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Title: Julie, or the New Heloise: Letters of Two Lovers Who Live in a Small Town at the Foot of the Alps (Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Works. Vol. 6.) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Roger D. Masters, Christopher Kelly, Philip Stewart, Jean Vache ISBN: 0-87451-825-3 Publisher: University Press of New England Pub. Date: 15 October, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Superb Story
Comment: It is a pity that Julie, or the New Heloise is neither better known nor more widely read. It is one of the great novels. Rousseau may be most famous as a philosopher and Julie includes many philosophical passages, discussing issues such as education, virtue and religion, but he shows in this novel that he was both a fine writer and an able storyteller. The ideas he puts into the mouths of his characters are interesting, the debates they engage in are continually fascinating, but it is the story he tells which is truly memorable for it is deeply moving.
The novel consists of a series of letters some quite short, some extending to many pages. The main characters are Julie d'Étange, a young Swiss girl of noble birth and her tutor who has the pseudonym St. Preux. They begin an affair and fall deeply in love. It is this initial relationship of pupil to teacher, developing into passion, which is supposed to remind the reader of the medieval lovers Abelard and Heloise. Moreover both pairs of lovers face difficulties and opposition from family. They experience the joys of love and suffer because of it. These parallels however, should not be overestimated, Rousseau is not retelling an old story and Julie's life is quite different from that of Heloise. The story has numerous twists and turns and many surprises along the way. Other characters interact with the young lovers write letters to them and to each other. Gradually over the course of a long novel one begins to care about these people. It is here that Rousseau's skill as a writer is most evident. I found myself emotionally involved in the story of Julie and St. Preux in a way which was quite unexpected. By the end I had felt much joy and not a little sorrow and had been touched by a novel that can bring forth tears.
The epistolary form works very well, and is used cleverly, even if sometimes a letter is so large it could scarcely fit into an envelope. It has to be said however, that this novel is difficult. It has to be read carefully as it continually refers itself back to previous letters, which means that one is constantly re-reading previous passages. Sometimes it is necessary to read a paragraph over again in order to fully understand it. This is not a novel that can be skimmed, but must be savoured and read over a period of weeks. This fact should not discourage anyone from reading Julie, for it is as rewarding as it is challenging. If it is hard, it is also a pleasure.
The edition of Julie published by the University Press of New England is scholarly and a stunning achievement. The translation of Philip Steward and Jean Vaché is the first full translation into English since the 18th century. It reads well and seems both accurate and fluent. There are over seventy pages of notes, which I found both essential for my understanding of the novel and interesting in the way they expand and explain the various obscure references in the text. Stewart writes a relatively short introduction, which is clear and comprehensible. It is neither overly academic nor dry. My only wish is that it were somewhat longer. Spread throughout the novel are twelve beautiful illustrations depicting scenes from the novel. Finally this edition includes a summary of each letter and a chronology of the events in the novel. I found these very useful as a means of finding my way through what can be a dense and complex correspondence. Julie, or the New Heloise is a truly great novel and this edition does it justice.
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Title: The Confessions and Correspondence, Including the Letters to Malesherbes (The Collected Writings of Rousseau, Vol 5) by Christopher Kelly, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Roger D. Masters ISBN: 0874518369 Publisher: Dartmouth College Pub. Date: 15 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Reveries of the Solitary Walker by Peter France, Jean Jacques Rousseau ISBN: 0140443630 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1980 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: The Solitary Self: Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Exile and Adversity by Maurice Cranston ISBN: 0226118665 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: March, 1999 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Jean-Jacques: The Early Life of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1754 by Maurice Cranston ISBN: 0226118622 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: April, 1991 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Penguin Classics) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, J.M. Cohen ISBN: 014044033X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: August, 1953 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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