A Major New Translation

The Red and the Black, Stendhal’s masterpiece, is the story of Julien Sorel, a young dreamer from the provinces, fueled by Napoleonic ideals, whose desire to make his fortune sets in motion events both mesmerizing and tragic. Sorel’s quest to find himself, and the doomed love he encounters along the way, are delineated with an unprecedented psychological depth and realism. At the same time, Stendhal weaves together the social life and fraught political intrigues of post–Napoleonic France, bringing that world to unforgettable, full-color life. His portrait of Julien and early-nineteenth-century France remains an unsurpassed creation, one that brilliantly anticipates modern literature.

Neglected during its time, The Red and the Black has assumed its rightful place as one of the world’s great books, and Burton Raffel’s extraordinary new translation, coupled with an enlightening Introduction by Diane Johnson, helps it shine more brightly than ever before.

司汤达（1783年-1842年）是十九世纪法国杰出的批判现实主义作家。他的一生并不长，不到六十年，而且他在文学上起步很晚，三十几岁才开始发表作品。然而，他却给人类留下了巨大的精神遗产，包括数部长篇，数十个短篇或故事，数百万字的文论、随笔和散文，游记。 他以准确的人物心理分析和凝练的笔法而闻名。他被认为是最重要和最早的现实主义的实践者之一。最有名的作品是《红与黑》（1830）和《巴马修道院》（1839）。