Stendhal's great novel The Red and the Black, published in 1830, is seen
as one of the most distinguished monuments of literary realism. In this
introductory study, Stirling Haig shows how this realism derives from
the incorporation of both history and legal reportage into the novel,
and how it combines autobiography with mimesis. Professor Haig locates
the novel in the context of Stendhal's own experiences as a Commissariat
officer in the Napoleonic army, journalist, opera-lover, salon dandy and
traveller in Italy and Restoration France, and highlights the constant
inter-penetration of personal, documentary, and fictional elements in
Stendhal's writings.