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megami's review
3.0
A sweet meditation on the nature of love and relationships. Stendhal can be by turns tender and biting as he describes love and attraction. This book is quite sexist, though the reader should probably take into account the time and society in which the writer was living.
manxomemia's review
2.0
This was like the 19th century equivalent of an inspirational quotes blog. Saved from one star because he occasionally dug his way our of the heap of self-indulgent "maxims" to actually say something pretty interesting.
savaging's review
3.0
All my favorite French authors gush about Stendhal, so I gave him another chance.
I still may be a bit underwhelmed by this plotless hodgepodge of ideas. This doesn't mean I'm not charmed by Stendhal. Maybe even a little seduced. Stendhal's belief in equality and justice doesn't come from dry politics, but from an impulse toward pleasure and joy. He wants everyone to enjoy leisure and education because then you can be in raptures together over Shakespeare and cumulonimbus clouds. Outlaw the education of women, and you kill off the best kinds of love.
He's a little overwrought in his guiding metaphor of "crystallization." But I find myself smiling in spite of myself when I read lines like these:
"Not to love when Heaven has given one a soul made for love is to deprive one’s self and other people of a great happiness. It is as though an orange-tree refused to flower for fear of committing a sin."
"Is the Bible, or rather, are the ridiculous consequences and rules of conduct which warped intelligences deduct from this collection of poems and songs, sufficient to cause all this wretchedness?"
"The Bible and the Aristocracy both take a cruel revenge on people who believe they owe everything to them."
(To a misogynist womanizer:) "But with you, a sensitive woman, even if she loved you, would only be a source of irritation to your pride, because of her pretensions to equality. Your method of possessing women kills every other enjoyment in life"
Note: Stendhal's still a little stuck in his time. Even when he's advocating for women's education he'll assert that of course women shouldn't become authors (except for posthumous works). He says unsavory things about "the barbarians." He has a little too much enthusiasm for modesty and purity -- though in the end he can't hide that he feels these are best for adding piquancy to a fall from virtue.
I still may be a bit underwhelmed by this plotless hodgepodge of ideas. This doesn't mean I'm not charmed by Stendhal. Maybe even a little seduced. Stendhal's belief in equality and justice doesn't come from dry politics, but from an impulse toward pleasure and joy. He wants everyone to enjoy leisure and education because then you can be in raptures together over Shakespeare and cumulonimbus clouds. Outlaw the education of women, and you kill off the best kinds of love.
He's a little overwrought in his guiding metaphor of "crystallization." But I find myself smiling in spite of myself when I read lines like these:
"Not to love when Heaven has given one a soul made for love is to deprive one’s self and other people of a great happiness. It is as though an orange-tree refused to flower for fear of committing a sin."
"Is the Bible, or rather, are the ridiculous consequences and rules of conduct which warped intelligences deduct from this collection of poems and songs, sufficient to cause all this wretchedness?"
"The Bible and the Aristocracy both take a cruel revenge on people who believe they owe everything to them."
(To a misogynist womanizer:) "But with you, a sensitive woman, even if she loved you, would only be a source of irritation to your pride, because of her pretensions to equality. Your method of possessing women kills every other enjoyment in life"
Note: Stendhal's still a little stuck in his time. Even when he's advocating for women's education he'll assert that of course women shouldn't become authors (except for posthumous works). He says unsavory things about "the barbarians." He has a little too much enthusiasm for modesty and purity -- though in the end he can't hide that he feels these are best for adding piquancy to a fall from virtue.
macnbooks's review
3.0
that's right, my fellow ugly people, there's yet hope for us
i thought this was a novel but quickly realised i was wrong when this book opened up like an essay — because it essentially is one. a very ill-structured and heavily anecdotal essay at that.
that being said, there were some good brain-cog-turning points in this work that made it enjoyable to read. while it was fun simply reading some of the happy and tragic love stories that stendhal had collected over time, it also made me think, and i do enjoy books that made me think.
lots of parts of this book did not age well, but stendhal's steadfast support for women's education definitely was a highlight of this book. glad to have read entire chapter's in defence of women's education and personal liberty, especially from an author of this time.
i thought this was a novel but quickly realised i was wrong when this book opened up like an essay — because it essentially is one. a very ill-structured and heavily anecdotal essay at that.
that being said, there were some good brain-cog-turning points in this work that made it enjoyable to read. while it was fun simply reading some of the happy and tragic love stories that stendhal had collected over time, it also made me think, and i do enjoy books that made me think.
lots of parts of this book did not age well, but stendhal's steadfast support for women's education definitely was a highlight of this book. glad to have read entire chapter's in defence of women's education and personal liberty, especially from an author of this time.
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