The title of this story, Ecclesiastical Laurels (originally Les Lauriers ecclésiastiques), foreshortens in two words the basic plot: a commendatory abbot, the Abbot T***, wages war on the field of love. After several conquests, of varying degrees of success, with women at various levels of society and of various vocations, he progresses from a complete neophyte in the rules and etiquette of love-making and seduction, through a middle period of maturation and rage, to finally being fulgurated by the woman of his future happiness and "legitimate passion," who, as chance might have it, is a nun. His successes, or conquests, earn him his laurels, imaginary leafy crowns that are more like garter belts. One subtitle of this story, the "Abbot T***&#700;s Campaigns," further emphasizes the libertine tendencies of the main character and plot. But if anything, it is soft-libertinage, where the main character could be described as a mélange between ambitious young lover Julien Sorel (of Stendhal&#700;s Le rouge et le noir, also a bildungsroman) and master seducer Valmont in Choderlos de Laclos&#700; Les liaisons dangereuses.

Ecclesiastical Laurels: Abbot T***'s Campaigns

Literature & Fiction

de la Morlière, Jacques Rochette

Literary

Sunny Lou Publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by de la Morlière, Jacques Rochette. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by de la Morlière, Jacques Rochette

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by de la Morlière, Jacques Rochette. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ecclesiastical Laurels: Abbot T***'s Campaigns