The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of 1830

The novel, set in France during the Second Restoration (1815–30), is a powerful character study of Julien Sorel, an ambitious young man who uses seduction as a tool for advancement. The Red and the Black is generally considered the author’s major work and one of the greatest 19th-century novels. Sorel is a sensitive and intelligent youth who, seeing no road to advancement in the military after Napoleon’s fall, endeavours to make his mark in the church. Viewing himself as an unsentimental opportunist, he sets out to win the affections of Mme de Rênal, whose children he is employed to tutor. After spending time in a seminary, he goes to Paris, where he seduces the aristocratic Mathilde, the daughter of his second employer. —- ISBN: 9798843739188