Customer Reviews

The Princess of Cleves (New Directions Classics)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Princess de Cleves may on the surface seem like another court romance but the delicacy in which the writer portrays the feelings of her characters is extraordinary. There actually two levels to the story, on one level, it can just be read as a romance, and on the second level, it seems to be mocking the genre. The ending was incredible in that the reasons for the main character's final choice can be seen as both moral and life-defeating. It's hard to explains how without spoiling so please just go and read the book itself! It's short and extremely readible.

This book is written in an unusual format, almost at a remove from the main character. This however, only serves to heighten the passion of the doomed lovers. In some ways it reminds me of mme de tourvil in dangerous liaisons. Unable to help herself falling in love. Knowing she was doing the wrong thing, and hurting the people who love her most, but unable to stop.

I really enjoyed this book,and I'm sure I'll read it again one day. Apparently this is the only decent book this author ever wrote, the rest being pretty unreadable. If you want a historical novel written in an historical period itself then try this.

I was pleased to see that the Kindle format was free--until I downloaded it. Turns out, it was free because it' the old public-domain download (the translation of which is amost a century old) instead of the far more readable Mitford version.

I DO recommend "The Princess of Cleves," and free downloads are nothing to spit at, which is why I still gave this a 3-star review. "The Princess of Cleves" is an excellent example of literature from the Age of Reason, because the heroine (never given a first name) is so driven by public appearnce and virtue and proper behavior. I'm also a sucker for the Henri II & Diane de Poitiers romance, some of which plays in the background of the Princess of Cleves' story.

But seriously, I do recommend the Mitford translation. Those downloading to Kindle, be aware that you'll get a far more stilted read.

I do not know enough of Lafayette's background to know if she was aware of the subtle satiric effects of The Princess of Cleves, but it is there in spades for the modern reader, with very little differentiation between the players in Henry II's court. Everyone is inflamed by extraneous attachments, whether they are kings, dukes, queens, viscounts, or Mary of the Scotts, with unsigned letters serving as gaming pieces for their various intrigues. Henry himself is an impulsive fool who lacks the patience of good judgment, his queen and his Dutchess of Valentinois mistress are vain and vicious backbiters, wherein the Cleves themselves suffer from an excess of conscience which prevents them from living and thus kills them, with her love, the Duke de Nemours, being a better than average womanizer who lives on in history as the almost husband the Great Virgin Elizabeth did not marry at the end of the day out of fear for her own mortality. The Princess may not have known about Nemours in Liz's Court, but by the novel's climax she so fairly has her read on this gallant that one wonders why she bothered in the first place.

For those who are interested in the historical development of novel forms, Lafayette's work is an interesting study against Cervantes, Fielding, and even Henry James, who made frustrating the readers expectations an art form in itself-- it traces back here-- the fragmentation, the sameness of everyone's behavior and sexual needs with their undercurrent of political tensions; it makes for a marvelous and cynical look at the cultural energy of the Renaissance era in Europe.

I was reading away happily at the original French version (struggling occasionally over some of the older vocabulary) until I realised I really didn't have enough time (essay due in tomorrow evening), so I quickly nipped round to a friend and borrowed this translation.

And it's not good, people, not good.

While parts of it have travelled quite nicely from French over to English, a lot of it is very badly done - some word for word tranlations and FAR too many repetitions of words. For example, I'm sure I came across 'agitation' three times on one page, and I can tell you I ended up more agitated than Mlle de Chartres ever would be after trying to scrape my way through it.

Needless to say, I'll be allowing more time to read these books beforehand so that I don't have to delve into another poorly translated version again.

Get it in French.

Allegedly the music is lost in the translation, and since the novel reads like an encyclopedia entry i wouldnt bother unless you have no choice. Such and such married such and such who begat so and so... Almost absent of conflict and plot. I'm sure its 'important' literature, but leave it for those who care.