The Sharp Hook of Love (46 page)

L
ove in all its passion, glory, pathos, and pain: That's what first drew me to the story of Heloise and Abelard, that “ill-starred” couple whose shocking tale has intrigued so many over the centuries. But where others have seen tragedy, I've found inspiration, especially in the life of Heloise d'Argenteuil. Her unconditional, self-sacrificial devotion to Abelard never wavered in spite of tremendous obstacles, including Abelard's own flawed humanity; nor did it prevent her becoming one of the most influential women of her day and one of the greatest writers of all time.

As soon as I encountered their story—while researching medieval philosophy for my thirteenth-century historical novel,
Four Sisters, All Queens
—I knew Heloise and Abelard would be the focus of my next book. Why did they appeal to me so? The tale's shock value grabbed my attention, of course, but so did the paradox of Heloise, a rare woman scholar who matched wits with the greatest of minds yet gave up everything that mattered for his sake.

When I began
The Sharp Hook of Love
, I was newly in love with an artistic man of true genius whose need for ample time and space alone clashed with my desire for companionship and connection. As we fought and parted, then reunited with passion and joy, our love deepened and grew—and I wrote and read and
revised, searching for the true meaning of love, confronting my own deepest fears, anxieties, and desires.

My quest began with the couple's letters. Years after being forced to part, Heloise and Abelard continued to correspond. Eight of their letters survive, written when he was an abbot and she an abbess, starting with Abelard's autobiography,
Historia Calamitatum (The Story of My Misfortunes)
, in which he tells the tale of his affair with Heloise. She responded, correcting him in some of his accounts and embellishing others, and emphasizing that, in the fifteen years having passed since their parting, she had never stopped loving him.

Apparently, the same is true for Abelard. Before he died, Abelard asked permission to live his final days at the Oratory of the Paraclete, where Heloise was now abbess. The Church refused, so he requested that, after his death, his body go to the Paraclete so that Heloise might pray over him until she died—which she did for twenty years.

As for Heloise, her deathbed wish was to be buried with her beloved. “When her dead body was carried to the opened tomb, her husband, who had died long before her, raised his arms to receive her, and so clasped her closely in his embrace,” an anonymous chronicler wrote, lending an air of legend to the lovers' already famous story.

When, one hundred years later, the great poet Jean de Meun translated their letters from Latin into French and excerpted them in his continuation of the popular tale
Roman de la Rose
, the pair became famous again, taking their place alongside Tristan and Iseult and Aucassin and Nicolette as embodying the spirit of enduring love against all odds—
Romeo and Juliet
before their time. Unlike these couples, however, Abelard and Heloise were not fictional characters. They truly lived, and loved.

Imagine my excitement to hear these lovers' tale for the first
time. I
had
to retell it. As I began my research, my admiration for Heloise grew. Here was a woman of intellect, heart, and indomitable spirit who gave up her child, her freedom, her very life, for the sake of the man she loved. In doing so, she benefited not only Abelard but all posterity.

In 1129, twelve years or so after Heloise took the veil, Suger, now abbot at Saint-Denis, took possession of the Argenteuil Royal Abbey after accusing the nuns of “disgraceful and filthy relations.” Suger expelled the sisters and their abbess, most of whom headed to the Saint-Marie-of-Malnoué convent in Brie. Heloise, however, followed a different path.

Abelard, hearing of her situation, had offered her his only possession, a tract of wild ground on the Ardusson River near Troyes, on which to build an abbey. She and her followers made the long journey to Abelard's oratory, which comprised a few mud-and-thatch huts and a small stone chapel. At first the women had to forage, hunt, and fish to stay alive, but in a few years the Oratory of the Paraclete had become one of the largest religious institutions in the French realm with five daughter houses, rivaling the Fontevraud Abbey.

As abbess, Heloise instituted a legacy benefiting future generations at the Paraclete: new rules governing convent life, the first ever written for women. She also left behind songs and poems, likely among those in the famous
Carmina Burana
, which scholars believe began as Abelard's personal collection.

And then, the letters. Even with only the aforementioned eight, the couple's story has captured imaginations for nearly nine hundred years. A glimpse at their Wikipedia entry reveals a long list of poems, music, novels, films, artworks, and more referring to the couple.

But in 1999, an extraordinary thing happened: a scholar in Australia, Professor Constant J. Mews, published excerpts from
113 more letters that he asserted the couple wrote to each other during their courtship. These “Lost Love Letters,” exquisite in their poetry and extraordinary in their passion, provide a much different portrait of the love affair between Heloise and Abelard than we find in the
Historia Calamitatum
. Abelard, writing his autobiography to emphasize his own sinfulness and salvation, had positioned himself as a callous seducer of his innocent student. The “Lost Love Letters,” however, show a Heloise fully engaged in the affair, an equal in love as well as intellect.

The Sharp Hook of Love
is, to my knowledge, the first novel about the couple to incorporate these letters, not only their extraordinary language but also their themes, including the nature of true love. In this book, as in their letters, they debate whether different types of love exist, such as the love of a parent or child versus the love for a husband or wife versus the love for God, or whether love is, simply, love. They agree that, in considering the rightness or wrongness of an act, intention matters more than the deed itself. And they discuss the “perpetual debt” in which lovers ideally find themselves.

“You know, my heart's love, that the services of true love are properly fulfilled only when they are continually owed,” Heloise writes. Abelard echoes this notion: “In this way will our love be immortal: if each of us strives to outdo the other in a friendly and loving contest and if neither of us agreed to be outdone by the other.” To this day, debate rages over which of the two loved, and lost, more.

Incorporating the beautiful language from the couples' own letters was one of the great pleasures, for me, of writing
The Sharp Hook of Love
. Striving for authenticity of voice, I also wove in quotes from philosophers and poets they would have read—Boethius, Seneca, Cicero, Ovid—as well as from the Vulgate Scriptures. Knowing that Heloise and Abelard would have written and possibly spoken in Latin, I even tried to use only words of Latin origin. The result, I hope, is a book like no other in its blending of intellect and passion, of poetry and philosophy, of Heloise and Abelard.

If
The Sharp Hook of Love
and its poetry, themes, and story delight you as much as they do me, please spread the word about this book. Tell your friends and family members, your book group, your bookseller, your librarian, your social media friends and followers. Post your reviews wherever you hang out online.

And please do come to my website,
http://authorsherryjones.com
, for a plethora of resources to increase your understanding and appreciation of these remarkable lovers and the times in which they lived. While you're there, connect with me on the social media links posted there, and write to me as well. I would love to hear from you, and I always write back.

M
y most heartfelt thanks go to Dr. Constant J. Mews, professor at Monash University in Australia and one of the world's preeminent authorities on Abelard and Heloise. Not only did he read an early version of this novel with an eye for historical accuracy as well as generously and promptly answer all my emails but he also, with his publisher, Palgrave, gave me permission to freely excerpt from his excellent 1999 book,
The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard.
I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in learning more about this fascinating couple.

I'm also deeply indebted to my literary agent, Natasha Kern, for her friendship, advice, and dedication to helping me further my career as an author; to my editor, Kate Dresser, for her brilliant editing suggestions and enthusiasm for this book; to Steven Boldt for first-rate copyediting; to friends who read early drafts and made comments so helpful: Richard Myers, AnneMarie Lewis, Todd Mowbray, Serena Belsby, and Mitchell James Kaplan; to my entire team at Gallery Books, including Louise Burke, Jen Bergstrom, Jean Anne Rose, and Liz Psaltis; to Kathy Sagan; and to the many friends, fans, librarians, and booksellers who continue to offer their support and love.

Gallery Readers Group Guide

The Sharp Hook of Love

SHERRY JONES

INTRODUCTION

The Sharp Hook of Love
retells the story of Heloise and Abelard, twelfth-century Parisian lovers. Beautifully incorporating language from the real couple's letters to each other, the novel traces the story of their romance as it blossoms from a meeting of the minds into a forbidden love affair. United by love even when pulled apart by families, friends, and society, Heloise and Abelard learn what it means to truly sacrifice one's life for a beloved. As intimate as it is erotic, as devastating as it is beautiful,
The Sharp Hook of Love
teaches readers that true love can never be thwarted.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1.
“For nothing is under less control than the heart—having no power to command it, we are forced to obey,”
writes the historical Heloise in a letter to Abelard. This quote is used by the author as an epigraph for the novel, and as such, it frames the story that ensues as one about control—or lack thereof. Who or what is in control in
The Sharp Hook of Love
? Who or what is out of control? Do any of the characters successfully disobey their heart?

2. Heloise, the narrator, begins her story by claiming,
“I was born in silence.”
How does this statement act as an omen for what will occur in the novel? In addition to living a cloistered life, how else is Heloise silenced, literally and/or figuratively?

3. The idea of going home or of making a home is a central motif in the novel. For Heloise, the notion of
home
is not one of comfort but of fear and loneliness. That is, until she meets Abelard. What does the idea of
home
mean for each of the characters in the story? Do you think that Heloise and Abelard ever get home? Why or why not?

4. Discuss the role of women in
The Sharp Hook of Love
. How do women's roles in twelfth-century Paris differ from today? How are they similar? How did Heloise break stereotypes for women in her day?

5. Does Heloise's uncle Fulbert have any redeeming qualities, or is he pure evil? Do you think his intentions for Heloise were pure of heart, or motivated by self-interest? Is it possible that his intentions could be both?

6. Revisit the scene beginning on page 44 when Heloise nearly drowns in the Seine. Do you think this moment acts as a hinge for their relationship, swinging it in the direction of a full-blown affair? Why do you think this particular moment allows Heloise to trust in Abelard? Without this experience, do you think that Heloise would have given in to her feelings? Why or why not?

7. Do you agree that the inescapability of destiny is a possible theme of
The Sharp Hook of Love
? Do all the characters fulfill their destiny? Consider Heloise, Abelard, Uncle Fulbert, Jean, and Agnes in your response.