In December of , a French newspaper published the story of a young man who attempted the murder of a married woman. The article inspired Marie-Henri Beyle, [Stendhal was just one of his many pen names], to write what was to become "one of the greatest psychological novels of all time.
There is also more than a little biographical resemblance between his protagonist Julien Sorel and Stendhal. His contemporaries did not fully appreciate his stark realism during the Romantic period in which they lived. This is the story of a young man's attempt to rise above his low birth through hard work, talent and not a little deception in his quest for power and wealth. Stendhal uses his flawed hero to satirize French society and the Church, foretelling the radical change that would remove both of these powerful forces from power.
If you do NOT wish your words quoted, please contact Books. It seems we've been waiting quite a while for opening day. It's great that the selection of Stendhal's novel has attracted so many of you to this discussion, old former participants and new. If you are brand new, I'm going reveal our secret and steer you to our Discussion Guidelines , which say in essence that we are used to - and expect the greatest respect from one another, even if, especially if we disagree with something someone has expressed.
That's the whole secret of our enjoyable discussions here. Are you getting a feeling for mid-nineteenth century France yet? Quite different from the English novels of the same period we've been reading, but the dying out of the aristocracy and the rise of the middle class strike a similar note, don't you think?
Would you choose to live here? In a novel I always try to visualize where the action takes place and HERE is a fine picture of the Doubs river cutting through the hills of the Jura mountains and at a distance we can see a village and across the river there is a larger town. That river originating in Switzerland looks so small compared with the huge rivers we have here, but they are important for the local industry.
