Customer Reviews

Cyrano de Bergerac (Pocket Classics) (French Edition)

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My introduction to Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac" came, unsurprisingly, in an English class--a testament to the work's literary value, if nothing else. However, unlike many of the 'classics' that I had to slug through in such classes, I was thouroughly engaged by "Cyrano." While it is hardly one of the best known plays I've come across, it is certainly well worth the read.

It contains a lively and entertaining plot, both comical and tragic, is the story of a French nobleman, soldier, and playwrite who is secretly in love with the beautiful Roxanne, whom he fears will never return his affection because of his self-perceived uglyness. In an attempt to vicariously woo Roxanne, Cyrano helps his handsome but inarticulate rival by providing him with beautifully worded love letters. However, both Cyrano and Christain, his rival-cum-protegee, are sent to war, disrupting the romance. During the hostilities, Christian realizes that Roxanne truly loves Cyrano, and urges him to reveal the secret. However, Christian is killed before they are able to return from battle, and Cyrano, unwilling to reveal his true role in respect of his fallen friend, is forced to live as merely a friend, comforting Roxanne over the lover she believes she lost. It is only later as Cyrano himself dies that Roxanne discovers the truth, forcing her to experience the loss of the love of her life for a second time.

Rostand's characterization throughout the novel, particularly of the title character, is exqusite. Cyrano is a very complex character, fueled by intense emotion, pride, and fierce independence, and the reader is treated to a brilliant portrayal of both his virtues and the downfalls to which he is subject.

All around, "Cyrano" is a engaging story, well-told, and I highly recomend it to all audiences.

Very qyick service. The book arrived on time and in great packaging. Thanks very much

Cyrano is a really interesting book with many surprises to the reader. It's really creative and it's funny and romantic at the same time.
Cyrano is a man with a very large nose who loves Roxane, however Roxane loves Christian who she finds handsome and romantic, yet Cyrano is the one who helps Christian to seem like the very poetic and romantic man she thinks he is, because he tries to help him to win her love.
There are also fights along the book, and it's very entertaining and heroic. The story teaches to not be worried about appearance above everything and also to encourage people to try to explain the feelings they have inside.
I strongly recommended it if you want to spend a nice time reading these drama play and classic.

When you have to make an important decision that is between true love and a friendship, what are you to do? I'm sure that was a question that ran through Cyranno de Bergerac's mind all the time. Cyranno was a writer with beautiful words, but he also was a fighter in the battlefield. The fighter in him created honor, while his words created love, but not for himself but for his friend Christian.
This book had a huge turning point when Christian declared his love for Roxanne and asked for Cyranno's help. This caused Roxanne to fall in love with Cyranno's words but Christians face. This turning point showed the true emotion of Cyranno and how he really felt about Roxanne.
I think Edmond Rostand is a good writer because he makes you think. It is sort of like he makes the book seem like a puzzle. I also liked it because as the book went on he tried to create some comedy with it. I would recommend this book because it keeps you interested and always thinking. This book would appeal to people who are interested in romance, mixed with confusion and plays

it is a really good story. i like it a lot.

Cyrano de Bergerac, the character, the play, the legacy, is a timeless literary herald due to its theme. Existence in a contrived reality constitutes a standard motif of Romanticism. Literature itself is able to assume the bittersweet but themed predictability that concrete reality lacks. It pretends no circumstance is too outrageous or too wonderful, seamlessly binding the ruthlessly sinister and the impossibly good. A contrived existence in literature can be interpreted as a dream world in which the character chooses to envelop himself, blocking out society's standards and inverting the impossible. This shadow often sadly results in the opposite of the character's original intentions because it is surreal. The main use of this method by Cyrano is in writing sonnets for Christian's dictation to Roxane. In an abstract way, Cyrano vents his own feelings, but credits his the resulting glory to a handsome protégé. A secondary example is the finality in Roxane's tragic statement upon realizing that it was the dying Cyrano she loved, and not Christian. "I never loved but one man in my life, and I have lost him twice". She has finally allowed the vale of deception to be lifted, finding in its place a life misspent. Not unlike a certain Shakespearean character of the same era, she realizes herself to be a woman who has loved not wisely but well. Shaped by a theme of false reality's ultimately unhappy demise, the play is an extraordinary work magnifying life's complications.