We offer you to get acquainted with the life and work of the great writer. He signed his creations Stendhal. The biography of this writer, like his works, is of interest to many today. However, not everyone knows that his real name was Marie Henry Beil. The writer sometimes tried to appropriate the noble title, sometimes signing as "Henri de Beil". Probably, Julien Sorel, the famous hero of his novel, would do the same.
Origin of Stendhal
Stendhal came from a family of reputable bourgeois, whose biography was reflected in the works he created. In Grenoble, in the law office, his father served. In 1783, the future writer was born. His mother died after 7 years, leaving his son to be raised with his father and aunt Serafi. Stendhal hated both. His father was a suspicious, stern and callous man. Stendhal owed his early education to priests. This became the main reason for his anti-clericalism. In the confrontation with his father and spiritual mentors, the character of the writer was formed.
The character and personality of Stendhal
Stendhal was very narcissistic, impulsive, sensual, critical and undisciplined. His biography is interesting not only by events in life, but also by the inner world of this writer. People who knew him closely said that he was secretive, loved solitude and solitude. Stendhal had a delicate and vulnerable soul. Hatred of tyranny was one of the main features of his character. At the same time, Stendhal doubted the liberation movements. He sympathized with the carbonarians and even helped them, but did not believe that their activities would lead to positive results. There was no unity between the coal miners: some dreamed of a republic, others dreamed of seeing a monarchy in their country.
Studying at the Central School and time spent in Paris
Grandfather on the part of his mother, a doctor by profession, encouraged his passion for literature. He was a man of good artistic taste. When Stendhal was 13 years old, he was sent to study at the Central School, located in Grenoble. Here he was very distinguished in mathematics. He was even predicted to study at the Paris Polytechnic School as an engineer. In 1799, Stendhal arrived there, the day after the coup, after which Napoleon became the ruler of France. Beyl, forgetting about his intention to become an engineer, rushed headlong into an imperial adventure that embraced the country. Daru, a distant relative of the future writer, who later became Secretary of State, was in great mercy with Napoleon. He achieved for Stendhal a church post that he occupied at the military headquarters. However, this work was too boring for him. Young Henry, who was only 17 years old, the next year received the knowledge of a sub-lieutenant. He was sent to Italy. At that time, the French army was located there.
Life in Italy
Beil did not know anything about this country, which later became his second homeland, as well as the scene of one of his most famous and largest novels. Everything was admired by the young man: Correggio's painting, Cimarosa's music, Italian opera. He also found Italian temperament attractive. He seemed to him more resolute, passionate and less civilized than French. Italy, especially Milan and Rome, was so fond of Beil that he even wanted to carve the following words on his gravestone: "Enrico Beil, Milanese." Baile fell in love with local women. Since that time, his private life has become a chronicle of mainly love affairs.
Public service
The years that followed were very active. Stendhal, whose biography and work we are interested in, again entered the service in 1806, taking an administrative post in Brunswick occupied by the French. Here he began to learn German. Stendhal was a good society. The respect that surrounded him flattered him, but he was bored. Beil later traveled a lot in Austria and Germany. He was sent to Vienna with a government mission. He also went to Russia after the emperor. In Russia, Beil witnessed the Borodino and Smolensk battles. He was present in the fire of Moscow. Then he retreated to Western Europe along with the French army. Napoleon’s power collapsed, and Beil left France when Paris fell. He realized that his career in the circles of power had ended.
Return to literary activity
The state was now ruled by the Bourbons. Beil returned to literary activity. From that moment he became known as Frederick Stendhal. A brief biography of his these years is marked by the creation of many works. His works written in the 1820s were quite diverse. Among them were biographies of the great composers (in 1817 - the book "The Life of Haydn, Mozart and Metastasio", in 1824 - "The Life of Rossini"); and the treatise of 1812 "On Love"; and "The History of Painting in Italy", written in 1817; and "Walks in Rome" of 1829.
In addition, he published various articles in London and Paris magazines. Such is the abbreviated biography of Stendhal of these years. His life in France, England and Italy depended on casual earnings.
Transfer to Civitavecchia
Louis Philippe, the monarch bourgeois, was elevated to the throne in 1830. Now, before Stendhal, an opportunity opened up to take up civil service again. Then, in 1830, he became consul in Trieste. Here, the Austrian authorities did not like his reputation as a radical. Stendhal was transferred to the papal state, in Civitavecchia. He was given a more modest salary than before. But from here it was close at hand to my beloved Rome.
Degraded health and further biography of Stendhal
We briefly talked about why Stendhal was forced to be content with the post of consul, being far from his homeland. He remained in this position for the rest of his life, although he often had to leave for a long time due to poor health. Because of him, he often took a long vacation and returned to his homeland. One of them lasted for three whole years (from 1836 to 1839). The last years of this writer’s life were especially difficult. Even in his youth, he contracted syphilis. This disease made itself felt by the weakness and inability to fully work.
Novels "Red and Black" and "Red and White"
In the last year of the reign of Charles X, the novel Red and Black was created. In 1831, by the time this book was published, it had already become obsolete, at least with regard to criticism of the Bourbons. However, the name of Stendhal today is associated primarily with this novel. It was created on the basis of real events in 1830. Literary scholars for a long time could not answer the question of why the author gave such a name to his work. Both of these colors are reminiscent of death, bloodshed and tragedy. A combination of black and cool is also associated with the upholstery of the coffin. Readers already set the title of the work to a tragic ending.
5 years after the creation of this novel, Stendhal wrote Red and White. It is no coincidence that the names of the two works are similar. In addition, the content and title of the new novel explains to some extent the title of the previous one. Most likely, the author meant by black not death at all, but the low origin of Julien Sorel, the main character. Bely pointed to an elite whose representative was the protagonist of the second novel, Lucien Leuven. And red is a symbol of the alarming time in which these two characters lived.
New works
Over the next ten years, Stendhal created 2 autobiographical works: in 1832 - “The Memoirs of an Egoist”, in 1835–36 - “The Life of Henri Brulard”, in 1834–35. - the novel "Lucien Leuven", which remained unfinished. Not wanting to risk the consular post again, he did not dare to publish his essays during his lifetime. In 1839, the second masterpiece of Stendhal (after "Red and Black") - "Parma Monastery" was published. This is a story of intrigue and adventure taking place in Italy.
Return to Paris and death
The writer again came to Paris in 1841, where he suffered a stroke. However, he continued to compose until his death, dictating his works. Stendhal could no longer record them on his own. His biography ends in March 1842, when he died of a stroke after a long illness. Stendhal died in Paris.
What direction in literature does the writer Frederick Stendhal belong to?
The biography you just read gives a general idea of Stendhal's life. But what are the features of his work? Let's answer this question. The writer’s path to fame was long. Stendhal said that he writes his works "for the lucky few." He predicted that not earlier than 1880, fame would come to him. And Stendhal was right. Perhaps his biggest failure was that he did not fit into a particular literary stereotype that existed in his time. Stendhal was separated from the authors of the 18th century by a love of self-centered heroes such as Napoleon. However, he could not be called a romantic writer. This author lacked both the sentimentality of Lamartine and the epic scope of Hugo. Only when these figures left the literary pedestal did it become clear what the true greatness of the writer of interest to us lies in psychological realism. Thanks to him, Stendhal became famous throughout the world.
Biography, a summary of the works of this author, critical articles about him - all this is still of interest to many connoisseurs of his work. Of course, Stendhal is one of the classics of French literature. In order to better acquaint the reader with him, we created the above biography of Stendhal. The chronological table of life and creativity, which in some textbooks restricts information about him, does not give an idea of his personality, misses many significant details. The biography you just met is free from these shortcomings.