The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin Classics) by Peter Abelard, Heloise Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.10 You Save: $7.90 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.97 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: Heloise's Letters Broke My Heart
Summary: 5 Stars
The story of my misfortunes (mentioned in this book) was long letter Abelard published and addressed to an unknown, unlucky friend, as a way to comfort that friend. It was a clever way to write one's autobiography, actually! But I feel so strongly that Abelard had been terribly unfair to Heloise.
Heloise's letters broke my heart.
After years of suffering in silence for Abelard's sake, Heloise had not received as much as a note from Abelard. Only after she accidentally got hold of the Misfortunes -and seeing that Abelard wrote it- did he write her in answer to her letter where she begged him to write her and comfort her, too. All these years, she still loved him madly and often dreamed of their previous forbidden encounters even when she was awake in the convent. Heloise was so honest, her letters so poignant. There was no phoniness about her. She was still so passionate and still so much in love.
You cannot say the same thing of Abelard.
Abelard seem to write Heloise in an irritatingly detached, cold manner. He was quick to reprimand Heloise for being weak and for complaining. But he was so slow to understand. It was so easy for him to ask Heloise to set aside their sexual past since he was already impotent. But Heloise was barely 20 while he was pushing 43! She confessed that even though people thought her pious, she was a hypocrite. Because when she was alone, her thoughts, her spontaneous words and actions (use your imagination) betrayed the deep love and sexual longing she still felt towards Abelard. To put it bluntly, even in the convent she was still smoking hot! Reading her letters make you feel so sorry for her. Yet the man who should feel that way didn't seem to. Oh yeah, I forgot, Abelard lost his balls not to mentin being persecuted and running for his life.
Never did Abelard expressly asked Heloise forgiveness for all the troubles he lead her into, did he? All through his letters he continued to ask Heloise to do as he wishes. His intention, that they both transcend their carnal weaknesses and suffer for their past fornications, is noble, I give him that. But he seemed so dispassionate and at times heartless, in my opinion. I imagined that instead of giving comfort, he hurt Heloise even more.
But what do I know? Every love story is unique. Read the Letters, if only to sympathize with Heloise. May God Bless both these lovers' souls.
Book Review: Not All Theologians Are Boring
Summary: 4 Stars
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise is an intense read. It is no doubt true that the staying power of these writings is owing to the soap-opera-like lives of its authors as well as the poetic and romantic language. This collection brings together Abelard's biography written to a friend, "The History of My Own Misfortunes" in which he divulges from beginning to end, all the drama surrounding his rise from philosophy student to a sort of Scholastic celebrity in Paris. The other part of this book is taken up by the personal letters between Abelard and Heloise, from which the reader discovers much about the relationship of a monk and nun who had a romance outdoing anything Shakespeare could have dreamed up for Romeo and Juliet. Their relationship became more formal for Abelard following his radical nighttime castration by Heloise's father. Heloise displays the passion with which she continues to love Abelard even though she joins a convent at his behest. Abelard's tone changes in his personal letters from what it was in his "History," yet Heloise never changes hers. She remains in love with him and lets it show in each letter to him. He takes on the role of a spiritual leader and writes to her instructions and answers to her questions, but he does not keep up with the romantic language as Heloise does.
The value in this type of book, when the texts themselves are available for free download on the internet, is the translation, introduction and notes provided on the historical situation which allow the reader to enjoy it more fully. The translation and introduction done by the late Betty Radice in 1974, who succeeds in humanizing these two long dead authors so that their writings move the reader to an emotional reaction. The updated introduction added by M.T. Clanchy provides a clear look at what scholarship has done with Abelard and Heloise since Radice's book was first published. Her translation aids the reader's enjoyment because it contemporizes the language. The internet versions available are translated archaically due to the fact that those texts are in the public domain and therefore prior to about 1926, which makes it a slower read. This is not a book of theology, though Abelard was arguably the greatest theologian of the Middle Ages, but of real romance despite the star-crossed lovers' ill fated lives.
Book Review: The Letters of Abelard and Heloise
Summary: 5 Stars
It's always best to get hold of what was actually written or said, if at all possible. This book is as close to original as can be had. It is a fascinating book because its many letters reveal, at least a little, why some people do potentially harmful things to themselves and perhaps others. At the same time it refreshingly demonstrates that, in the end, people have been doing the same things for just about as long as, well, people have been around!Book Review: The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin Classics)
Summary: 5 Stars
Arrived in very good condition as promised.Book Review: Tragic Story
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been fascinated by the story of Heloise and Abelard ever since reading the book Stealing Heaven in 1979. Reading theses Letters was heartbreaking to me. This is my take on the whole thing: obviously Peter and Heloise had a deeply passionate sexual relationship. For Heloise, this grew also into an affair of the heart. For both of them it was an affair of the mind. What could be more enticing to a man than a woman of Heloise's intellect and passion? However, it was also the Middle Ages. Heloise was from a prominant family with an uncle high in the Church heirarchy. She loved Peter, as women do, with body, mind and soul. I believe he loved her deeply, but it is different with men. And as long as he was a whole man, I believe he acted honorably. But there is no way around it: her pregnancy was a disaster. What were they to do, what could they do? It is not as if he and she could live together married happily ever after. He faced ruin when she became pregnant: everything he was was put at great risk--his life's work was at stake, his standing in society, his reputation, his position at his University. They marry in secret, she hides away in a convent waiting to be rescued and carried off by her husband to a life of what? She doesn't care--she only wants to be with the man she loves. But what about him? How does he see this future? I feel sorry for the guy. But all this is moot, because her uncle has him castrated. At that point, he changes. No one seems to be acknowledging the effect this would have on him. The most importand underpinning of his feeling for Heloise, i.e., testosterone-induced lust, is suddenly gone. Then add in the humiliation, pain, etc., etc. There you have it. His only option was the Church. Her only option was the Church. But how very differently they embarked upon that life. To him it is a welcome refuge. He can continue to live his life of the mind in that setting. He is surrounded by other celibate men. He has no sexual feelings anymore. He is a different person. Whatever feeling he had for Heloise is cut from him. Indeed, he sees the whole thing as sinful, dirty, to be repented of. She, on the other hand, is in an entirely different situation. Religious life for her is not a refuge, but a prison. She has no access to her child. She has lost her love and lover, against her will. Not only are they separated, but the man she loves no longer loves her. It would have been better for her had he died. But to read his letters to her, wherein he totally rejects and condemns and regrets what she treasures most in her life and scolds her for not doing the same is heartbreaking. The letters make perfect sense to me. She was tormented by her love for him till old age cooled her ardor. She set her considerable mind at work on managing her religious order, but it was second-best, by far, till she was older. Since she adored him all her life, she engaged with him in the only manner he would allow: letters regarding religion and the religious life. I don't know how she bore it for all those years. No doubt about it: the uncle is the villian. Both Heloise and Peter suffered greatly: she had her heart torn from her, and he had his manhood torn from him.