About love

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Stendhal

About love (French De l'amour , also translated as Von der Liebe ) are notes by the French writer Stendhal , which were published in 1822. The reason for De l'amour , in which he invents and describes the famous term of crystallization , was his unhappy love for Matilde (Matilde Viscontini Dembowski).

Try about love

In 1822 Stendhal presented a "Physiology of Love", as he occasionally called his compilation, in which he would like to examine love in an essayistic-philosophical way. The somewhat informal-looking notes do not convey the claim of a (natural) scientific treatise, nor was Stendhal's intention. Nevertheless, the French writer tries seriously to track down the laws of love as well as their forms and nuances and to work out some basic guidelines. Because, in his opinion, people should not perceive love alone as a sensation, but should have the courage to think about it so that it can be "consciously reflected and objectified on the level of the spirit."

construction

Stendhal: De l'Amour , first edition: Mongie, Paris, 1822 (Bibliothèque municipale de Grenoble)

About love ( De l'amour ) divides into two books. The first of these comprises 39 chapters, not all of which have been given a heading. In this part, Stendhal goes into the functioning of love as a feeling. He examines the origins of love and how it develops. Keyword important in this respect is the crystallization ( cristallisation ). Stendhal paints the picture of a love that is constantly changing and creating new facets. In addition to other peculiarities associated with being in love - such as hope ( espérance ), shame ( pudeur ) or looks ( regards ) - Stendhal also writes about the dark side of feelings such as pride ( orgueil ) and jealousy ( jalousie ). Love can also be a disease that confuses man and makes his imagination see things that do not correspond to reality. Another aberration is the stinging or “thorn” of self-love ( la pique d'amour-propre ).

The second book is divided into 59 chapters, all of which are headed. They already show that Stendhal devotes himself to social and societal characteristics. Above all, he describes "national" peculiarities, that is, he tries to describe love in France, England, Italy, Spain and a few other countries from the point of view of the geographic and climatic starting position. For example, while the English tend to be cool and distant, love in Italy is freer and more hedonistic . He also refers to socio-political phenomena such as the education of women ( l'éducation des femmes ) and marriage ( mariage ). The education of women - insofar as one could speak of it - was "the fruit of chance and arrogance" Stendhal criticized that good and rich skills of young women remained unused because they were imposed on slave education ( éducation d'esclave ).

Will be completed by the love with fragments and a loose collection of thoughts and aphorisms . He uses a number of examples from literature in his texts to explain the functioning and nuances of love.

Types of love

Stendhal writes his findings about love preferably from the man's point of view. The four types of love that he presents appear in different forms for each gender. Basically, these are principles that can be subdivided into subspecies, but which are of no consequence for the overall description of love. He differentiates:

  1. Love out of passion : it is quasi falling in love and the fulfilling feeling of love, which not only has to exist between man and woman, but also includes the parents' love for their children or the love of a nun for God.
  2. Love out of gallantry : Stendhal compares it to a painting in which the colors are not allowed to sink into gloom. A warm color must always prevail. However, love is deliberately maintained, just as the painter can use colors in a targeted manner. There is nothing unexpected in love, it is rather a ritual whose rules one must master. In this respect, it is more of an appearance and an illusion that is nourished in a gallant and polite (courtly) manner. This way of dealing with love primarily means courtly love, as it was common in the 18th century.
  3. Love out of sensuality : The term hides the physical and sexual aspect of love. Regardless of character, writes Stendhal, it begins to blossom in everyone around the age of 16. It is the joy of love triggered by physical stimuli. It is demarcated from passionate love, which is more of a spiritual one. Sensual love is subordinate to passionate, delicately thinking people because they sense a (spiritual) ideal in love. The simple, physical satisfaction rather stifles the passion.
  4. Love out of vanity : This form has little to do with true passion. Rather, it is a kind of self-love, and a woman should only underline the man's worth, as if he were holding a horse that he can proudly present among his friends. The connection with a woman is more like a purpose than a relation of feeling. On the other hand, this species often has an unparalleled resistance. Only when the connection is broken do emotions emerge. They arise from injured vanity, indulge in novel-like ideas and are thus based more on imagination than on truth. This is how you mourn your ex, feeling melancholy and cheated of the future.

Origin of love

In the chapter of the same name, Stendhal author traces the emergence and course of love.

  • Women arouse admiration in men.
  • Then there is the imagination, for example what it would be like to kiss the admired person.
  • Hope joins it. While paying close attention to the virtues of the other, one also looks for signs of passion that place one in a certain expectation.
  • Love was born. Joy spreads in you and you want to feel, touch, understand the person you love with all your senses.
  • The first crystallization. You picture the other person in all their assets. The image of the other receives an ever finer decoration, so that one is inspired by the longing to always be with the other, to enjoy his presence and perfection. The constant fulfillment of this happiness soon led to satiety.
  • Therefore, doubts creep in. The lover is more confident in building on his or her happiness, but also desires a pledge of this love. If he is too sure of victory, he will meet with indifference or rejection. This apparent cold, however, incites him all the more and keeps love alive.
  • The second crystallization. Euphoria follows doubt, the lover experiences a rollercoaster of emotions, which can end all the more euphoria or even in a disappointment. According to Stendhal, three thoughts dominate the lover: The loved one unites all advantages; She loves him; How does he come into possession of a token of love? If he is disappointed in this train of thought, he must become aware of the truth (break crystals), and it will be pushed forward again. In the event of a general rejection, however, he casts doubt on the entire crystallization.

The crystallization

In order to characterize the changes and fine "ramifications" of love, Stendhal uses the image of a branch without leaves that is placed in a salt mine near Salzburg. After two or three months, crystals have formed on the bare wood, an infinity of diamonds ( une infinité de diamants ). It is the same with the person in whom a lover always discovers new facets. The beloved keep perfecting themselves as the branch in the salt mine attaches more and more crystals. Love is thus a dynamic, non-stationary process. Above all, it is an act of the mind ( opération de l'esprit ).

The crystallization of the opposite is in the eye of the beholder and does not have to correspond to reality. First of all, the character traits of the other seem wonderful to one. What is a quirk or a lack for others, even annoying or annoying, represents an advantage of the person for the lover. With every gesture, facets are added again and again and only make the loved one more lovable. The crystallization can also be interrupted and pause, but basically it is a lifelong process in love, because you get to know the other person better and the "crystal formation" is stimulated anew.

If one has not yet gotten closer to the other person, the crystallization works mainly in the imagination ( solution imaginaire ). You paint the other person in your mind in all colors and facets. Here, too, there are always new impressions and drive the imagination. It even goes so far that the loved one takes on the character trait one expects. The crystallization here depends heavily on the imagination of the person in love. It is no coincidence that Stendhal also sees the danger of love as a disease: the imagination can also remain just imagination.

Emergence

Shortly before his death on 22./23. March 1842 Stendhal wrote a second foreword to his notes on love. His book sold very poorly for the first ten years; if you can believe him, only 17 buyers have been found. The French author's own statements about his work must always be treated with care. Stendhal tended to consider what he had printed as complete and hardly bothered about it anymore. The last chapters of Red and Black are missing headings and mottos because he was traveling and his thoughts were elsewhere.

The fact of the matter, however, is that reflections on love did not sell well. But that should not have surprised Stendhal, after all, he himself kept claiming that he wrote for a small readership (“To the happy few”) to whom his texts were accessible. In his second foreword he outlines the reader of these notes on love. They have to be people who are capable of love, that is, passion and suffering. Most importantly, they need to be imaginative and, in some ways, dreamers. But they must not let themselves be carried away by sensation alone, because with Stendhals people should also think of love . The mentioned spiritual level should be comprehensible. The text about love is mainly based on notes that Stendhal made in salons . He scribbled - so he claims - anecdotes and stories on scraps of paper and theater programs that he had on hand. In conversations in the Milan salon in particular, he caught a lot about love. In 1822 he gave the collected notes to his printer, who refused to accept the loose collection of sheets . Only when the notes were properly transferred were 1,100 copies printed.

reception

The American psychologist Dorothy Tenno received the book in the 1970s and 1980s as part of her theory of limerence .

The French film De l'amour by Jean Aurel , published in 1964, based on Stendhal's book. The leading roles are cast with Michel Piccoli , Anna Karina and Elsa Martinelli .

Stendhal: About love . Translation by Arthur Schurig, Eugen Diederichs, Leipzig 1903

expenditure

  • De l'amour. Par l'auteur de l'Histoire de la peinture et des Vies de Haydn, Mozart et Métastase . 2 volumes. Paris: Mongie l'aîné 1822. [first edition, anonymous].
In 1833 a two-volume edition was published by Bohaire in Paris, corrected for the printing errors in the first edition.
  • De l'amour . Edition présentée, établie et annotée by Victor Del Litto. Paris: Gallimard 1980.
German translations
  • About love . Transferred and introduced by Arthur Schurig . Leipzig: Diederichs 1903.
  • About love . Transferred from Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski . Berlin: Propylaen-Verl. 1921.
  • About love. Illustrated with 37 pen drawings. Transferred from Hans Kades , with an afterword by Otto Flake . Munich: Desch 1946.
  • About love . Transferred from Walter Widmer . Munich: Winkler 1953.
  • About love . Selection and transfer by Otto F. Best . 1961. (Piper Library. 158.)
  • About love . Transferred by Günther Steinig. Berlin: Rütten & Loening 1963.
  • About love . From the French and with an introduction by Walter Hoyer . Frankfurt a. M .: Insel Verlag 1977. (Insel-Taschenbuch.)
  • About love . Translated from the French by Franz Hessel . With fragments, an appendix from the author's estate and a note by Franz Blei . Zurich: Diogenes Verlag 2002. ISBN 3-257-20967-3

literature

Web links

Translation by Arthur Schurig. Leipzig 1903.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Comment tombe-t-on amoureux? L'explication de Stendhal Jet d'encre, culture, April 4, 2016, accessed October 6, 2019
  2. ↑ Stendhal: About love. From the French and with an introduction by Walter Hoyer. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1977, p. 11.
  3. ^ Own translation after Stendhal: De l'amour. Edition présentée, établie et annotée by V. Del Litto. Gallimard, Paris 1980, p. 205.
  4. ↑ IMDB
  5. ↑ Victor Del Lillo. Bibliography Stendhalienne. 1865-1970. Ed. du Grand Chaine 1974. p. 164