The love affair as a work of art
By: Dan Hofstadter.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 1996
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 314
Subjects: Authors, French -- 19th century -- Relations with women; Authors, French -- 19th century -- Relations with men; Authors, French -- 19th century -- Correspondence; Love-letters; Love in literature
Description: Hofstadter "shows how these rediscovered documents [forgotten personal writing which has resurfaced in France] bear on the erotic lives of their writers, and how the fine French tradition of conducting love affairs developed as an art form....The romantic trajectory runs from Benjamin Constant and Mme. de Staël to the beautiful Mme. Récamier and her lover Chateaubriand; from George Sand and Alfred de Musset to Mme. de Caillavet and Anatole France; and it concludes with a touching portrait, based partly on still-unpublished sources, of the girl who became the model for Proust's Gilberte."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-307) and index.