The Chartreuse of Parma

Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma is a glittering, ironical masterpiece born from his own restless life in Napoleon's shadow and Italy's fevered political world. Inspired by real people and events, it plunges into a society where honor, desire, reputation, and power are inseparable, and where the author's sharp eye exposes both passion and corruption with unsparing wit. Against the upheavals of post-Napoleonic Lombardy, the proud Marchese del Dongo and his sister, Countess Pietranera, shape the childhood of Fabrizio Valserra del Dongo, a handsome, clever, and woefully unformed young man. Sent between Jesuit discipline and aristocratic privilege, he becomes entangled in the ambitions, jealousies, and loyalties of Parma's court. The Duchess Sanseverina, brilliant and politically agile, moves through this world with dangerous intelligence, while Chief Justice Rassi and the Prince of Parma reveal the grotesque machinery of justice and intrigue. As sentences are altered, plots forged, and Fabrizio is arrested and confined, the novel turns a coming-of-age story into a study of political menace, social performance, and sudden reversals. Around Fabrizio, gossip and longing ignite further complications: Gonzo stokes jealousy in the Crescenzi salon, Annetta Marini becomes a rumor charged with desire, and Clelia's guarded feelings begin to break open. When Fabrizio's sermons win admiration and stir even his enemies, public fame and private passion collide in one of literature's most intoxicating portraits of courtly life. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.