READ THIS: How the French Invented Love by Marilyn Yalom Our Coverage Sponsored by Maine Woolens
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Proust we hope you are reading from above!
Ooooh la la we do love France and we do love Love so what is not to love here?!? Valentine's Day is just around the corner as well, so this makes a fantastic gift as well. Be aware this is one serious compilation of the academia of love and is not a breezy read-it is for the thoughtful minds that delve deep into history and give you answers and inspiration for all the loves of your life! Famous scholar Marilyn Yalom clearly put her heart, soul and mind into this compilation that deserves many accolades. From the seven judgments on the proper etiquette for lovers on page 22 to the invention of romantic love, beginning on page 41, you will surely become enlightened with every turn of the page, even if you think you know what love is! We don't want you to show us-we want you to read this...
Dust off your troubadour poetry and medieval romantic notions because they certainly will be referenced in this pages. Yalom is one smart cookie and makes this subject of fun a true study.
Roxane-we particularly love how you direct one to collect [his] lost eloquence! (p. 243)
Whom You Know Highly Recommends How the French Invented Love!
And may we suggest, Irish people are quite the inventors too.
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For hundreds of years, the French have championed themselves as guides to the art of love through their literature, paintings, songs, and cinema. Love occupies an honored place in their sense of identity, on par with fashion, food, wine, and the rights of man. Now, in HOW THE FRENCH INVENTED LOVE: Nine Hundred Years of Passion and Romance (A Harper Perennial Paperback Original; On Sale October 23, 2012; $15.99, 416 pages; ISBN 978-0-06-204831-8), Marilyn Yalom distills her readings of French literary works and the memories of her experiences in France to illuminate the central tenets of France’s gospel of love—and how this gospel has traveled far beyond the borders of France.
“How the French love love!” Yalom writes in the opening pages. Indeed, in this masterful and entertaining history, Yalom reveals not only how the French invented love but also how they kept it vibrant from the Middles Ages to the present day. Almost from the beginning, the French have insisted on the interconnectedness of love and sex. As Yalom writes, “France has always been a country where sex has not only been tolerated but generally prized as part of the national character”—unlike, say, the United States, where sex has often been tampered down by a Puritanical streak. But despite this emphasis on physical pleasure, the French also recognized the emotional powers of love, the love that “privileges tender feelings, inspires esteem and fidelity, has the potential for uniting lovers permanently in enduring liaisons or lifelong marriages.” Yalom masterfully charts all of these ideals and their rich histories through the vibrant and enduring works of art that France has bestowed upon the world.
Each chapter in HOW THE FRENCH INVENTED LOVE represents love in its particular age, fashioned by what the French call mentalities—that is, constellations of ideas and attitudes prevalent at a certain time and place. From Abelard and Heloise and the rituals of courtly love in the twelfth century to gallantry in the age of Louis XIV, from novels of seduction (Laclos’ Les liaisons dangereuses) and sentiment (Rosseau’s La nouvelle Héloïse) in the eighteenth century to the tragedy of Madame Bovary, from existentialists Sartre and Beauvoir and the desire-soaked works of Marguerite Duras to the cinema of Rohmer, Godard, Truffaut, and Lelouche, Yalom illuminates how the French have been the most influential purveyors of love for over nine hundred years.
HOW THE FRENCH INVENTED LOVE represents Yalom’s lifetime of involvement with French literature and culture. She has been a passionate reader of French books since the age of twelve, a frequent traveler to France since the age of twenty, and a professor of French for several decades. Her knowledge, fluency, and passion combine for a thrilling and important book that is both educational and delightful.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marilyn Yalom is a former professor of French and presently a senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. She is the author of such widely acclaimed books as A History of the Breast, A History of the Wife, and Birth of the Chess Queen. She lives in Palo Alto, California, with her husband, psychiatrist and author Irvin D. Yalom. Visit the author at www.myalom.com
HOW THE FRENCH INVENTED LOVE
Nine Hundred Years of Passion and Romance
by Marilyn Yalom
Harper Perennial
Paperback Original, $15.99, 416 pages, ISBN 13: 978-0-06-204831-8
