By LAURA MILLER
"The Love Affair as a Work of Art"
By Dan Hofstadter
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 314 pages
Two contradictory impulses prompt us to read about the romances of famous couples. Perhaps scrutinizing the biographies of the brilliant and talented will inspire the extraordinary in our own affairs, we may wistfully hope. Or, on the other hand, their disastrous intimacies might reassure us that genius doesn't guarantee happiness: even he was spurned; even she misplaced her faith; even they got bored with each other.
Dan Hofstadter, an essayist and frequent contributor to the New Yorker, seems to belong to the latter, sour species of voyeur, which makes him an odd candidate to write a book called
"The Love Affair as a Work of Art." An opinionated investigation of several affairs (one unconsummated) between French literary men and women during the 19th century, Hofstadter's book presents itself as a paean to the love letter, that much mooned-over relic of the pre-telephone era. In the end, it hardly recommends the practice of writing them. Hofstadter could have titled this book "Ridiculous Liaisons," and reading it may prompt you to consider burning the contents of that shoe box up in the attic, for fear that another of his breed may some day lay hands on it.
Why should "The Love Affair as a Work of Art," with its woozy concept and Belle Epoque packaging, wind up being such a grim, if gossipy, read? Hofstadter views his subjects with a finicky, lofty distaste that makes one wonder why he ever bothered. "To consider the love affair as a work of art is a game for a day, a sort of charade," he explains in his introduction. But a book takes more than a day to write, and perhaps Hofstadter regretted signing on for the duration.
Next page: More Love!!
