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A review by bookishwendy
Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost
4.0
A number of possible interpretations ran through my mind as I read Manon Lescaut. On its surface, the novel is sort of a Bonnie & Clyde romp through 18th century Paris. However, because our narrator "Clyde", the Chevalier des Grieux, relates his story with the intent of securing the money and pity of a wealthy bystander, I'm not certain just how trustworthy he is.
On the face of it, our Chevalier is a naive, lovelorn idiot. He cries a lot, falls unconscious at least three times, which is two times more than any other character in the book, to include the leading lady. If he's fishing for sympathy, he'll have a tough time with modern readers, though maybe his contemporaries took the bait. Born into a noble family, he makes the fatal mistake of falling for young Manon, a woman of a lower class. Association with her is enough for his father to cut all ties, including financial ones, from his son. Our Chevalier refuses to be fazed, and perhaps the sheer amount of crap he is willing to put up with is proof of a deeper, more touching connection between he and Manon than was at first evident.
Manon, on the other hand, is a cipher. This is where a reader's interpretation may alter the reading experience. From the outset, our Chevalier seems to lay a lot of the blame for their misfortunes on her shoulders--she's inconstant, her attention wavers, he must ply her with luxuries continuously or risk losing her. On the other hand, it's clear Manon is a practical woman of the world. She understands money as a necessity to life, a concept clearly foreign to her lover. When the young man finds himself cut off from his allowance he is clearly at a loss about how to go about making a living. Manon, however, has no compunction about wrenching the reins from her man and driving their little financial cart for a while, even if the subsequent petty crime and prostitution offends our Chevalier. At the surface, Manon might come across as an untrustworthy slut, but we never hear her side of things. An odd thought struck me, as I neared the end of the novel, that maybe the Chevalier was a stalker who relentlessly pursued Manon to the ends of the earth, while she struggled in vain to be rid of him. It's an unlikely interpretation but...as likely as all the rest, I guess.
On the face of it, our Chevalier is a naive, lovelorn idiot. He cries a lot, falls unconscious at least three times, which is two times more than any other character in the book, to include the leading lady. If he's fishing for sympathy, he'll have a tough time with modern readers, though maybe his contemporaries took the bait. Born into a noble family, he makes the fatal mistake of falling for young Manon, a woman of a lower class. Association with her is enough for his father to cut all ties, including financial ones, from his son. Our Chevalier refuses to be fazed, and perhaps the sheer amount of crap he is willing to put up with is proof of a deeper, more touching connection between he and Manon than was at first evident.
Manon, on the other hand, is a cipher. This is where a reader's interpretation may alter the reading experience. From the outset, our Chevalier seems to lay a lot of the blame for their misfortunes on her shoulders--she's inconstant, her attention wavers, he must ply her with luxuries continuously or risk losing her. On the other hand, it's clear Manon is a practical woman of the world. She understands money as a necessity to life, a concept clearly foreign to her lover. When the young man finds himself cut off from his allowance he is clearly at a loss about how to go about making a living. Manon, however, has no compunction about wrenching the reins from her man and driving their little financial cart for a while, even if the subsequent petty crime and prostitution offends our Chevalier. At the surface, Manon might come across as an untrustworthy slut, but we never hear her side of things. An odd thought struck me, as I neared the end of the novel, that maybe the Chevalier was a stalker who relentlessly pursued Manon to the ends of the earth, while she struggled in vain to be rid of him. It's an unlikely interpretation but...as likely as all the rest, I guess.