Books by Stendhal

Both an addition to the Stendhalian canon and a pioneering work of the travel-writing genre, Travels in the South of France provides an illuminating perspective on this popular region and the phenomenon of tourism in general.

Marie-Henri Beyle (1783-1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal, is remembered today for such novels as Le Rouge et le Noir. Involving audacious plagiarism, these early works on music originally appeared in French in 1814 under the pseudonym Louis-Alexandre-Cesar Bombet. This English translation was published in 1817.

In this vigorous and fast-moving novel of post-Napoleonic France, Julien Sorel's plans to reach the higher echelons of society through the priesthood are defelected by his realization that the attainment of happiness is of greater consequence than the pursuit of ambition. Subtitled `A Chronicle of 1830', Stendhal's depiction of a nation of smug hypocrites scandalized contemporary readers, who recognized themselves or their peers and felt uncomfortable with the energy, imagination, and sincerity of a hero so patently inspired by their lately deposed Emperor. Julien's restless energy is fully captured in this specially commissioned translation of one of the world's great novels.

Based again on Robert M. Adams's highly regarded translation of Stendhal's 1831 novel of ambition, love, and betrayal, this Second Norton Critical Edition of The Red and the Black is the most comprehensive and up-to-date edition available.

In this account of a disillusioned soul failing to come to terms with reality, the novelist recreates the Byronic anti-hero in the context of post-revolutionary France where the church, politics and society itself are in upheaval.