Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Plume / Meridian (1983), Paperback, 191 pages
Description
The story of Manon Lescaut is a tale of passion and betrayal, of delinquency and misalliance, which moves from eighteenth-century Paris - with its theatres, assemblies, and gaming-houses - via prison and deportation to a tragic denouement among the treeless wastes of Louisiana. It is one of the great love stories, and also one of the most enigmatic. This new translation includes the vignette and eight illustrations that were published in the edition of 1753. - ;'The sweetness of her glance - or rather, my evil star already in its ascendant and drawing me to my ruin - did not allow me to hesita
User reviews
LibraryThing member stillatim
A fairly easy, short read that could also lead you to some serious thoughting if you're not careful. The introduction to this edition is great, although I find it hard to believe that the book is meant to be, as the editor suggests, "a defence of love shaped by the hands of a master."
If you're
On the other hand, a book that's about the clash between passion and reason/virtue should present the benefits of both sides, and Prevost does it well enough that, apparently--although in my eyes incomprehensibly--people do still read this as a story about how great lurv is.
And now for a bit of wanton literary professor wonkishness: the tale is told, frame story aside, by the male lurver, des Grieux. We hear all about his feelings (viz., pubescent mood swings). We never get any sense for how Manon Lescaut actually feels about the insanity (literally, I'd guess) she inspires in him, and never get any sense for her feelings. This reminds me of Kushner's Flamethrowers, which I read recently. I got no sense of her personality in that book, aside from a range of completely disconnected deeds. But there *she* is the narrator. I have no idea what to make of that.
* I distinguish here between love, which is what happens when two or more people willingly rely on each other for the kind of moral and personal support needed to live an even moderately painless life, and Lurv, which is what happens when teenagers (like the characters in this book) get all sexy.
If you're
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going to defend the passion of lurv*, I doubt your best option is to show how it leads to (plot spoilers) theft, fraud, kidnapping, assault, murder, jail-break, prostitution, and generally every other vice possible for an upper class Frenchman of the time. On the other hand, a book that's about the clash between passion and reason/virtue should present the benefits of both sides, and Prevost does it well enough that, apparently--although in my eyes incomprehensibly--people do still read this as a story about how great lurv is.
And now for a bit of wanton literary professor wonkishness: the tale is told, frame story aside, by the male lurver, des Grieux. We hear all about his feelings (viz., pubescent mood swings). We never get any sense for how Manon Lescaut actually feels about the insanity (literally, I'd guess) she inspires in him, and never get any sense for her feelings. This reminds me of Kushner's Flamethrowers, which I read recently. I got no sense of her personality in that book, aside from a range of completely disconnected deeds. But there *she* is the narrator. I have no idea what to make of that.
* I distinguish here between love, which is what happens when two or more people willingly rely on each other for the kind of moral and personal support needed to live an even moderately painless life, and Lurv, which is what happens when teenagers (like the characters in this book) get all sexy.
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LibraryThing member Carmenere
...................I went into this book totally unaware as to what it was about,
the nature of the issue at hand nor the depth and sophistication of the theme. With that said, here is the short tale of Chevalier des Grieux, a young man fully prepared to become a member of the Order of Malta. As he
Lots of deep questions to address and I look forward to the lectures provided in class.
One other thing, Prevost immediately captures the reader by starting at the end and then relating Chevalier's story. In doing this, the reader is in want of answers and plows thru the novella.
Loves me, loves me not. You decide.
PS: Read this novel for Coursera class "The Fiction of Relationship"
the nature of the issue at hand nor the depth and sophistication of the theme. With that said, here is the short tale of Chevalier des Grieux, a young man fully prepared to become a member of the Order of Malta. As he
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was leaving Amien to return home he meets Manon Lescaut who has just arrived to begin her novitiate. The young Chevalier is immediately smitten with her beauty and "on the instant, deprived of my reason and self-control." Their relationship begins with a lie and before you know it they run away together and abandon all thought of their intended plans. Over and over again, Manon is torn away from Chevalier by other suitors, suitors who lure her away with jewels and money. Manon always makes it appear that it is her "project" to fill their coffers. They're like grifters, running from the law, devising another "project", then on the run again. It never matters to Chevalier, he will do anything to regain her love and provide for the niceties she has come to desire and expect. It is very easy to become frustrated with Chevalier, how gullible can he be? Why does he return to her? Is his love simply an obsession? Is Manon simply a prostitute or does she truly love him? And what of all the friends and relations who come to Chevaliers aid, are they enablers that allow Chevalier to continue his wayward life? What propels them to be just as gullible as Chevalier?Lots of deep questions to address and I look forward to the lectures provided in class.
One other thing, Prevost immediately captures the reader by starting at the end and then relating Chevalier's story. In doing this, the reader is in want of answers and plows thru the novella.
Loves me, loves me not. You decide.
PS: Read this novel for Coursera class "The Fiction of Relationship"
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LibraryThing member nancyewhite
My very first French novel written in the 1700s ::smile::. Like many LT reviewers, I read this for the Coursera class The Fiction of Relationships. The narrator is absurd and unreliable. Pretty much all we know of Manon is that she is beautiful and likes money. The two of them embark on a Bonnie
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and Clyde crime spree. His obsession with her leads him to follow poor decision with another poor decision. Someone who reviewed it commented that it reminded them of Tarantino which is funny and completely accurate. Two observations that I had that I haven't seen mentioned is 1. When people don't work at jobs or passions they have time for all sorts of intrigue. 2. Most classic books about love gone wrong have a female who is lead astray by a male. It was very interesting to read the converse. Show Less
LibraryThing member stuart10er
Frustrating novel of two lovers who cannot agree as to the ground rules of their relationship. Manon, an uncommonly attrative common girl, is swept up by the Chevalier Des Grieux. Their romance is driven and then driven apart as much from external forces as by their lack of common understanding of
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the ground rules of their existence together. The edition I read is flawed as the novel was written in 1731 and my English edition had chapter heading quotes from Byron, Scott, and others who clearly did not travel back in time to provide quotes for the chapter headings on novels written 80 years in the past. Show Less
LibraryThing member bojohn1
What a harsh treatise on the subject of love. Brutal. But Manon herself... is she really the innocent victim or is she slightly less innocuous than it would seem? As for our Chevalier des Grieux, is he really that fickle or is a just a young man in love? We must obviously take the times into
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account, but the novel raises some interesting questions. I read the Public Domain version. Show Less
LibraryThing member wrichard
Very good story about how a woman twists a man round her little finger!
LibraryThing member acgallegos91
This is one of the few books where I wanted to strangle the main character.
Chevalier de Grieux is so madly in love with the lower-class beauty Manon Lescaut that he's willing to forsake his education, his family and friends for her. On first read, it's easy to write off de Grieux as a silly boy
This books is more than just simple story of boy-meets-girl. Abbe Prevost writes a magnificent tale of lovers told from the point of view of Chevalier de Grieux. Modern readers will want to shake de Grieux for throwing away his upper-class life for a girl who appears indifferent to his passion. However, Prevost creates a France divided by the class characters are born into and wealth. With the two lovers being born in to different societies, readers start to pity de Grieux and Manon's relationship and question if their love is doomed because of fate or poor decisions.
Chevalier de Grieux is so madly in love with the lower-class beauty Manon Lescaut that he's willing to forsake his education, his family and friends for her. On first read, it's easy to write off de Grieux as a silly boy
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blinded by love since he's willing to follow Manon to the 'New World' and put up with her schemes to extort money with her beauty, which lands the lovers in jail more than once. This books is more than just simple story of boy-meets-girl. Abbe Prevost writes a magnificent tale of lovers told from the point of view of Chevalier de Grieux. Modern readers will want to shake de Grieux for throwing away his upper-class life for a girl who appears indifferent to his passion. However, Prevost creates a France divided by the class characters are born into and wealth. With the two lovers being born in to different societies, readers start to pity de Grieux and Manon's relationship and question if their love is doomed because of fate or poor decisions.
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LibraryThing member mel.davidoff
I ain't saying she a golddigger, but yes, that is exactly what I'm saying.
LibraryThing member bhutton
A strange tale, a love story where there is not much evidence of why they love each other? I can see why it was shocking for its time but divorced from it's time it is just a tale of annoying kids in young love do terrible things. Short but still manages to outstay its welcome and finishes rather
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abruptly. Show Less
LibraryThing member Luli81
Manon Lescaut is a deceptive novel in multiple ways.
It could be easily labeled as a classic, picturesque short tale of a doomed love affair between a noble young man, Chevalier des Grieux, and a beautiful maiden from a lower breed, set in the Paris of The Régence, a convulsive era where class
Told from the male lover point of view in a fast-paced, flowing narrative, the reader is presented with the irrevocable passion, almost obsession des Grieux is consumed with when he first sets his eyes on Manon, a fatal moment which will make his inner peace crumble down and bring him to perform all sort of dubious acts, even to commit murder, to keep his beloved with him.
Des Grieux constructs his own story in retrospection, using a nameless narrator who crosses paths with him almost at the end of his misadventures, giving this way a foreboding tone to the story.
"Love has made me too soft, too passionate, too faithful and perhaps over-indulgent of the desires of a most charming woman; and that is the sum of my crimes" says des Grieux, talking about his beloved Manon, the temptress, and the one to blame for his forthcoming misdeeds.
The fact that we only get to hear Manon’s voice throughout des Grieux’s account leaves the reader completely blind about her character, devoid of her motivations or her true feelings. Des Grieux describes her as a fickle, capricious creature prone to take other lovers in order to live lavishly. So Manon appears as a cold, calculating character, becoming a sort of desirable object to possess, an object des Grieux rightfully believes to belong to him. But still, in the rare passages where Manon can voice her quiescent values, we can envisage a strong spirit who keeps defying des Grieux’s views with her struggles to remain her own mistress. Couldn’t it be that in challenging him to broaden his conservative views about relationships, Manon would also be challenging the imposed gender politics of the time?
In any case, the driven plot of the story takes sweet revenge separating the lovers again and again in myriad forms: family, legal authority and the gulf between social classes keep preventing them from being together until they receive the ultimate punishment in being exiled to the colonies in New Orleans, where against all odds and once set free of the French, rotten social pressures, the idea of a simple, bare existence in a new world impregnates them with a wish to live at peace with rekindled values of virtue and morality, flirting even with an improbable happy ending, which makes the final twist in the story even more brusque and cruel than expected.
As I stated at the beginning of this rambling review, this self-righteous account, this seemingly lineal plot and simple, direct style can be misleading.
My first instinctive reaction to the story was to doubt the veracity of des Grieux’s biased tale for he is a flawed hero and unreliable narrator. His constant search for self-excuse, his vain urge in blaming others for his own acts, his theatrical, almost parodic explosion of emotive outbursts and his unremorseful confession of using them to take advantage of others made it very difficult to empathize with him.
But what most struck me when trying to add perspective into the story was the shameful realization that my dislike for des Grieux came from recognition, as his futile attempts at trying to hold on to Manon revealed the universal impossibility of a mutual understanding, the hopelessness of a complete possession of the other.
No simple tale then, but a novel which oozes with the complexity of human relationships and the tragic consequences of trying to cross the barrier of subjectivity in appealing to raw emotions, as one can’t disengage from individual consciousness , however much we try.
"What fatal power had dragged me down to crime? How came it that love, an innocent passion, had turned for me into the source of all misery and vice" wonders a despairing des Grieux.
Exalted existential questions about the tragic consequences of being in love, as being infected by an incurable disease, which robs us of our former selves, blinding us with passion, making it difficult to find our place in a material world where authority and order prevail over emotions.
And in this sense, I’d say that Manon Lescaut is a disruptive novel because in giving free expression to des Grieux’s feelings, even if charged with subjectivity, Prévost is encouraging us to reach our own truths through language, although he also whispers a warning, reminding us that our own reached reality might be easily misunderstood by those we love the most and by the world we live in.
It could be easily labeled as a classic, picturesque short tale of a doomed love affair between a noble young man, Chevalier des Grieux, and a beautiful maiden from a lower breed, set in the Paris of The Régence, a convulsive era where class
Show More
structures and ancient regime ruled the world. Told from the male lover point of view in a fast-paced, flowing narrative, the reader is presented with the irrevocable passion, almost obsession des Grieux is consumed with when he first sets his eyes on Manon, a fatal moment which will make his inner peace crumble down and bring him to perform all sort of dubious acts, even to commit murder, to keep his beloved with him.
Des Grieux constructs his own story in retrospection, using a nameless narrator who crosses paths with him almost at the end of his misadventures, giving this way a foreboding tone to the story.
"Love has made me too soft, too passionate, too faithful and perhaps over-indulgent of the desires of a most charming woman; and that is the sum of my crimes" says des Grieux, talking about his beloved Manon, the temptress, and the one to blame for his forthcoming misdeeds.
The fact that we only get to hear Manon’s voice throughout des Grieux’s account leaves the reader completely blind about her character, devoid of her motivations or her true feelings. Des Grieux describes her as a fickle, capricious creature prone to take other lovers in order to live lavishly. So Manon appears as a cold, calculating character, becoming a sort of desirable object to possess, an object des Grieux rightfully believes to belong to him. But still, in the rare passages where Manon can voice her quiescent values, we can envisage a strong spirit who keeps defying des Grieux’s views with her struggles to remain her own mistress. Couldn’t it be that in challenging him to broaden his conservative views about relationships, Manon would also be challenging the imposed gender politics of the time?
In any case, the driven plot of the story takes sweet revenge separating the lovers again and again in myriad forms: family, legal authority and the gulf between social classes keep preventing them from being together until they receive the ultimate punishment in being exiled to the colonies in New Orleans, where against all odds and once set free of the French, rotten social pressures, the idea of a simple, bare existence in a new world impregnates them with a wish to live at peace with rekindled values of virtue and morality, flirting even with an improbable happy ending, which makes the final twist in the story even more brusque and cruel than expected.
As I stated at the beginning of this rambling review, this self-righteous account, this seemingly lineal plot and simple, direct style can be misleading.
My first instinctive reaction to the story was to doubt the veracity of des Grieux’s biased tale for he is a flawed hero and unreliable narrator. His constant search for self-excuse, his vain urge in blaming others for his own acts, his theatrical, almost parodic explosion of emotive outbursts and his unremorseful confession of using them to take advantage of others made it very difficult to empathize with him.
But what most struck me when trying to add perspective into the story was the shameful realization that my dislike for des Grieux came from recognition, as his futile attempts at trying to hold on to Manon revealed the universal impossibility of a mutual understanding, the hopelessness of a complete possession of the other.
No simple tale then, but a novel which oozes with the complexity of human relationships and the tragic consequences of trying to cross the barrier of subjectivity in appealing to raw emotions, as one can’t disengage from individual consciousness , however much we try.
"What fatal power had dragged me down to crime? How came it that love, an innocent passion, had turned for me into the source of all misery and vice" wonders a despairing des Grieux.
Exalted existential questions about the tragic consequences of being in love, as being infected by an incurable disease, which robs us of our former selves, blinding us with passion, making it difficult to find our place in a material world where authority and order prevail over emotions.
And in this sense, I’d say that Manon Lescaut is a disruptive novel because in giving free expression to des Grieux’s feelings, even if charged with subjectivity, Prévost is encouraging us to reach our own truths through language, although he also whispers a warning, reminding us that our own reached reality might be easily misunderstood by those we love the most and by the world we live in.
Show Less
LibraryThing member tassinar
While at times the protagonist's rationalizations against taking heroic or decisive action were clever, his weakness/cowardliness came across early in the novel and after a while became tiresome. The presentation by means of the protagonist recounting his tale to a listener also became stale. I
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kept thinking this humorous piece might have been more enjoyable as a short story. Show Less
LibraryThing member aoibhealfae
Deeply misogynist, self-centered and completely idiotic singular narration, Manon Lescaut are possibly one of the worst novel I had ever encounter in French literature. Considering, I have read a lot of Marquis de Sade book that is an accomplishment. I think this is possibly a worst definition of
What Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and Prevost's Manon Lescaut had in common was a complete joke of a first narrator and the confused definition of love between the two POV character. Its not love when you became enslaved to the person where you obsess every second in life and are blind to their faults and accepting the bullshit they do to you in the name of 'love'. On contrary, this book completely alienate a woman sorely because she's a woman with flaws while totally ignoring the rest of the judgmental and hypocrite characters.
Since I read this for the Brown's Fiction of Relationship syllabus, I get the whole relationship aspect and the feelings that Prevost induce in the readers. But I can't help feeling like a feminist bitch while reading this novel because every pages of this novel is about a whiny boy worshiping a girl and is filled with constant sex metaphors and female demonization than I can't help but wanting to burn the book. (I have ebook, it got lucky). I usually tolerated explicit sexual narration and a degree of female submission but all of these high handed and moralistic value and the continued subjugation of a teenage girl is nausea inducing.
I can't accept the excuse for this atrocious novel to be as it is because it was written 300 years ago in some backward 1700s when even in 21st century, women are continuously being objectified as sexual product brought to bring a man's utter misery for being a woman. Have you even open your TV or read stupid shared messages on how a woman was made to please men and how a woman have to be submissive and not shining above men and snubbed because of her gender that are non-religiously sanctioned. The issues with this novel on a woman is real and in front of us.
The more we give a gentle slap on the hand about how misogynist this novel is and how I have to find the values in the mess of a monologue of a guy having a hard time trying to understand his animalistic attraction with a girl while conveniently ruin her life and his completely that he constantly blames her while being so incoherent with his feelings with her. This is ridiculous!
This novel is plain perverted teenage angst except with every single page filled with sex metaphors that it became overwhelming enough that it basically clouded any plot in it. Yeah, there's murder, infidelity, "diamonds are a girl best friend" mentality and etc. Unless you can read French and want to suffer through the "woman as the fruit of evil in men" subtext, skip this book before you suffer from PTSD.
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romanticism in history of time.What Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and Prevost's Manon Lescaut had in common was a complete joke of a first narrator and the confused definition of love between the two POV character. Its not love when you became enslaved to the person where you obsess every second in life and are blind to their faults and accepting the bullshit they do to you in the name of 'love'. On contrary, this book completely alienate a woman sorely because she's a woman with flaws while totally ignoring the rest of the judgmental and hypocrite characters.
Since I read this for the Brown's Fiction of Relationship syllabus, I get the whole relationship aspect and the feelings that Prevost induce in the readers. But I can't help feeling like a feminist bitch while reading this novel because every pages of this novel is about a whiny boy worshiping a girl and is filled with constant sex metaphors and female demonization than I can't help but wanting to burn the book. (I have ebook, it got lucky). I usually tolerated explicit sexual narration and a degree of female submission but all of these high handed and moralistic value and the continued subjugation of a teenage girl is nausea inducing.
I can't accept the excuse for this atrocious novel to be as it is because it was written 300 years ago in some backward 1700s when even in 21st century, women are continuously being objectified as sexual product brought to bring a man's utter misery for being a woman. Have you even open your TV or read stupid shared messages on how a woman was made to please men and how a woman have to be submissive and not shining above men and snubbed because of her gender that are non-religiously sanctioned. The issues with this novel on a woman is real and in front of us.
The more we give a gentle slap on the hand about how misogynist this novel is and how I have to find the values in the mess of a monologue of a guy having a hard time trying to understand his animalistic attraction with a girl while conveniently ruin her life and his completely that he constantly blames her while being so incoherent with his feelings with her. This is ridiculous!
This novel is plain perverted teenage angst except with every single page filled with sex metaphors that it became overwhelming enough that it basically clouded any plot in it. Yeah, there's murder, infidelity, "diamonds are a girl best friend" mentality and etc. Unless you can read French and want to suffer through the "woman as the fruit of evil in men" subtext, skip this book before you suffer from PTSD.
Show Less
LibraryThing member aoibhealfae
Deeply misogynist, self-centered and completely idiotic singular narration, Manon Lescaut are possibly one of the worst novel I had ever encounter in French literature. Considering, I have read a lot of Marquis de Sade book that is an accomplishment. I think this is possibly a worst definition of
What Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and Prevost's Manon Lescaut had in common was a complete joke of a first narrator and the confused definition of love between the two POV character. Its not love when you became enslaved to the person where you obsess every second in life and are blind to their faults and accepting the bullshit they do to you in the name of 'love'. On contrary, this book completely alienate a woman sorely because she's a woman with flaws while totally ignoring the rest of the judgmental and hypocrite characters.
Since I read this for the Brown's Fiction of Relationship syllabus, I get the whole relationship aspect and the feelings that Prevost induce in the readers. But I can't help feeling like a feminist bitch while reading this novel because every pages of this novel is about a whiny boy worshiping a girl and is filled with constant sex metaphors and female demonization than I can't help but wanting to burn the book. (I have ebook, it got lucky). I usually tolerated explicit sexual narration and a degree of female submission but all of these high handed and moralistic value and the continued subjugation of a teenage girl is nausea inducing.
I can't accept the excuse for this atrocious novel to be as it is because it was written 300 years ago in some backward 1700s when even in 21st century, women are continuously being objectified as sexual product brought to bring a man's utter misery for being a woman. Have you even open your TV or read stupid shared messages on how a woman was made to please men and how a woman have to be submissive and not shining above men and snubbed because of her gender that are non-religiously sanctioned. The issues with this novel on a woman is real and in front of us.
The more we give a gentle slap on the hand about how misogynist this novel is and how I have to find the values in the mess of a monologue of a guy having a hard time trying to understand his animalistic attraction with a girl while conveniently ruin her life and his completely that he constantly blames her while being so incoherent with his feelings with her. This is ridiculous!
This novel is plain perverted teenage angst except with every single page filled with sex metaphors that it became overwhelming enough that it basically clouded any plot in it. Yeah, there's murder, infidelity, "diamonds are a girl best friend" mentality and etc. Unless you can read French and want to suffer through the "woman as the fruit of evil in men" subtext, skip this book before you suffer from PTSD.
Show More
romanticism in history of time.What Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and Prevost's Manon Lescaut had in common was a complete joke of a first narrator and the confused definition of love between the two POV character. Its not love when you became enslaved to the person where you obsess every second in life and are blind to their faults and accepting the bullshit they do to you in the name of 'love'. On contrary, this book completely alienate a woman sorely because she's a woman with flaws while totally ignoring the rest of the judgmental and hypocrite characters.
Since I read this for the Brown's Fiction of Relationship syllabus, I get the whole relationship aspect and the feelings that Prevost induce in the readers. But I can't help feeling like a feminist bitch while reading this novel because every pages of this novel is about a whiny boy worshiping a girl and is filled with constant sex metaphors and female demonization than I can't help but wanting to burn the book. (I have ebook, it got lucky). I usually tolerated explicit sexual narration and a degree of female submission but all of these high handed and moralistic value and the continued subjugation of a teenage girl is nausea inducing.
I can't accept the excuse for this atrocious novel to be as it is because it was written 300 years ago in some backward 1700s when even in 21st century, women are continuously being objectified as sexual product brought to bring a man's utter misery for being a woman. Have you even open your TV or read stupid shared messages on how a woman was made to please men and how a woman have to be submissive and not shining above men and snubbed because of her gender that are non-religiously sanctioned. The issues with this novel on a woman is real and in front of us.
The more we give a gentle slap on the hand about how misogynist this novel is and how I have to find the values in the mess of a monologue of a guy having a hard time trying to understand his animalistic attraction with a girl while conveniently ruin her life and his completely that he constantly blames her while being so incoherent with his feelings with her. This is ridiculous!
This novel is plain perverted teenage angst except with every single page filled with sex metaphors that it became overwhelming enough that it basically clouded any plot in it. Yeah, there's murder, infidelity, "diamonds are a girl best friend" mentality and etc. Unless you can read French and want to suffer through the "woman as the fruit of evil in men" subtext, skip this book before you suffer from PTSD.
Show Less
LibraryThing member carolvanbrocklin
We all know that Love can do strange things to people==but this book which I enjoyed for the writing style drove me nuts for the naiveness and just plain stupidity of the characters. I had to read it for a class or I probably would have given up on it way before I did.
LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
An interesting short story from the 18th century in France; a story of a man and the woman he passionately loves, though cannot understand. She is from the lower end of the bourgeous, and values pleasure and financial security above all else; he is ruled by his heart and his passions. Their lack of
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mutual understanding leads to tragedy after tragedy; it almost becomes too much in so brief a tale, but Prevost is a master of his craft and so the book is still definitely worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member bolgai
Remembering how intense my last Coursera experience was, what with needing to read a novel a week and do plenty of other related work I decided to give myself a head start on the Fiction of Relationships curriculum. Manon Lescaut will be the first novel we'll be covering and I'm glad I wasn't
It took me a while to get into the story because it is told in a very old-fashioned way, it begins at the end, then jumps to the beginning and works its way to the end again; it is also the perfect example of the author telling much more than showing. I did my best to remember that if this book is on the curriculum of a Brown University course there must be value in it, so I read closely in an effort to not miss this value among all the exceedingly flowery phrases and moralizing debates on the subjects of love and virtue. See, I read so closely that the floweriness has seeped into my brain! But I digress. I kept thinking that if nothing else this book provides an excellent example of how literature has changed since the 1700s and how I needed to pay attention to the relationships described in the novel since that will be the focus of the course. And then something curious happened: as irritated as I was by Manon's flightiness and Grieux's lack if backbone, as well as the archaic language, I soon found that the characters weren't entirely unsympathetic and began reflecting on all the reckless and crazy things people do in the name of love. Somehow this novel broke through the frustration and touched me.
This realization alone surprised me to no end and I continued reading with a certain degree of enjoyment. Imagine my surprise when I finished the book, looked it up online, and found that Manon Lescaut isn't as obscure as I imagined. Authors of novels hailed as classics referenced it in their work, it continues to inspire composers and dramatists, it is the subject of quite a few academic papers and it's still being published with the latest edition released in 2005! (Don't you just love Wikipedia?)
In the end although I wouldn't recommend this novel to a friend in search of an engaging and fun read I'm glad I read it, if purely because it's widened my literary horizons and showed that love has always been blind and young people have always been capable of highly imprudent behavior. It's human nature, after all!
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restricted in time when I read it. No, it's not long and it doesn't place any serious demands on the reader's faculties, but it does tax one's patience. At least it did that to mine.It took me a while to get into the story because it is told in a very old-fashioned way, it begins at the end, then jumps to the beginning and works its way to the end again; it is also the perfect example of the author telling much more than showing. I did my best to remember that if this book is on the curriculum of a Brown University course there must be value in it, so I read closely in an effort to not miss this value among all the exceedingly flowery phrases and moralizing debates on the subjects of love and virtue. See, I read so closely that the floweriness has seeped into my brain! But I digress. I kept thinking that if nothing else this book provides an excellent example of how literature has changed since the 1700s and how I needed to pay attention to the relationships described in the novel since that will be the focus of the course. And then something curious happened: as irritated as I was by Manon's flightiness and Grieux's lack if backbone, as well as the archaic language, I soon found that the characters weren't entirely unsympathetic and began reflecting on all the reckless and crazy things people do in the name of love. Somehow this novel broke through the frustration and touched me.
This realization alone surprised me to no end and I continued reading with a certain degree of enjoyment. Imagine my surprise when I finished the book, looked it up online, and found that Manon Lescaut isn't as obscure as I imagined. Authors of novels hailed as classics referenced it in their work, it continues to inspire composers and dramatists, it is the subject of quite a few academic papers and it's still being published with the latest edition released in 2005! (Don't you just love Wikipedia?)
In the end although I wouldn't recommend this novel to a friend in search of an engaging and fun read I'm glad I read it, if purely because it's widened my literary horizons and showed that love has always been blind and young people have always been capable of highly imprudent behavior. It's human nature, after all!
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LibraryThing member dragon178
Oh! I too am enrolled for the Coursera class on The Fiction of Relationships and read this book as part of the curriculum. It certainly deals with a relationship that is totally fictional on the part of the protagonist, in whose case the perception becomes the reality. I did not find anything
The book itself is written in the narrative style, purely from des Grieux's point of view. Manon does not emerge as an individual in her own right, but is revealed only through des Grieux's prism. Though she is not shown as a coquette by him, her actions are certainly those of one, full of caprice and flirtiness.
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edifying about either des Grieux or Manon both of whom are uni-dimensionally drawn. The author relies on the attributes ascribed to the different classes by 18th century society, and projects them on to the fiction. The protagonist's character is weak, and he refuses to learn from experience. He allows himself to be dragged into the schemes of his mistress and her brother. He has an inflated opinion of his own abilities, and underestimates his opponents. He is also a poor judge of character. The book itself is written in the narrative style, purely from des Grieux's point of view. Manon does not emerge as an individual in her own right, but is revealed only through des Grieux's prism. Though she is not shown as a coquette by him, her actions are certainly those of one, full of caprice and flirtiness.
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LibraryThing member rrainer
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, perhaps because I didn't realise when I started it that it was so revolutionary for its time. Passionate, oblivious, doomed lovers on what is essentially a crime spree to feed an addiction...it reminded me of Tarantino in a weird way.
LibraryThing member vguy
Ridiculous but readable. Far fetched story but bowls along merrily in beautiful prose, dripping with subjunctives. Perhaps unconsciously an indictment of the ancien regime, since it shows the wealthy aristocracy corrupting women and justice and the less wealthy (the narrator/hero) thinking he
Ending is different from the opera in that they make it to New Orleans and establish themselves in a decent way of life, only to fall again when hero puts his sword through one of her endless stream of admirers. On the run, Manon expires from exposure and exhaustion. The admirer/victim then turns out to have survived...and so it goes on...
A page turner/potboiler for all that.
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deserves special treatment just because of his birth, while he earns his living as a card sharp. Meanwhile any lower class person is open to suborning with a coin or two. The running theme is his enduring love for the gorgeous Manon, who does nothing to deserve his high regard since she's anybody's for a price. apart from sweet nothings in his ear and a readiness to caress him, she is in fact remarkably passive throughout, only taking the initiative once to propose a plan for fleecing one of her rich admirers. Ending is different from the opera in that they make it to New Orleans and establish themselves in a decent way of life, only to fall again when hero puts his sword through one of her endless stream of admirers. On the run, Manon expires from exposure and exhaustion. The admirer/victim then turns out to have survived...and so it goes on...
A page turner/potboiler for all that.
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LibraryThing member jon1lambert
Lovely and sometimes saucy colour illustrations
LibraryThing member LadyLiz
I read this for a class about the Fiction of Relationships, and I must admit, I liked the book better after hearing the accompanying lecture. I found the characters a bit one dimensional, but I think that was intentional, and not entirely unusual for the timeframe when it was written.
A young man
I never saw it.
Since the story comes only from his point of view, it is possible that he is not a reliable narrator, and therefor we just don't see her love, but, if he is an unreliable narrator, I am more likely to believe that he is up-playing her love and devotion to him. She tells him she expects "fidelity of the heart" alone. Physical cheating does not matter. In this day and age, that's a pretty bold thing to say. I can only imagine what people thought about such a statement from a woman in 1700's when this was written...
Overall, I wouldn't have read this on my own, but it wasn't a horrible read. It gives an interesting view of Paris and New Orleans, for those history buffs out there, and it does make for an interesting case study of relationships.
A young man
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of some nobility falls in love with a (very) young woman of a lower social class. They run off together, and the rest of the book is them trying to be together, or him trying to overcome his grief that she cheated on him, or him trying to rescue her from her punishment for cheating (or trying to cheat) her other lovers out of their money in order to support the young nobleman who cannot ask his father for money because his dad does not approve of their relationship. Throughout all of her cheating, his family's disapproval, prison time, poverty, and all the other obstacles they face, the young Chevalier des Grieux insists that young Manon Lescaut loves him deeply, as deeply as he loves her. I never saw it.
Since the story comes only from his point of view, it is possible that he is not a reliable narrator, and therefor we just don't see her love, but, if he is an unreliable narrator, I am more likely to believe that he is up-playing her love and devotion to him. She tells him she expects "fidelity of the heart" alone. Physical cheating does not matter. In this day and age, that's a pretty bold thing to say. I can only imagine what people thought about such a statement from a woman in 1700's when this was written...
Overall, I wouldn't have read this on my own, but it wasn't a horrible read. It gives an interesting view of Paris and New Orleans, for those history buffs out there, and it does make for an interesting case study of relationships.
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LibraryThing member parp
It's a love story, but to me, Manon didn't seam to be capable of true love.
LibraryThing member AaronPt
I disliked this novel quite intensely at the beginning but I'd mellowed toward it somewhat by the end.
There's a lot of tell-don't-show going on with regards to the feelings of the characters, I guess because it was written at a time when the novel as a representation of a character's inner self was
Given that she is the title character, Manon has very little direct dialogue in the novel. Everything she says is paraphrased in the Chevalier's narration, and it's only in the final pages that she is given a decent sized paragraph of her own words. To me, she feels stifled, which, I guess, is appropriate to her character. She is in the process of being forced into a life of religious slavery when des Grieux, on the strength of a single glance, approaches and declares his undying love for her. Eloping with him being the better of two options, she attempts to make a life with her overbearing, jealous lover. She feigns relationships with wealthy men in order to rob them, which the Chevalier interprets as her being truly unfaithful. These cons are prematurely aborted when he interrupts them in pitiful jealous rage and they flee from the scene swiftly followed by guards, servants, jilted lovers etc. Poverty, prison and infamy ensue.
It's the story of a resourceful, cunning, amoral, young woman making the best of her bad circumstances pursued by the most hapless of lovers. She might be Bonnie Parker but he ain't no Clyde Barrow.
There's a lot of tell-don't-show going on with regards to the feelings of the characters, I guess because it was written at a time when the novel as a representation of a character's inner self was
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in its infancy. The reviews I've read complain of failing to believe in Manon's love for the Chevalier des Grieux but, to me, this seems beside the point.Given that she is the title character, Manon has very little direct dialogue in the novel. Everything she says is paraphrased in the Chevalier's narration, and it's only in the final pages that she is given a decent sized paragraph of her own words. To me, she feels stifled, which, I guess, is appropriate to her character. She is in the process of being forced into a life of religious slavery when des Grieux, on the strength of a single glance, approaches and declares his undying love for her. Eloping with him being the better of two options, she attempts to make a life with her overbearing, jealous lover. She feigns relationships with wealthy men in order to rob them, which the Chevalier interprets as her being truly unfaithful. These cons are prematurely aborted when he interrupts them in pitiful jealous rage and they flee from the scene swiftly followed by guards, servants, jilted lovers etc. Poverty, prison and infamy ensue.
It's the story of a resourceful, cunning, amoral, young woman making the best of her bad circumstances pursued by the most hapless of lovers. She might be Bonnie Parker but he ain't no Clyde Barrow.
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
Maybe even 1.5*…
A more complete review will come but here are some thoughts I have upon finishing this French classic. I disliked the main character and also the manner in which the story is related. He is forever talking in extremes - stuff like "I was the most wretched creature that ever
A more complete review will come but here are some thoughts I have upon finishing this French classic. I disliked the main character and also the manner in which the story is related. He is forever talking in extremes - stuff like "I was the most wretched creature that ever
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existed". Despite all his attention to Manon and talk about her beauty and virtues, I never got any feeling for her character; all the reader gets is how the Chevalier sees her. Show Less
LibraryThing member kakadoo202
While well written both main characters are slightly annoying and spoiled
Language
Original language
French
Original publication date
1731
Physical description
191 p.; 6.9 inches
ISBN
0452008093 / 9780452008090
Local notes
Meridian Classic
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