Two-thirds of the way through The Charterhouse of Parma, what stands out most is the life that Stendhal injects into his characters. The plot may fade, the nuances of Italian court life may lose their immediacy, but certain figures remain vivid: Fabrizio del Dongo, the forlorn Count Mosca, and most of all, Duchess Sanseverina.
Simone de Beauvoir, an early and consistent admirer of Stendhal, praised his understanding of women. In The Second Sex, she wrote that Stendhal, a tender friend of women, did not believe in feminine mystery: there was, for him, no eternal essence defining womanhood. He dismissed the pedantic repetition of traits assigned to women and men, likening it to the misjudgments of a Parisian who, observing the gardens at Versailles, concluded that trees are born pruned.
De Beauvoir further noted that Stendhal never describes his heroines merely in relation to his heroes: he provides them with their own destinies. His effort to project himself into a female character, she suggests, was unique among novelists.
This is the strength of Sanseverina, and also of Clelia, the second woman who loves Fabrizio. It is through these women that Fabrizio learns about the world, yet they remain independent figures, their lives shaped by purposes beyond him. Even if Fabrizio were to fade into the background of Charterhouse, Sanseverina’s story would persist, insistent and complete.
>This is somewhat off topic and more about Beauvoir than Stendhal, but do you think she was better at theory rather than (semi) fiction? I’ve always felt I should like her and yet when I attempted to read “She Came to Stay” I found myself struggling and somewhat disappointed by the quality of her prose.I endeavour to read her again at some point, any recommendations where to start?
>My way in to Beauvoir was the diaries, both Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter and The Prime of Life are stunning. The third volume is on a slow boat from Canada. I've dipped into the recent translation of The Second Sex, it looks outstanding.I've yet to tackle the fiction, but the advice I got was to read The Mandarins. It is reputedly the best of an average body of fictional writing.Her Letters to Sartre are also very powerful.