Stendhal's 1830 French novel follows Julien Sorel, an ambitious young man navigating post-revolutionary France through calculated romantic affairs and social climbing. This classic work of realist fiction explores the tension between idealism and opportunism in a society where merit battles aristocratic privilege. Translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff.
Put thousands together less bad, But the cage less gay.--_Hobbes_. The little town of Verrières can pass for one of the prettiest in Franche-Comté. Its white houses with their pointed red-tiled roofs stretch along the slope of a hill, whose slightest undulations are marked by groups of vigorous chestnuts. The Doubs flows to within some hundred feet above its fortifications, which were built long ago by the Spaniards, and are now in ruins. Verrières is sheltered on the north by a high mountain which is one of the branches of the Jura. The jagged peaks of the Verra are covered with snow from the beginning of the October frosts. A torrent which rushes down from the mountains traverses Verrières before throwing itself into the Doubs, and supplies the motive power for a great number of saw mills. The industry is very simple, and secures a certain prosperity to the majority of the inhabitants …Continue reading →
This is the C. K. Scott Moncrieff translation, a public-domain English text. Marginalia presents it unabridged, with chapter navigation, your reading position saved, and optional AI commentary on any passage.
Born Marie-Henri Beyle in 1783, this French novelist lived through Napoleon's rise and fall, serving as a diplomat and soldier before penning masterpieces of psychological realism. His novels The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma revolutionized literature with their penetrating analysis of ambition, love, and social climbing in post-revolutionary France. All works by Stendhal →
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