Book Description
Balzac considered it the most important French novel of
his time. André Gide later deemed it the greatest of all
French novels, and Henry James judged it to be a masterpiece.
Now, in a major literary event, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
and distinguished translator Richard Howard presents a new
rendition of Stendhal's epic tale of romance, adventure, and
court intrigue set in early nineteenth-century Italy.
The
Charterhouse of Parma chronicles the exploits of Fabrizio del
Dongo, an ardent young aristocrat who joins Napoleon's army
just before the Battle of Waterloo. Yet perhaps the novel's
most unforgettable characters are the hero's beautiful aunt,
the alluring Duchess of Sanseverina, and her lover, Count
Mosca, who plot to further Fabrizio's political career at the
treacherous court of Parma in a sweeping story that
illuminates an entire epoch of European history.
"Stendhal
has written The Prince up to date, the novel that Machiavelli
would write if he were living banished from Italy in the
nineteenth century," noted Balzac in his famous review
of The Charterhouse of Parma. "Never before have the
hearts of princes, ministers, courtiers, and women been
depicted like this. . . . One sees perfection in every
detail. . . . [It] has the magnitude of a canvas fifty feet
by thirty, and at the same time the manner, the execution, is
Dutch in its minuteness. . . . The Charterhouse of Parma
often contains a whole book in a single page. . . . It is a
masterpiece."
This edition
includes original illustrations by Robert Andrew Parker and
Notes and a Translator's Afterword by Richard Howard.
