Customer Reviews

Abelard & Heloise: The Letters and Other Writings

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William Levitan's translation of Abelard's "History of my Calamities" and Abelard and Heloise's "Letter" easily supersedes previous translations of these fascinating twelfth-century texts. In an eminently readable translation, Levitan makes accessible the primary documents of one of the most captivating love affairs of the Middle Ages.

From my own experience, this text is fabulous for classroom use, quickly getting students excited and involved in medieval thought, culture, and letters: cutting-edge theology, heart-breaking romance, shotgun weddings, gruesome castration, groundbreaking monasticism, gorgeous hymns -- this story has it all!

See also Constant Mews's "The Lost Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise" (some of these, in translation, appear in an appendix of this edition) and Helen Waddell's fun novelization of the story, "Peter Abelard".

Abelard & Heloise, The Letters and other Writings, Translated, with Introduction and Notes by William Levitan.

I wish to offer this review as a rebuttal to the reviewer who thought it did not have much to offer aside from some of the poetry.

To be sure, if one has a passing knowledge of the story of Abelard and Heloise, you may expect something different from what is in this volume. All these letters were written after the fateful love affair and ad hoc castration of Abelard, when Abelard is a lecturer in theology at a monastery and Heloise was a prioress at a nearby Abby. Therefore, the lions share of text in the letters deals with matters of how to run a monastery. In that regard, they should be read inconjunction with St. Benedict's rule and Basil the Great's letters on the conduct in a monastery.When the early events in their life are brought up, they appear as object lessons of what not to do, as when Abelard writes, in the fourth letter:

Consider then how appropriately God's justice - or rather, it was God's grace - dragged you against your will to the calling you were not afraid to mock, wanting you to atone for that desecration while wearing the same habit you once profaned, to answere the lie with the truth of the event and correct the falsehood of your pretense.

Since our store of Abelard's writings in English is so thin, these letters often provide insights into his ethical and theological thoughts on atonement. One will also find evidence here for the feminists case (see especially Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock) that Abelard's atonement doctrines encourage pastors to preach submission to abuse of women and children (I am NOT saying this happens, only that such things are mentioned in feminist writings). One example which supports their case is:

'...where there is struggle, there is also a crown: "No one is crowned who does not strive (2 Timothy 2:5) For me there is no crown, for there is no cause for strife, no grounds for struggle when the thorn of desire is gone.'

Shortly afterwards, there is the line of Poetry:

'Afflict our flesh that you may preserve our souls.'

There is a subtle dialectic here between theology and preaching. That Abelard 'preaches' the welcoming of suffering, does that mean his theology requires it. This seems like an abstruse subject, until you begin applying this dialectic to all those Roman clerics who shuffled around their priests who abused children. It suddenly becomes very modern.

There is also a fair amount of social history here, as when Abelard discusses some of the abuses of monasteries who '...using hospitality as a pretext to set up building after building and turn the solitude they once sought into a city.'

For those of us who are always on the lookout for 'new' liturgical material, I suggest that few things strike me as stronger than some of Abelard's 800 year old reverential poetry. Like Hildegard of Bingen, Abelard also wrote much liturgical music; however only a small sample finds its way into this book.

I am a great fan of serendipity, so when the contents of a book surprises me, I relish it just a bit more. And, the quality of writing and relevance of topic makes this book worthy for all who examine the spiritual life from either the inside or the outside.

"Since there must never be the slightest cause
for you to find fault with my obedience,
a bridle has been set upon my words,
although my grief itself is still untamed.
Your order now is that I moderate myself
and refrain at least from writing
what is not difficult but impossible
to guard against in speech." ~ Heloise

If you are ordering this book to read the love letters of Abelard and Heloise you may be disappointed as I was. Yes, there are a few short romantic letters at the end of the book but they seem to only be an afterthought and might not even be the lost letters they claim to be.

I think this book will appeal mostly to religious people who are also interested in the life of nuns in an abbey or monks in a monastery. Heloise asks Abelard for instructions for how she is to run an abbey and his replies are extensive and detailed. Their letters contain many biblical references as well as quotes from famous books they have read. They keep their correspondence very intellectual and instead of writing to each other as lovers, they focus on their responsibilities to God and a higher divine form of love.

To give some background to the letters, the book begins with "The Calamities of Peter Abelard." This explains how Abelard and Heloise met and what exactly transpired between them.

"Nothing is less in our power than the heart,
which is more apt to command us than to obey.
And so when the heart's passions rouse us,
no one can contain their sudden surge of pressure
and keep them from having their effects." ~ Heloise

From this book I can only guess at how Heloise and Abelard managed to be so in love and yet separated for what must have seemed like an eternity. Abelard admits that his attraction to Heloise was at first merely lust and not a pure love like Christ's love. While some may say that Abelard never loved Heloise I think that he ended up loving her more as a sister in Christ. This deeper love is evident in his more spiritual letters, which do not contain the longing that Heloise seems to display.

~The Rebecca Review

This is a tragic love story of Abelard and Heloise akin to Rousseau's Julie except Abelard was a priest and Heloise was a nun. The book contains seven long love letters exchanged between the two. Since it was the year 1116 when the two started their forbidden intrigue a lot of letters were either missing or were too faded to be legible. So there is not a lot of information written about Heloise.

The beginning of the book narrates the calamities of Peter Abelard which pretty much summarizes the fate of their relationship; how he manipulates his own situation to gain access to the future abbess and what a tithing he has to pay as a result. He also suffers atrocities in the hands of devout. In one paragraph he contemplates living a Christian life among the pagans to minimize the severity of his lot.

Apart from the eloquent poems written by Abelard and Heloise there is not much to digest from this book. For those who enjoy biblical passages this book might be a great companion to the Bible.