Cursed Be Love!

Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du NoüyProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 261K words
Chapters: 27

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Maudit soit l'Amour! by Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du NoüyAuthor: Lecomte du Noüy, Hermine Oudinot, 1854-1915,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Dec 4, 2010

Editor's review

This is the French novel Maudit soit l'Amour! (translatable as "Cursed Be Love!") by the French author Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy (1854–1915), prepared by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. The title sets the book's tone: emotion intertwined with resentment, in the vein of late 19th- to early 20th-century French popular romance and psychological writing. For Chinese readers, its value lies more in language and style as a sample—one can observe how French narrative of that period builds emotion and handles dialogue and interior monologue; it is also indirect evidence for understanding the creative profile of women authors of the time. The original is in French, with no translation to assist, and the plot advances through linguistic detail, so it suits readers with French foundations willing to read slowly rather than general readers seeking strong plot or a Chinese translation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

French learners with intermediate or higher reading ability who want to practice the original text
Literary readers studying late 19th- to early 20th-century French popular fiction
Readers interested in modern women authors and emotional themes in literary history
Readers looking for public-domain French texts for language or translation practice

Not a good fit for

General readers without French who need a Chinese translation
Genre-fiction readers who prefer strong plot and fast pacing
Beginners hoping to gain a systematic understanding of French literary history from this book

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters to gauge language difficulty and narrative pace, then decide between intensive and extensive reading.
Keep pen and paper to mark recurring emotion words and sentence patterns, building up 19th-century French expressions.
Read slowly with a French dictionary and audio recordings, focusing on dialogue and psychological description.
If practicing translation only, translate a passage yourself and compare it with the original; reading the whole book is not necessary.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is there a Chinese translation of this book?

Available information shows only the French public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg and does not mention a Chinese translation. Chinese readers who cannot read French will find it difficult; check whether a translation exists from another publisher before deciding.

What does the title mean?

"Maudit soit l'Amour!" is French, literally close to "Cursed be love," conveying resentment and ambivalence toward love, echoing the emotional entanglements that set the book's tone.

Who is the author?

The author, Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy (1854–1915), was a French writer. Available information provides only birth and death years and nationality, without biographical detail; readers should not add unverified life stories beyond this book.

Is it suitable for learning French?

It can serve as extensive reading material, but the text is late 19th- to early 20th-century literary language, whose syntax and vocabulary are not fully equivalent to contemporary speech. It is best read after reaching an intermediate level, with a dictionary, and not as an introductory textbook.

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About the author

Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy Author · French · 1854–1915

Hermine Oudinot Lecomte du Noüy (1854–1915) was a French novelist born in Paris, the daughter of the stained-glass painter Eugène Oudinot. She rose to fame in 1896 with the epistolary novel Amitié amoureuse, written under the pen name Pierre de Coulevain, and co-authored works such as Maudit soit l'Amour! with Vallevé and others. Her representative works also include Incertidumbre. The literary salon she hosted was renowned in its day, making her an influential figure in Parisian literary circles. Public information on her early education, complete body of work and critical reception is limited; existing accounts focus on the themes of her epistolary fiction, her use of a pen name and her salon, with her writing dwelling on emotion and relations between the sexes in a delicate style.