French · b. 1783
Stendhal was a French novelist and a pioneer of psychological realism, author of The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma.
Stendhal (the pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle) was an early master of the psychological novel, anatomizing ambition, love, and self-deception with a penetrating analysis of his characters’ inner lives.
His masterpiece The Red and the Black (1830) follows the ambitious young Julien Sorel through the hypocrisies of Restoration France, while The Charterhouse of Parma offered a vivid romance of Italian intrigue admired by Balzac and later by Tolstoy and Gide. Largely underappreciated in his own time, he predicted his fame would come a century later.
Stendhal is now celebrated as a founder of psychological realism and one of the great French novelists of the nineteenth century.
by Stendhal
Julien Sorel, brilliant son of a provincial carpenter, rises through seduction, hypocrisy, and calculation — as tutor in the Rênal household, then as secretary to a Parisian aristocrat. His relationship with two women (Mme de Rênal and the volatile Mathilde de la Mole) ultimately destroys him.
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by Stendhal
Fabrizio del Dongo, a young Italian nobleman, wanders onto the field of Waterloo (without understanding what is happening), flees various entanglements, falls in love with the actress Marietta, and becomes caught in the political intrigues of the court of Parma, where his aunt, the Duchess Sanseverina, rules through her relationship with the Count.
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Stendhal's complete bibliography in order — from The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma to his diaries and treatises. Best starting points for new readers.
guide
Where to start with Stendhal — whether to begin with The Red and the Black or The Charterhouse of Parma. A complete reading guide to the French novelist's best work.
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