Shabbat Reading: The Red and the Black by Stendhal

#whatireadovershabbat Stendhal, The Red and the Black, translated by Roger Gard (1830; Penguin, 2002)

The Red and the Black doesn’t get mentioned as often as Anna Karenina or Pride and Prejudice. It should. There are few novels that will make you laugh so much or feel so deeply. Julien Sorel, our hero, hails from the mountainous east of France, a poor provincial. But he plans, with his brains and bravery, to take Paris by storm. Stendhal balances irony and seriousness like no author I have read. Sorel’s story is both a perfect romance and the finest satire.