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Title: The Red and the Black (Penguin Classics) by Stendhal, Roger Gard ISBN: 0-14-044764-4 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 24 September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (40 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: It's all there in black and white.
Comment: The Red and the Black is a profound and witty book about the rise of a poor, handsome and intellectually gifted, young provincial into the salons of High Society in Paris. This novel is also a portrait of an era in 19th century France after the exile of Napoleon to St. Helena. The powerful, witty epigrams that appear in page after page of gorgeous prose left me almost as intrigued by the talent of the author as by the unexpected twists in the exhausting love life and fascinating careers in church and state of Julian Sorel. The language of the Gard translation was truly a joy to read -- it was lyrical and rich. Stendhal's novel is an astonishing but lesser read masterpiece from the salons of Paris, which produced Moliere, Balzac and Proust to name only a few. I can't recommend highly enough this worthy and rapturous novel by Stendhal. If this is Al Gore's favorite novel, then my respect for him has gone up a notch.
Rating: 5
Summary: ...a lot like those in Stendhal¿s 19th century France.
Comment: I really enjoyed this book. Unlike many reviewers, I feel the book does transcend time. American people and culture today, computers and all, are a lot like those in Stendhal's 19th century France.
The main characters strike me as real, and quite complex. Julien is a typical adolescent/ young adult: Idealistic, searching and unsure of himself. To me, it is amazing to what how the world interacts with and alters his self-image. Mathilde is equally interesting. She reminds me of a flighty alternative girl, looking for a dream of simmering romance. And MME de Renal is a wonderful, believable woman, falling in love late in life, victim of the missing husband syndrome.
Like people today, Stedhal's characters are a bundle of contradictions. Is Julien a villain, an angel, a self-serving climber or a man truly in love, searching for his higher self? Aloof or loveable? Is MME de Renal a devout, moral patroness, devoted to her family, or the vilest of adulators, ready to turn her back on duty for the simmer of love? Is Mathilde submissive, or arrogant and dominant?
The answer to all questions is yes. We are all divided.
Be honest with yourself for a minute. Aren't people sometimes cruel, and sometimes kind; Sometimes, honest, sometimes mildly deceitful, telling white lies, and sometimes bold-faced liars? Since Stendhal is faithful to this, and does not give us character in black and white, he has produced a masterpiece.
One last point: You do not need a lot of historical background to understand the author's critique of society. The basic overview laid out in the introduction, and my college course in Western Civ gave me the jist of the cultural goings-on. I even found French culture around the time of Stendhal remarkably similar to our own. The emphasis on external instead of the internal (Brittany Spears, try as she might, is not near as powerful as Bob Dylan, though a good deal more polished and wealthy) strikes home. In our culture, all heroism is gone, and we are left with shallow clubbers, athletes and supermodels as role models. How like Stendhal's effete social elite.
I highly recommend this book because it does transcend time.
Rating: 2
Summary: Al Gore's favorite book???
Comment: I have a hard time believing this is anyone's favorite book. No one else has said it, so I will: This is one boring read. Stendhal wasn't the greatest at narrative delights like scene-setting, action, and pacing; there's a lot of, "This happened and then this and this, and some of that." I liked it a little nonetheless, but mainly because I thought the whole thing was funny. Watch the creative ways in which Julien shoots himself in the foot. Definite parallels to "An American Tragedy," in terms of both story and quality. (The prose style actually wasn't that bad here, but I didn't read it in French; maybe the translator cleaned it up.) Most annoying moment? When Madame de Renal, after having been shot, forgives the shooter: Julien. He's just that great. How do you say "Mary Sue" in French?
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Title: The Charterhouse of Parma by Richard Howard, Robert A. Parker, Stendhal ISBN: 0679783180 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 12 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Charterhouse of Parma (Oxford World's Classics) by Stendhal, Margaret Mauldon, Roger Pearson ISBN: 0192839578 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Pere Goriot (Oxford World's Classics Series) by Honore De Balzac, A. J. Krailsheimer, Honore de Balzac ISBN: 0192835696 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: A Sentimental Education: The Story of a Young Man by Gustave Flaubert, Douglas Parmee ISBN: 0192836226 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann ISBN: 0679772871 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 01 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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