Point Out Of Books The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

Title	:	The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse
Author	:	Pierre Abélard
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Revised Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 383 pages
Published	:	2003 by Penguin Books (first published 1133)
Categories	:	History. Classics. Nonfiction. Historical. Medieval. Religion. Cultural. France

The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse Paperback | Pages: 383 pages

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The story of the relationship between Abélard and Héloïse is one of the world’s most celebrated and tragic love affairs. It is told through the letters of Peter Abélard, a French philosopher and one of the greatest logicians of the twelfth century, and of his gifted pupil Héloïse. Through their impassioned writings unfolds the story of a romance, from its reckless, ecstatic beginnings through to public scandal, an enforced secret marriage and its devastating consequences. These eloquent and intimate letters express a vast range of emotions from adoration and devotion to reproach, indignation and grief, and offer a fascinating insight into religious life in the Middle Ages. This is the revised edition of Betty Radice's highly regarded translation, in which Michael Clanchy, the biographer of Abélard, updates the scholarship on the letters and the lovers. This volume includes Abélard's remarkable autobiography and his spiritual advice to Héloïse and her nuns, as well as a selection of the 'lost love letters' of Abélard and Héloïse, letters between Héloïse and Peter the Venerable, two of Abélard's hymns, a chronology, notes and maps.

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ISBN:	0140448993 (ISBN13: 9780140448993)
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	Héloïse d'Argenteuil, Pierre Abélard
Setting:	Paris(France)

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Abelard is a dick and you cannot convince me otherwise.

So let me begin by saying I appreciate these letters as a primary source (yay, history!), but on a purely personal level, eww... because Abelard was a narcissistic dick:*I considered all the usual attractions for a lover and decided she was the one to bring to my bed, confident that I should have an easy success; for at that time I had youth and exceptional good looks as well as my great reputation to recommend me, and feared no rebuff from any woman I might choose to honour with my love.**I

I am almost finished with this one, and I have loved it. What a fascinating look into the middle ages and into one of the most interesting couples in history. I am biased toward Heloise and champion her ability to speak her mind to the man she loved, married, and became an abbess to please.

Ah, Peter Abelard. The only person in history to have become more of a dick because he lost his dick. (Though something tells me he was a pretty narcissistic jackass even before then.) As aware as I am that these letters are a wonderful historical source, rereading them only fills me with the urge to go back in time and punch Abelard in the neck. And then to take Heloise to one side, explain the concept of 'internalised misogyny' to her, fix her a strong drink and then talk her through why

I hate Abelard, all his self-congratualtory narcissistic bemoaning of his persecution, his admission that he beat and raped Heloise, his vastly younger pupil, until she slept with him willingly, his intellectual arrogance, his cruelty and refusal to take responsibility for his own words or actions.Also the fact that he himself published Heloise's letters makes the version we have highly suspect. But...still, what those letters reveal is a style of writing in Latin superior to Abelard's own, and

I discovered that the audio version at Audible of The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse is only 33 minutes long! So you get only the letters and no additional commentary explaining them. These letters are described in this way at Audible: "The deepest currents of passion seldom break the surface of literature. Romantic classics abound; but however skilled a writer may be in verbalising an emotional experience, he cannot publicly evoke the heat of blood, the yearning of soul, bared in perfect

Both Abelard and Heloise are good at expressing themselves (and the translation I am reading seems to be a good one -- it has many interesting explanatory footnotes).I know I should not be so surprised, but I am finding Abelard to be nothing more than a total self-centered jerk and I find myself getting cross at Heloise for taking it from him. Admittedly I have only read his narration of his "troubles", which tells of their meeting, their romance, their secret marriage, his sudden castration by