Stendhal summary

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Stendhal, oil painting by Pierre-Joseph Dedreux-Dorcy; in the Bibliothèque Municipale de Grenoble, France.

Stendhal , orig. Marie-Henri Beyle, (born Jan. 23, 1783, Grenoble, France—died March 23, 1842, Paris), French novelist. He left for Paris in 1799 partly to escape his father’s rule. By 1802 he was keeping a diary (posthumously published as his Journal) and writing other texts dealing with his intimate thoughts. From 1806 he served in Napoleon’s army; after the French empire fell in 1814, he settled in Italy. As a result of political and romantic disappointments, he returned to Paris. During 1821–30, while leading an active social and intellectual life, he wrote works including the masterpiece The Red and the Black (1830), a powerful character study of an ambitious young man that is also an acute picture of Restoration France. His other major work, The Charterhouse of Parma (1839), is remarkable for its sophisticated rendering of human psychology and its subtly drawn portraits. His unfinished autobiographical works, Memoirs of an Egotist (1892) and The Life of Henry Brulard (1890), are among his most original achievements.

Italy Summary

Italy, country of south-central Europe, occupying a peninsula that juts deep into the Mediterranean Sea. Italy comprises some of the most varied and scenic landscapes on Earth and is often described as a country shaped like a boot. At its broad top stand the Alps, which are among the world’s most

Eugène Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People

Romanticism Summary

Romanticism, attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century. Romanticism can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of

autobiography Summary

Autobiography, the biography of oneself narrated by oneself. Autobiographical works can take many forms, from the intimate writings made during life that were not necessarily intended for publication (including letters, diaries, journals, memoirs, and reminiscences) to a formal book-length

short story Summary

Short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes. The form encourages economy of setting, concise