January 1 2007: Review: Passionate Minds: The Great Enlightenment Love Affair – David Bodanis
Filed under Reviews
Dry, definitely very dry. The problem with this book lies in its inability to successfully draw the reader into the lives of its subjects. We observe from a distance, but we don’t get really involved, the way we should. We get cold hard facts, we occasionally get some half-hearted discussions of possible emotions that the subjects might be feeling, but we never get drawn into the scandalous world of the eighteenth century French court.
Telling the story of the affair between noted French playwright and literary wit, François-Marie Arouet (commonly known as Voltaire), and noted scientific theorist (in an era when females in academia were scorned!) Émilie du Châtelet, Passionate Minds focuses more on the meeting of the minds of these two great thinkers, rather than the physical nature of their scandalous, adulterous union (Émilie was a married woman).
This is another of its failings: its inability to market itself to the right audience. The artwork on the book cover and the blurb suggest a tale of romance, suspense, and notoriety:
Only after swordfights, imprisonment, wild affairs, lottery scams and border escapes did they (Voltaire and Émilie) find love together.
From the back cover of Passionate Minds
Yet, once one gets a few chapters into the book, one begins to realise how false this type of advertising is. Rather than the tale of romance that one would expect, one finds oneself reading about heavy scientific theories and literary triumphs. I wouldn’t have minded this type of a story; I generally enjoy reading theoretical works. However, having picked up this book expecting a romance, I was bitterly disappointed and more than a little angry that I didn’t get what I was looking for. Give us cold hard facts by all means, I certainly don’t object to that. However, when you do so, don’t dress it up as a tale of human foibles, illustrate it as the factual and informative story that it really is.
To sum up, the impression that the book left upon me nothing but a piqued interest in the life of Voltaire and Émilie. Not in their academic life and cerebral thoughts and achievements, but rather in them, as human beings. By all means, I suggest that you read this book. Just be prepared to search for a juicier version after completing this drier retelling.
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