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Stendhal (1783–1842)

Author of The Red and the Black

482+ Works 19,381 Members 284 Reviews 71 Favorited

About the Author

One of the great French novelists of the nineteenth century, Stendhal (pseudonym for Marie-Henri Beyle) describes his unhappy youth with sensitivity and intelligence in his autobiographical novel The Life of Henri Brulard. It was written in 1835 and 1836 but published in 1890, long after his death. show more He detested his father, a lawyer from Grenoble, France, whose only passion in life was making money. Therefore, Stendhal left home as soon as he could. Stendhal served with Napoleon's army in the campaign in Russia in 1812, which helped inspire the famous war scenes in his novel The Red and the Black (1831). After Napoleon's fall, Stendhal lived for six years in Italy, a country he loved during his entire life. In 1821, he returned to Paris for a life of literature, politics, and love affairs. Stendhal's novels feature heroes who reject any form of authority that would restrain their sense of individual freedom. They are an interesting blend of romantic emotionalism and eighteenth-century realism. Stendhal's heroes are sensitive, emotional individuals who are in conflict with the society in which they live, yet they have the intelligence and detachment to analyze their society and its faults. Stendhal was a precursor of the realism of Flaubert. He once described the novelist's function as that of a person carrying a mirror down a highway so that the mirror would reflect life as it was, for all society. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Stendal, Stendhal, Stendhal, Stendhal, Stendhals, Stendhall, Henry Beyle, Henri Beyle, H.B. Stendhal, Σταντάλ, M. de Stendhal, Henri Stendhal, pseud. Stendhal, psevd. Stendhal, Stedhal Stendhal, Стендаль, Marie De Stendhal, HENRI B. Stendhal, Marie De Stendhal, Stendhal Stendhal, Marie-Henri Beyle, Henri de Stendhal, スタンダール, Par M. De Stendhal, Henri Beye Stendhal, Beyle Henri Stendal, seudónimo Stendhal, Henry Beyle Stendhal, Marie-Henri Stendhal, beylemariehenriakast, Henri Beyle Stendhal, Beyle Henry Stendhal, Beyle Henri Stendhal, Henri Stendhal; Beyle, Stendhal (Henri Beyle), Henry Beyle de Stendhal, Henry de Stendhal-Beyle, Henri Beyle dit Stendhal, Henri Beyle de. Stendhal, Henri Beyle dit Stendhal, Stendhal (Henri de Beyle), Henry Marie Beyle Stendhal, Marie-Henry Beyle Stendhal, Marie Henri Boyle Stendhal, Marie-Henri Stendhal Beyle, Marie-Henri Beyle Stendhal, Stendhal alias Henry Beyle, Stendhal Beyle Marie-Henri, Mari-Henri Beyle (Stendhal), Marier-Henri Beyle Stendhal, Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle., Henrie Marie Beyle Stendhal, Stendhal (Henri Marie Beyle), Henri-Marie (Stendhal) Beyle, Marie-Henri Beyle (Stendhal), Marie-Henri Beyle de Stendhal, Stendhal aka Marie Henri Beyle, Henri Beyle Marie ( stendhal ), Marie-Henry Beyle ( Stendhal ), Marie-Henri Beyle (De Stendhal), psevd. for Henri Beyle Stendhal, Merie-Henri Beyle (De Stendhal), De aka Marie Henri Beyle Stendhal, Stendhal; pseud for Marie-Henri Beyle, Henri-Marie Beyle Stendhal (1783-1842), Henri Beyle Stendhal, Grenoble 1783 - Parigi 1842), 1783 - Paris (Beyle, 1842) Marie-Henri. Grenoble Stendhal, Henri Beyle dit Stendhal (FR1743-1842) écrivain - réaliste - romantique, Σταντάλ (Μαρί-Ανρί Μπελ) [Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle)]

Image credit: Johan Olaf Sodemark

Series

Works by Stendhal

The Red and the Black (1830) 9,455 copies
The Charterhouse of Parma (1839) — Author — 4,374 copies
Love (1822) 890 copies
The Life of Henry Brulard (1890) — Author — 441 copies
Italian chroniques (1829) 297 copies
Lucien Leuwen (1894) 279 copies
Armance (1827) 247 copies
Memoirs of an Egotist (1832) 184 copies
Cures for Love (2007) 136 copies
The Abbess of Castro (1832) 124 copies
Life of Rossini (1824) 111 copies
A Roman Journal (1829) 107 copies
A Life of Napoleon (1900) 107 copies
Lamiel (1928) 87 copies
100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature - volume 2 (2020) — Contributor — 70 copies
Relatos (1970) 61 copies
Vanina Vanini (1829) — Author — 58 copies
100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature - volume 1 (2017) — Contributor — 56 copies
Memoirs of a Tourist (1838) 43 copies
Lucien Leuwen, tome 2 (1950) 40 copies
Racine et Shakespeare (1962) 40 copies
Vita di Mozart (1983) 39 copies
Voyages en Italie (1973) 32 copies
Le Rose et le vert (1977) 31 copies
Stendhal : Romans et nouvelles, tome 2 (1934) — Author — 29 copies
The Cenci (1837) 26 copies
Féder ou Le Mari d'argent (1900) 22 copies
Le coffre et le revenant (1997) 18 copies
Oeuvres intimes (1955) 16 copies
I privilegi (1992) 14 copies
Liefdesverhalen (2009) 13 copies
Stendhal and the arts (1951) 12 copies
Journal (2010) 10 copies
Romans, tome 1 (1969) 9 copies
Memorias sobre Napoleón (1991) 8 copies
Diario (2015) 8 copies
Album Stendhal (1966) 8 copies
Vittoria Accoramboni (1837) 8 copies
Lamiel, suivi de Armance (1961) 8 copies
Mina de Vanghel (2004) 7 copies
Drie jonge vrouwen (1944) 7 copies
Narraciones y esbozos (2010) 6 copies
Novellen (1985) 6 copies
Schwester Scolastica (1954) — Author — 5 copies
Vanina Vanini - Los Cenci (2013) 5 copies
Correspondance 5 copies
I briganti in Italia (2004) 5 copies
El arca y el aparecido (2003) 4 copies
Obras completas (1988) 4 copies
Racconti e novelle (1976) 4 copies
Diccionario del amor (2008) 4 copies
El filtro (2004) 3 copies
L'Âme et la Musique (1999) 3 copies
Feder Ya Da Paragöz Koca (2021) 3 copies
Salons (2001) 3 copies
Théâtre 3 copies
Lettere d'amore (1994) 3 copies
Interni di un convento (1987) 3 copies
Filosofia nova 3 copies
Journal, Vol 3 (2017) 3 copies
Asechanzas de amor (1955) 2 copies
Le rouge et le noir CD (2011) 2 copies
Le rouge et le noir (2010) — Auteur illustré — 2 copies
Vörös és fehér Lucien Leuwen — Author — 2 copies
Voyage à Bordeaux (1993) 2 copies
La duquesa de Palliano (2011) — Author — 2 copies
Bordeaux 2 copies
Le Rouge et le Noir (2019) 2 copies
Histoire d'Espagne (2007) 2 copies
Le juif Filippo Ebreo (2015) 2 copies
Selvopptatte memoarer (2010) 2 copies
Favores que matan (2003) 2 copies
Journal, Vol 2 (2018) 2 copies
Vanina Vanini 2 copies
Italienische Novellen. (1938) 2 copies
Storie romane 2 copies
De l'homme 2 copies
Lettres intimes 2 copies
Journal 1801-1814 (2012) 2 copies
Kizil ve Kara 2 (2015) 1 copy
Dell' amore 1 copy
Kirmizi ve Siyah (2011) 1 copy
RELATOS 1 copy
Cronache italiane (1966) 1 copy
Romanzi e Racconti (1956) 1 copy
LAMIEL II 1 copy
Diario. Vol. 2, 1805 (2021) 1 copy
Waterloo 1 copy
On Love 1 copy
Ask (2009) 1 copy
Novelas y relatos (2002) 1 copy
Une vie 1 copy
Roma 1 copy
Red Black (1991) 1 copy
Vita di Metastasio (1987) 1 copy
To The Happy Few (1955) 1 copy
Life of Rossini (1957) 1 copy
Ecrits érotiques (2002) 1 copy
Meningen 1 copy
Cuentos de amor (2000) 1 copy
L'Italia nel 1818 (2016) 1 copy
Voyage à Florence (2014) 1 copy
Peri erotos (1995) 1 copy
Vandringer i Rom (1998) 1 copy
Vie de Henri Brulard Stendhal II — Author — 1 copy
Vie de Henri Brulard Stendhal I — Author — 1 copy
Philibert Lescale (2015) 1 copy
Oeuvres intimes II (1982) 1 copy
Theatre 3 tomes (1931) 1 copy
Souvenirs d'Egotisme (1927) 1 copy

Associated Works

The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (2000) — Contributor, some editions — 550 copies
Men at War: The Best War Stories of All Time (1942) — Contributor — 286 copies
A Documentary History of Art, Volume 3 (1966) — Contributor — 152 copies
Candide [Norton Critical Edition, 1st ed.] (1966) — Contributor — 151 copies
French Short Stories (1998) — Contributor — 86 copies
The Romantics on Shakespeare (1992) — Contributor — 37 copies
Great French Short Novels (1952) — Contributor — 32 copies
The Triumph of Art for the Public: 1785-1848 (1979) — Contributor — 30 copies
The Book Lovers (1976) — Contributor — 26 copies
The World's Greatest Books Volume 08 Fiction (1910) — Contributor — 24 copies
The Masterpiece Library of Short Stories Volumes 3 & 4 (1900) — Contributor — 17 copies
Profil d'une œuvre. Le rouge et le noir, Stendhal (1984) — Contributor — 17 copies
La chartreuse de Parme, Stendhal (1973) — Contributor — 13 copies
Verhalen uit de Franse romantiek (1983) — Contributor — 11 copies
La chartreuse de Parme de Stendhal (1995) — Contributor — 7 copies
Tyve mesterfortællinger — Contributor, some editions — 4 copies
La Chartreuse de Parme [1948 film] (2015) — Original novel — 3 copies
French short stories (1933) — Contributor — 2 copies
Meesters der Franse vertelkunst (1950) — Contributor — 2 copies
La Chartreuse de Parme [1982 TV mini series] — Original book — 1 copy
Cuentos del mundo (2017) 1 copy

Tagged

1001 (64) 1001 books (76) 19th century (651) 19th century literature (80) anthology (97) autobiography (65) biography (114) classic (305) classic literature (48) classics (311) diary (134) essays (53) fiction (1,648) Folio Society (78) France (529) French (686) French fiction (138) French literature (1,308) historical fiction (85) history (110) Italy (135) literature (720) love (84) memoir (57) Napoleon (49) narrativa (91) non-fiction (122) novel (594) Novela (103) own (48) Penguin Classics (61) Pléiade (50) read (102) Roman (248) romance (62) short stories (71) Stendhal (230) to-read (702) translation (115) unread (86)

Common Knowledge

Members

Discussions

Group Read, July 2017: Charterhosue of Parma in 1001 Books to read before you die (August 2017)
1001 Group Read for September: The Red and the Black in 1001 Books to read before you die (September 2012)

Reviews

 
Flagged
AnkaraLibrary | 2 other reviews | Feb 23, 2024 |
«Um romance é um espelho que se passeia ao longo de uma estrada. Tão depressa reflecte aos nossos olhos o azul dos céus como a lama dos lamaçais da estrada. E o homem que leva o espelho no seu alforge será por vós acusado de ser imoral! O seu espelho reflecte a lama, e vós acusais o espelho. Acusai antes o caminho onde está o lamaçal, e mais ainda o inspector das estradas que deixa empoçar a água e formar o lamaçal.»
 
Flagged
inesaparicio | 135 other reviews | Jan 25, 2024 |
Stendhal, the mononym pseudonym of Henri Beyle, was a veteran of the Napoleonic wars and a staunch supporter of Napoleon. He was a sharp critic of the French aristocracy and a supporter of the Restoration following the revolution of 1830. His novel THE RED AND THE BLACK expresses his political philosophy through the tale of an ambitious peasant lad, Julien Sorel, who rises from lowly carpenter's son to, briefly, member of the nobility. He becomes employed first by a local mayor, then by a Parisian nobleman, and seduces women in each household, with a maddening fluctuation in his feelings and an inconsistency in the genuineness of his bond with the lover of the moment. In the end, a moment of true passion leads to Julien's downfall, in a society where appearances carry more weight than reality. Beautifully written, the novel was a powerful influence on writers such as Zola, Balzac, and Flaubert. But I found Julien's inability to maintain a position in his affairs, his constant, minute-to-minute flip-flops between believing himself in love and believing himself the cold-hearted social climber, to be enervating. Every assertion of love is followed, moments later, by its opposite. The inconsistency of thought is a consistent part of Julien's persona, and a believable one, but the number of fluctuations became frustrating for a reader who wanted to identify in some way with the leading character of the story. While there are moments of great power in the novel (especially at the end), and great insights into French society of the time, I did not connect with the novel in the way I had hoped. It is a hallmark of French literature, but not, in my estimation, one of French literature's truly great novels.… (more)
1 vote
Flagged
jumblejim | 135 other reviews | Aug 26, 2023 |
I’ve tried before and failed. This time it clicked. The protagonist, Julien Sorel, is torn between the red (the army/the military) and the black (the church) but ambition is what he’s all about. It’s a coming of age tale in its own way, the story of a poor provincial young man whose psychology this is all about. Set in France in the 1820s, Sorel uses seduction as his weapon. The story isn't what matters since it is, ultimately, a very simple story whose focus is Sorel's mind and how his actions proceed from his thoughts.… (more)
 
Flagged
Gypsy_Boy | 135 other reviews | Aug 25, 2023 |

Lists

1890s (1)
Europe (1)
100 (1)
1820s (1)
Romans (1)

Awards

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Marcus Aurelius Contributor
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Maxim Gorky Contributor
George Gissing Contributor
Susan Coolidge Contributor
Grant Allen Contributor
Benjamin Disraeli Contributor
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Arthur Morrison Contributor
Margaret Cavendish Contributor
Charles Dickens Contributor
Jr. Horatio Alger Contributor
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H. Rider Haggard Contributor
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Hollis Godfrey Contributor
Pieter Harting Contributor
O. Henry Contributor
Dale Carnegie Contributor
James Joyce Contributor
Thomas Mann Contributor
L. Frank Baum Contributor
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Rudyard Kipling Contributor
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H. G. Wells Contributor
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Upton Sinclair Contributor
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Louisa May Alcott Contributor
Honore de Balzac Contributor
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Roger Gard Editor, Translator, Contributor
Margaret R. B. Shaw Translator, Introduction
Rafaello Busoni Illustrator, Contributor
Consuelo Berges Translator, Editor
James Madden Notes, Contributor
Lowell Bair Translator
Burton Raffel Translator, Contributor
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Arthur Schurig Translator
Mario Lavagetto Translator
Catherine Slater Translator
Frank Martin Illustrator
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Karel Thole Cover artist
Prosper Mérimée Introduction
Joan Charles Translator
Hugo Beyer Editor
Clifton Fadiman Introduction
Diane Johnson Introduction
Consuelo Bergés Translator
Margherita Botto Translator
Hermien Manger Translator
Gun Bengtsson Translator
Erwin Rieger Translator
Emilio Tadini Translator
J. M. Goll-Köhler Illustrator
Arnon Grunberg Afterword
Camillo Sbarbaro Translator
Richard Howard Translator & Afterword
Hamilton Basso Contributor
Lady Mary Loyd Translator
Theo Kars Translator
Harry Levin Introduction
Pere Gimferrer Translator
James Hill Cover artist
Maurice Hewlett Introduction
John Sturrock Introduction
C.N. Lijsen Translator
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Sophie Lewis Translator
B. C. J. G Knight Introduction
Jean Stewart Introduction
Gilbert Sale Translator
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Sergio Moravia Contributor
Emilio Faccioli Contributor
Marisa Zini Translator
Roland Beyer Introduction
Piero Bianconi Translator
Charly Guyot Foreword
Hannah Josephson Translator
Yves Ansel Editor
Carlos Rivas Translator
Richard N. Coe Translator
Victor Brombert Introduction
Elisabeth Abbott Translator
Edward Gorey Cover designer
Davina Porter Narrator

Statistics

Works
482
Also by
29
Members
19,381
Popularity
#1,125
Rating
3.8
Reviews
284
ISBNs
1,575
Languages
36
Favorited
71

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