A Classic of French Novel
Written: Apr 19 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: characters, plots and Stendhal's brilliant style of writing
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: The novel is like a bow, the body of the violin which gives back the sounds is the reader's soul.--Stendhal
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| julienwen's Full Review: Red and the Black Books |
The Red & The Black is a story about how a carpenter's son, Julien Sorel, tried to conquer the society of 19th century France in his own way--Napoleonic-style chivalry, seduction, hypocrisy and temporisation, and the eventual fall due to his unquenchable ambition to seek fame and fortune.
Stendhal was a brilliant narrator. He has a keen sense of human soul. In his novel, Stendhal depicts the portrait of a clever but poor young Frenchman whose brain is filled with heroic fantasies. The provincial boy climbs to his summit step by step in a manner may not be accepted by the society--the deliberate romances and appropriate timeserving. All Sorel's lovers and masters eventually become the stepstones in the journey achieving his goal. Sorel could be another Napoleon. But Stendhal gives us another ending out of our prediction. (In fact, you can find that this novel is filled with mysteries and unpredictabilities, which could be just what Stendhal want readers to realize.) When Mme de R¨ºnal, Sorel's former lover and ex-mistress, unveils their love affair which eventually ruins all Sorel's future, he shoots his ex-mistress in a Mass.
Julien Sorel is a character we can find not only in the 19th century. In all ages of opportunity and dramatic change, people who believe themselves as "talented" may not satisfy their current status. There is nothing worry with ambition. But not everybody can become Napoleon, finally. I think this maybe is what Stendhal want us to know.
About the Title: Readers like me who finish this book may probably come out with a question: What the title "The Red & The Black" is for? I read some articles. Someone said that red is for Napoleon and his troops and black is for the Catholic Church. But I think everybody who read the book could have his/her own conclusion. In my understanding, red represents the heroic adventure and the black represents the plain society.
Footnote: Do you know that The Red & The Black is the book Al Gore likes most? That's interesting, isn't it?
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
julienwen
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Location: Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
A Chinese irradiation engineer who is more interested in Art & culture than technology.
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