Adolphe

Description

The classic French novel first published in 1816, which follows Adolphe, a young man with all the privileges of a noble birth, but who is haunted by the meaninglessness of life. He seeks distraction in the pursuit of the beautiful but older Ellenore, a fictionalised version of Madame de Sta"l. Young Adolphe, inexperienced in love, falls for her and falters under the burden of their illicit love, which isolates them from society at large. Constant's prose eschews the conventional descriptions of exteriors for the sake of detailed emotional accounts.

French politician and writer Benjamin Constant combined an extremely lively political career with fertile literary output and an enthusiastic series of liaisons with some of France's most prominent women. Among them were two of his mistresses, Madame de Stael and Madame Recamier, as well as his two wives.

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