The Despot and the Slave

This volume selects and arranges autobiographical writings and fiction by Benjamin Constant into a single portrait of emotional dependence. The pieces draw on journals and on novels such as Adolphe, in which a young man cannot leave a woman he no longer loves, and they treat Constant's ties to powerful companions, including Germaine de Stael, against the background of revolution and restoration. The 'despot' and the 'slave' are roles inside a private attachment as much as public types. The book is a compiled life-in-fragments, not a complete political treatise and not a straightforward chronicle from birth to death.

Bound in blue cloth with a design in silver by Clark. Lilac flecked endleaves. Cream slipcase.