The Red and the Black
Stendhal’s (with the civilian name Henti
Marie Beyle) book, “The Red and the Black” is a satirical portrait of France in
the late 1820’ies, during the restoration after Napoleon and immediately before
the revolution of 1830. Stendhal’s France is divided into the haves and the
haves-not, the conservatives (ultras) and the liberals and the capital versus
the province. Despite the revolution, it is still a playground for the rich and
ripe with nepotism and corruption. To navigate this France is more about
knowing the right people than merit.
Here we find our protagonist, Julien Sorel,
a poor son of a carpenter from a small town in the province of Franche-Comté.
Julien is ambitious and dreams of greatness. His big hero is Napoleon whom he
tries to emulate in everything he does. As a possible way out of his current
straits and towards greatness, he is being trained by the local priest. This
training amounts to learning Latin and entire passages of the bible by heart
and less so the actual religious doctrines. Form rather than content. This
skill however lands him a job as a tutor for the children of the local Mayor, M
De Renal and, more importantly Mme de Renal.
Julien is at heart a good person, his
instincts are right, but he is convinced that he must emulate his hero and be Machiavellian
and manipulative in his actions to get anywhere in life. Because of this doctrine
he must seduce Mme de Renal. To do that will be a great victory, but exactly
what to do with that victory, he has not really considered. As it happens, Mme
de Renal is taken by this young man and despite himself Julien falls in love
with her, something that is difficult for him to admit to himself. My guess is
that Julien falls in love with her because Mme de Renal is the only honest
character in the entire book.
Eventually this affair becomes public, and Julien
is forced to leave. He takes a degree in theology in Besancon and when the head
of the seminary leaves for Paris he brings along Julien. Julien becomes the
secretary of Marquise de la Mole and through this becomes a witness to high
society life in Paris. Torn between his innate integrity and his Machiavellian doctrine,
he manages to become indispensable to the Marquise and seduce his daughter.
Stendahl uses Julien Sorel both as a
witness to the France he is presenting and as a personification of the dilemmas
and absurdity of getting along in various circles of this country. The
motivation of honour and greatness sometimes works for Julien, but at other
times leads him into trouble, more often than not of a ridiculous sort. There
is a very high level of hypocrisy everywhere, and many of the characters act
more according to how they think their actions are perceived, than what is
genuinely in their own best interest. Julien is trained as a priest, but I
cannot recall him ever having a pious thought. Mathilde de la Mole is more in
love with romantic passion than any of her suitors and M De Renal arranges his
entire life to impress those around him, oblivious that he is becoming a public
cuckold.
Stendahl’s writing is incredibly witty, and
his observations are knife-sharp, but his satire never becomes unrealistic, and
he is never mean to his characters. It is the realism that keeps everything
grounded and, which I love, functions as a window into life in France at this
time. It is also because of this realism the comedy works here. Stendhal’s
characters stop short of being clowns or caricatures but are character types we
would recognize. We are not quite laughing at them but smile with amusement.
This makes “The Red and the Black” a very
amusing read and I love the way Stendhal writes. He could have produced an
unlikable protagonist with that doctrine of his, but there is a sympathy, a sense
that underneath Julien has good instincts, that allows us to identify with him
and we do not reject him. At least not entirely. Julien is France in 1830. Misled, confused, a
hypocrite, but at heart good.
“The Red and the Black” is in my top-5 of
the books I have read so far on the List. Highly recommended.
