Red and Black

Author: Stendhal
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: This book is the masterpiece of the outstanding French critical realist writer Stendhal in the 19th century. It narrates the brief life of Julien Sorel, the son of a carpenter, reflecting the upper-class life and class contradictions in France during the 1920s. It condemns the reactionary and tyrannical behavior of the nobility and clergy, as well as the vulgarity and debasement of the bourgeoisie in French society at the time.
Julien Sorel was born into a farming family. He was physically frail but talented and ambitious. Julien realized that he could only rise to the upper class through the church. Due to his proficiency in Latin and the Bible, he was hired as the private tutor for the children of the mayor of Villenew, M. de Rênal. During this time, he became the lover of Mme. de Rênal. After the affair was exposed, he was forced to leave Villenew and study theology at the seminary in Besan?on, the provincial capital. Later, recommended by Father Pirard, he went to the marquis's house as the secretary of Marquis de La Mole and became the lover of the marquis's daughter, Mathilde. Just as he was about to marry the marquis's daughter and dream of political success, a letter of betrayal from the mayor's wife turned everything into a dream. In despair, he was sent to the guillotine, ending his brief life.
This book is the masterpiece of the outstanding French critical realist writer Stendhal in the 19th century. It narrates the brief life of Julien Sorel, the son of a carpenter, reflecting the upper-class life and class contradictions in France during the 1920s. It condemns the reactionary and tyrannical behavior of the nobility and clergy, as well as the vulgarity and debasement of the bourgeoisie in French society at the time.