The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise

By any standard, the tale of Heloise and Abelard is an extraordinary story: brilliant young philosopher seduces brilliant beautiful student, passionate affair ensues, she gets pregnant, and they secretly marry. Her relatives feel he has wronged her terribly, and in the middle of the night they break in and castrate him, after which both take refuge in the church. The letters, written years after the affair, are of great eloquence and depth of thought and feeling. Through them, the couple works to transform their 'earthly love' (which had continued to burn in Heloise's heart) into a spiritual bond that turns out to have similarly great passion and transcendence. Although the letters are steeped in religious debates and intrigues of the time, their beauty makes the love behind them seem as alive today as it was so many centuries ago.