Adolphe

By Benjamin Constant

We are such volatile creatures that we finally feel the sentiments we feign.

First published in 1816, Adolphe is the story of a young man with all the privileges and advantages of a noble birth, bt who's still haunted by the meaninglessness of life. He seeks distraction in the pursuit of the beautiful, but older and married Ellenore, a fictionalized version of Madame de Stael. The young Adolphe, inexperienced in love, falls for her unexpectedly and falters under the burden of the illicit love.

The Art of The Novella Series

Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781612192536

Benjamin Constant

Benjamin Constant (1767-1830) was a Swiss-French political activist and writer. As an author, Constant focused on topics of political theory and religion. He was the leader of the Independent party in 1800, gaining him many powerful political connections. Constant’s views of political theory and religion refined the concept of liberty, and has an immeasurable influence on society today. With the belief that true liberty allows an individual to be free of interference from the state or society, Constant’s philosophy inspired revolutions in five countries, and have lasting effects on modern politics.

Reviews for Adolphe

[annejacinta · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Historically of interest - ref Madame de Stael. Madame Recamier, etc- but very narrow, little normal early nineteenth century life circumstances for main characters makes it less satisfying . Repetitious in plot line. Fluent , easy to read.

[joririchardson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The short and tragic love story of Adolphe, a young and irrationally passionate young man, and the gentle Ellenore, a woman who is ten years his senior.This book focuses on a familiar, yet no less depressing, story of the passion of supposed love. The storyline then follows the gradual disintegration of this emotion into something common-place, to something done out of duty, to something completely un-enjoyable and exhausting.Half the book is spent with Adolphe being obsessed with Ellenore and doing everything he can to win her, the other half follows Adolphe's lessening in affection toward her, and trying to break up with her.This is a sad and depressing story - do not expect it to make you smile, or even to end happily.However, it is certainly a great telling of supposed youthful emotion and passion, which makes the reader question "what is love?"A thought provoking and powerfully tragic story.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an unusual short novel. A story of a romance with virtually no context, however it suggests what Europe was like for a son of a wealthy family in the early 19th century. And, in one of the later chapters, Constant describes the physical geography of an area of Poland. But, beyond that, there's only Adolphe's emotions and his perceptions of Eleanor's. In its psychological approach it reminded me a bit of The Sorrows of Young Werther, but perhaps more closely resembles Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time. The narrator, Adolphe, is an intelligent young man, given to analysis and raised in a household without much affection, who begins a relationship almost as an experiment – and also because he understands that this is what people are supposed to do. The woman is already the mistress of a Duke, and has two children with him but no real rights as acknowledged by society. He is young, 22 years old, and has just completed his studies at the University of Göttingen. He travels to a small town in Germany, where he becomes attached to the court of an enlightened Prince. During his stay he gains a reputation for an unpleasant wit. A friend inspires him to attempt the seduction of an older woman named Ellenore. Eventually, the woman succumbs, and as far as the reader can tell she is entirely in earnest. She gives up everything for him. Rather quickly, Adolphe’s ardor entirely cools, but he feels unable to detach himself from her. He alternates between trying to be honest about his feelings and then, when he sees her getting more and more distraught, rapidly feigns emotions that he desperately wants to feel but no longer does. Adolphe becomes anxious as he realizes that he is sacrificing any potential future for the sake of Ellénore. She persuades him to extend his stay by six months, but they quarrel, and when she tends him after he is injured in a duel, he finds himself hopelessly indebted to her. He attempts to leave her only to have her follow him. The denouement leads Adolphe to return to a life of alienation more severe than that which he experienced before his affair.I am not sure that I enjoyed this novel, but I certainly appreciated the approach - when, upon reflection, I realized the novelty of the psychological approach. It likely had a major impact on later "psychological" novels. According to a critic of Russian literature, Victor Terras, French literature of the nineteenth century influenced the major Russian writers, thus Dostoevsky likely was familiar with Constant. The fictional Adolphe is familiar with the things that he is supposed to say and how he is supposed to act, and in doing these things almost convinces himself that he is actually in love – for a short time, in fact, he might feel something similar to the real thing.