Abelard and Heloise: The Letters and Other Writings

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Letters and Other Writings features an accurate and stylistically faithful new translation of both The Calamities of Peter Abelard and the remarkable letters it sparked between the ill-fated philosopher and his brilliant former student and lover. The intellectual passion, formal virtuosity, and psychological drama of the exchange distinguish it as one of the most extraordinary correspondences in European history.

Reviews

This text has a tremendous advantage over the Penguin: its introduction is geared to smart undergrads, its notes are precise and helpful, and its translations are really readable. Plus the book's design is eminently satisfying. This text exemplifies the best combination of deep erudition and user/student-friendly features. I will use it again. --Louise M. Bishop, Clark Honors College, University of Oregon
Levitan's fresh translations administer a series of productive shocks to the system. Nothing looks or sounds the same. . . . This will be a marvelous teaching text, and it deserves to enliven the syllabi of many, many courses. But it will also energize scholars. --Carol Symes, University of Illinois, in The Medieval Review
This valuable translation of a major body of Medieval Latin prose and verse with extensive scholarly notes and appendices stands out for its comprehensive coverage of the Abelardian epistolary corpus. It offers the Historia calamitatum , the seven letters (all following the Muckle/McLaughlin edition and following their counting), the Heloisae Problemata , the confession (both from PL clxxviii), the letters of Peter the Venerable from and to Heloise (from Constable's edition), and a selection of the songs and poems (including the laments for the daughter of Jephtha and for Saul and Jonathan). . . . Exactly what is needed for the general reader. -- Medium Aevum

Author Bio

William Levitan is Associate Professor of Classics, Grand Valley State University and a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. Stanley Lombardo is Professor of Classics, University of Kansas.