Synopsis
'On Love' is Stendhal's profound attempt to rationalise that most complex of emotions - romantic love. Inspired by his unrequited passion for the Countess Dembowska, he brings together logical, clear-sighted analysis with all-consuming emotion, to most remarkable effect. Having classified the many types of love - passionate, physical, vain... - Stendhal identifies the seven stages by which lovers fall under the spell of emotion. He here expounds his celebrated theory of crystallisation, through which the object of affection is transformed beyond all recognition, adorned with a thousand crystals, in the mind of the lover. The prescience of his theories about the psychological state of loving has astounded generations of readers. Yet beneath these clever philosophical musings can be seen a desperate attempt by the author to reconcile and dispel his own tortured emotions. The result is an astonishing work that bears all the hallmarks of Stendhal's later masterpieces.
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Review
'This is a gem of literature, one of many possible windows into the human soul, a book one must at some point read and meditate upon' --A.C. Grayling
About the Author
Stendhal (1783-1842) is most famous for his two realist masterpieces, 'Le Rouge et le noir', and 'La Chartreuse de Parme', which deal with the political and social landscape of Restoration France and Italy.
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