Speaking of Stendhal
, by Jameson, StormNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9781448200672 | 1448200679
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 1/31/2013
Storm Jameson writes of Stendhal "as one speaks in suitablecompany of a friend". She knew him very well. Over the years she readeverything available by him and she immersed herself in his life and hiswritings - and the two cannot be separated. As a biographical subject, Stendhalis vastly more rewarding than many literary figures. Something was foreverhappening to him; usually another passionate love affair. Life at home, in hisyouth, was a smouldering battle-ground: he hated his father, and when herejoiced at the execution of Louis XVI,"be sure", Storm Jameson adds, "thatanother head glimmered in his mind." There was his naively close relationshipwith his sister Pauline, whom however he later outgrew, so that "he would doanything he could for her except live with her." There was his brief but horrifyingexperience of Napoleon's wars. And of course, there was his passion for travel,for society, for the opera, for Italy.It all became part of the texture of his books. What is so astonishing is that his contemporaries were unconscious ofhis genius: even his old friend Merimee patronised him as a failure. Posterityhas set that right, and this study, so lucidly and perceptively written, andproviding so many insights, gives a marvellously concise picture of a rich andvaried life.