Books tend to come into the Ramblings from all sorts of directions; a case in point being the title featuring on the blog today. “Adolphe” by Benjamin Constant is a work from 1816 which was reissued in 2021 by riverrun editions. My copy came via (I think) a Twitter giveaway and it turned out to be a fascinating read! Constant himself is an intriguing figure; a political activist and writer on political theory and religion, he was involved in the French revolution of 1795, then spent much time over the following decades switching allegiance to and from Napoleon, fleeing France and returning to it, and even supporting Louis Philippe I during the revolution of 1830! A very lively life indeed!
“Adolphe” was Constant’s only novel to make it into print during his lifetime, and has a somewhat convoluted history. After its publication in 1816, the author faced all kinds of accusations that the book was based on real people and events, and it was seen as a kind of act of revenge on his previous lover, Madame de Stael. The book had originally been published in French in 1816 by the Bond Street bookseller, Henry Colburn; the 1816 English translation by Alexander Walker was issued in 1817 in Philadelphia; and the version here is based on that edition. As well as the original text itself, it also includes prefaces to the second and third edition, plus a passage excised from the 1816 edition and restored to that of 1824. A book with a complex time-line, then!
On to the work itself. “Adolphe” presents itself as a ‘found’ text, handed to a stranger who then decides to publish it. The first person narrator, Adolphe himself, tells the story of his affair with his older lover, Ellenore; the Polish mistress of the Comte de P***, she has worked hard to get herself slightly accepted by society, and has children with the Comte. Into her life comes the alienated Adolphe, melancholy and introverted; and inspired by the affair of a friend, he decides that he should try his hand at seduction, settling on Ellenore. To be honest, she’s not the obvious choice; ten years older than him, and yoked to the Comte by bonds of loyalty and the many travails they have gone through, she does resist him at first. And the more she resists, the more he convinces himself he loves her. Inevitably, once he’s won through her reserve and she’s fallen in love with him, his ardour cools. Thus begins the emotional tug-of-war between the two which will lead to her leaving her security behind, to Adolphe vascillating between the demands of lover and family and duty, and ultimately to tragedy. More than that I will not say…
Whoever had read my heart in her absence, would have taken me for a cold and unfeeling seducer. Whoever had seen me at her side, would have believed he discovered in me a lover inexperienced, interdicted, and impassioned. They would have been equally deceived in these two opinions. There is no complete unity in man; and scarce anyone is entirely sincere, or entirely deceitful.
“Adolphe” was an intense and engrossing read, full of angst and emotion and duels and high dudgeon! I was reminded in places of Goethe’s “The Sorrows of Young Werther” and the authors of the time didn’t shy away from dealing with deeply romantic scenarios; in fact, it’s notable that we read much more about the emotions and the angst of the characters, with the settings and locations getting scant mention. The focus is on humans and their passions; the setting could be anywhere.
The riverrun edition is edited, with a preface by Richard Sieburth and this too makes fascinating reading. He provides background information about Constant, his relationships with women, and the inspiration behind “Adolphe”, all of which adds to the reading experience. He also draws parallels with the Byron/Shelley menage who were at the time writing at the Villa Diodati, which was unexpected. Most interestingly, he makes a strong case for the Walker translation being the best one to read; although there have been more recent versions (Leonard Tancock in 1964, and Margaret Mauldon in 2001), Sieburth is of the opinion that Walker’s is a more accurate rendering, and notes that the later translators have for example added quotation marks to the speech in the novel, whereas Constant explicitly excised these from both editions of the book he oversaw. That kind of sells me on this version…
So a slightly unexpected arrival, and one which turned out to be a thoroughly absorbing and transporting read. The book is only 128 pages long, which is probably just right for prose at such an intense level; the characters and their fate linger in the mind; and the emotions which spark back and forth between the two protagonists do seem very modern and recognisable… “Adolphe” is an excellent read and if you fancy spending some time with it, I do recommend this edition!
Tredynas Days
May 07, 2021 @ 09:07:29
This has sat on my shelves in a Penguin Classics black cover edition for more years than I care to remember – unread. Just never got round to it. Now it’s back in my mind, so maybe some time soon. Short and intense sounds about right for my attention span at the moment.
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 07, 2021 @ 15:11:58
LOL! Yes, my attention span isn’t brilliant! I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts!!
JacquiWine
May 07, 2021 @ 10:17:18
Fascinating stuff. This book popped up on my radar a few years ago when I read Anita Brookner’s second novel, Providence, as it was heavily referenced in that text. The central character, Kitty, is a college lecturer who specialises in the Romantics within literature — there are tutorials on Adolphe which seem to resonate with some of the novel’s central themes. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I’m delighted to see a review of Adolphe from you as I’ve always felt that a familiarity with this book would add another dimension to the Brookner. One for the future, I think!
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 07, 2021 @ 15:13:14
Oh, that’s really interesting! I am determined to definitely read some Brookner as I think judging her on Hotel du Lac is not fair. (I also have one of her art monographs on David!) I definitely recommend you explore this one! 😀
buriedinprint
May 13, 2021 @ 22:47:00
Ohh, that’s so interesting. I love that kind of connection! (And I bet “found text” novels would make a great reading project.)
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 14, 2021 @ 10:09:12
So do I – that wonderful bookish serendipity. And now I need someone to make a found text novel list for me to read my way through… ;D
Anokatony
May 07, 2021 @ 14:13:28
I did read ‘Adolphe’ ages ago. I may have found out about it via the same method as JacquiWine as I was and am also a big fan of Anita Brookner.
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 07, 2021 @ 15:13:44
Brookner is an author I definitely want to explore further – such an interesting connection with this book! 😀
heavenali
May 07, 2021 @ 19:48:57
Fascinating review, I have vaguely heard of this book, but had no idea what it was about. I seem to remember it being referenced in a play I saw once. You do read some interesting and varied things.
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 07, 2021 @ 20:28:50
Thanks Ali! I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, but it was a fascinating read! 😀
Julé Cunningham
May 07, 2021 @ 23:47:09
Interesting that he was playing around with standard punctuation rules then… It sounds like it might have some things in common with Stendhal’s character of Julien Sorel.
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 08, 2021 @ 12:42:46
Indeed – I like the fact that this version left the punctuation as he rendered it – so interesting. As for Sorel, I’ve not read The Red and the Black but I did see someone on Twitter saying they wanted to slap him on every page of the book, so I’ll need to steel myself! ;D
Julé Cunningham
May 08, 2021 @ 14:15:34
I sympathize with the tweet, I’m not sure I could put up with him these days…
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 08, 2021 @ 14:19:47
Oh dear… ;D
Liz Dexter
May 08, 2021 @ 12:03:09
Sounds like a great edition, always helpful to have that context. I’m pretty convinced I had and have read the Penguin Classic edition …
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 08, 2021 @ 12:41:10
It is -it’s a fascinating read in its own right, but the supporting material always helps for an older book. I may have to check out the Penguin for comparison!!
madamebibilophile
May 09, 2021 @ 20:55:49
This is completely fascinating! What a life the author lead, and what an interesting publishing history. Plus it’s a novella, and I do love a novella…
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 10, 2021 @ 11:06:48
Oh yes – it would be ideal for a certain reading event! And the author’s life alone is fascinating!
Emma
May 10, 2021 @ 06:50:01
A classic of French romantic literature. I read this a long time ago and it’s always interesting to read about French lit through the eyes of foreigners.
Great review!
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 10, 2021 @ 11:05:12
Thank you! I did enjoy this!
Janakay | YouMightAsWellRead
May 10, 2021 @ 14:07:10
By a very odd coincidence, I just read a novel by Paula Fox (her debut, The God of Nightmares) where one of the characters loans a copy of Adolphe to another!
I’ll keep Adolphe in mind for the next time I’m in the mood for one of those intense, 19th century romantic reads. The thing about the quote marks is quite interesting, as one of your other commenters noted; we tend to forget there was a fair amount of literary exploration going on, here and there, in that period . . . .
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 10, 2021 @ 15:48:27
How interesting! Adolphe is wonderfully intense, and stylistically so interesting – not what you’d necessary expect from a book of that era!