Red and Black
(Scarlet and Black)
----Stendhal
About Stendhal
Stendhal was the pen name of Henri Marie
Beyle (亨利.贝尔), born in Grenoble (格勒诺
布尔市 ) on January 23, 1783.
He came from a solidly middle-class family; his
father was a barrister and his mother was the
daughter of a physician. His mother died when
he was seven, and he grew to adore her
memory and hate what his father represented to
him—bourgeois(庸俗的) manners and the
pursuit of money.
Feeling trapped in his home, the boy developed
a vivid imagination and a taste for daydreaming.
Stendhal’s experience(1)
• At the age of 17, Stendhal went to Paris and
soon joined Napoleon's army in Italy. He
enjoyed a number of romantic liaisons. After
Napoleon's defeat, Stendhal left for Italy and
settled in Milan. He began to write books about
art and music, and first used the name "Stendhal”
in 1817.
• He returned to Paris in 1821 and he wrote a
number of books in the next several years.
• He was appointed Consul (执政官)to Trieste
after the 1830 revolution, and was soon sent to
the town outside Rome.
Stendhal’s experience(2)
• Stendhal began to write"Red and Black"in1829,and
finished in 1830.
• In 1836, he returned to Paris because of ill.
• Stendhal‘s health began to deteriorate(恶化) sharply in
early 1841, when he suffered an attack of apoplexy(中
风)。
• He died of a stroke on March 23, 1842.
• During his lifetime, his fiction was little appreciated. It
was many years before critics recognized Stendhal's
works as worthy enough to set beside those of Balzac
and Gustave Flaubert.
Plot Summary
• During this period, he became Mrs de Renal’s lover. As the
love story brought to light, he was forced to leave Victoria to
the provincial capital city of Egypt, and went to Seminary(贝拉
松神学院) to study theology.
• Julien Sorel was born in a peasant family. He was thin but
handsome, talented, and ambitious. Julien realized that only
through the Church can be among the upper class. He was
proficient（精通） in Latin, So he became the tutor of Mr de
Renal’s children's;
• He later was recommended by the priests Pirard to be the
Secretary of The Marquis de La Mole.The Marquis's
daughter, Mathilde,fell in love with Julien.
• While he was prepared to marry daughter. Mrs de Renal’s
letter made Julien’s whistle-blowers all come to naught.
• Finally, Julian was sent to the guillotine, ending his short life.
• the Black, Stendhal paints a
sweeping portrait of early
nineteenth-century.
• He paints a lively, satirical
picture of French Restoration
society after Waterloo, riddled
with corruption, greed, and
ennui
• The “Red” and “Black”dominate French society
in the years following the Revolution.
• "Red" refers to the French soldiers in red
uniforms, on behalf of the bourgeois
revolutionary forces;
• “Black" refers to the period of restoration of the
monks in black, on behalf of the Church of the
feudal forces.
• The title itself implies that the two opposing
camps of acute conflict
Julien(1)
• Throughout the novel, the story of
Napoleon is central to Julien‘s idea of
himself as a man who can aspire(渴望)
to success despite his low birth.
• He draws almost all of his ideas, and
many of his feelings from Napoleon.
Julien(2)
• Julien was born in a poor family,but he
was unwilling to be a plain person. He also
had strong self-respect.
• He has great ambition.He tried to seek
success and happiness.This also reflects
Standhal’s own opinion----indivualism.
Julien(3)
• Although Julien is indisputably(无可争辩地)
the novel's central character, whether we
should see him as a hero or not is an open
question.
• At the end of the novel, Stendhal places
us in the same position as the jury at
Julien's trial, in effect asking us to evaluate
Julien and compare our verdict with the
court's.
The author’s attitude
• Beyond the figure of Julien himself, Stendhal's
presentation of a social world frequently
dominated by lying, cheating, and stealing offers
a hint of the author's possible intentions.
• In the course of the novel it is clear that the
provinces, the seminaries, and the city are
fundamentally alike in the types of behavior they
breed and frequently reward.
• This novel ends appropriately with Stendhal's
dedication of the novel "To the happy life" .We
are left to determine the identity of the “happy“,
and whether we count Julien—and ourselves—
among them.
----LiuXiu