Stendhal and the Greatest Novels of all Time

There is a book called 'Ten Novels and Their Authors' by Somerset Maugham in which Maugham writes about 'ten best novels' ever written, in his opinion, and also about their authors. The selected books, and their authors, are:



In the first (introductory) chapter of this book, Maugham explains the criterion of selecting these works, and clarifies that his selection was 'arbitrary' and that he could have chosen ten completely different books instead of the ones selected:



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In a BBC interview with Malcolm Muggeridge Maugham talked in some detail about this particular book. This interview is no longer available on YouTube, although I had given a link to it one or two years ago on this forum when it was viewable. It's still available at the BBC website ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/panorama--w-somerset-maugham/zrvm92p ) but I am unable to watch it ("This content is not available in your location").

During the interview Muggeridge posed a curious remark to Maugham. From memory, it was something like: "You were unfair to Stendhal in your book." Muggeridge's point was that Maugham had made Stendhal look ridiculous in his book. Maugham insisted that Stendhal was somewhat ridiculous in his personal affairs, but this did not prevent him from being a great writer. He also went on to say that there is very little connection between how a writer is in their personal life with how good a writer they are.

(to be continued)

These are the first two pages from the chapter on Stendhal from Maugham's book:





(To be continued)

Of the ten novels commented on by Maugham, one is Stendhal's 'The Red and The Black'. In an earlier post on this forum, Leccol had written the following about some LEC books, including the Red and the Black, which were bound in sheepskin:

I am not sure why LECs bound in sheepskin flake and deteriorate, but they do. Some deteriorate faster than others. Some which probably can't be found in Fine condition are The Red and the Black, the Scarlet Letter, Pride and Prejudice, and Moby Dick. Some such as Rip Van Winkle, I have never found even in Good condition. I suppose it doesn't matter why they were short lived, just recognize it and act accordingly, which usually means that the above copies must be rebound to be had in any kind of condition.

Some say that the cause lies in the dyes Macy used. Others that the lanolin in sheep skin causes them to dry out when the skin is removed from the animal. But no matter what the cause, sheepskin is seldom, if ever, used any more.

Following Leccol's advise I decided to buy the LEC Red and the Black in better than average condition and was fortunate to get such a copy. I give below some photographs of my copy of the LEC Red and Black. The last two photographs show, for comparison, the same illustrations from the LEC Red and Black and the Easton Press Red and the Black.

I've started reading the Red and the Black and will post a brief review once I finish it. I'll just mention one other thing I learnt after reading Maugham's writeup on this book: the ending is flawed, according to Maugham, and Maugham says several others have commented on this flawed ending. Maugham explains why he believes the ending is flawed and suggests why in his opinion Stendhal incorporated this flawed ending into the book.

If anyone here has read this book please do share your thoughts about it.

>4 blue.eyes2: I just purchased a copy in pretty much the exact same condition. It came with two copies of the monthly letter which was a first for me, so feel free to message me if you are in need of one. Look forward to your review and reading this one myself!

>5 cartographer144: I got busy at work and had to stop reading the Red and the Black. Then when I had time to read again I started reading other things--including a biography of Émile Zola. I read that Zola was an admirer of Stendhal and thought the Red and the Black was a particularly noteworthy book. Enough incentive (taking into account Balzac's praise of Stendhal) to make another attempt at reading the Stendhal book. I have the ML but thanks for your kind offer.

I was making a preliminary list of great French writers in the 19th century and I came up with these names: Stendhal, Balzac, Victor Hugo, Dumas, Anatole France, and Émile Zola. Fortunately all of them have been published by the LEC and/or Heritage publications.

>6 blue.eyes2: Perhaps add Gustave Flaubert to the list.

>7 BuzzBuzzard: Of course. Thanks for correcting me.

>8 blue.eyes2: Baudelaire and Rimbaud should be added to the list, and both are represented in the LEC bibliography.

>6 blue.eyes2: Already done for you: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/19th-century-french-writers.php

Although, I have no idea why Robert W. Service is included in that long list. And a couple of other puzzlers, as well.

>10 Glacierman: Thank you. That's a very comprehensive list of great 19th century French writers. And I note it includes the two names >9 Sport1963: provided.

Some additional resources for anyone reading the red and the black:

1.

Professor Belinda Jack's lecture on the red and the black:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_rkFOTKNGI

2.

The full text of the chapter on Stendhal and the red and the black in Somerset Maugham's 'Ten Novels and their authors':

https://mmccl.blogspot.com/2017/01/nf-stendhal-and-le-rouge-et-le-noir.html

An extract:

𝑶𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒔, 𝑳𝒂 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑺𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆-𝑩𝒆𝒖𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒑𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑭𝒂𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒍𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚; 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒚, 𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔, 𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑳𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒆 𝒆𝒕 𝒍𝒆 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒁𝒐𝒍𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒉𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑩𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆́ 𝑮𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 (𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚) 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍.