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Stendhal, actually Henry Beyle, was born in 1783 in Grenoble and died in 1842 in Paris. He travelled in different functions to Italy, Germany and Russia during the time of the Napoleonic wars. After the fall of Napoleons 1814 he settles in Mailand and returns to Paris only in 1821.
You find a more detailed biography under
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal
The following samples is taken from the novel Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black).
Julien Sorel is son of a more simple owner of a saw mill, a milieu that he tries to escape. He gets a position at the mayor's office, Monsieur Rênal, with whose wife he starts to have an affiar. This is discovered and he has to leave the house. He then starts a priest's seminar. However, he does not have much respect for the church and only sees it to advance his carrier, he is glad to get a position as the secretary of the Duke de La Mole. Again he has an affair, this time with the daughter, who gets pregnant and they marry.
A letter by madame Rênal to the Duke de La Mole criticises this relation and Julien stabs Madame Rênal with a knife, who somehow survives. For this crime he is sentenced to death.
The following part describes the first meeting of Julien Sorel and Madame Rênal.
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