The Red and the Black

Stendhal — the most known of the many pseudonyms of the French writer Marie-Henri Beyle. His now world-famous novel «The Red and the Black» was published for the first time in 1830. It did not immediately attract public attention. In the first quarter of the 19th century, all of Europe was immersed in the historical novels of Walter Scott. Detailed descriptions of the appearance of the characters and the background in which they act, so characteristic of Scott, did not interest Stendhal. In his novel «The Red and the Black», he carefully dissects the soul of his main character — the ambitious Julien, who builds a career, gains standing in society, and then takes a mad act that leads him to the guillotine. Stendhal understood perfectly that the time for literature of such a role had not yet come. He foresaw that his abilities as a novelist would only be appreciated at the end of the 19th century. This is exactly what happened. During the writer's lifetime, his remarkable talent was acknowledged only by Balzac. Two years before Stendhal's death, in 1840, he wrote «Study on Beyle», in which he referred to his literary peer as «one of the outstanding masters of literature of ideas». True global fame came to Stendhal later. He was understood and appreciated by such genius masters of the word as Goethe, Byron, Balzac, and Pushkin.

A significant role in the study and popularization of Stendhal's literary heritage was played by our compatriot — the historian, writer, literary scholar, bibliographer, and translator Anatoly Kornelievich Vinogradov (1888-1946). In 1912, he graduated from the historical and philological faculty of Moscow University. A year later, Vinogradov visited France and explored places associated with the life of Henri Beyle. Years later, Anatoly Kornelievich became the largest expert on the work of this French writer and an tireless promoter of his works. In 1938, a book titled «Stendhal and His Time» was published in the ZHZL series. It was under Vinogradov's editorship and with his prefaces that Stendhal's novels were published in Soviet Russia: «The Red and the Black», «Armance», and «The Charterhouse of Parma». The novel «The Red and the Black» in this edition is provided precisely in his translation.

In the Paris reissue of 1884, the novel «The Red and the Black» was illustrated with drawings by the French artist Henri-Joseph Dubousset. They also adorn this edition. Dubousset received artistic education at the National School of Fine Arts in Lyon, where his mentor was Victor Vibert, and then taught the art of engraving at the École Estienne — the Higher School of Graphic Arts in Paris for many years.