Description
Alienation from society and an all-consuming passion are the themes of this classic French novel. Adolphe is a melancholic, disaffected young man who has just completed his studies at a German university. He moves to another town and becomes employed at the court of a prince, where he earns an unsympathetic reputation. But his attention is soon attracted by Ellenore, a stunning Polish refugee ten years older who is the lover of the Comte de P***. He embarks on a plan to seduce her, and the outcome is so successful that they fall deeply in love, shutting out the world around them. As their affair begins to isolate them from society, Adolphe begins to worry that his relationship could be detrimental to his career and future: he seems to be sacrificing everything for Ellenore. He decides to leave town, but she persuades him to stay for an additional six months. But when she breaks off her affair with the Comte de P*** and leaves her two children to be with Adolphe, he finds it impossible to desert her. Although he incurs his father’s wrath, Adolphe travels with Ellenore to Poland, where she regains her estate. But just as good fortune seems to be smiling on the couple, another, even greater obstacle threatens to rip them apart.
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Opening Lines (Experimental)
Je venais de finir à vingt-deux ans mes études à l'université de Gottingue. -- L'intention de mon père, ministre de l'électeur de **, était que je parcourusse les pays les plus remarquables de l'Europe. Il voulait ensuite m'appeler auprès de lui, me faire entrer dans le département dont la ...
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Adolphe
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Adolphe
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