Adapting the Story, continued Beginning with Prévost’s Manon Lescaut, each of these stories was a catalyst for the next. Though Dumas’ La Dame aux Camélias and Prévost’s Manon Lescaut share many circumstantial similarities, many of the differences with La Dame aux Camélias are a direct reaction to Manon Lescaut, which is cited in the former. Not only does the author have Prévost’s ill-fated love story in mind, but his characters read, reference, and reflect on Manon Lescaut within their own story. La Traviata follows Dumas’ plot line fairly closely, but Verdi and Piave’s treatment of the characters and the nature of the storytelling gives the drama new emphasis. Each of the stories is informed in part by the author’s own romantic experiences, giving each work a unique color. The fiendishly beguiling Manon has also found voice on the opera stage, most notably in Giacomo Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and Jules Massenet’s Manon. Much like the relationship between La Dame aux Camélias and La Traviata, the story is there, but each interpreter (writer or composer) projects new sympathies and philosophies onto these vexing characters. References Dumas, Alexandre, fils. Camille (La Dame Aux Camélias). Project Gutenberg. Gutenberg Press, 26 Sept. 2008. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1608/1608-h/1608-h.htm>. Kimbell, David R. B. "Verdi and 'realism' - La Traviata." Verdi in the Age of Italian Romanticism. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1981. 642-71. Print. Prévost, Abbé. Manon Lescaut. Trans. Leonard Tancock. 2nd ed. New York: Penguin, 1991. Print. Weber, Caroline. "‘My Favors Cost a Great Deal.’ ‘The Girl Who Loved Camellias.’." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 July 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/books/review/the-girl-who-loved-camellias-by-juliekavanagh.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.
19