The Red and the Black

Original title: Le rouge et le noir: chronique du XIXe siècle

Stendhal · 1842

Human translation · Translated by Horace Barnet Samuel (†1950) · Source: Wikisource · Public domain

Some slight sketch of the life and character of Stendhal is particularly necessary to an understanding of Le Rouge et Le Noir ( The Red and the Black ) not so much as being the formal stuffing of which introductions are made, but because the book as a book stands in the most intimate relation to the author's life and character. The hero, Julien, is no doubt, viewed superficially, a cad, a scoundrel, an assassin, alb… Henri Beyle was born in 1783 in Grenoble in Dauphiny, the son of a royalist lawyer, situated on the borderland between the gentry and that bourgeoisie which our author was subsequently to chastise with that malice peculiar to those who spring themselves from the class which they despise. The boy's character was a compound of sensibility and hard rebelliousness, virility and introspection. Orphaned of his mother at t…Opening · Horace Barnet Samuel

Read this translationAI translationOriginal

Your support pays for translating books into English.

Support for $12/month Donate Subscribers read with instant translation, without waiting for the free daily limit.

Read in other languages: Français · 中文 · हिन्दी · Español · العربية · বাংলা · Português · Русский · Bahasa Indonesia · اردو · 日本語 · Kiswahili

Lindy Books — 78,696 public-domain classics, free forever. No ads, no accounts, no tracking. Browse the library