Love
By (Author) Stendhal
Introduction by B. Knight
Introduction by Jean Stewart
Translated by Gilbert Sale
Translated by Suzanne Sale
Penguin Books Ltd
Penguin Classics
1st January 1976
28th August 1975
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Physiological and neuro-psychology, biopsychology
152.4
Paperback
336
Width 130mm, Height 198mm, Spine 16mm
235g
In 1818, when he was in his mid-thirties, Stendhal met and fell passionately in love with the beautiful Mathilde Dembowski. She, however, was quick to make it clear that she did not return his affections, and in his despair he turned to the written word to exorcise his love and explain his feelings. The result is an intensely personal dissection of the process of falling -- and being -- in love: a unique blend of poetry, anecdote, philosophy, psychology and social observation. Bringing together the conflicting sides of his nature, the deeply emotional and the coolly analytical, Stendhal created a work that is both acutely personal and universally applicable.
Marie Henri Beyle, known as Stendhal (1783 - 1842) fought during the Napoleonic wars. After Napolean's fall, he retired to Italy and began to write under his pseudonym. In 1821 he left Italy and returned to France, where he completed Love. The Red and the Black was his second novel, and he completed three others.