Heloise & Abelard: A New Biography (Plus)
by James Burge
Book Summary Information
Author: James BurgeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-02-01
ISBN: 0060816139
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: HarperOne
Book Reviews of Heloise & Abelard: A New Biography (Plus)
Book Review: Love in the Time of Ecclesiastical Change
Summary: 4 Stars
One of history's greatest romances and, I must write, friendships comes alive through Burge's eloquent accounting of the lives, love, and circumstances of Heloise and Abelard. Burge is especially enabled through the relatively recent discovery of 113 letters between the pair. These letters, along with the eight original found letters, permit a luxurious look into not only a relationship, but into a time in history that bears remarkable similarity to our own.
It was back in the 12th century. Abelard, a philosopher of rock-star fame and ambition, meets the intellectual and highly educated Heloise. He maneuvers his way into her household as her tutor, giving him a salary and the pair unfettered access under the guise of study time. Lust in the library leads to a surprise pregnancy, and the wrath of Heloise's guardian uncle Fulbert. The baby is born, and in typical rock star fashion, is given the unlikely name Astrolabe, which would be like someone today naming their child iPod. Oh, those philosophers, those artists. Dare I mention Apple Martin, or Moon Unit Zappa?
Many historical studies end with the revenge of Fulbert, and the separation of Heloise and Abelard into cloistered worlds. But here, I think, is where the real romance begins. Their deep soul level relationship continues throughout their lives, with Abelard tilting at philosophic windmills and running afoul of rival clerics, and Heloise quietly, firmly, and steadily building her order of nuns all the while providing constant emotional, intellectual, and managerial support to Abelard. She's the Sharon to his Ozzie; the Linda to his Paul.
At once a study in history, romantic legend, and the role of women in the 12th century, this book is a marvelous, highly digestible read that both delights and educates. I'm greatly looking forward to the forthcoming Dante and Beatrice volume.
Biographies & Memoirs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Great History Reads
Charlotte and Lionel: A Rothschild Love Storyby Stanley Weintraub
Free Press; Published: 2003-02-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.50
Price in other shops:
To Marry an English Lord or, How Anglomania Really Got Startedby Gail MacColl, Carol McD. Wallace
Workman Publishing Company; Published: 1989-01-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $36.85
Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832by Stella Tillyard
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 1995-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $30.00
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahloby Hayden Herrera
Harper Perennial; Published: 2002-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.48
Price in other shops:
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nationby Cokie Roberts
Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.64
Price in other shops:
To America: Personal Reflections of an Historianby Stephen E. Ambrose
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2003-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Ageby Kevin Boyle
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2005-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.48
Price in other shops:
Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, 1861-1868 (Library of Southern Civilization)by Kate Stone, John Q. Anderson
Louisiana State University Press; Published: 1995-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
American Slavery, American Freedomby Edmund S. Morgan
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2003-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.15
Price in other shops:
John Adamsby David McCullough
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2002-09-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.82
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Abelard: A Medieval Lifeby Michael T. Clanchy
Wiley-Blackwell; Published: 1999-05-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.35
Price in other shops:
Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroismby Marina Warner
University of California Press; Published: 1999-11-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.90
Price in other shops:
Stealing Heaven (The Hera Series)by Marion Meade
Soho Press; Published: 2003-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $26.20
The Trial of Joan of ArcHarvard University Press; Published: 2007-04-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.70
Price in other shops:
The Worlds of Medieval Europeby Clifford R. Backman
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-04-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $31.20
Price in other shops:
Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources (Penguin Classics)by Anonymous
Penguin Classics; Published: 1984-01-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.22
Price in other shops:
Heloise and Abelard (Ann Arbor Paperbacks)by Etienne Gilson
University of Michigan Press; Published: 1960-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
![Stealing Heaven [Import] Image](/images/Stealing-Heaven-Import-B000IUTLF2-X.jpg)
Stealing Heaven [Import]DVD
Best price: $18.76
Abelard & Heloise: The Letters and Other Writingsby Peter Abelard, Heloise
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 2007-03-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.78
Price in other shops:
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin Classics)by Peter Abelard, Heloise
Penguin Books; Published: 2004-04-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops: