The Red and the Black

Translated from the French by C.K. Scott-Moncrieff, with an introduction by Hamilton Basso, and illustrations by Rafaello Busoni. "Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) is a novel by Stendhal, published in 1830. The title has been translated into English variously as Scarlet and Black, Red and Black, and The Red and the Black. It is set in 1830, and relates a young man's attempts to rise above his plebeian birth through a combination of talent, hard work, deception and hypocrisy, only to find himself betrayed by his own passions. Like Stendhal's later novel The Charterhouse of Parma (La Chartreuse de Parme), Le Rouge et le Noir is a Bildungsroman. The protagonist, Julien Sorel, is a driven and intelligent man, but equally fails to understand much about the ways of the world he sets out to conquer. He harbours many romantic illusions, and becomes little more than a pawn in the political machinations of the influential and ruthless people who surround him. Stendhal uses his flawed hero to satirize French society of the time, particularly the hypocrisy and materialism of its aristocracy and the Roman Catholic Church, and to foretell a radical change in French society that will remove both of those forces from their positions of power. The most common and most likely explanation of the title is that red and black are the contrasting colors of the army uniform of the times and of the robes of priests, respectively. Julien Sorel observes early on in the novel that, under the Bourbon restoration it is impossible for a man of his class to distinguish himself in the army (as he might have done under Napoleon); now, only a career in the Church offers social advancement and glory. Alternative explanations are possible, however: for example, red might stand for love and black for death and mourning; or the colours might refer to those of a roulette wheel, and may indicate the unexpected changes in the hero's career. The novel ends with Stendhal's standard closing quote, 'To the Happy Few.' This is often interpreted as a dedication to the few who could understand his writing, an allusion to William Shakespeare's 'Henry V', or a sardonic reference to the happy few who are born into prosperity (the latter interpretation is supported by the likely source of the quotation, Canto 11 of Byron's Don Juan, a frequent reference in the novel, which refers to 'the thousand happy few' who enjoy high society)." CONTENTS: A Small Town; A Mayor; The Bread of the Poor; Father and Son; Driving a Bargain; Dulness; Elective Affinities; Minor Events; An Evening in the Country; A Large Heart and a Small Fortune; Night Thoughts; A Journey; Open-Work Stockings; The English Scissors; Cock-Crow; The Day After; The Principal Deputy; A King at Verrieres; To Think is to be Full of Sorrow; The Anonymous Letters; Conversation with a Lord and Master; Manners and Customs in 1830; The Sorrows of an Official; A Capital; The Seminary; The World, or What the Rich Lack; First Experience of Life; A Procession; The First Step; Ambition; Country Pleasures; First Appearance in Society; First Steps; The Hotel de la Mole; Sensibility and a Pious Lady; Pronunciation; An Attack of Gout; What is the Decoration That Confers Distinction; The Ball; Queen Marguerite; The Tyranny of a Girl; Another Danton?; A Plot; A Girl's Thoughts; Is It a Plot?; One O'Clock in the Morning; An Old Sword; Painful Moments; The Opera Bouffe; The Japanese Vase; The Secret Note; The Discussion; The Clergy, Their Forests, Liberty; Strasbourg; The Office of Virtue; Moral Love; The Best Positions in the Church; Manon Lescaut; Boredom; A Box at the Bouffes; Making Her Afraid; The Tiger; The Torment of the Weak; A Man of Spirit; A Storm; Painful Details; A Dungeon; A Man of Power; Intrigue; Tranquillity; The Trial; In the Prison; A Last Adieu; The Shadow of the Guillotine; Exit Julien; Translator's Note.