The love affair as a work of art / Dan Hofstadter.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This series of entwined biographical sketches recounts how, in the Romantic Era, love affairs, often illicit, were transformed into novels, memoirs, and published correspondences. We make the intimate acquaintance of great writers like Mme de Staël, Chateaubriand, George Sand, and Anatole France, who, however, fall gradually under the suspicion of pursuing their amorous entanglements for "good material." The tale ends with a moving account, based on unpublished sources, of the strange, intense friendship of Marcel Proust and Jeanne Pouquet, the girl who became the model for Gilberte in Swann's Way . Disenchanted yet compassionate, this book explores how our affections may be exalted (and at times betrayed) by our desire to refashion them as stories.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The French elevated the love letter to rapturous heights from the 17th through the 19th centuries, culminating in epistolary chefs-d'oeuvre like Montesquieu's Lettres persanes and Laclos's Les liaisons dangereuses. In this enraptured study Hofstadter (Goldberg's Angel, Farrar, 1994) rakes through the correspondence of several famous pairs-Benjamin Constant and Germaine de Staël; Juliette Récamier and Chateaubriand; George Sand and Alfred de Musset; Anatole France and Léontine de Caillavet; and Marcel Proust and Jeanne Pouquet-whose fleeting passion inspired immortal works of literature. Hofstadter conveys the sheer glee he has taken in digging into dusty volumes of letters and diaries; he trots out personages long entombed and breathlessly synthesizes a whole canon of literary criticism. Although he passes swift judgment on some of the figures involved-Madame Récamier's talents are ``those of a really good present-day talk-show hostess'' and George Sand is obsessed with her ``mythomania''-Hofstadter's verve is irresistible. A pleasant enticement to the study of French literature.-Amy Boaz, ``Library Journal'' (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Many French literary figures of the 19th century thought of the love affair as an art form, yet as this deliciously gossipy study reveals, lovers' shared dreams often did not jibe with messy reality. George Sand agonized at being caught up in a triangle with poet-playwright Alfred de Musset, with whom she pursued a quest for erotic knowledge, and young Venetian physician Pietro Pagello. Madame Juliette Récamier, who ran a celebrated Parisian salon, harbored deep mistrust of her lover, François-René de Chateaubriand, a relentless climber who turned to her for help (when they were platonic friends) after he was expelled from his post as cabinet minister by Louis XVIII. Melancholy novelist Benjamin Constant argued to the point of mutual hatred with his mistress, Madame Germaine de Staël, who persuaded him to sign a document declaring his obligation to love her exclusively. Also discussed are Anatole France's stormy extramarital affair with salon-keeper Léontine Arman de Caillavet, and Marcel Proust's unrequited passion for Jeanne Pouquet, who served as the model for the character Gilberte Swann in Remembrance of Things Past. Quoting freely from lovers' letters, diaries and memoirs, Hofstadter's (Goldberg's Angel) irresistible, highly perceptive group portrait is a delight. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Hofstadter, author most recently of Goldberg's Angel (1994), continues his intriguing and original inquiry into the enigmas of personality, the making of art, and the dynamics of deception. The rather provocative title suggests that love is the art under discussion here, but Hofstadter's focus is actually on love letters and the role they played in some of France's most infamous nineteenth-century literary amours. After praising the eroticism of love letters, now an all but moribund genre, Hofstadter embarks on a series of nimble analyses of the tricky relationships between such eloquent correspondents as Madame Germaine de Stael and novelist Benjamin Constant; the gently beautiful Juliette Recamier and the manipulative writer Chateaubriand; the indomitable George Sand, "the nerviest prose improviser of her age," and the poet Alfred de Musset; Leontine de Caillavet and Anatole France; and Marcel Proust and Jeanne Pouquet. As Hofstadter attempts to work out the "moral algebra" of each affair (or nonaffair), he presents piquant profiles of each complex personality and offers fresh insights into how exactly those liaisons influenced French literature and vice versa. Literary history at its wittiest, most richly imagined, and creative. (Reviewed Feb. 1, 1996)0374192316Donna Seaman

Kirkus Book Review

Stylish, insightful narratives of exemplary love affairs- -liaisons conducted in French, during the Romantic period and the Belle Epoque, when intellectual talk and passionate correspondence lent formal brilliance to the work of love. The luxurious prose that New Yorker contributor Hofstadter (Goldberg's Angel, 1994, etc.) crafts here provides the perfect medium for transmitting the extravagant stylings of his subjects, French literati active during the years 17961834 and 18871915. Presenting evidence drawn from their public and, moreover, their private writings, Hofstadter shows how their romantic effusions shaped their lives to aesthetic ends. His story begins with the sentimental novelist Madame de Charrière, who fairly late in her life established a deep yet apparently platonic relationship with the youthful Benjamin Constant. Constant left her for the celebrated author Madame de Staël. Later, after emerging from de Staël's influence, he would write an extraordinarily misogynist novel, Adolphe--based, ironically enough, on his mentor Madame de Charrière's Caliste. Madame de Staël's protegées also included Juliette Récamier, who fell for the Vicomte Chateaubriand, whose Memories from Beyond the Tomb Hofstadter presents as a brilliant achievement of memory and of lying. Hofstadter moves on to develop a second, similar picture of literary romance. This time the work of Marcel Proust, who modeled many of his characters on his contemporaries, provides the focus. Key actors include the novelist Anatole France; his lover, the salonnière Léontine de Caillavet; and her son, Gaston, who competed with Proust himself for the affections of Jeanne Pouquet. Like Chateaubriand, Proust inevitably brings the topic around to memory and its vicissitudes. Hofstadter, for his part, hesitates to draw any resolutions from them for our time. He stresses instead the gulf that lies between these worlds of letters and our own society. Hofstader's recreation of French romanticisms exemplifies the art of collective biography. But without larger conclusions, his tale, however artfully crafted, remains a mere melodrama of literary life.