Heloise and Abelard

Perhaps the most famous romantic tragedy of the Middle Ages, the tale of Heloise and Abelard has long been renowned for its intense portrayal of the relationships between faith, carnal desire, and the intellectual life. Desperately in love and yet committed to the idea of the pure and chaste “man of letters,” Abelard, along with Heloise, is forced to live a tortuous double life of seemingly self-inflicted sorrow. Based upon the actual letters exchanged by the two throughout their lives, Étienne Gilson’s Heloise and Abelard is perhaps the most penetrating and historically accurate account of these two singular figures. Not content to provide a surface-level account of this classic tale, Gilson focuses instead on giving the reader a detailed picture of the characters themselves, highlighting particularly Heloise’s conflicted nature. Engaging and illuminating, Gilson’s work is a sure success both as a scholarly work and an engaging retelling of a classic tale played out simultaneously on the level of head and heart.