Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle arrived in the world on the 23rd of January 1783 within the city of Grenoble. He entered a household defined by his father Chérubin Beyle and mother Henriette Gagnon. The boy found himself deeply unhappy with an unimaginative father who seemed to lack any spark of life. His true emotional anchor was his mother, whom he loved with fervent intensity. That bond ended abruptly when she died during childbirth in 1790. Marie-Henri was only seven years old at the time of her passing. He spent his early childhood years at the family country estate located in Claix near Grenoble. His closest companion became his younger sister Pauline. They maintained a steady correspondence throughout the first decade of the 19th century. This early loss shaped his complex relationship with authority figures for decades.
The military and theatrical worlds of the First French Empire offered Beyle a profound revelation. He served as an assistant war commissioner within the administration of the Kingdom of Westphalia. From 1807 to 1808, he lived in Braunschweig where he fell in love with Wilhelmine von Griesheim. He called her Minette and remained in the city solely for her sake. He described her as a blonde and charming soul of the north unlike anything seen in France or Italy. On the 3rd of August 1810, he was named an auditor with the Conseil d'État. Thereafter he took part in the French administration and Napoleonic Wars in Italy. He traveled extensively in Germany and joined Napoleon's army during the 1812 invasion of Russia. Upon arriving, Stendhal witnessed the burning of Moscow from just outside the city. The army faced a brutal winter retreat that claimed countless lives. He crossed the Berezina River by finding a usable ford rather than using the overwhelmed pontoon bridge. This decision probably saved his life and those of his companions. He arrived in Paris in 1813 largely unaware of the general fiasco that the retreat had become.
Stendhal published De l'amour in 1822 as a rational analysis of romantic passion. The work was based on his unrequited love for Mathilde Countess Dembowska whom he met while living at Milan. In this text he introduced the concept of crystallization to describe the birth of love. He compared the process to a trip to Rome where Bologna represents indifference and Rome represents perfect love. When we are in Bologna we are entirely indifferent and not concerned to admire any particular way the person with whom we shall perhaps one day be madly in love. The journey begins when love departs and one climbs the Apennines toward Rome. This transformative process actuates through four steps along a journey including admiration hope and delight. Stendhal detailed this journey or crystallization process on the back of a playing card while speaking to Madame Gherardi during his trip to the Salzburg salt mine. The book was mostly ignored after publishing but has been lauded posthumously as one of the first modern attempts at understanding love. Sharon Brehm president of the APA called Stendhal a first-rate psychologist before the official term was coined.
Contemporary readers did not fully appreciate Stendhal's realistic style during the Romantic period in which he lived. He dedicated his writing to the Happy Few who would eventually understand his work. Critics like Hippolyte Taine considered the psychological portraits of Stendhal's characters to be real because they were complex many-sided particular and original. Émile Zola concurred with Taine's assessment of Stendhal's skills as a psychologist. Erich Auerbach considers modern serious realism to have begun with Stendhal and Balzac. In Mimesis he remarks that it would be almost incomprehensible without a most accurate and detailed knowledge of the political situation social stratification and economic circumstances of France just before the July Revolution. Characters attitudes and relationships are very closely connected with contemporary historical circumstances. Contemporary political and social conditions are woven into the action in a manner more detailed and more real than had been exhibited in any earlier novel. Stendhal identified with nascent liberalism and his sojourn in Italy convinced him that Romanticism was essentially the literary counterpart of liberalism in politics. He championed the Romantic aesthetic by unfavorably comparing the rules and strictures of Jean Racine's classicism to the freer verse and settings of Shakespeare.
Stendhal is best known for the novels Le Rouge et le Noir published in 1830 and La Chartreuse de Parme published in 1839. The Charterhouse of Parma was written in 52 days and set in Italy which he considered a more sincere and passionate country than Restoration France. An aside in that novel refers to a character who contemplates suicide after being jilted. It speaks about his attitude towards his home country stating that people are still driven to despair by love in Italy. Other key fiction includes Armance from 1827 and Lucien Leuwen from 1835 which remained unfinished until its publication in 1894. He also wrote The Pink and the Green in 1837 which was left incomplete. Lamiel spanned from 1839 to 1842 but was not published until 1889. His autobiographical works include Memoirs of an Egotist published posthumously in 1892 and Life of Henry Brulard published in 1890. The only book that Stendhal published under his own name was The History of Painting in 1817.
Stendhal suffered miserable physical disabilities in his final years as he continued to produce some of his most famous work. He contracted syphilis in December 1808 and took iodide of potassium and quicksilver to treat the disease. This treatment resulted in swollen armpits difficulty swallowing pains in shrunken testicles sleeplessness giddiness roaring in the ears racing pulse and tremors so bad he could scarcely hold a fork or a pen. Modern medicine has shown that his health problems were more attributable to his treatment than to the syphilis itself. He sought the best treatment in Paris Vienna and Rome throughout his life. Stendhal died on the 23rd of March 1842 a few hours after collapsing with a seizure in the street in Paris. He is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre. His journals reveal that he maintained his daily routine shaving each day during the retreat from Moscow even while facing extreme hardship.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When and where was Marie-Henri Beyle born?
Marie-Henri Beyle arrived in the world on the 23rd of January 1783 within the city of Grenoble. He entered a household defined by his father Chérubin Beyle and mother Henriette Gagnon.
What happened to Stendhal during the 1812 invasion of Russia?
Stendhal joined Napoleon's army during the 1812 invasion of Russia and witnessed the burning of Moscow from just outside the city. He crossed the Berezina River by finding a usable ford rather than using the overwhelmed pontoon bridge which probably saved his life and those of his companions.
How did Stendhal define the concept of crystallization in De l'amour?
Stendhal introduced the concept of crystallization to describe the birth of love as a transformative process that actuates through four steps including admiration hope and delight. He compared this journey to a trip to Rome where Bologna represents indifference and Rome represents perfect love.
Which novels are considered the best known works of Stendhal?
Stendhal is best known for the novels Le Rouge et le Noir published in 1830 and La Chartreuse de Parme published in 1839. The Charterhouse of Parma was written in 52 days and set in Italy which he considered a more sincere and passionate country than Restoration France.
When and how did Stendhal die?
Stendhal died on the 23rd of March 1842 a few hours after collapsing with a seizure in the street in Paris. He is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre.