Manon Lescaut - The Story of the Chevalier Des Grieux and Manon Lescaut - Translated with an Introduction and Notes

Aug 25, 2026

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Manon Lescaut is presented as a major love story shaped by passion, betrayal, and social difference, moving from modest beginnings to enduring central prominence in public affection and critical esteem. Composed rapidly and originally offered as an appendix to Prévost’s Memoirs and Adventures of a Man of Quality, it later circulated as an independent novel, while characters’ fates and divided loyalties drive its emotional force. The edition foregrounds background and interpretive support through introduction, notes, and supporting materials.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages193

Reading Time4 h 57 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Note on the Text

Note on the Illustrations

Select Bibliography

A Chronology of the Abbé Prévost

Explanatory Notes

oxford world ’s classics MANON LESCAUT Antoine-François Prévost (1697–1763) was born in Hesdin in northern France. He was educated by the Jesuits but, after various escapades and absences, it was as a Benedictine that he was ﬁnally ordained. He was sent to Paris, where he combined monastic life with a successful debut as a novelist, publishing the ﬁrst two volumes of his ﬁctional Mémoires d’un homme de qualité in 1728. Faced that same year with arrest, following a dispute with his order, he ﬂed to London, found work as a tutor, and moved in literary circles. Dismissed in 1730 for a secret engagement with his employer’s daughter, he sought refuge in Holland. The ﬁnal volumes of the Mémoires d’un homme de qualité, which included the original version of Manon Lescaut, were published there in 1731. Bankruptcy and a ruinous love aﬀair drove him, accompanied by his mistress, back to England, where he started a periodical, Le Pour et Contre (1733–40), designed to introduce French readers to the English social and cultural scene. After a brush with the law in London, he returned to Paris. Reconciled with his religious order but as ever short of money, he embarked on a third long memoir-novel, Le Doyen de Killerine, and published his Histoire d’une Grecque moderne. In 1741 further trouble with the authorities again drove him into exile. Permitted to return to France and parted from his mistress, he spent the last twenty years of his life in relative tranquillity, maintaining a prodigious output of histories, journalism, translations from the English, and ﬁction, including the revised version of Manon Lescaut. Although he is remembered today chieﬂy for his two short novels, Manon Lescaut and L’Histoire d’une Grecque moderne, his contemporaries admired, above all, Cleveland (1731–9), which, with his translation of Richardson’s Clarissa, exercised considerable inﬂuence on the course of the novel in France. Angela Scholar has worked as a translator and teacher of literature, following postgraduate study of Renaissance French poetry. She is the translator of Rousseau’s Confessions for Oxford World’s Classics. oxford world ’s classics For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics have brought readers closer to the world’s great literature. Now with over 700 titles––from the 4,000-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century’s greatest novels––the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing. The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary ﬁgures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its ﬁne scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers. OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS ABBÉ PRÉVOST The Story of the Chevalier Des Grieux and Manon Lescaut Translated with an Introduction and Notes by ANGELA SCHOLAR 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Angela Scholar 2004 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or t

FAQs

What is Manon Lescaut mainly about according to the introduction?

It is described as a story of passion and betrayal, where lovers are divided by social difference and destroyed by fate.

How did Manon Lescaut originally reach readers?

It was composed quickly, likely in early 1731, and first offered as an appendix to Prévost’s successful series of fictional Memoirs and Adventures of a Man of Quality.

When did it become an independent story?

Within two years it was also published as an independent story, and since then it has moved to center stage in public affection and critical esteem.

Aug 25, 2026

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