Synthesized answer
The passages do not directly explain how Horace’s maxim ironically foreshadows the detailed psychological analysis needed for Des Grieux. The maxim is quoted in the Author’s Preface to justify avoiding “details which render it cumbersome and involved” [2]. The preface states that a narrative “should be free from details which render it cumbersome and involved” and that the rule “has its origin in common-sense” [2].
However, the preface immediately follows this with a description of Des Grieux as “a character made up of contradictions; a mixture of vices and of virtues, a perpetual contrast of lofty sentiments and of unworthy conduct” [1]. This description implies that understanding such a character would require precisely the kind of detailed, psychological exploration that the maxim warns against. The irony is that the author claims to follow a rule of conciseness while introducing a subject that seems to demand the opposite—a detailed examination of contradictory passions.
The passages do not explicitly state that the psychological analysis becomes “cumbersome” or that the maxim is ironically subverted. They only show that the author invokes Horace for brevity while presenting…
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
ome interest and entertainment, I may venture to promise them equal pleasure in the perusal of the present sequel to it. They will find, in the adventures of M. des Grieux, a terrible example of the tyranny of the passions. I have before me the task of depicting a headstrong youth who rejects happiness, to plunge of his own accord into the deepest misery; who, possessed of every quality necessary for the attainment of brilliant distinction, yet, of his own choice, prefers an obscure and roving lift to all the advantages which nature and fortune have placed at his command; who foresees the…
← The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux by L'Abbé Prévost , translated by Arthur W. Gundry Author's Preface Part First → 3095011 The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux — Author's Preface Arthur W. Gundry L'Abbé Prévost Author's Preface. A lthough I might have introduced the Adventures of the Chevalier des Grieux in my own Memoirs, it seemed to me that, as there was no necessary connection between the two, the reader would find it more satisfactory to have them separately. The thread of my own story would have been too much interrupted by a digression…
of the picture which I am about to present. To judicious minds, a work of this nature will not appear a waste of labor. Besides the entertainment to be derived from its perusal, it will be found to contain but few incidents that may not be turned to good account as lessons in morality; and I take it to be no slight service to the public to instruct and amuse them at the same time. No one who reflects over the precepts of morality can fail to be amazed at observing how they are at once both honored and neglected; or to ask himself the reason of this strange capriciousness of the human heart,…
from a man's heart than to decry its delights to him and to promise him greater gratification in the pursuit of Virtue. Constituted as we are, there is no disputing the fact that our happiness consists in pleasure; I defy any one to form any other conception of it. Now, the moment the heart is consulted, it will testify that of all possible pleasures, the most exquisite are those of love. To promise it deeper joys from any other source is but to delude it, as it quickly discovers; and such deception inclines it to distrust even the most positive assurances. "To all preachers, therefore, who…
fectionate and constant nature, I should now have been happy for the rest of my life, had Manon remained faithful to me. The better I grew to know her, the more fascinating qualities did I discover in her. Her mind, her heart, her gentleness, and her beauty, were all links in a chain by which it was so sweet to be bound, that I should have asked for no other happiness than to be held captive by it forever. Yet, by a terrible caprice of fate, the very thing which might have given me complete felicity is that which has brought me to the verge of despair! I am at this moment the most miserable…
More questions about this book
- Considering Prévost's explicit decision to separate Des Grieux's adventures from his own memoirs, what does this tell us about his intended purpose for *Manon Lescaut* as a standalone work, and how might that influence a reader's initial expectations of the narrative?
- The preface describes Des Grieux as someone who "rejects happiness, to plunge of his own accord into the deepest misery." How does this immediate framing of the protagonist's journey, even before the story begins, shape your understanding of the "tyranny of the passions" that Prévost aims to depict?
- If you were to explain Des Grieux's "perpetual contrast of lofty sentiments and of unworthy conduct" to someone unfamiliar with the story, what specific kind of actions or internal conflicts would you highlight to illustrate this complex paradox effectively?
- Given that this text is an English translation of a French edition from 1753, and the original work inspired Puccini's opera, how might the translator's choice of language and the very act of translation subtly influence a modern reader's perception of Prévost's authorial intent or the moral lessons presented in the preface?