Abelard Correspondence with Heloise: Literal Translation

ISBN-13: 9781484803639 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 232 str.

Roland Denise Oberson

Opis

The enduring love story of Abelard and Heloise, captured in their famed series of letters from the twelfth century, has been a favorite topic for scholars since first printed in 1615. In his revelatory debut, Abelard-Heloise Correspondence, author Roland Denise Oberson sheds a new-and shocking-light on this beloved literary monument of Western civilization. A new literal English translation of the long letters called epistles allows Oberson to reveal a radically different account of the events that took place between these two friends and future Benedictine monks. Through painstaking study of more than fifteen years, the author translates anew and word for word the six letters directly in connection with the tragedy. The major conclusion is that their Correspondence doesn't correspond to love letters. What he discovers runs in complete opposition to the prevailing opinion that Heloise and Abelard had an illicit sexual liaison resulting in an illegitimate child. The period of their "being together under the same roof" is too short and should in no way be interpreted that they have been in the same bed. Such a hasty conclusion that "after this, therefore because of this" is much more than a logical fallacy. This hasty conclusion is a monstrosity. It reveals itself a manifest intention to harm the philosopher who mingled theology and to spare the criminal representative of the church, Fulbert. Oberson reveals that the Latin text, so often not indisputably translated, is a clandestine account of what has been particularly detrimental to the extraordinary friendship between Abelard, a monk in progress, and a pregnant orphan and very unfortunate teenager hardly fourteen years old, Heloise. It is also a study about how to sustain such a misfortune. She has been raped and made pregnant by her tutor, canon Fulbert. Her bastard, Astrolabius, is constantly and still to our days, identified as having been fathered by Abelard; an erroneous and fallacious conclusion that must be definitively dismissed. The revelation of the true cause of the tragedy, the ignominious rape of Heloise, should make a lot of noise. If nobody cares this crime, it will be one more proof of its veracity.History doesn't always like truth. The series of letters acts as a testimony to the enduring and extraordinary friendship between Abelard, in actuality a dedicated monk, and his injured friend, Heloise. Oberson's literal translation of the text demonstrates the difficulties that exist in reading and interpreting what appears a self-deprecating (Socratic) text. Care must be taken when handling it, both by translators who, betraying words, may intentionally develop a too hasty assumption. Readers also should carefully reflect upon possibly wrong presumptions even from revised transcriptions. Unfortunately, the depiction of Abelard and Heloise's relationship continues to be very specious. Superficially plausible, indeed, it is conclusively wrong. Abelard cannot be Heloise's abuser and the father of her misbegotten child. Admittedly, the Correspondence contains a few pornographic scenes that reproduce what others who would like to practice pedophilia lend them. However, as a whole, a high spirituality dominates. Anyone whose life has been touched by the epic story of Abelard and Heloise will find Oberson's debut a must read. It is a historical update to a long-beloved story, an update that will set right the many faulty interpretations that have endured for so many years. The words of these lifelong friends find a new richness and life in Oberson's literal translation, which proves to be second to none. Roland Denise Oberson's academic studies include human sciences, medicine, languages, and philosophy. Due to such an extensive and varied background, the story of Heloise and Abelard proved particularly interesting to the author. He therefore set out to correct the misinterpretation of a largely misunderstood text.

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