Summary
6/10
Cocky, good-looking Julian Sorel slimes and sleeps his way to the top of French post-Napoleonic society only to fall back to earth. Full of revolting characters and intended to satirise France at the time, this is told at a rollicking pace so that the pieces don’t quite hang together in a smooth and well-ordered fashion. The historical and social background, that are the subject of the satire, benefit from some reading around.
Published 1830
Review
Here is a book where the hero, Julian Sorel, is sly, self-centred, devious, arrogant, hypocritical and carries a chip on his shoulder (to quote from Roger Gard’s introduction). With the exception of Fouquet, his best friend - who represents the honest ordinary Frenchman - the other characters are unlovely too, each designed to represent an aspect of French society at the time (1830). Julian’s working class carpenter father is money grabbing and disinterested, the provincials in his native Verrieres are scheming and jealous, plotting over prized local appointments. The priests in the seminary Julian attends are vicious, ungodly and petty, the upper class aristocratic Parisians in the Salon of M de La Mole, to whom Julian becomes secretary, are fatuous and empty, scared both of a return to revolution and the rise of a second Napoleon. The wealthy and connected M. de La Mole, who appears to be every bit the gentleman, is a political schemer, whilst the superficially gentle Mme Renal is a hypocritical passenger of her passions.
Julian sets out to rise in the world and despite his manifold character faults he does so, along the way seducing the warm, gentle and married Mme de Renal and the high and mighty Mlle De La Mole, who was destined for a glittering marriage to a Duke. Briefly Sorel is elevated to the position of Sergeant in the Hussars and becomes 'Le Chevalier Julian Sorel de La Vernaye' before crashing to the ground as he is caught between the two women in his life. Perhaps at the end Julian finally discovers what it is to lead a great life, like his hero Napoleon, but that is never really clear.
It’s an intriguing and unusual portrait designed to reflect satirically on French Society after the fall of Napoleon, where the upper classes feared the return of Danton and the revolutionary guillotine and the middle classes plotted for positions and money. It is the perfect atmosphere for a cunning political operator like Julian to succeed, since everyone is suspicious of everyone else. All Julian has to do is be competent and silent to be useful. His female victims fall for his good looks and can project whatever character they wish onto his clumsy provincial manners and aloof silence. The fact that he has a spark of courage and daring gets him into their bedrooms despite everything.
Stendhal’s storytelling proceeds at a brisk and unexpected pace. If the work of (say) a Balzac is like watching professional boxers in a ring, this is more like a catfight, where the protagonists have no rules and finesse is unimportant. Stendhal is more interested in ideas than in being completely convincing about the actions and motives of his players. This is not always straightforward since modern readers who have not studied French history will find the political and religious background baffling and the manners and morals of Paris salon society inscrutable. I found myself not especially wanting to go back to this book and yet captivated each time I started reading. This conundrum arises because each of Julian’s micro adventures is intriguing but making sense of the whole and of the wider themes is hard work. In the end I found it easiest to go with the flow and take the story at face value, leaving thoughts on post-Napoleonic France and what makes a man Great for another time.
Cousin Betty - Honore de Balzac
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