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The Charterhouse of Parma Annotated

出版	Independently Published, 2020-08-15
主題	Fiction / Romance / General
ISBN	9798675495597
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=g74MzgEACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋Marie-Henri Beyle published The Charterhouse of Parma in 1839 under his well-known pen name, Stendhal. As the title suggests, much of the novel's action occurs in Parma, a city-state, or "princedom," in the northern region of what is now Italy. Fabrizio ("Fabrice," in the original French) is the hapless hero of the briskly-plotted tale, which twists and turns from war to romance to courtly intrigue to murder.In 1815, as France's Napoleon marches his armies across Europe building his empire, a young, handsome Italian aristocrat living in his father's castle near Lake Como idealistically longs for adventure and true love. Fabrizio is the son of the Marchese del Dongo, a greedy, domineering nobleman who loathes Napoleon and liberalism. At seventeen, Fabrizio defies his father's conservative politics and strikes out for Paris to join Napoleon's campaign.After several misadventures, including detainment on false charges of spying, Fabrizio catches up with Napoleon's troops at Waterloo. The battle is in full swing as he approaches. While he hovers on the sidelines, a canteen woman appears. She equips him with a respectable horse and then points him in the direction of Field Marshall Ney. Disoriented by the chaos of the battlefield, Fabrizio inadvertently joins a company of stooges and gets drunk. His horse is stolen, and as he retreats on foot with a French regiment, he kills a Prussian soldier. Discouraged and perplexed by his experiences, Fabrizio returns home as he wonders "had what he seen been a battle?"Upon his return, however, Fabrizio faces trumped-up charges, thanks to his vindictive brother, and escapes to Milan with the help of his Aunt Gina. Vivacious, clever, and beautiful, Gina Pietranera has many admirers, but she secretly loves Fabrizio. Married but enamored of Gina, Count Mosca, the Prime Minister of Parma, persuades an old Duke to marry Gina in exchange for a diplomatic post the Duke desires. Mosca tells Gina that after the Duke departs, she can take Mosca as her lover, as society accepts such arrangements. Although she expresses misgivings, Gina agrees to the plan. She becomes the Duchess of Sanseverina and is very popular in the Prince of Parma's court.Thanks to Count Mosca's influence, the charges against Fabrizio are dropped. Gina and Mosca determine that Fabrizio's best course of action is to study for the priesthood at a seminary in Naples. After Fabrizio completes his studies, Mosca will secure him a prestigious position in Parma's church. Fabrizio is not particularly pious and has little enthusiasm for this scheme, but submits to it. While in Naples, Fabrizio dutifully attends theology classes but also has many meaningless trysts that make him despair of ever finding true love.Three years later, Fabrizio returns to Parma and is appointed as the Archbishop's alternate. His promising future unravels, however, when he becomes smitten with Marietta Valsera, an actress. Marietta's manager, Giletti, resents Fabrizio's attention toward her. To defuse Giletti's hostility, Mosca sends Fabrizio to the countryside. Unfortunately, while Fabrizio is out hunting one day, Giletti sees him and attacks him with a knife. Fabrizio kills him and flees to Bologna, where he takes up with a singer named Fausta.The Prince of Parma, Ranuccio-Ernesto IV, is vain and cruel - "the appearance of happiness enraged him" - and his court throbs with intrigue and conspiracy. When Mosca's court enemies pressure the Prince to bring the fugitive Fabrizio to justice, he does exactly that. Gina threatens to leave Parma if Fabrizio loses his freedom, and the Prince, fearing her absence would turn his court lackluster, signs an agreement to pardon Fabrizio. Due to a loophole in the contract's language, however, the Prince deviously sentences Fabrizio to twelve years in prison.