Le Rouge et le Noir

The obsession with status, honor, and the games played between lovers all seems very distant, as a novel from this period ought to do.

I was impressed with the penetrating anger of the young Julien at the society he enters, preserved throughout despite the kindness shown to him. It feels so real, in comparison to the more typical character of a fully coopted figure we might expect whose nobility and compassion prevail. The key word in reviews is “hypocrisy” and there is plenty of it, but I would say bitterness is the powerful emotion found dripping on each page.

Favorite quotes:

15 (Everyman edition): ‘I like shade, I have my trees cut so as to give shade, and I do not consider that a tree is made for any other purpose, unless, like the useful walnut, it yields a return' There you have the great phrase that decides everything at Verrières: YIELD A RETURN; it by itself represents the habitual thought of more than three fourths of the inhabitants.

295 ‘I am independent, myself' ... ‘Why should I be expected to hold the same opinion today that I held six weeks ago? If I did, I should be a slave to my opinion.”