Manon Lescaut

Literature & Fiction

Prevost, Abbe.

Contemporary

Penguin Classics

A devastating depiction of obsessive love and a haunting portrait of a captivating but dangerous woman
When the young Chevalier des Grieux first sets eyes on the exquisitely beautiful and charming Manon Lescaut they fall passionately in love. But his happiness turns to bitter despair when he discovers that Manon is mercenary and immoral, and has taken a rich lover to pay for their life of pleasure. A broken man, he swears to stay away from her, but cannot. Just as the Chevalier is helpless to end their relationship, so Manon is incapable of giving up the source of her income, and the lovers enter a destructive cycle that can only end in tragedy. Manon Lescaut (1731) is a devastating depiction of obsessive love and a haunting portrait of a captivating but dangerous woman.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1.700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Manon Lescaut (Penguin Classics)

United States

"The sweetness of her glance, or rather my evil star already in its ascendant and drawing me to my ruin, did not allow me to hesitate for a moment." So begins the story of Manon Lescaut, a tale of passion and betrayal, of delinquency and misalliance, which moves from early eighteenth-century Paris--with its theatres, assemblies, and gaming-houses-via prison and deportation to a tragic denouement in the treeless wastes of Louisiana. It is one of the great love stories, and also one of the most enigmatic: how reliable a witness is Des Grieux, Manon's lover, whose tale he narrates? Is Manon a thief and a whore, the image of love itself, or a thoroughly modern woman? Prévost is careful to leave the ambiguities unresolved, and to lay bare the disorders of passion. This new translation includes the vignette and eight illustrations that were approved by Prévost and first published in the edition of 1753.

Manon Lescaut (Oxford World's Classics)

Scholar, Angela

Classics

Oxford University Press

"The sweetness of her glance, or rather my evil star already in its ascendant and drawing me to my ruin, did not allow me to hesitate for a moment." So begins the story of Manon Lescaut, a tale of passion and betrayal, of delinquency and misalliance, which moves from early eighteenth-century Paris--with its theatres, assemblies, and gaming-houses-via prison and deportation to a tragic denouement in the treeless wastes of Louisiana. It is one of the great love stories, and also one of the most enigmatic: how reliable a witness is Des Grieux, Manon's lover, whose tale he narrates? Is Manon a thief and a whore, the image of love itself, or a thoroughly modern woman? Prévost is careful to leave the ambiguities unresolved, and to lay bare the disorders of passion. This new translation includes the vignette and eight illustrations that were approved by Prévost and first published in the edition of 1753. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Short Stories & Anthologies

The Greek Girl's Story

With The Greek Girl’s Story, Alan Singerman presents the first reliable, stand-alone translation and critical edition of Abbé Prévost’s 1740 literary masterpiece Histoire d’une Grecque moderne. The text of this new English translation is based on Singerman’s 1990 French edition, which Jonathan Walsh called “arguably the most valuable critical edition” of Prévost’s novel to date. This new edition also includes a complete critical apparatus comprising a substantial introduction, notes, appendixes, and bibliography, all significantly updated from the 1990 French edition, taking into account recent scholarship on this work and providing some additional reflection on the question of Orientalism.Prévost’s roman à clef is based on a true story involving the French ambassador to the Ottoman Porte from 1699 to 1711. It is narrated from the ambassador’s viewpoint and is a model of subjective, unreliable narration (long before Henry James). It is remarkably modern in its presentation of an enigmatic, ambiguous character, as the truth about the heroine can never be established with certainty. It is the story of the tormented relationship between the diplomat and a beautiful young Greek concubine, Théophé, whom he frees from a pasha’s harem. While her benefactor becomes increasingly infatuated with her and bent on becoming her lover, the Greek girl becomes obsessed with the idea of becoming a virtuous and respected woman. Viewing the ambassador as a father figure, she condemns his quasi-incestuous passion and firmly rejects his repeated seduction attempts. Unable to possess the young woman or tolerate the thought that she might grant to someone else what she has refused him, the narrator subjects her behavior to minute scrutiny in an effort to catch her in an indiscretion. His investigations are fruitless, however, and Théophé, the victim of incessant persecution, simply dies, leaving all the questions about her behavior unanswered.

Literary

Penn State University Press

This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important                 historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to                 apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to                 sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and                 does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is                 culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally                 enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or                 missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the                 original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it                 back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with                 access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional                 imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that                 intended by the original publisher.

Signet Classics

A new edition of this French literary classic

Plume

Histoire du chevalier des grieux et de manon lescaut

Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut

French & European Pubns

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Books by Prevost, Abbe.

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Manon Lescaut

Manon Lescaut (Penguin Classics)

Manon Lescaut (Oxford World's Classics)

Manon Lescaut (Oxford World's Classics)

The Greek Girl's Story

The Greek Girl's Story

Manon Lescaut

Manon Lescaut

Manon Lescaut

Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut