Confessions of a Man of Letters (World Classics Library)

Author: Musset
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-08-01
Features: This book is a semi-autobiographical novel that tells the tragedy of a young man who is pessimistic, lacking in ideals, and devoid of the will to act. Octave, the protagonist, grows up alongside his peers who were born during the French Revolution. When Napoleon was feared across Europe, they were still children, and by the time of the Restoration, they had already grown into adults. Their disdain for the reactionary forces that shrouded Europe, the disillusionment with the illusions of the Enlightenment, and the feeling of the vague prospects of life caused them to despair, making them deeply feel the superfluousness of their own existence. Octave hopes to find happiness in the love of Madame Pelisson, a beautiful woman nearly ten years older than him—a widow—who is self-absorbed, vain, and overly suspicious, but ultimately fails to achieve his desires, and the two are forced to part ways.