THE PRIVATE DIARIES OF STENDHAL

by Robert- Ed. & Trans. Sage ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

From 1801 to 1814 Stendhal who was to write Le Rouge et le Noir and the Chartre de Parme kept a private diary, recording not only the events, but the feeling and sensations of his tempestuous youth. These are here presented in an admirable translation by Robert Sage who also contributes some equally fine prefatory chapters which sum up the sometimes incoherent or incomprehensible entries. The diaries cover the period of his first visit to Italy, and the subsequent attempt of this provincial youth to attain in Paris his two ambitions- a life of ""virtue"" that is civic virtue, and a more worldly one in which he would become an adept seducer of women. He was more successful in the former than in the latter goal, as he held both civic and military posts under the Napoleonic regime. Emotional and sensitive, he was far too shy to be a devastating Don Juan- but endless affairs he did have with women- sometimes physical, sometimes imaginary and even more passionate.... The surprisingly spontaneous, naive, and yet urbane entries of these notebooks are the raw material from which he drew his later works and is of course a valuable addition to any understanding of the novelist. For devotees, it will be a priceless piece- for students, it will have a lasting reference value.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION