Here are my notes on Manon Lescaut, they might be of use to anyone else working on the article. All items can be verified in the sources. I have not used the 1911 Britannica as a valid fact resource for the obvious reasons.
History
edit- POV: "One of the greatest novels of the 18th century, ground breaking?"
- Very short (about 62,000 words).
- Considered one of the first "modern novels"
"it is entirely free from improbable incident, it is penetrated by the truest and most cunningly managed feeling; and almost every one of its characters is a triumph of that analytic portraiture which is the secret of the modern novel."
- Very popular in France, despite being banned as immoral. Was only available in pirated copy.
- Separately published in Paris in 1731 as Les Aventures Du Chevalier Des Grieux Et De Manon Lescaut proposé par Monsieur D
Influence
edit- Hugely influential, inspired a number of operas and ballets.
- "A tragic love story, it's also an epic adventure story with three infidelities, three escapes, three abductions and two murders."
The story was hugely influential and inspired a number of ballets and operas, most notably Manon (1884) by French composer Jules Massenet, and Manon Lescaut (1893) by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.
Story and plot
edit- Set in France and Louisiana.
- Cevalier des Grieux is the main character, is "worn to a shell by life and a bitter experience."
- Reveals his story/troubles to a kind stranger who asks.
- Tiberge, his friend/mentor and "reasonable man."
- Lescaut, Manon's brother, an eccentric bully.
- Manon, the hero (protagonist?) who genuinely loves des Grieux, but betrays him because of her love of money/comfort. Does not want to live a life of privation.
- POV: "Manon is a remarkable hero. No literary ancestor, mostly original."
- "Only Princesse de Clèves compares (from Madame de la Fayette's masterpiece."
- Compelling character of Manon prefigures a host of nineteenth-century Romantic heroines.
- Des Grieux finds joy in love and sexual relationship.
- Also finds misery of betrayal and moral degradation.
- Manon is "amiable" through her degradation (whatever that means).
- Book shows such things as destructive and morally degrading.
- Shows differences between aristocracy and poor?
- Ambiguous ending.
References
edit- "Prévost (d'Exiles, Antoine François), Abbé". 2003.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help); Unknown parameter|ency=ignored (help) - "Prévost d'Exiles, Antoine-François, Abbé". 2005.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help); Unknown parameter|ency=ignored (help) - Brewer, E. Cobham (1898), Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Henry Altemus
- Kunitz, Stanley J. & Colby, Vineta (1967). François Prévost, Antoine in European Authors 1000-1900, pp. 743-4. H.W. Wilson Company, New York.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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