On love (1822 original; edició 2008)

bought from Powells when up to visit Lori for sister weekend ( )

I'm so happy to be done with this. I can't imagine anyone, even in the 19th Century, could take most of what was written to heart and think it actual philosophy. Half of what he was on about he had to pull out of his rear. ( )

As Stendhal was obsessed with love, in many ways we all are. We all can understand passion, of not always having that passion or love returned, and of discovering different varieties of love as we experience life. This long essay really brings home how universal love is: the book was written in 1822 and yet it seems nothing about love has changed since then.

Love being so strongly and universally felt, it is easy to understand how difficult it would be to write down exactly what love is. And so while enjoyable to read from the standpoint of being relating, the book is also incomplete, fleeting, and sometimes arbitrary in its discussions. And yet, that is exactly how we all experience it. ( )

Parece ser que Stendhal, durante su juventud, fue escribiendo un poco a vuela pluma las reflexiones que se le iban ocurriendo más o menos relacionadas con el tema que da título al libro. Parece ser, también, que se pueden relacionar estos escritos con sus amores con una milanesa. Bien, pues que nadie espere una estructura coherente ni unas lineas argumentales. Ya dice Ortega, en un ensayo que precede al libro y que es tan famoso como éste, que Stendhal es novelista, no filósofo. Así que nos encontramos con un largo conjunto de textos, o de fragmentos, de extensión variable, que muchas veces no tratan del amor, sino de muchas otras cosas. Tomados uno a uno, en numerosas ocasiones el autor francés se muestra bastante agudo e inteligente. Leídos en conjunto, esto es un plomazo. Hay que tener en cuenta que esta edición, además del ya aludido ensayo de Ortega (todo lo contrario que el libro en sí: ordenado, cerebral, demasiado frío para tratar del amor, por mucha razón que tenga), incluye un prólogo de la editora, dos prólogos de Stendhal, una colección de "fragmentos diversos", algunos escritos en puños de camisa o en naipes (y se nota, en verdad), y dos o tres pequeños ensayos de Stendhal sobre las cortes de amor francesas, amén de un cuento al respecto que, para mí, es, con mucho, lo mejor del libro. Y es que, Ortega dixit, este hombre es un novelista, y de los muy buenos, pero no un sistematizador del pensamiento. ( )

If you love French literature, and if you have never read Stendhal yet, please take your earliest opportunity to read something by him, including this volume, On Love, or one of his famous novels, like The Red and the Black.
This book is a explanation of love that exhausts just about every angle and sub-topic that could be thought of. Of course in the early 19th century, the Scientific Revolution was well underway, so hardly surprising. Just like any other scholarly work, the author wants to tip his hat to all the earlier authorities, some well-known, some quite obscure, who have written on this subject. Therfore, be prepared for numerous quotes throughout the text.
I estimate that if this had been written in the 21st Century, it would probably come out as a how-to book, such as "How to Be Successful in Love," or some other such title. Of course anyone who has been in a bookstore has seen examples of this type of book, some of which boil down to a crash course on "How to Score with Chicks." But really, after all, above is a false assumption that I have thrown into the ring. No crass sentiments in this book.
Rather, the author says very clearly on the very first page that "I am trying to understand this passion, all of the truest forms of which are characterised by beauty." (page 3.)
I always enjoy name dropping. Therefore, I like to read all of the quotes Stendhal gives from other literary works, and then see how he comments on them.
Wondering what Stendhal thought of Sir Walter Scott. I can find out indirectly following these two steps. First, read his excerpt from Ivanhoe on page 66, Chapter XXIX (On Feminine Courage): "I tell thee, proud templar, that not in thy fiercest battles hadst thou displayed more of thy vaunted courage, than has been shown by woman when called upon to suffer by affection or duty."
Second, by reading the comments on page 67, and reminiscing back to the characters in The Red and the Black, I can see how the author says or doesn't say similar things about both works.
Yes, reader, if you enjoy reading about "Love"--and how many great novels are not about love in one way or another--this is a great way to take a break from novels. This is your chance to see how one of the world's greatest love-novel authors gave us the inside track to fhe theories or ideas that may have helped to generate his novels.