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The Red and the Black

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Red and the Black follows Julien Sorel, a provincial young man driven by Napoleonic ideals, whose ambition to rise in society leads to captivating and tragic events. The novel offers a deeply psychological exploration of Julien's character and a poignant portrayal of his ill-fated love. Against the backdrop of post-Napoleonic France, Stendhal intricately depicts the social and political tensions of the era, creating a vivid and enduring literary masterpiece.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This classic work suits readers interested in psychological realism, historical settings, and classic literature with rich character studies and social commentary.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The Red and the Black, Stendhal's masterpiece, is the story of Julien Sorel, a young dreamer from the provinces, fuelled by Napoleonic ideals, whose desire to make his fortune sets in motion events both mesmerizing and tragic.

Sorel's quest to find himself, and the doomed love he encounters along the way, are delineated with an unprecedented psychological depth and realism. At the same time, Stendhal weaves together the social life and fraught political intrigues of post-Napoleonic France, bringing that world to unforgettable, full-colour life.

His portrait of Julien and early-nineteenth-century France remains an unsurpassed creation, one that brilliantly anticipates modern literature.

Series: Modern Library Classics

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780812972078

Publisher: Random House USA Inc

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 11 May 2004

Country: United States

Imprint: Modern Library Inc

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Diane Johnson
  • Introduction by Diane Johnson
  • Translated by Burton Raffel

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 29.0mm

Width: 133.0mm

Height: 202.0mm

Weight: 454g

Pages: 560

About the Author

STENDHAL(Marie-Henri Beyle) was born in Grenoble in 1783. He served in Napoleon's cavalry and thereafter lived in Italy and Paris, where he wrote many books, including On Love, the autobiographical Life of Henri Brulard, The Charterhouse of Parma (which he wrote in fifty-two days), and The Red and the Black. He died in 1842. BURTON RAFFEL is a distinguished professor of humanities at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His many translations include Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel, winner of the 1991 French-American Foundation Translation Prize, Chretien de Troyes's Arthurian Romances, Cervantes's Don Quijote, and Balzac's P re Goriot. His translation of Beowulf has sold more than a million copies. DIANE JOHNSON Is the author of ten novels-most recently Le Mariage and Le Divorce-two books of essays, two biographies, and the screenplay for Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. She has been a finalist four times for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

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    The Red and the Black
    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...
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  • The Red and the Black
    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 deflected by his realisation 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 scandalised contemporary readers, who recognised themselves...
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