The Charterhouse of Parma

The Charterhouse of Parma
Author: Stendhal 1839 392 pp
My rating: 2.5*
Started August 23 2008, Finished September 7 2008.

“Criticism can find no fault with the greatest character, nor with the smallest”
From the introduction by Balzac (xiii)

I strongly disagree with Balzac on that one. This book, considered a major classic and an early milestone in the development of the novel, presented many problems for this modern reader, foremost among which is its central character, Fabrizio del Dongo, whose motivations I found inscrutable, whose hypnotic charm I found unbelievable and whose one-note moonstruck romantic pining I found tedious and excessive -- the second quarter of the book, concerned to a large extent with Fabrizio’s cursory romantic dalliances particularly dragged. Another big problem with the book, written in a speed-of-transcription 57 days, is that I often found it hard to follow; to some extent this was my problem as I was somewhat challenged keeping track of the Italian names and archaic titles and aliases but it was primarily due the abrupt transitions in scene and time continually employed by the author who would, for example, segue, without section break or transitional explanation, from a long conversation to a paragraph set at a different time, a different place and involving different characters. Parts of the book that did engage me included Fabrizio’s clueless wanderings at the Battle of Waterloo which powerfully depicted the fog of war and which, set early in the novel, gave me unrealistically high hopes for the book as a whole, almost anything having to do with the preternaturally perspicacious Count Mosca (a character apparently based on the Metternich, one of the great ministers in history) and, in general, Duchess of Sanseverina, a woman of superhuman beauty and charm who captivates virtually every male she encounters and who often reminded me of a happier Toni Buddenbrook.

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The Duchess possessed two special characteristics. What she had desired once she desired always, and she never deliberated a second time concerning anything she had once decided. (288)

The Count, regarding punishing revolutionaries: “You must either hang ten thousand, or not a single one;” (335)

“The Princess, who had a strong dislike for energy, which always struck here as being vulgar …” (345)

“In the eyes of the true courtier, people who are not of noble birth have no existence at all.” (385)