The Charterhouse of Parma (Stendahl, 1839)

I liked The Red and the Black so was looking forward to this one. Also because I had for the first time (and quite recently) paid some attention to Napoleon's early military success in Italy in this book - so the setting seemed quite familiar territory. And Zamoya talked about Stendahl and his participation in the retreat from Moscow in this book.

I read that Stendahl is categorized by some as an early "realist". OK.

Numerous strong characters; perhaps the lead is Fabrizio de Dongo - his father is collaborating with the Austrians, but Fabrizio runs off and appears, if ineffectively, at Waterloo. His aunt (Duchessa Sanseverina) is a great character, as is Count Mosca - who works for a despotic prince. Clelia Conti, daughter of the warden at the infamous Farnese Tower, falls for Fabrizio.

Fabrizio - despite lacking any apparent inclination for the job - becomes a leading cleric in Parma. Intrigues with court factions. Etc.

The Red and the Black (Stendhal, 1830)

This book was a good fit for some of the French stuff I've been reading in the last couple months (the Verdun book, Remembrance of Things Past (except Proust gave away an important plot element when he mentions this book), the Christmas truce book, etc.)

It filled in some of the gap between the Napoleonic era and the 1830 restoration. This was a time of big change in France to say the least; the Revolution and Napoleon had thrown apart most of the traditions and folks with widely varying agendas were moving to fill the gaps, find a new Napoleon, restore the monarchy and the traditional role of the church, emphasize the secular, revive the revolution, or whatever.

The book is referred to as the first psychological novel, at least in this description. Somebody at Newsweek listed it as one of the five most important novels, I guess because it was considered pretty far ahead of its time. I had never heard of the book or its author, but in poking around you do get the sense that it is widely known and admired.

Anyway, the book focuses on Julian Sorel - an uneducated but bookish boy from the provinces who, through a series of events, becomes a tutor (and falls in love with the youngish mother of his pupils), is educated in a seminary, takes a job with an aristocrat (and falls in love again, sort of).

Sorel's amazing memory (featuring passages in Latin) is a key to his access to various positions.

The book is lamenting the materialism that the author saw taking over France as the older institutions weakened; he also isn't impressed with provincialism, or Paris (and society matters) for that matter.

Very much worth reading. Even if some of the passages about his two romances get a bit repetitive here and there.

[I read this book at the gym about a month ago but didn't get around to posting, plus am still trying to catch up from the "placeholder" entries below.]