Manon Lescaut is a groundbreaking novel of passion and immorality, and one of the most famous love stories of all time. The Chevalier des Grieux is still a young man, but already life and bitter experience have worn him to a shell. The kindness of a stranger persuades him to reveal his troubles, the story of his helpless and ill-starred love for Manon, and the mutually destructive affair which has given him, in turn, the joy of sexual love and the misery of betrayal and moral degradation. First published in 1731, Prevost's story proved to be hugely influential, its passionate and tragic mode inspiring a number of operas and ballets, while the compelling character of Manon prefigures a host of 19th-century Romantic heroines. Novelist and Benedictine Antoine François Prévost is one of the foremost writers of the 18th century. His works have inspired lasting admiration for their lucidity and penetrating psychology.
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 hesitate for a moment' So begins the story of Manon Lescaut, a tale of passion and betrayal, of delinquency and misalliance, which moves from early eighteenth-century Paris - with its theatres, assemblies, and gaming-houses - via prison and deportation to a tragic denouement in the treeless wastes of Louisiana. It is one of the great love stories, and also one of the most enigmatic: how reliable a witness is Des Grieux, Manon's lover, whose tale he narrates? Is Manon a thief and a whore, the image of love itself, or a thoroughly modern woman? Pr--eacute--;vost is careful to leave the ambiguities unresolved, and to lay bare the disorders of passion. This new translation includes the vignette and eight illustrations that were approved by Pr--eacute--;vost and first published in the edition of 1753. -
One of the greatest love stories in European literature, this takes as its theme the decay of character in the face of uncontrollable passion. In Manon, Prevost (1697-1763) creates a woman new to the world: gloriously beautiful, innocent, yet free of
With The Greek Girl’s Story, Alan Singerman presents the first reliable, stand-alone translation and critical edition of Abbé Prévost’s 1740 literary masterpiece Histoire d’une Grecque moderne. The text of this new English translation is based on Singerman’s 1990 French edition, which Jonathan Walsh called “arguably the most valuable critical edition” of Prévost’s novel to date. This new edition also includes a complete critical apparatus comprising a substantial introduction, notes, appendixes, and bibliography, all significantly updated from the 1990 French edition, taking into account recent scholarship on this work and providing some additional reflection on the question of Orientalism. Prévost’s roman à clef is based on a true story involving the French ambassador to the Ottoman Porte from 1699 to 1711. It is narrated from the ambassador’s viewpoint and is a model of subjective, unreliable narration (long before Henry James). It is remarkably modern in its presentation of an enigmatic, ambiguous character, as the truth about the heroine can never be established with certainty. It is the story of the tormented relationship between the diplomat and a beautiful young Greek concubine, Théophé, whom he frees from a pasha’s harem. While her benefactor becomes increasingly infatuated with her and bent on becoming her lover, the Greek girl becomes obsessed with the idea of becoming a virtuous and respected woman. Viewing the ambassador as a father figure, she condemns his quasi-incestuous passion and firmly rejects his repeated seduction attempts. Unable to possess the young woman or tolerate the thought that she might grant to someone else what she has refused him, the narrator subjects her behavior to minute scrutiny in an effort to catch her in an indiscretion. His investigations are fruitless, however, and Théophé, the victim of incessant persecution, simply dies, leaving all the questions about her behavior unanswered.
Manon Lescaut is a novel that is thought provoking! As you search far and wide for the love of your life and the man or woman of your dreams, can you endure and or carry out what Chevalier de Grieux did in the name of love? How deep is your love? In this fantastic novel written by a man who actually is a priest, we are provided with a window into the heart of a young wealthy man who falls in love with a lower class subject in Paris France. It provides a detailed and picturesque view about passion, obsession, and class in 18th century France. Grab your copy today and compare; we all love at one point or the other in our lives! This is a worthy classic that should be on everybody's collection. Where do you stand on what you will do for love?
