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Political-romantic novel · Medium

The Charterhouse of Parma

Stendhal · 1839 · France / Italian setting

Fabrice del Dongo stumbles through war, court politics, imprisonment, love, and ambition in post-Napoleonic Italy.

Notes and Misconceptions

The Waterloo episode is a great anti-heroic battle scene: confusion, partial vision, noise, and the inability to understand history from inside it.

Stendhal is less solemn than his reputation. The book has speed, irony, vanity, and comedy running through its politics.

Best Path

European realism, politics, post-Napoleonic fiction

Tags

frenchitalian-settingrealismnapoleonicpoliticslovewarmedium