Other editions of book The Charterhouse of Parma

Balzac considered it the most important French novel of his time. André Gide later deemed it the greatest of all French novels, and Henry James judged it to be a masterpiece. Now, in a major literary event, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and distinguished translator Richard Howard presents a new rendition of Stendhal's epic tale of romance, adventure, and court intrigue set in early nineteenth-century Italy. The Charterhouse of Parma chronicles the exploits of Fabrizio del Dongo, an ardent young aristocrat who joins Napoleon's army just before the Battle of Waterloo. Yet perhaps the novel's most unforgettable characters are the hero's beautiful aunt, the alluring Duchess of Sanseverina, and her lover, Count Mosca, who plot to further Fabrizio's political career at the treacherous court of Parma in a sweeping story that illuminates an entire epoch of European history. "Stendhal has written The Prince up to date, the novel that Machiavelli would write if he were living banished from Italy in the nineteenth century," noted Balzac in his famous review of The Charterhouse of Parma. "Never before have the hearts of princes, ministers, courtiers, and women been depicted like this. . . . One sees perfection in every detail. . . . [It] has the magnitude of a canvas fifty feet by thirty, and at the same time the manner, the execution, is Dutch in its minuteness. . . . The Charterhouse of Parma often contains a whole book in a single page. . . . It is a masterpiece." This edition includes original illustrations by Robert Andrew Parker and Notes and a Translator's Afterword by Richard Howard.

From the Publisher In the coming-of-age story The Charterhouse of Parma, we follow a young Italian nobleman, Fabrizio Valserra, Marchesino del Dongo, on many adventures, including his experiences at the Battle of Waterloo, and romantic intrigues. Along the way we meet a number of fascinating characters, including Fabrizio's devoted aunt, Gina; her lover, the Parmese statesman, Count Mosca; and Fabrizio's true love, Clélia Conti. Set against the backdrop of post-Revolutionary Europe, the novel portrays a society that can barely keep up with its people, because the changes history and politics have wrought are so pervasive. Accreditation Stendhal is the pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle, who was born on January 23, 1783, in Grenoble, France. As a youth, Stendhal enjoyed a close relationship with his maternal grandfather, a physician who was believed to have roots in Italy, which became important later in Stendhal's own life and work, and is where most of The Charterhouse of Parma is set. In 1800 he joined Napoleon's armies as a second lieutenant, and his war experiences proved crucial to his writing. He died on March 23, 1842.

Marie-Henri Beyle (1783-1842), better known by his penname Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels The Red and the Black (1830) and The Charterhouse of Parma (1839). The military and theatrical worlds of the First French Empire were a revelation to Beyle. He was named an auditor with the Conseil d'État, and thereafter took part in the French administration and in the Napoleonic wars. He travelled extensively in Germany and was part of Napoleon's army in the 1812 invasion of Russia. He formed a particular attachment to Italy, where he spent much of the remainder of his career, serving as French consul at Trieste and Civitavecchia and writing. One of his early works is On Love (1822), a rational analysis of romantic passion. This fusion, or tension, of clearheaded analysis with romantic feeling is typical of Stendhal's great novels; he could be considered a Romantic realist. Other works include: Armance (1827) and The Abbess of Castro (1832).