Stendhal
1783–1842
Biography
Stendhal was the pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle (1783–1842), a French writer born in Grenoble. He was an unhappy child who disliked his father's household, and as a young man he went to Paris, followed Napoleon's armies into Italy and Russia, and later lived for long periods in Italy. He wrote with a keen eye for ambition, vanity and love. He is now seen as one of the first great realist novelists, though he found few readers in his own lifetime.
His two great novels are Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black, 1830) and La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma, 1839). He also wrote De l'amour (On Love), a study of passionate love in which he introduced the idea of 'crystallization', the way a lover's imagination dresses the beloved in perfections that are not really there. That book, too, was overlooked when it appeared, but later readers have admired it as an early modern inquiry into love. He called himself an egotist, and his interest in the self runs through his novels.
Two of his novels are here in French. Le rouge et le noir: chronique du XIXe siècle follows Julien Sorel, a clever young man from a provincial town who tries to rise in the France of the Restoration, using his wits, his tutoring jobs and his love affairs. La Chartreuse de Parme is set in Italy and follows Fabrice del Dongo, a young Milanese aristocrat who is swept into war, court intrigue and love.
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Books
La Chartreuse De Parme
by Stendhal
Fabrice del Dongo, a young Italian nobleman, runs off to fight for Napoleon and wanders, bewildered, across the field of Waterloo. Back in Italy his aunt and her powerful lover try to steer his career through the intrigues of the little court of Parma. This book uses the racial…
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.Le rouge et le noir: chronique du XIXe siècle
by Stendhal
Julien Sorel, a carpenter's son with a quick mind and an admiration for Napoleon, becomes tutor in the house of a provincial mayor. He sets out to rise in a society where the army is closed to him and the Church is the only open road.
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.