| Marie-Henri Beyle | |||||||||
| 玛利 - 亨利·贝尔 | |||||||||
| 斯丹达尔 | |||||||||
| 出生地： | 格勒诺布尔 | ||||||||
| 去世地： | 巴黎 | ||||||||
阅读司汤达 Stendhal在小说之家的作品!!! | |||||||||
司汤达司汤达原名玛利 - 亨利.贝尔（Marie - Henri Beyle），司汤达为其笔名（Stendhal，一译“斯丹达尔”），是一位19世纪的法国作家。他以准确的人物心里分析和凝练的笔法而闻名。他被认为是最重要和最早的现实主义的实践者之一。最有名的作品是《红与黑》（1830）和《帕尔马修道院》（1839）。
司汤达生于1783年，父亲是律师舍吕宾·贝尔，母亲是亨利埃特·加尼荣。他的两个妹妹出生于1786年和1788年，1790年他的母亲因产褥热去世。
他的父亲是一位格勒诺布尔议会中的律师，在1794年因原因被捕。司汤达与父亲素来不睦，他青少年时期的郁郁不乐很大程度上是由他桀骜不驯的性格造成的。在12岁前，他由一位教士负责教育，后者使他产生了对宗教信仰的长久的仇恨。后来，他进入了新建的格勒诺布尔的中心学校学习，1799年他持推荐信到了与司汤达家有亲戚关系的达吕家。彼埃尔·达吕给了他一个陆军部的职位，1800年5月7日，司汤达与达吕兄弟一起，跟随拿破仑向意大利进军。作为政府的书记员，他的大部分时间都是在一直受他青睐的城市，米兰度过的。他的小说《帕尔马修道院》中的很大一部分似乎受到了这段生活经历的影响，带有自传性。
他是马伦哥战役的目击者，并于此后加入了第六龙骑兵团，10月23日，被提升为少尉。他快速升迁，成了米劳德将军的副官。但1802年亚眠平定后，他回到巴黎，为求学辞去了军职。在那里，他遇见了女演员梅拉妮·吉尔贝，并跟着她去了马赛。司汤达的父亲听说了这桩风流韵事后就不再给他寄钱，所以司汤达不得不为一个蔬菜商工作，当营业员。然而，梅拉妮·吉尔贝为了跟一个人结婚抛弃了司汤达，因此，他重返巴黎。1806年，他参加了共济会会员分会：圣加洛林会。依靠达吕家的影响，他得到了战时专署中的一个职位，1806到1814年间，他在这个职位上工作很成功。1812年7月23日，他随军前往，9月14日到达莫斯科，之后，他取道柯尼斯堡撤回巴黎。
拿破仑倒台后，他拒绝在新政府中任职，定居于米兰，在那里他遇到了佩利科，曼佐尼，拜伦爵士以及其他一些重要人物。在米兰，他陷入了与一个叫安热拉·P的女子的情感纠葛中，以前造访这座城市的时候，他就徒劳地仰慕过她。
1821 年，由于和一些意大利爱国者的友谊，司汤达受到了奥地利政府的怀疑，被逐出了米兰。在巴黎，他感觉自己是个陌生人，因为他从不承认当时法国的艺术，如文学、音乐或绘画的价值。但他仍拜访巴黎的文学沙龙，并且在那些聚集在德·特拉西身边的思想家中寻找朋友。在这段时间，他出版了《论爱情》（1822），此书在 11年中只卖出17本，尽管它日后很有名；《拉辛与莎士比亚》（1823-1825）；《罗西尼传》（1824）；《D‘un nouveau complot contre les industriels》（1825）；《罗马漫步》（1829）和他的第一部小说《阿尔芒丝》（1827）。
七月后，1830年9月25日，他被提名为驻特里斯特的大使，但奥地利政府拒绝了他，因此他被送往契维塔-韦基亚。他启程后，《红与黑》出版了，却没有激起人们什么兴趣。
1833年在巴黎度假时，他结识了乔治·桑和阿尔弗雷德·德·缪塞。1835年1月，司汤达被提名为荣誉军团骑士。
1838年他出版了《旅人札记》，1839年出版了《帕尔马修道院》，这是他最后发表的一部作品，同时也是第一部真正获得成功的作品，尽管他先前的作品已经在小范围内引起了重视。巴尔扎克曾在《巴黎人杂志》中兴致勃勃地谈到这部小说。
司汤达呆在契维塔-韦基亚马虎地完成他的大使义务，不断犯错，直到去世。
1841 年4月5日，司汤达第一次中风。一年后，1842年4月22日，晚上散步时，他又一次中风。罗曼·科伦布碰巧发现了他，把他带回了旅馆。次日清晨司汤达在那里去世，再没有恢复意识，在场的有罗曼·科伦布和亚伯拉汉·康坦汀。1842年4月24日，他被葬在蒙马特墓地。他一直梦想着被埋在意大利，墓碑上写着：米兰人阿里戈·贝尔长眠于此，他活过，写过，爱过。
贝尔的笔名司汤达无疑来自今天的萨克森-安哈尔特的司汤达这个地方，然而他怎么会起这个名字尚存争论。根据一种看法，贝尔选择这个名字是为了向来自司汤达的约翰·J·温克尔曼致敬。与此相反，根据另一种看法，贝尔甚至表示过对温克尔曼的轻蔑，而他选择这个笔名是因为他家在此拥有田产。
司汤达从１８１７年开始发表作品。处女作是在意大利完成的，名为《意大利绘画史》。不久，他首次用司汤达这个笔名，发表了游记《罗马、那不勒斯和佛罗伦萨》。从１８２３年到１８２５年，他陆续发表了后来收在文论集《拉辛和莎士比亚》中的文章。此后，他转入小说创作。１８２７年发表了《阿尔芒斯》，１８２９年发表了著名短篇《瓦尼娜·瓦尼尼》。他的代表作《红与黑》于１８２９年动笔，１８３０年脱稿。１８３２年到１８４２年，是司汤达最困难的时期，经济拮据，疾病缠身，环境恶劣。但也是他最重要的创作时期。他写作了长篇小说《吕西安·娄万》（又名《红与白》），《巴马修道院》，长篇自传《亨利·勃吕拉传》，还写了十数篇短篇小说。在１８４２年３月２３日司汤达逝世时，他手头还有好几部未完成的手稿。
司汤达是以长篇小说名世的。他的长篇代表作《红与黑》，传世一百多年，魅力分毫未减。然而，他的短篇小说也写得十分精彩。其代表作《瓦尼娜·瓦尼尼》、《艾蕾》（直译为《卡斯特罗修道院长》）等，写得生动传神，脍炙人口，堪称世界短篇小说花园里的奇葩。它们与梅里美的《马特奥·法尔戈纳》、《塔芒戈》、巴尔扎克的《戈布塞克》一起，标志着法国短篇小说创作的成熟。
本书收录了司汤达的十三个短篇小说。其中《往事连篇》（直译为《一个意大利绅士的回忆》）、《箱子与鬼》《米娜·德·旺格尔》、《媚药》、《菲利贝》等五篇译自法国瑟伊出版社的《司汤达小说选》，其余八篇译自法国伽里玛出版社的《意大利轶事》，兹按写作年代逐篇介绍如下：
《往事连篇》于１８２５—１８２６在英国《伦敦画报》连载，１８２６年，法文译本或者改写本在巴黎的不列颠书店与读者见面，开始时无人知道作者是司汤达。司汤达逝世后，他的表弟柯隆伯在整理他的遗稿时，发现了这篇作品的部分底稿，于是把它收入１８５４年版的《司汤达小说集》。
这篇小说描写了在拿破仑的军队占领意大利期间的社会风俗，世态人情。保守的人士聚集在教会的旗帜下，企图神灵于圣母的保佑，阻止滚滚而来的革命浪潮，而教会势力则趁机制造奇迹，编造所谓圣母显灵的谎言，蒙蔽愚昧的人们；年轻人，有理智的人则对教会那一套持反对态度，他们欢迎拿破仑大军的到来。小说叙述了一次重大的历史事件——劫持教皇的行动，对乱世英雄有一些精彩的描写。总之，小说描写的意大利社会是一个保守的、愚昧的社会，广大民众视教皇为上帝在人间的代表。因此，拿破仑大军在意大利失败，教皇复辟，掀起复仇运动是势所必然的事。
《箱子与鬼》写于１８２９年底。这一年圣诞节司汤达曾把它读给梅里美听。这篇小说通过一个警察局长利用权势，霸占民女，活活拆散一对恋人的故事，向读者揭露了西班牙复辟势力的凶残与霸道。作为这种恶势力的对立面，两个恋人的纯洁、善良，为了爱情不惜抛洒热血的情节，极具动人心魄的力量。
《媚药》写于１８３０年１月，同年６月发表于《巴黎评论》。司汤达自称写这篇作品是为了“治疗头痛，散心”。而且他承认参考了十七世纪法国作家斯卡龙的一起作品。他说：“每个时代的调味汁不同。我不过把１６６０的调味汁换成１８３０年的罢了。”这篇作品描写的是一个西班牙少妇鬼迷心窍，抛弃富裕但年老的丈夫。与一个跑江湖的马戏演员私奔，上当受骗仍不变心的故事。也许这确是一起消遣之作，思想平平，但在创作手法上有独到之处，尤其是开头与结尾受人称道。开头描写的时间、地点、氛围与情节十分协调，很能抓住读者；结尾言简意深，给人以想象的余地。
《米娜·德·旺格尔》写于１８２９年１２月至１８３０年１月间。其后又几经修改。但司汤达生前未拿出发表。直到他死后十一年巴黎的《两世界评论》才将它刊发。在司汤达的作其中，这是少有的描写德国人的作品之一。米娜·德·旺格尔出身于德国大贵族家庭。她父亲因厌恶非正义的征战，受到宫廷的监视，最终忧郁而死。她为了追求自身的幸福，离乡去国，来到巴黎，堕入了爱河。为了达到目的，这个爱幻想的德国姑娘不惜纡尊降贵，乔装改扮，来到她私下热恋的人家里做女佣，不料因高兴过度，吐露了秘密，酿成悲剧，最后以身殉情。司汤达通过这个哀惋曲折的爱情故事，展示了德国人与法国人性格上的差异以及对待爱情的不同态度。小说的女主人公米娜·德·旺格尔在作者的人物画廊里，是一个有血有肉，光彩夺目的人物。
《菲利贝》成于何时，专家们尚未得出定论。有人认为是在１８２７年至１８３０年间。也有人认为是在１８３９年。但法国文学史家克鲁才分析了菲利贝与《红与白》中的主人公吕西安的性格特征，觉得两者相近，便认为它成于１８３５年至１８３９年间。严格地说，这篇东西也许够不上短篇小说，只能算一个短故事，也有点像中国的笔记小说。内容也确如副标题，是一位膏梁子弟的几个生活片断，如经商、恋爱、搬家等，写得比较粗放。在司汤达的短篇创作园地里，它也许只能算一根小草，但对于我们全面了解司汤达的创作，终究是有益的，因此我们也把它收进集子。
在收入《意大利轶事》的八个短篇里，除了《瓦尼娜·瓦尼尼》成于１８２９年以外，其余的都写于１８３３年以后。关于这些小说，有些情况需略作介绍。
１８３３年，司汤达再次来到意大利后，在一个朋友家的藏书室里，发现了一批“古代的手稿”。这些手稿真实地记录了意大利十六、十七世纪的一些重大的 “社会新闻”。司汤达在阅读之后，大感兴趣，认为它们是“十六世纪和十七世纪意大利历史的有益补充”；它们描绘了“孕育拉斐尔和米开朗基罗一代天才的风土人情”，便花重金购得抄录权，请人仔细抄录了某些篇章，保留在身边，反复阅读，并以部分翻译加部分创作的手法，将这些手稿改写成短篇小说。他在世时，选出《艾蕾》、《维多利娅·阿柯朗波尼》（或译作《帕利亚诺公爵夫人》）、《桑西一家》三篇结集出版。在他去世十二年后，他表弟整理了他的脾气据此改写的短篇小说，并加上描写意大利人爱情故事的《瓦妮娜·瓦尼尼》，结成一集，取名为《意大利轶事》出版。
１８２９年发表的《瓦妮娜·瓦尼尼》，是一起短篇杰作。它通过烧炭党人彼埃特罗与罗马贵族小姐瓦妮娜的爱情，歌颂了意大利的民族解放运动，歌颂了为民族解放而献身的烧炭党人。瓦妮娜是个倾国倾城的美女。她虽然出身于阀阅世家，但视富贵如浮云，心甘情愿地追求一个出身低微，身负重伤，又被官方通缉的逃犯。为了爱情，她甘愿舍弃一切，甚至不惜自己的名声。但为了得到彼埃特罗的爱，她竟然告密出卖了彼埃特罗手下的战士，破坏了他们的起义。她当初爱上彼埃特罗，是钦佩他为民族解放奋斗的大无谓精神。但由于私心的支配，她的爱情到头来变成了正义事业的阻力。
作为她的对立面，彼埃特罗表现了可歌可泣的爱国精神。他爱瓦妮娜，爱她胜过爱自己的生命。但是当他必须在祖国的命运和个人的幸福之间作出选择时，他放弃了后者。为了民族解放他甘于吃苦，当他手下的战士被捕，起义失败后，他毅然投案自首，以免被人疑为叛徒。当他得知是自己的心上人告的密后，他愤怒地拒绝了她的解救，与她断绝了情缘。他的凛然正气和非凡的人格力量使他成为文学史上一个光彩夺目的爱国者形象。
《岸边的圣方济各教堂》是一起描写“意大利激情”的小说，教皇的侄媳康波巴索王妃表面冷漠、清高，谨守妇道，实际上充满了不可抑制的情欲。她与法国驻教廷的使馆随员，法国摄政王的私生子暗通款曲。但她一心要独享情夫的情爱，一旦得知他移情别处，便与教会的野心家勾结，派人暗杀了情夫。司汤达在描写这对青年的情爱波折时，附带了几笔，便把当时教会任人唯亲，编织裙带关系，打着冠冕堂皇的旗号互作私人交易的丑恶事实揭露无遗。
《维多利娅·阿柯朗波尼》写的是宫廷贵族为情爱和利益进行的两次阴谋仇杀。小说是以记叙“社会新闻”的笔调写的。尽管案情十分曲折，解决案件的方式惊心动魄，但最精彩的还是关于初为红衣主教，后为教皇西利斯图斯五世的蒙太托的描写。菲利克斯是蒙太托的外甥和养子。红衣主教视他为掌上明殊。然而，他在听到养子被人暗杀的消息后“面不改色”，一点儿没有震惊的表现。第二天梵蒂冈召开红衣主教会，人们认为他不会到场，谁知他和往常一样，第一批到会，而且在教皇本人流泪安慰他时，他也和平常一样，十分平静，并且要求圣上不要下令调查案情，说他已宽恕了杀手。他的这些表现，赢得了教皇和其他人的好感。大家都说他是一个了不起的教士。此后不久，他当选为教皇（他在外甥死后的表现无疑为他当选脾气了道路），脸立刻变了，逼得涉嫌与他外甥谋杀案有关的人逃离罗马。他的种种表现，活脱脱表现了一个野心勃勃，不择手段往上爬的高级教士的伪善心灵。
《桑西一家》以哀怨动人的笔调写了贝阿特丽丝及其一家的不幸遭遇。她是个美丽的少女，正值如花似玉的年龄，本该充分享受父母的怜爱。谁知她父亲是只衣冠禽兽，想方设法虐待她，糟蹋她。她忍无可忍，与继母一起，叫人杀死了这个淫棍。这件杀人案事出有因，理当得到法官的同情，然而教会的裁判机构却不顾天理人情，判决这位少女及其一家人死刑。作者在这里对司法的不公正表达了强烈的义愤，对不幸的少女表示深切的哀怜。
《帕利亚诺公爵夫人》叙述了一起贵族家庭常有的事情：女主人与年轻的男侍从偷情。司汤达没有过多地描写偷情的场面，倒是对处理这件事情的过程作了详细的描写，更费了不少笔墨，对教廷内部你死我活的斗争，作了逼真的展现。两个偷情者当然被处死了。甚至连腹中的胎儿都不放过。封建大家族里，这种惨无人道的私刑制度令人触目惊心。
《艾蕾》是一出催人泪下的爱情悲剧。贵族小姐艾蕾与“强盗”尤拉相爱，遭到父兄的极力反对。不幸在一次战斗中，她的兄弟死于尤拉刀下。伤心欲绝的父母为斩断她与尤拉的情丝，把她送进修道院；而尤拉攻打修道院失败，为了逃避追究，远走他乡，失去了联系。在与情人生离死别，身处恶劣环境，十分痛苦的情况下，艾蕾自甘堕落，先花费重金贿赂，当上了修道院长，后失身于道貌岸然的主教。最后，因怀孕事发，被判重刑。当她听说尤拉率人前来解救她的消息时，留下一封长信，自杀身亡。这篇名作通过艾蕾这个大家闺秀的不幸遭遇，深刻地揭示出，封建的门第观念是扼杀青年人幸福的凶手；伪善的教会，修道院是使人堕落的根源。
《血染风情》（直译为《宠爱过度反害人》）和《苏奥拉·斯科拉蒂卡》两篇的题材有类似之处。虽然故事发生的年代不同，一起是１５８５年前后，一起是１７４０年前后，但两篇小说都写出了封建制度的惨无人道，和贵族修道院的黑幕。那些多子女的贵族家庭为了保证家庭的财产不致分散，往往只把财产传给长子，对于其余的儿子只给一定的生活费，对于女儿则一律赶出家门。或者嫁出去换一笔财产，或者把她们送进专门为这些人开办的贵族修女院。进了修女院则等于进了坟墓，与外面的一切联系都要切断。正如《血染风情》里修女说的：“父母把我们送进修道院，家庭财产都被兄弟霸占，我们被关在这座活人的坟墓里，没有第二条生路。”但是少女们都是活生生的人，不甘心牺牲自己的青春、爱情、幸福，想方设法与外面的情人幽会。然而这种行为一旦被发现，便要被视为渎圣罪，轻则打入地牢，终身监禁，重则处死。《血染风情》和《苏奥拉·斯科拉蒂卡》写的就是贵族修女们的生活，她们对幸福的向往和对命运的抗争。对受社会与家庭迫害的修女，作者寄予了深切的同情，对她们英勇反抗，追求幸福与自由的行动则予以热情的歌颂，把这些“淳朴而富于感情的人”称为“现代文明的先驱”。
《红与黑》
灵魂的哲学诗
于连是１９世纪欧洲文学中一系列反叛资本主义社会的英雄人物的"始祖"
法国批判现实主义文学的奠基之作
１９世纪卓越的政治小说
现代小说之父的经典著作
１９世纪欧洲文学史中第一部批判现实主义杰作
美国作家海明威开列的必读书
被英国小说家毛姆认为是真正的杰作的文学书
１９８６年法国《读书》杂志推荐的理想藏书
《红与黑》是法国现实主义作家司汤达的代表作，自１８３０年问世以来，赢得了世界各国一代又一代读者的心，特别为年轻人所喜爱。作品所塑造的"少年野心家"于连是一个具有高度典型意义的人物形象，已成为个人奋斗的野心家的代名词。
小说发表后，当时的社会流传"不读《红与黑》，就无法在政界混"的谚语，而本书则被许多国家列为禁书。《红与黑》在心理深度的挖掘上远远超出了同时代作家所能及的层次。它开创了后世"意识流小说"、"心理小说"的先河。后来者竞相仿效这种"司汤达文体"，使小说创作"向内转"，发展到重心理刻画、重情绪抒发的现代形态。人们因此称司汤达为"现代小说之父"。《红与黑》在今天仍被公认为欧洲文学皇冠上一枚最为璀璨精致的艺术宝石，是文学史上描写政治黑暗最经典的著作之一，１００多年来，被译成多种文字广为流传，并被多次改编为戏剧、电影。
司汤达作品导读
亨利·贝尔，米兰人，写作过，恋爱过，生活过。
———司汤达的墓志铭
一切伟大作家都是他们时代的浪漫主义者，表现他们时代的真实的东西，因此感动他们同时代的人。
———司汤达
《红与黑》拥有一个谜一般的标题。一般认为，“红”指的是红色的将军制服，即军队。“黑”指的是教士的黑道袍，即教会。当兵和做神父分别是拿破仑帝国时代和王朝复辟时期有野心的法国青年不同的晋升之路。小说主人公原来打算不穿上红色的将军制服就穿上教士的黑道袍，当大主教，可是他最后却上了断头台。
《红与黑》的作者司汤达（1783—1842年）是法国批判现实主义文学的奠基人，他的代表作《红与黑》标志着以当代社会生活为题材的批判现实主义文学的诞生，虽然他活着的时候并未引起广泛的注意，他曾宣称到1880年才会有人读他的作品，到1935年才会被人理解；如今，司汤达在文学史上的地位得到公认，他对现代小说艺术发展的贡献已载入史册。司汤达侨居意大利期间，深受意大利浪漫主义尤其是曼佐尼的影响。意大利浪漫主义同德、法消极浪漫主义不同，后者宣扬唯心的神秘主义，前者则强调文学要写真实，要提倡民族传统。用曼佐尼的话来说：“戏剧人物的可信与否，全在他的真实性”，“最伟大的诗人都从民族传统中吸取题材”，目的是为当前民族解放斗争服务。
司汤达在文学上主张文学切合现实，为现代人服务。他以罗马凯旋门同法国的凯旋门为例，说“罗马的艺术家是浪漫主义者，他们刻画的是当时的真相，因此感动了他们的同胞”；而完全模仿罗马的法国艺术家的创作不过是毫无生机、墨守陈规的文学。在艺术形式方面，司汤达提倡朴素自然的散文体诗歌，反对墨守三一律和亚历山大诗体的成规。他倡导简单明晰的语言风格，反对夏多布里盎式的矫揉造作和夸张。他的小说就是他文学主张的活证据。
司汤达的小说《巴马修道院》写一个意大利巴马公国的贵族法布利斯·台尔·唐戈。他青年时代参加拿破仑军队，拿破仑失败后返回意大利，在他姑母的帮助下，到神学院学习，被任命为代理大主教，后来因为几次恋爱失败，隐居到修道院，不久死去。司汤达笔下的法布利斯是一个有才能的、精力充沛的青年，他想通过从军和出任教职来谋求个人的发展，并想在爱情中求得个人幸福。作者也展示了巴马宫廷的政治阴谋和斗争，显示了当时意大利社会的黑暗和混乱。
《红与黑》主要讲述一个木匠的儿子于连·索黑尔的故事。于连个性倔强顽强，精通拉丁文，被委任为当地市长德·瑞那的家庭教师。他与市长夫人发生了恋情，事情败露后，他来到与世隔绝的修道院。不久他被介绍给巴黎的一个侯爵做私人秘书。他又与侯爵之女发生恋情。正当于连陶醉于成功的喜悦中的时候，他以前的情人德·瑞那夫人在教会的压力下写来了一封告密信，断送了于连的前程。于连在忿激之下向德·瑞那夫人开了两枪，这两枪虽不致命，但于连因此被判处死刑。
据说小说的大部分情节是取材于1828年《法国新闻》上载的一个死刑案件。台湾版《红与黑》的译者黎烈文在对《法国新闻》的案由与《红与黑》的主要内容作比较研究后，认为司汤达在《红与黑》的情节上主要是采用这一案件现成的材料，他运用心理分析手法，给那些人物吹嘘上生命，撰成了一部影响后世的名著。黎烈文因此强调，情节的构造在一部小说里面并不是最重要的，只有作者所用的创作方法才是极端重要的。
司汤达创作的《红与黑》，其价值远远超过了描写杀人案的普通社会小说，正如高尔基所说：“司汤达的才能与力量在于，他把一件十分平凡的刑事案件提到对 19世纪资产阶级社会制度进行历史的、哲学的研究的境界。”《红与黑》无论在思想深度上，还是在艺术描写上都是一部在世界文学史上占有重要地位的作品。
《红与黑》中最难以把握的人物就是主人公于连，但作者写得最成功的也正是于连。于连有才干、有抱负。为了达到目的，他巧于应付各种生存境遇。或反抗，或妥协，或野心勃勃，或投机伪善，但又不失为正直善良。他一生奋斗，激荡着追求自由平等的政治激情，也充满追求个人幸福的利己主义欲望。“于连身上表现的反压迫、求自由，坚定地追寻自我生命价值的精神，体现了人的一种普遍的生存需求，因而具有象征意义，而他的那种利己主义思想，则成了这一形象历来难以为读者完全肯定和接受的根本原因。”（蒋承勇主编《世界文学史纲》）
《红与黑》因其在心理分析方面所描写的范围之广，所发掘的程度之深，不仅在法国文学中，甚至在世界文学中也成了一部最成功和最具影响力的作品。它开创了后世“意识流小说”、“心理小说”的先河，其思想和文学风格对欧美各国文学有深远的影响。
Born in Grenoble, Isère, he was an unhappy child, disliking his "unimaginative" father and mourning his mother, whom he passionately loved, and who died when he was seven. He spent "the happiest years of his life" at the Beyle country house in Claix near Grenoble.[citation needed] His closest friend was his younger sister, Pauline, with whom he maintained a steady correspondence throughout the first decade of the 19th century.
The military and theatrical worlds of the First French Empire were a revelation to Beyle. He was named an auditor with the Conseil d'État on 3 August 1810, and thereafter took part in the French administration and in the Napoleonic wars in Italy. He travelled extensively in Germany and was part of Napoleon's army in the 1812 invasion of Russia.
Stendhal witnessed the burning of Moscow from just outside the city. He was appointed Commissioner of War Supplies and sent to Smolensk to prepare provisions for the returning army. He crossed the Berezina River by finding a usable ford rather than the overwhelmed pontoon bridge, which probably saved his life and those of his companions. He arrived in Paris in 1813, largely unaware of the general fiasco that the retreat had become. Stendhal became known, during the Russian campaign, for keeping his wits about him, and maintaining his "sang-froid and clear-headedness." He also maintained his daily routine, shaving each day during the retreat from Moscow.
After the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau, he left for Italy, where he settled in Milan. He formed a particular attachment to Italy, where he spent much of the remainder of his career, serving as French consul at Trieste and Civitavecchia. His novel The Charterhouse of Parma, written in 52 days, is set in Italy, which he considered a more sincere and passionate country than Restoration France. An aside in that novel, referring to a character who contemplates suicide after being jilted, speaks about his attitude towards his home country: "To make this course of action clear to my French readers, I must explain that in Italy, a country very far away from us, people are still driven to despair by love."
Stendhal identified with the nascent liberalism and his sojourn in Italy convinced him that Romanticism was essentially the literary counterpart of liberalism in politics. When Stendhal was appointed to a consular post in Trieste in 1830, Metternich refused his exequatur on account of Stendhal's liberalism and anti-clericalism.
Stendhal was a dandy and wit about town in Paris, as well as an obsessive womaniser. His genuine empathy towards women is evident in his books; Simone de Beauvoir spoke highly of him in The Second Sex. One of his early works is On Love, a rational analysis of romantic passion that was based on his unrequited love for Mathilde, Countess Dembowska, whom he met while living at Milan. This fusion of, and tension between, clear-headed analysis and romantic feeling is typical of Stendhal's great novels; he could be considered a Romantic realist.
Stendhal suffered miserable physical disabilities in his final years as he continued to produce some of his most famous work. As he noted in his journal, he was taking iodide of potassium and quicksilver to treat his syphilis, resulting in swollen armpits, difficulty swallowing, pains in his shrunken testicles, sleeplessness, giddiness, roaring in the ears, racing pulse and "tremors so bad he could scarcely hold a fork or a pen". Modern medicine has shown that his health problems were more attributable to his treatment than to his syphilis.
Stendhal died on 23 March 1842, a few hours after collapsing with a seizure on the streets of Paris. He is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre.
Pseudonyms
Before settling on the pen name Stendhal, he published under many pen names, including "Louis Alexandre Bombet" and "Anastasius Serpière". The only book that Stendhal published under his own name was The History of Painting (1817). From the publication of Rome, Naples, Florence (September 1817) onwards, he published his works under the pseudonym "M. de Stendhal, officier de cavalerie". He borrowed this nom de plume from the German city of Stendal, birthplace of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, an art historian and archaeologist famous at the time.
In 1807 Stendhal stayed near Stendal, where he fell in love with a woman named Wilhelmine, whom he called Minette, and for whose sake he remained in the city. "I have no inclination, now, except for Minette, for this blonde and charming Minette, this soul of the north, such as I have never seen in France or Italy." Stendhal added an additional "H" to make more clear the Germanic pronunciation.
Stendhal used many aliases in his autobiographical writings and correspondence, and often assigned pseudonyms to friends, some of whom adopted the names for themselves. Stendhal used more than a hundred pseudonyms, which were astonishingly diverse. Some he used no more than once, while others he returned to throughout his life. "Dominique" and "Salviati" served as intimate pet names. He coins comic names "that make him even more bourgeois than he really is: Cotonnet, Bombet, Chamier.":80 He uses many ridiculous names: "Don phlegm", "Giorgio Vasari", "William Crocodile", "Poverino", "Baron de Cutendre". One of his correspondents, Prosper Mérimée, said: "He never wrote a letter without signing a false name."
Stendhal's Journal and autobiographical writings include many comments on masks and the pleasures of "feeling alive in many versions." "Look upon life as a masked ball," is the advice that Stendhal gives himself in his diary for 1814.:85 In Memoirs of an Egotist he writes: "Will I be believed if I say I'd wear a mask with pleasure and be delighted to change my name?...for me the supreme happiness would be to change into a lanky, blonde German and to walk about like that in Paris."
Works
| French literature |
|---|
| by category |
| French literary history |
| French writers |
| Portals |
Contemporary readers did not fully appreciate Stendhal's realistic style during the Romantic period in which he lived. He was not fully appreciated until the beginning of the 20th century. He dedicated his writing to "the Happy Few" (in English in the original). This can be interpreted as a reference to Canto 11 of Lord Byron's Don Juan, which refers to "the thousand happy few" who enjoy high society, or to the "we few, we happy few, we band of brothers" line of William Shakespeare's Henry V, but Stendhal's use more likely refers to The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith, parts of which he had memorized in the course of teaching himself English.
In The Vicar of Wakefield, "the happy few" refers ironically to the small number of people who read the title character's obscure and pedantic treatise on monogamy. As a literary critic, such as in Racine and Shakespeare, Stendhal championed the Romantic aesthetic by unfavorably comparing the rules and strictures of Jean Racine's classicism to the freer verse and settings of Shakespeare, and supporting the writing of plays in prose.
Today, Stendhal's works attract attention for their irony and psychological and historical dimensions. Stendhal was an avid fan of music, particularly the works of the composers Domenico Cimarosa, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gioacchino Rossini. He wrote a biography of Rossini, Vie de Rossini (1824), now more valued for its wide-ranging musical criticism than for its historical content.
In his works, Stendhal reprised excerpts appropriated from Giuseppe Carpani, Théophile Frédéric Winckler, Sismondi and others.
Novels
- Armance (1827)
- Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black, 1830)
- Lucien Leuwen (1835, unfinished, published 1894)
- The Pink and the Green (1837, unfinished)
- La Chartreuse de Parme (1839) (The Charterhouse of Parma)
- Lamiel (1839–1842, unfinished, published 1889)
Novellas
- Mina de Vanghel (1830, later published in the Paris periodical La Revue des Deux Mondes)
- Vanina Vanini (1829)
- Italian Chroniques, 1837–1839
- Vittoria Accoramboni
- The Cenci (Les Cenci, 1837)
- The Duchess of Palliano (La Duchesse de Palliano)
- The Abbess of Castro (L'Abbesse de Castro, 1832)
Biography
- A Life of Napoleon (1817–1818, published 1929)
- A Life of Rossini (1824)
Autobiography
Stendhal's brief memoir, Souvenirs d'Égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) was published posthumously in 1892. Also published was a more extended autobiographical work, thinly disguised as the Life of Henry Brulard.
- The Life of Henry Brulard (1835–1836, published 1890)
- Souvenirs d'Égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist, written in 1832 and published in 1892)
- Journal (1801–1817) (The Private Diaries of Stendhal)
Non-fiction
- Rome, Naples et Florence (1817)
- De L'Amour (1822) (On Love)
- Racine et Shakespéare (1823–1835) (Racine and Shakespeare)
His other works include short stories, journalism, travel books (A Roman Journal), a famous collection of essays on Italian painting, and biographies of several prominent figures of his time, including Napoleon, Haydn, Mozart, Rossini and Metastasio.
Crystallization
In Stendhal's 1822 classic On Love he describes or compares the "birth of love", in which the love object is 'crystallized' in the mind, as being a process similar or analogous to a trip to Rome. In the analogy, the city of Bologna represents indifference and Rome represents perfect love:
When we are in Bologna, we are entirely indifferent; we are not concerned to admire in any particular way the person with whom we shall perhaps one day be madly in love; even less is our imagination inclined to overrate their worth. In a word, in Bologna "crystallization" has not yet begun. When the journey begins, love departs. One leaves Bologna, climbs the Apennines, and takes the road to Rome. The departure, according to Stendhal, has nothing to do with one's will; it is an instinctive moment. This transformative process actuates in terms of four steps along a journey:
- Admiration – one marvels at the qualities of the loved one.
- Acknowledgement – one acknowledges the pleasantness of having gained the loved one's interest.
- Hope – one envisions gaining the love of the loved one.
- Delight – one delights in overrating the beauty and merit of the person whose love one hopes to win.
This journey or crystallization process (shown above) was detailed by Stendhal on the back of a playing card while speaking to Madame Gherardi, during his trip to the Salzburg salt mine.
Critical appraisal
Hippolyte Taine considered the psychological portraits of Stendhal's characters to be "real, because they are complex, many-sided, particular and original, like living human beings." Émile Zola concurred with Taine's assessment of Stendhal's skills as a "psychologist", and although emphatic in his praise of Stendhal's psychological accuracy and rejection of convention, he deplored the various implausibilities of the novels and Stendhal's clear authorial intervention.
The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche refers to Stendhal as "France's last great psychologist" in Beyond Good and Evil (1886). He also mentions Stendhal in the Twilight of the Idols (1889) during a discussion of Dostoevsky as a psychologist, saying that encountering Dostoevsky was "the most beautiful accident of my life, more so than even my discovery of Stendhal".
Ford Madox Ford, in The English Novel, asserts that to Diderot and Stendhal "the Novel owes its next great step forward...At that point it became suddenly evident that the Novel as such was capable of being regarded as a means of profoundly serious and many-sided discussion and therefore as a medium of profoundly serious investigation into the human case."
Erich Auerbach considers modern "serious realism" to have begun with Stendhal and Balzac. In Mimesis, he remarks of a scene in The Red and the Black that "it would be almost incomprehensible without a most accurate and detailed knowledge of the political situation, the social stratification, and the economic circumstances of a perfectly definite historical moment, namely, that in which France found itself just before the July Revolution."
In Auerbach's view, in Stendhal's novels "characters, attitudes, and relationships of the dramatis personæ, then, are very closely connected with contemporary historical circumstances; contemporary political and social conditions are woven into the action in a manner more detailed and more real than had been exhibited in any earlier novel, and indeed in any works of literary art except those expressly purporting to be politico-satirical tracts."
Simone de Beauvoir uses Stendhal as an example of a feminist author. In The Second Sex de Beauvoir writes “Stendhal never describes his heroines as a function of his heroes: he provides them with their own destinies.” She furthermore points out that it “is remarkable that Stendhal is both so profoundly romantic and so decidedly feminist; feminists are usually rational minds that adopt a universal point of view in all things; but it is not only in the name of freedom in general but also in the name of individual happiness that Stendhal calls for women’s emancipation.” Yet, Beauvoir criticises Stendhal for, although wanting a woman to be his equal, her only destiny he envisions for her remains a man.
Even Stendhal's autobiographical works, such as The Life of Henry Brulard or Memoirs of an Egotist, are "far more closely, essentially, and concretely connected with the politics, sociology, and economics of the period than are, for example, the corresponding works of Rousseau or Goethe; one feels that the great events of contemporary history affected Stendhal much more directly than they did the other two; Rousseau did not live to see them, and Goethe had managed to keep aloof from them." Auerbach goes on to say:
Vladimir Nabokov was dismissive of Stendhal, in Strong Opinions calling him "that pet of all those who like their French plain". In the notes to his translation of Eugene Onegin, he asserts that Le Rouge et le Noir is "much overrated", and that Stendhal has a "paltry style". In Pnin Nabokov wrote satirically, "Literary departments still labored under the impression that Stendhal, Galsworthy, Dreiser, and Mann were great writers."
In 2019, rumours began amongst the undergraduate body at the University of Oxford that Stendhal was actually a woman posing as a man. Despite having been reported as such in several essays received by the French Department, this is most likely false.
Michael Dirda considers Stendhal "the greatest all round French writer – author of two of the top 20 French novels, author of a highly original autobiography (Vie de Henry Brulard), a superb travel writer, and as inimitable a presence on the page as any writer you'll ever meet."
Stendhal syndrome
In 1817 Stendhal was reportedly overcome by the cultural richness of Florence he encountered when he first visited the Tuscan city. As he described in his book Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio:
The condition was diagnosed and named in 1979 by Italian psychiatrist Dr. Graziella Magherini, who had noticed similar psychosomatic conditions (racing heart beat, nausea and dizziness) amongst first-time visitors to the city.
In homage to Stendhal, Trenitalia named their overnight train service from Paris to Venice the Stendhal Express.