Summary
This book follows the protagonist Julien Sorell in his attempts to make a name for himself. Julien is the son of a carpenter but has dreams of becoming the next Napoleon. During a period known as the Bourbon Restoration, France is experiencing a brief moment of peace after Napoleon had been defeated and monarchs were back in charge. Julien decides that the only possible path to the glory he seeks is through the church now that Napoleon is no longer around. He soon finds out that in order to climb the ranks of the France elite he must first learn to play their games.
Thoughts
The Red and the Black could symbolize a few things, but to me it most symbolizes the Julien himself as he is dressed as a priest but is full of passion. Julien as a character vacillates between extremes. At points cold and calculating, at others completely under the sway of his desires. All the while Stendhal masterfully shines a light on the psychological experience of these conflicting states. This is what makes this novel worth reading in the first place. Stendhal is considered to be the father of the psychological novel paving the way for arguably the next century of writers. My relationship with Julien is a strange one. At points in the book his borderline psychopathic manipulations are enraging, while a little later he would manage to do or say something that was truly beautiful. A large part of this book missed me because it was a critique on French society during the Bourbon Restoration. Like a lot of things, I am largely ignorant of that situation and so a lot of that subtext was lost on me. There were large parts of the book that left me feeling a little bored, wondering where it was all going. For me, I think I will stick with Dostoyevsky for my psychological novels. I would probably not recommend this book were it not for a fantastic ending that really feels like a reward for the pages of setup.