Stendhal, "Red and Black": product reviews, summary

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

"Red and Black" is the most famous novel by the great French author Stendhal. It went to press in 1820. This book gained great fame both in the author's homeland and abroad, and became the forerunner of novels in the genre of psychological realism. Translated into Russian by Alexei Pleshcheev, the novel first appeared in the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine in 1874.

"Red and Black" by Stendhal, content

The plot of the novel is based on real events. The author took as a basis the story read in the newspaper: the teacher Antoine Berte shot the mother of his wards, for which he was executed. The author perceived this situation as a tragedy of an entire generation.

The action takes place in the 20s of the XIX century in the city of Verrières, which in reality did not exist - it was invented by the author.

So, the mayor of the city takes in his family a tutor - an ambitious young man Julien Sorel. He is very erudite, dreams of achieving recognition. The idol of the young man is Napoleon. Gradually, the mayor's wife, Madame de Renal, takes a great interest in Julien and becomes his mistress. When their relationship is threatened with exposure, Julien is forced to leave town.

Sorel heads to the abbey, where he chooses Pirard as his confessor, but he is soon asked to resign. A friend of the confessor - the Marquis de La Mole - invites him to Paris and says that he is looking for a secretary. Pirard advises Julien without hesitation. Sorel becomes a secretary and seduces the daughter of La Mole Matilda. Everything would have gone according to Sorel's plans - a beauty nearby, position, respect, money, but the marquis receives a revealing letter from Madame Renal, where she accuses Julien of hypocrisy, meanness, seducing women.

The Marquis in anger kicks out Sorel. He buys a gun, comes to Renal and shoots her. Julien is thrown into prison and sentenced to death, despite the fact that the woman remains alive. Mrs. Renal comes to him in prison, where the use of heroes takes place. Despite everything, the heroes find out that they have always loved each other, and the letter was written by the woman's confessor. Renal herself and many of the townspeople come to Julien's defense, but he is still sentenced to death. Three days after his death, Madame Renal herself dies.

The main characters of the novel

Among them are:

• The central character is Julien Sorel. He is getting ready to bebishop in order to derive concrete benefits from this, while he himself does not believe in God. He is very smart and erudite, dreams of repeating the fate of Napoleon. For the sake of achieving his goals, he is ready to go to hypocrisy. At the same time, he is quite quick-tempered and cannot always control his emotions.



• Miss Louise Renal. The mayor's wife and Julien's mistress. Very naive and easily influenced by others.
• Matilda. Daughter of the Marquis de la Mole. Daring, open and emotional. Reads books by Voltaire and Rousseau. Falls in love with Julien.
• Pirard is the abbot of the seminary. He looks like Julien in erudition and erudition, sympathizes with him. Banished from the abbey.
• Mr. de la Mole. Marquis, participant in various secret meetings. Appreciates Julien and his knowledge, but immediately believes the denunciation of Madame de Renal's confessor.
• Mr. de Renal. Louise's husband and mayor of the city. Rich, vain, yet hypocritical.

Meaning of the name

In the reviews and reviews of "Red and Black" by Stendhal, you can read many versions about the title of the work. One of the most popular interpretations is that the name symbolizes the choice between the career of a priest (black is the color of the cassock) and the career of a commander (red is the color of the uniform). According to another version, Stendhal called the work that way because he wanted to show the struggle in the heart of the hero: he wanted to prove himself, achieve success, become great, but for this he was ready for vile, low deeds.

If you look at the biography of the author, you can find out that he was a gambler. This factsuggests such an interpretation of the name: red and black are the colors of playing roulette, they symbolize the excitement that often gripped the hero.

He himself bet on both "red" (seduction of women) and "black" (betrayal and hypocrisy).

Even Stendhal's contemporaries in their reviews of "Red and Black" emphasized the originality and mystery of the title:

The title of this book has a flaw, or, if you like, a peculiar virtue: it leaves the reader in complete ignorance of what lies ahead.

Stendhal's novel "Red and Black", analysis of problems

So, what did the author want to say with his work?

Of course, the problem is not raised alone. The author touches upon such topics as the choice of ways to achieve goals, the choice of the path that one has to go through life, the conflict between the individual and society. To fully understand the chapters of "Red and Black" by Stendhal, the historical context should also be taken into account. Events such as the coming to power of Napoleon, the revolution, explain the mindset of the hero.

One of the main issues raised in the novel is social injustice. The author himself called the novel a chronicle of the century and showed the social situation and customs of the century using the example of his heroes. Julien Sorel, although smart, is a commoner, which prevents him from taking a high position in society in an honest way. Another important issue that Stendhal touched upon is the ignorance of the ruling circles.

Finally, the author tells us about the conflictperson and society. Julien is not accepted either in his own family - he is too smart for his brothers, or in the upper strata of society, because he is a simple carpenter's son. Such misunderstanding and rejection make Sorel the way he appears to us on the pages of the novel.

"Red and Black" as a psychological novel

This work is called the founder of the psychological novel. Why? The fact is that the author, speaking about the actions of the hero, also describes his psychological state at that time, the reasons and motivation. For example, Sorel's reverence for Napoleon left its mark on many of the hero's actions and on his character as a whole.

Stendhal not only depicts any events, but also assesses the behavior and motives of the characters, describing the internal struggle, character traits and personality development.

The author constantly correlates events from the outside world with the complex world of the inner experiences of his characters.

Various non-verbal signs play a big role. The gestures and facial expressions of the characters, with seeming outward calmness, can betray their true emotional state.

The attitude of contemporaries to the novel

The work was received ambiguously. Contemporaries of Stendhal, in their reviews of "Red and Black", spoke about the shortcomings of the language, and about the depraved and vulgar behavior of the main characters. In the Vatican, the book was taken as a love story and banned in 1864. In Russia, it was banned earlier, in 1850, by Emperor Nicholas I. In Spain, the novel was banned in 1939 by dictator Francisco Franco.

Literary criticsperceived the hero of the novel ambiguously. Julien was considered a noble person who opposes the society of ignoramuses and hypocrites, a character who first falls in love with himself for self-interest, but then begins to love sincerely, as well as a cynic and a person with a double life.

What they say about the novel now

Reviews of Stendhal's book "Red and Black" are mostly positive. Modern readers perceive it as a masterpiece of world literature, admire the psychologism of the novel, how beautifully and accurately the author describes the emotions and experiences of his characters. They also note how accurately Stendhal depicted the train of thought of people against the backdrop of specific historical events.

There are a lot of interpretations of the title of the novel: readers both agree with existing ones and try to come up with their own.

They also note the fact that the novel will be difficult to understand without knowing historical events (the French Revolution, the reign of Napoleon) and concepts (abbot, Jesuit and others).

There are also negative reviews: they mostly complain about a large number of sentimental experiences and a drawn-out plot, and someone finds the description of the life of that time boring.

Abroad adaptations

The first film based on the book was released back in 1920. It was the work of the Italian director Mario Bonnard. The novel was filmed several times in France, in 1954, 1961 and 1997 by directors Claude Autan-laure, Pierre Cardinal and Jean Verrages, respectively.

In the film adaptationFor 54 years, the main role was played by actor Gerard Philip, who had previously starred in the film adaptation of Stendhal's work "The Parma Monastery".

In addition, in 1993 in England there was a series directed by Ben Bolt, the plot of which is based on the book. It's called "Scarlet and Black".

Soviet adaptation

Soviet adaptation came out in 1976. Director - Sergey Gerasimov. The film consists of five episodes. The role of Julien Sorel was played by actor Nikolai Eremenko Jr., whose career after that rapidly went up.

The film was shot not only in the Soviet Union, but also in France. Engravings and paintings by French artists of the 19th century were used as decorations. The director himself stated that his main goal was to convey the idea of Stendhal. The Soviet film adaptation of Stendhal's Red and Black received mostly positive reviews.