Červený a černý – Stendhal (2023)

The new edition of one of the most significant classic works of European literature, regarded as the first French psychological novel, is complemented by several hundred charming black-and-white illustrations by the previously unknown French painter Jean-Paul Quint. The novel The Red and the Black, set during the French Restoration, tells the story of Julien Sorel, a gifted and ambitious young man who, despite his plebeian origins, decides to conquer the great world. He diligently works to penetrate high society, using all his natural and acquired advantages: youth, intelligence, diligence, tenacity, determination, and also charm, which easily wins him the favor of women. Julien is a master of disguise, skillfully hiding his feelings, motives, inner attitudes, and political beliefs. Secretly, he admires Napoleon and dreams of heroic gestures, but since the revolution and Napoleon's era have passed and the time of heroism is irretrievably in the past, he does not hesitate to don the 'uniform of his century' – a clerical cassock and embarks on a path as a clergyman. The ambitious Julien, in whom the soul of a calculating intriguer battles with the soul of a romantic hero, is destined for downfall, as he will ultimately be betrayed by his own feelings...