Product Description

Handsome, ambitious Julien Sorel is determined to rise above his humble provincial origins. Soon realizing that success can only be achieved by adopting the subtle code of hypocrisy by which society operates, he begins to achieve advancement through deceit and self-interest. His triumphant career takes him into the heart of glamorous Parisian society, along the way conquering the gentle, married Madame de Rênal, and the haughty Mathilde. But then Julien commits an unexpected, devastating crime – and brings about his own downfall. The Red and the Black is a lively, satirical portrayal of French society after Waterloo, riddled with corruption, greed and ennui, and Julien – the cold exploiter whose Machiavellian campaign is undercut by his own emotions – is one of the most intriguing characters in European literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23946 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-27
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 607 pages

About the Author
Henri Marie Beyle (1783-1842) had a post in the Ministry of War and followed Napoleon's campaigns before retiring to Italy. Here, as 'Stendhal', he began writing on art, music and travel. He later wrote novels, literary criticism, and various biographical and autobiographical works. Roger Gard was a Reader in English at Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London. He has published work on Henry James and Jane Austen alongside his translations.

Customer Reviews

A colourful tale...
Stendahl's Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) is a classic novel that was very important to me in early formation of directions in life. I found I could identify quite strongly with Julien Sorel, who wanted a better life, a life of meaning and importance, and was torn about which direction in which to go.

The Red (symbolising the church, the scarlet of cardinal's robes) and the Black (symbolising the military, the uniform, etc.) were both options held out to me early; in fact, I rejected both for a while, but have found myself drawn back in the red direction.

The story is one of coming of age as a bookish fellow in a working-class family, then ambition (but not overpowering ambition; in fact, Julien's father wishes he had more), then shifting careers (rare in an era and country where one's path is usually set for life early; however, this was the post-revolution era in France, in which some things were giving way, some more than others, it seems). Julien is pulled by events rather than being the director and creator of realities; Julien finds he loves the affect of various roles in life (more than the substance and responsibilities that come with such roles) -- for instance, he loves the swagger and the horsey-ness of being a soldier, but doesn't particularly like to get dirty or have to fight. He likes the trappings of religious office, but isn't inclined so much to spirituality, and Julien ran up against this in seminary:

The seminary director said to Julien: `Truth is austere, sir. But our task in this world is austere, too, is it not? You must take care to guard your conscience carefully from this weakness: Excess of feeling for vain exterior charm.'

There is love, a love triangle in fact, romance and thwarted desires, and loves fulfilled, if not completely. It ends with a dramatic homicidal act, trial, an execution, and a most bizarre funeral. The melodramatic performance of Mathilde (re-enacting an earlier story with which she was familiar in which the heroine carried the severed head of her lover to his grave) provided the most animated conversation among ministers and psychologists I have ever witnessed.

Stendahl often built a character's name out of words that were descriptive, which is sometimes lost in translation as the names often don't get translated in the same way, or may have lost the immediacy of their meanings over time. Julien may be a play on Julian the Apostate, enemy of Christianity; Abbe Castanede is decidedly Spanish and inquisitional; Noiroud and Moirod come from words meaning swarthy and mottled; many other examples abound.

This is a very hard book to encapsulate in such a small space. It is not easy reading, but it is rewarding reading.

And again, an interior dialogue of Julien in seminary helps inform me, and keeps me thinking (both for and against in many ways):

`In the seminary, there's a way of eating a boiled egg which declares how far one has progressed down the saintly path....What will I be doing all my life? he asked himself; I'll be selling the faithful a seat in heaven. How will that seat be made visible to them? by the difference between my exterior and that of a layman.'

Choose your path wisely.

in flagrante delicto
About halfway through this arch and amusing tale of the foolish, machiavellian Julien Sorel we read: "He almost went mad with joy on finding an edition of Voltaire. He ran and opened the library door so as not to be caught in the act. Next he gave himself the pleasure of opening each of the eighty volumes." You too will almost go mad with joy when you slip into a book that can startle with its pulse, its passion, its ability to seem like a forbidden pleasure. You will smile with glee as you run your hands across pages racy enough to make you feel like you could be caught in the act. You'll find yourself sighing on page 248 when you realize Julien has a full eighty volumes of Voltaire to keep his fires burning, while you only have 500 pages of the Red and the Black. But don't give into that familiar panic--that it might end, that you will spend years regretting those 500 pages of momentary pleasure--because it only gets better with each successive read. Like Cleopatra, it doesn't cloy where most it satisfies, but leaves you short of breath, wanting more--

A good book, frustrating ending!
I'd give this 3.5 out of 5 if I could, as I enjoyed it; it's very well written, and gives (what I guess) is a very authentic flavour of life in post-Napoleonic France. I also came to identify with the hero; although he's basically unscrupulous, he keeps falling in love, and doing stupid things as a result!
On the down side, I kept expecting the book to go places. There are only really three main parts to the story - the main character's life in rural France, his time in the Seminary and then in Paris. In every place, almost all the characters the hero meets are narrow-minded and obsessed with money and status. It gives the book a very claustrophobic feel, which while accurate (I am sure), it doesn't make for a light read.

My other main quibble relates to the level of expectation raised by the title! I gathered from reading the intro, that the Red in the title relates to the army, and the Black, to the priesthood. We get plenty of stuff about the church, it's hypocrisy and greed and so on (which for me, was very interesting) which is balanced by other clerical characters who have integrity and kindness. But his time in the army only lasts about two pages, so in the end I kinda felt a little cheated by the title of the book!
The ending is also disappointing - I get the feeling that the hero could have done more with his life - but I guess this is the author's point (if there is one).