Stendhal: 'La Chartreuse de Parme' by Ann Jefferson (review)

Abstract

MLR, 99.3, 2004 781 debating, however, the rhetorical question whether or not it was by coincidence that Mozart's Requiem and the French Revolution were products of the same age, while the characterization ofthe Mass as 'la derniere grande oeuvre religieuse' (p. 3) seems unlikely to command anything like universal assent. Nathalie Buchet-Rogers discovers a rich topic in her interpretation of the image ofthe guillotinein Chateaubriand'sMemoires. Her perspective leads her to designate it, with some alacrity in the transition from the physical to the symbolic and psycho? logical, as ia machine a decapiter/castrer' (p. 27). Though somewhat leisurely in her initial survey of the teaching of the art of rhetoric in the early part of the nineteenth century, Sandrine Raffin is persuasive as well as sensitive in her analysis of Hugo's vigorous exploitation of traditional techniques, firstby adopting them and then by turning them on their head, in Les Miserables. Approaching Hugo from a quite dif? ferent angle, Andre Brochu considers the presentation of the infinite in his poetry in a wide-ranging essay. Rachel Sauve examines the gamut of functions fulfilled by the prefaces in which writers purportedly presented to the public works by others, whether contemporaries or from an earlier age. Generic considerations are important too in Anne Richardot's discussion oiArmance; traditional comparisons with tragedy, she suggests, are less helpful in understanding Stendhal's novel than its hardly less patent affinitieswith comedy. 'Le Sida au xixe siecle' is not a contribution to medical history, but Ross Chambers's demonstration of affinitiesbetween Les Fleurs du mal and one of the major challenges of the modern age. Because of a distressing flaw in binding, the copy of the book sent for review does not open properly, and the pages spring back unless held firmlyapart all the time. University of East Anglia, Norwich Christopher Smith Stendhal: (La Chartreusede Parme'. By Ann Jefferson. (Critical Guides to French Texts, 135) London: Grant & Cutler. 2003. 87 pp. ?7.95. ISBN 0-7293-0440x . Stendhal's Italian novel is a welcome, long overdue addition to this useful series. Noting the variety of competing interpretations of this iconic work, Ann Jefferson modestly renounces the ambition to find a synthesis that would explain everything, and proposes the principle of non-unity as a basis for an account of its many facets. In a section devoted to 'Plots and Actions', she explains the speed of Stendhal's narrative by the largely unplanned manner of its writing. She argues that there is a lack of narrative motivation in some key episodes, as when Fabrice goes to fightfor Napoleon, and when he kills Giletti. She expresses the opinion that Stendhal's char? acters rarely determine action, and this is an unusual evaluation of Fabrice, Gina, and Mosca. Jeffersonwrites well on the function of a network of motifs such as fireand high places, saying that they all have meaning, and tend to compensate for a paucity of explicit causal connections. The section 'Perspectives and Narration' considers Stendhal's representation of French and Italian attitudes, and notes that the latter do not always seem to have his approval. Jeffersonsuggests that all perspectives in this novel are unreliable, an opinion which may give rise to some discussion. The chapter on 'Passions and Characters' explains Stendhal's theories and distinctive method, contrasted usefully with that of Balzac, and is particularly good on Fabrice. The final section comments well on 'Writing, Art and Style', and indeed formal and stylistic elements form the main focus of this study. It is a pity that there is no consideration of the political theme, despite its explicit presence in this novel, and the enduring quality of Stendhal's satirical but complex portrayal of monarchy and aristocracy. A brief outline ofthe historical context would also be useful to undergraduate readers, 782 Reviews and some comment on the relationship of La Chartreuse de Parme to the picaresque tradition, with its adventures, duels, and love affairs.Are the perspectives in Stendhal 's novels all enigmatic and unreliable? Ann Jefferson's well-written and original study makes a stimulating contribution to the debate. University of Bristol Richard Bolster L'Annee balzacienne, 2002. Ed. by Michel Lichtle. (Troisieme...