User:Foofy/Notes on Manon Lescaut

Here are my notes on Manon Lescaut, they might be of use to anyone else working on the article. All items can be verified in the sources. I have not used the 1911 Britannica as a valid fact resource for the obvious reasons.

History
"it is entirely free from improbable incident, it is penetrated by the truest and most cunningly managed feeling; and almost every one of its characters is a triumph of that analytic portraiture which is the secret of the modern novel."
 * POV: "One of the greatest novels of the 18th century, ground breaking?"
 * Very short (about 62,000 words).
 * Considered one of the first "modern novels"
 * Very popular in France, despite being banned as immoral. Was only available in pirated copy.
 * Separately published in Paris in 1731 as Les Aventures Du Chevalier Des Grieux Et De Manon Lescaut proposé par Monsieur D

Influence

 * Hugely influential, inspired a number of operas and ballets.
 * "A tragic love story, it's also an epic adventure story with three infidelities, three escapes, three abductions and two murders."

The story was hugely influential and inspired a number of ballets and operas, most notably Manon (1884) by French composer Jules Massenet, and Manon Lescaut (1893) by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.

Story and plot

 * Set in France and Louisiana.
 * Cevalier des Grieux is the main character, is "worn to a shell by life and a bitter experience."
 * Reveals his story/troubles to a kind stranger who asks.
 * Tiberge, his friend/mentor and "reasonable man."
 * Lescaut, Manon's brother, an eccentric bully.
 * Manon, the hero (protagonist?) who genuinely loves des Grieux, but betrays him because of her love of money/comfort. Does not want to live a life of privation.
 * POV: "Manon is a remarkable hero. No literary ancestor, mostly original."
 * "Only Princesse de Clèves compares (from Madame de la Fayette's masterpiece."
 * Compelling character of Manon prefigures a host of nineteenth-century Romantic heroines.
 * Des Grieux finds joy in love and sexual relationship.
 * Also finds misery of betrayal and moral degradation.
 * Manon is "amiable" through her degradation (whatever that means).
 * Book shows such things as destructive and morally degrading.
 * Shows differences between aristocracy and poor?
 * Ambiguous ending.