terms. The beginning of the story establishes that at the court of Henri II, everyone is very beautiful and very witty, but the main characters of the story are exceptional even in this place. "M. de Nemours was nature's masterpiece. He was the most handsome and the most nobly built man in the world; but these were the least remarkable of his qualities..." Then when Mlle. de Chartres (the future titular Princess) enters, she is "so beautiful that all eyes turned to gaze upon her. Peerless indeed her beauty must have been, since it aroused wonder and admiration in a place where the sight of beautiful women was commmonplace." These two are so extraordinarily wonderful that their romance must also be described with superlatives.
But, at the same time, the reader is shown that these characters are not unchangingly flawless all the way through. Mme. de Clèves has to figure out what she's feeling and what to do about it. Sometimes she deceives herself about her real motivations, and sometimes she doesn't have the willpower to carry out her intentions, and sometimes she finds herself reacting by impulse instead of according to a thoughtful plan. M. de Clèves is also very much humanized by his reaction to his wife's confession that she loves another man. Before his marriage, he had told a friend that if his wife were in love with someone else, he would rather she told him about it than kept the secret, and that he would want her to treat him as a friend to share confidences and advice with in this situation. This is such a sweet intention, and it seems that after M. de Clèves actually finds himself in this situation, he tries a little bit to keep this intention -- but finds everything more painful than he had imagined. And then, M. de Nemours also tries to hold to the ideal of thinking very carefully about the consequences of love-motivated actions, but fails. He knows that Mme. de Clèves would ask him to stay away from her (not because she really wants him to go away, but so that he doesn't tempt her resolve), but he follows her and (what's worse in the context of this story) he does so in less than absolute secrecy. He overhears the confession that Mme. de Clèves makes to her husband, carelessly repeats it to someone else, and then when the story spreads, allows Mme. de Clèves to believe that her husband had betrayed her confidence in hopes that it will destroy the trust between them. (Definitely not the behavior of an ethical slut.)
If I read the hyperbolic descriptions in a modern story, they would seem the mark of an immature writer -- someone who's trying to get the reader to care about the characters because they are the Best Ever, while failing to portray them in a genuinely interesting way. But in The Princesse de Clèves, I interpret these descriptions (perhaps incorrectly) as part of the trappings of the old tradition of courtly love. Then, to place these headings of The Most Beautiful Person Ever, With Astonishing Wit and Grace over such thoughtful and thorough explorations of human motivations, self-understanding, the tension between desire and duty -- Mme. de Lafayette, it seems to me, was creating something new indeed, with truly astonishing wit and grace.
* The Princesse de Clèves was published in 1678. I am not quite certain about Cave's statement, since I thought that El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (published 1605-1615) was also a novel. Perhaps Cave is defining "novel" as something that deals with changes in the characters' inner selves more than the outward adventures they have? Anyway, I regret not having taken The History of the Novel when I had the chance to in college! -
La principessa di Clèves, pubblicato nel 1678, è uno dei primi esempi di romanzo moderno, genere che unisce alla brevità la verosimiglianza della trama. È ambientato nella corte di Enrico II di Francia, nella seconda metà del '500; questa cornice probabilmente consente a madame de La Fayette di tratteggiare sotto mentite spoglie la frivola corte del suo presente, quella di Luigi XIV. Il quadro storico è molto ricco e viene spiegato in modo sintetico ma esaustivo, la corte è dominata da figure femminili influenti e carismatiche, tra cui spiccano la regina Caterina de' Medici, la favorita del re Diana di Poitiers, duchessa del Valentinois, e la moglie dell'erede al trono e futura regina di Scozia Maria Stuarda; sullo sfondo campeggiano i delicati rapporti tra la Francia e la Spagna di Filippo II e l'ascesa di Elisabetta I al trono d'Inghilterra. I cortigiani e le cortigiane alimentano incessantemente intrighi, stabiliscono le loro alleanze per poi tradirle e cambiarle, mischiano continuamente il piano sociale con quello privato, intrecciano gli amori alla politica e la politica agli amori, con leggerezza e ambizione. La trama romanzesca ruota intorno alla mademoiselle de Chartres, una ricca, bella e nobile ereditiera, che approda a corte sotto la tutela della madre, una donna di incrollabile virtù ma ben consapevole delle debolezze umane; la principessa madre, dopo aver coltivato una nobile sensibilità morale nella figlia, decide di mostrarle il mondo aristocratico per quello che è, parlandole apertamente dei comportamenti tipici di donne e uomini. Tuttavia la ragazza sembra impermeabile alle frivolezze di corte e aderisce spontaneamente all'educazione ricevuta, senza provare turbamenti o interessi particolari. Dopo aver sposato per accondiscendenza il principe di Clèves, propostole da sua madre, un uomo virtuoso e profondamente innamorato di lei, scopre però un autentico amore per un altro uomo; nonostante questo sentimento la travolga con tutta la sua forza, la donna fa di tutto per resistere. Il libro ruota intorno alla repressione di questa passione e scava con lucidità nella psicologia dei personaggi, della quale viene delineata la natura ambivalente e conflittuale. Il rigore morale della protagonista, se riportato al periodo di ambientazione del libro o anche al periodo dell'autrice, appare poco convenzionale; la religione non viene mai nominata, gli scrupoli sono essenzialmente di natura personale e dettati da un senso interiorizzato del dovere; la società intorno alla protagonista le fornisce innumerevoli esempi di donne leggere e gaudenti, che traggono spesso vantaggi e piacere dalle loro relazioni e dai loro intrighi, senza grande biasimo; la principessa è quasi sola nel suo conflitto, i sostegni le vengono meno e i mezzi a cui ricorre per resistere sono parzialmente efficaci. Il meccanismo narrativo, fondato sull'equivoco e l'intrigo, mette fortemente in risalto la violenza con cui i membri della corte contribuiscono a piegare e forzare la condotta della principessa senza esserne consapevoli, trascinati dalla loro leggerezza e dagli incessanti pettegolezzi che mischiano pubblico e privato, che mettono a nudo le debolezze e gli inganni; in questo senso la ritrosia della protagonista non è soltanto una forma di repressione, ma anche la lotta di un individuo per imporre la propria integrità in un ambiente corrotto e ostile, per farsi soggetto che agisce in base ai propri valori e opera le proprie scelte in autonomia, guidato da dignità e rettitudine. Anche la resistenza alla passione non si riduce al mero senso del dovere, ma nasconde un'esigenza individuale: questa donna non vuole accettare di legare il suo avvenire a un amore pieno di incognite, ma ha la necessità di trovare una condizione in cui la sua serenità e la sua libertà interiore siano massime, anche a costo di un dolore profondo; forse è uno dei primi momenti della letteratura moderna in cui la donna diventa un soggetto morale attivo, capace di fare le sue scelte, anche in negativo, e di vivere la passione in modo tanto acceso da poterla rifiutare e combattere. Lo stile accompagna perfettamente la materia, è limpido e rigoroso, estremamente lineare e consequenziale; forse segna, insieme ad altre opere, gli albori della prosa francese moderna, caratterizzata dalla precisione logica e dalla semplicità sintattica, che ha fatto scuola in tutta Europa nel '600 e nel '700. Ho ammirato le profonde innovazioni stilistiche e contenutistiche di questa opera; oltre a creare un nuovo modello espressivo, è un primo esempio di romanzo storico e di romanzo psicologico, istituisce un nuovo modo di guardare all'interiorità, capace di cogliere il dinamismo dei sentimenti in evoluzione in risposta sia agli stimoli esterni che ai mutamenti soggettivi. La cornice storica è molto interessante e la trama non è del tutto banale, considerando che molti aspetti che appaiono come luoghi comuni appartengono ad un Romanticismo ancora molto lontano nel futuro e quindi sono innovativi; inseriamo anche che lo spessore intellettuale e morale, unito a un certo soggettivismo, riduce la superficialità della storia d'amore. D'altro canto ammetto di aver avuto l'impressione di un'opera abbastanza embrionale, molto sintetica ma piatta in certi punti; non mi sono sempre sentito trascinato dalla storia e la buona qualità dell'analisi psicologica oscura quasi tutto il resto, come se questa fosse un torrente impetuoso che trascina il lettore impedendogli di vedere altro-proprio come la passione, in effetti. Insomma è un opera significativa ma di "breve respiro", vale sicuramente la pena di scoprirla per chi ama il romanzo in genere.
-
Ugh. DNF.
Gossip is only interesting when it involves people you are in some way connected to. Novelized gossip is much the same, and has to be artfully clipped and introduced; it has to enhance the reader's connection to the characters. A book consisting of nothing but gossip reads like a bad history. There is nothing to anchor the reader emotionally to anyone's dashed hopes, cunning schemes, maneuvers, missteps, downfalls, or triumphs.
Worse, the whole thing is essentially narrated in 3rd-person limited, either by a narrator or a side character, so the reader is placed at even further remove from the characters. One can't even get excited about the stakes, since none of the characters are portrayed as caring or conspiring about anything consequential to persons or things outside their own circle. If The Princesse de Clèves reflects the real condition of the early modern French ruling class, revolution should have come sooner. They deserved it. -
Μια ιστορία αγάπης ανάμεσα σε δυο ανθρώπους. Γραφτηκε το 1678. Υπήρξε αμφιβολία για αρκετά χρόνια ποιός το είχε γράψει όμ��ς είναι σίγουρα έργο της Μανταμ Ντε Λαγιετ.
Αν σας αρέσουν τα ρομαντικά μυθιστορήματα μιας άλλης εποχής, προτείνω να το διαβάσετε. -
Lo leí hace mucho, cuando estudiaba francés, y la verdad es que me gustó.
No había oído hablar de él antes y luego ha resultado ser muy conocido.
Algún tiempo después leí Mme. Bobary y no la disfruté tanto, pero era más porque Emma me resultó insufrible. -
I've had this book sitting on my shelf since a college Humanities course, and it tickled my fancy for a heavier holiday read. Once I began reading the introduction and some of the analytic essays, I discovered that this book is an acclaimed French classic, considered one of the forerunners of the novel genre. I really need to brush up on my French literature.
The story is about Mademoiselle de Chartres, a newcomer to the French court. She quickly becomes the Princess de Cleves when she marries Monsieur de Cleves, who is smitten with her at first sight. The lady is described as being a woman without equal, brilliant and virtuous. For her part, Madame de Cleves is not in love with her husband, though she appreciates his good qualities and considers him a noble person. She has never hidden these feelings, and although Monsieur de Cleves is dissatisfied with her feelings, he knows he is a lucky man for loving and marrying the woman of his dreams. This placid state of affairs may have continued for the duration of their lives, but fate intervenes; the Princess de Cleves meets Monsieur de Nemours for the first time, several months after her marriage, and falls in love with him.
The narrative may begin like a medieval romance, with the star-crossed lovers meeting too late and tragically separated, but the plot takes a divergent course from there. Instead of making efforts to be with the man she loves, the Princess de Cleves strenuously resists forming a relationship with him. She considers it her duty to be faithful to her husband, and not only that, but she doesn't want to hurt such a good man. In addition, all of her mother's teachings were about loyalty and being steadfast, as well as the treachery of passionate love, especially love affairs. Madame de Cleves falls ever more in love with Nemours, but refuses to do more than harbor these feelings privately. Her final choice in the book is quite contrary a typical romance story, and surprises not only Nemours, but the reader as well.
The structure of the book is an interesting use of stories within stories, and a blending of historical narrative with the personal drama surrounding the Princess de Cleves. The book uses an omniscient third person narrator, which is not shocking to today's reader, but was a startling innovation during Madame de LaFayette's time. In fact, much of this book was surprising to her contemporary audience, because the idea of the nature of a novel was still in formation, and very different from current conceptions of the novel. For instance, the novel hadn't progressed to that time when writers used details to create vivid settings and physical descriptions, it hadn't developed that "show don't tell" mandate yet. For me, that is a drawback, as I relish language and a story that creates a world in words. In this novel, sentences tend to be dryer, and just give the information; this person was ambitious, this one is the most handsome and charming at court, and other tags like that. Not to say that she used no imagery, for she certainly did, but it is much more restrained than what I would read in novels from later periods. On the positive side for me, the book has a lot of depth in its symbolism and motifs. The cane that Madame de Cleves secretly took from Nemours, the portrait that he steals with her knowledge, the house at Coulommiers; these and other objects are clearly important symbols with multiple meanings, and they give us insight into the sometimes hidden emotional layers of the characters. Along the emotion angle, the author also uses clever techniques to occasionally reveal the subconsciousness of the heroine, another writer's trick that was relatively new at the time this was published. The use of parallels between characters and events - for instance Madame de Chartes and the Prince de Cleves, who are surprisingly similar in their actions and fates, or the repetition of two confession scenes - have heavy impact on the message of the book. In other words, this is a clever story. A lot is happening in these pages. Moreover, I had fun while reading. I was never bogged down, the action flows swiftly, the stories within the story are interesting, the characters sympathetic, and I always wanted to see what would happen next. When I read literature, I am looking for depth like this, entertainment that is pregnant with meaning.
Also, I need to mention the edition I read, because it's a Norton, and I love Norton! As the back of these critical editions, they always include analytic essays, samples that show the reaction from contemporaries of the writer, and any other nonfiction material that the editors feel is relevant to a deeper reading of the book. I learned so much from reading this information, some revelations that I discovered on my own as I read, but many that I never would have thought of. If you have taken literature courses, and miss the discussions that peel away the book on different levels and different topics to construct a rich understanding of a novel, than these essays are one way to recapture that feeling. I certainly am glad I finally read this book, and even happier that I read the Norton edition. -
Read: October 2022
Rating: 3.5/ 5 stars
The plot: Mademoiselle de Chartres is young woman in the sixteenth century, who comes to the French court with her mother to find a suitable marriage. She eventually marries the Prince of Cleves but does not love him. Instead, she is drawn to the Duke de Nemours, who has also fallen in love with her.
While I enjoyed the plot, I found it dragged in places. There were a lot of unnecessary character introductions and deviations from the main story that detracted from the pace. I liked the character of the princess and the good relationship she had with her mother. I thought she was well-written as a sixteen-year-old trying to figure out her place in court as an adult and a married woman. I did not like the Duke de Nemours, who didn't care about ruining the princess' reputation or marriage. He also seemed to fall in love with her entirely on her good looks rather than knowing anything about her character. What was striking to me, was how innocent the 'affair' was between the two of them, yet it was enough to cause so angst for the princess as well as her husband.
I don't think this is a book I'll ever re-read, but I am glad I have read it, especially given its importance in the history of literature. -
Solicit deces
