Red and Black (World Literature Library)

Author: (French) Stendhal
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Julien Sorel was born into a peasant family. He was physically frail, talented, and ambitious. Julien realized that only through the church could he enter high society. Due to his proficiency in Latin and the Bible, he was hired as a tutor for the children of the mayor of Villerupt, De Rênal, and during this time, he became the lover of Madame De Rênal. After the affair was exposed, he was forced to leave Villerupt and study theology at the seminary in Besan?on. 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 from the mayor's wife turned everything into a dream. In despair, he was sent to the guillotine, ending his short life. This book is the masterpiece of the outstanding French critical realist writer Stendhal in the 19th century. It narrates the 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 nature of the nobility and clergy, as well as the vulgarity and debasement of the bourgeoisie in French society at the time.