Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle (January 23, 1783 - March 23, 1842), better known as Stendhal, was a 19th century French writer.
Born in Grenoble, France, he had a miserable childhood in stifling provincial France but blossomed in the military and theatrical worlds of the First French Empire. He travelled extensively in Germany and visited Russia (as part of Napoleon's army), but formed a particular attachment to Italy, where he spent much of the remainder of his career, serving as French consul and writing.
Beyle used the pseudonym "Stendhal", supposedly chosen as an anagram of "Shetland" (although Georges Perec may have invented this explanation - references to Le Rouge et le Noir feature extensively in Perec's unfinished last novel 53 jours). --- Alternative explanation: some scholars believes he borrowed his nom de plume from the German city of Stendal.
Contemporary readers did not fully appreciate Stendhal's realistic style during the Romantic period in which he lived; he was not fully appreciated until the beginning of the 20th century. He dedicated his writing to "the Happy Few", referring to those who would one day recognise his own genius. Today, Stendhal's works attract attention for their irony and psychological and historical aspects.
Stendhal was an avid fan of music, particularly the composers Cimarosa, Mozart, and Rossini, the latter of whom he wrote an extensive biography, Vie de Rossini (1824), now more valued for its wide-ranging musical criticism than its historical accuracy.
He died in Paris in 1842 and is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre.
Stendhal's brief, saucy memoir, Souvenirs d'Egotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) was published posthumously in 1892.
Novels include:
His other works include short stories, journalism, travel books (among them Rome, Naples et Florence and Promenades dans Rome) and L'amour, a singular treatise in which the author gives his views on love and records one of his own failed relationships.
See also
External links
- French site on Stendhal http://www.armance.com/
- Le Rouge et le Noir http://www.philagora.net/stendhal.htm
Referenced By
1783 | 1783 in literature | 1830 in literature | 1834 in literature | 1839 in literature | 1842 | 1842 in literature | 1894 in literature | 23 January | 23 March | 23rd January | 23rd March | Cimetiere de Montmartre | Cimetière de Montmartre | Famous French People | Famous pairs | French Literature | January 23 | January 23rd | La Scala | La Scala, theatre | Le Rouge et le Noir | List of French authors | List of French language authors | List of French novelists | List of French people | List of famous French people | List of famous pairs | List of novelists by country: France | List of people by name: St | List of people famous enough to be known by a single name | List of people known by one name | List of people on stamps of France | List of years in literature | March 23 | March 23rd | Narcissism | Narcissistic Personality Disorder | Nom-de-plume | Nom de plume | Ooka Shohei | Parma, Italy | Pathological narcissism | Paul Bourget | Paul Charles Joseph Bourget | Pen name | Realism | Realist | Romantic literature | Romantic movement | Romanticism | Stendhal's syndrome | Stendhal syndrome | Verona, Italy
|
