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Authors: Stendhal

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The Red and the Black

THE RED AND THE BLACK

STENDHAL (Henri Beyle) was born on 23 January 1783 in Grenoble, where
his father was a lawyer and his maternal grandfather a doctor. He
lost his mother at the age of 7. After distinguishing himself in
mathematics at the Ecole Centrale in Grenoble, he moved to Paris in
1799 intending to study for admission to the Ecole Polytechnique, but
preferred to make his début in the world of art and literature. He was
employed at the Ministry of War, and took part in the Napoleonic
campaigns in Italy, Germany, Austria, and Russia from 1800 to 1814. At
the fall of the Empire he settled in Milan, where he began to write
on painting and music. Returning to Paris in 1821, he lived as a dandy
in high society, publishing a treatise on love in 1822, his first
novel
Armance
in 1827, followed by
Le Rouge et le Noir
in 1830.

The last phase of his career was spent as a diplomat in Italy, with
postings as Consul in Trieste and then Civitavecchia. He was awarded
the Légion d'honneur in 1835. The
Chartreuse de Parme
, a novel
of military and romantic adventure set in Italy, appeared in 1839.
Stendhal died of a stroke in 1842 during a period of leave in Paris.
His remaining fictional and autobiographical works were published
posthumously. His literary achievement went largely unrecognized
during his lifetime, and it was left to later generations to
appreciate his penetrating psychological and social insights and his
ironical humour.

CATHERINE SLATER was
Fellow and Tutor in French Language and Linguistics at Lady Margaret
Hall, Oxford from 1971 to 1987, and is now an Honorary Research
Fellow. She works in Bristol at HewlettPackard's European research
laboratories.

ROGER PEARSON is a Fellow and Praelector in French at The Queen's College, Oxford, and the author of
Stendhal's Violin: a Novelist and his Reader
( Clarendon Press, 1988). He has also edited Stendhal
The Charterhouse of Parma
for Oxford World's Classics.

-i-

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-ii-

STENDHAL

The Red and the Black
A Chronicle of the Nineteenth Century

Edited and Translated with Notes by
CATHERINE SLATER

With an Introduction by
ROGER PEARSON

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

-iii-

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford
It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research,
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companies in Berlin Ibadan

Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries

Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York

Translation and Notes © Catherine Slater 1991 Introduction, Further reading, and Chronology © Roger Pearson 1991

The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker)

First published as a World's Classics paperback 1991 Reissued as an Oxford World's Classics paperback 1998

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
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Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with
the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries
concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent
to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address
above

You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Data available

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Stendhal, 1783-1842. [Rouge et le noir. English]

The red and black: a chronicle of the nineteenth century / Stendhal;
translated by Catherine Slater, with an introduction by Roger Pearson.

p. cm.--(Oxford world's classics)
Translation of: Le rouge et le noir
Includes bibliographical references.

I. Slater, Catherine. II. Pearson, Roger III. Title. IV. Series. [PQ2435.R7E5 1991] 843′.7 dc20 90-47949

ISBN 0-19-283871 7

5 7 9 10 8 6 4

Printed in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd. Reading, Berkshire

-iv-

CONTENTS
Introduction
ix
Note on the text
xxiv
Further reading
xxv
A chronology of Stendhal
xxvii
The Red and the Black
BOOK ONE
1 A small town
3
2 A mayor
7
3 Care of the poor
11
4 Father and son
17
5 Striking a bargain
21
6 Boredom
29
7 Elective affinities
37
8 Minor events
48
9 An evening in the country
56
10 A generous heart and a meagre fortune
64
11 In the evening
68
12 A journey
73
13 Openwork stockings
80
14 A pair of English scissors
85
15 The crowing of the cock
89
16 The day after
93
17 First deputy
98
18 A king in Verrières
103
19 Thinking brings suffering
116
20 Anonymous letters
125
21 Dialogue with a master
129
22 Modes of behaviour in 1830
143
23 The woes of high office
156
24 A capital city
170
25 The seminary
177
26 The world
185
27 First experience of life
195

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28 A procession
199
29 First promotion
206
30 A man of ambition
221
BOOK TWO
1 Pleasures of the countryside
239
2 Entry into society
250
3 The first steps
258
4 The Hôtel de la Mole
262
5 Sensitivity and a great lady's piety
275
6 A matter of accent
278
7 An attack of gout
285
8 What decoration distinguishes a man?
293
9 The ball
303
10 Queen Marguerite
312
11 The power of a young lady
320
12 Might he be a Danton?
324
13 A plot
330
14 A young lady's thoughts
339
15 Is it a plot?
345
16 One o'clock in the morning
350
17 An old sword
357
18 Cruel moments
362
19 The Opera Bouffe
368
20 The Japanese vase
377
21 The secret memorandum
383
22 The discussion
389
23 The clergy, forests and freedom
397
24 Strasburg
406
25 The Ministry of Virtue
413
26 Propriety in love
420
27 The best positions in the Church
424
28 Manon Lescaut
428
29 Boredom
432
30 A box at the Opera Bouffe
436
31 Frightening her
441
32 The tiger
446
33 The infernal torment of weakness
451
34 A man of intelligence
457

-vi-

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