The Red and the Black delivers on Stendhal's reputation for ironical social commentary and psychologically complex characters, but it also shows how weak his writing is. I thought perhaps I'd chosen the wrong translation (from Catherine Slater), but the most notable shortcomings of the prose are independent of the translation.
My biggest complaint is that Stendhal tells us about conversations that reveal his characters' natures but rarely shows us any of it. This issue is particularly acute with respect to Matilde, whose personality and moods drive the narrative.
As soon as anyone displeased Mlle de La Mole, she had a way of punishing the offender with a joke so measured, so well chosen, so seemingly on the surface, and so appositely delivered, that the wound grew greater every moment, the more you thought about it.
The reader has to imagine these cutting remarks, which lessens the impact of the social satire.
Stendhal's vaunted psychological complexity manifests itself through the changeable moods of the characters: rapturously in love one minute, angry and miserable the next. Again the reader needs to suss out the reason for the reversals because the story doesn't provide sufficient detail.
The one area where there is more than sufficient detail is contemporary French politics. I gather that's what made The Red and the Black so controversial in its time.
Julian's final actions were pleasingly thought-provoking but it took too long to get there.
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