Stendhal

Written in just fifty-two days in the year 1839, "The Charterhouse of Parma" has since become known as Stendhal's finest work. Evidence of haste is infrequently apparent in this remarkable story, which follows the eventful life of the young Italian nobleman Fabrizio del Dongo. From his childhood in the family castle by Lake Como to the battlefields of Waterloo, Fabrizio proves himself charmingly headstrong and painfully naïve. Upon returning injured...

In writing these two ardently romantic and turbulent tales, Stendhal delved deep into old Italian narratives and into his own impassioned heart. "Vanina Vanini" and "L'abbesse de Castro" abound in the qualities for which the French author remains enduringly popular: his strong-willed, impulsive characters; his dry wit and keen irony; and the sweeping drama of his historical settings. Originally published in the Revue de Paris in 1829, "Vanina Vanini"...

One of the world's greatest writers-in love with a great city. In a fascinating travel book, Stendhal carries the reader along with him on a grand tour of Rome. Described with all the wit and sensitivity of a master storyteller, incomparable Rome comes breathtakingly alive. No one but the author of The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma could capture the city's spell so magically: the Colosseum, the Pantheon, St. Peter's, the Forum, fountains,...

Published in 1830, Scarlet and Black (Le Rouge et Le Noir) tells the story of a provincial young man's attempts to socially rise beyond his modest upbringing with a combination of talent and hard work, deception and hypocrisy - yet who ultimately allows his passions to betray him. In Scarlet and Black, Stendhal paints a sweeping portrait of early nineteenth-century France - its social classes, professions, politics, and manners - in Paris and the...