Reise in Italien. Rom - Neapel - Florenz.

by Stendhal

"Il existe entre Stendhal et l'Italie un lien fort étroit. La qualification de "Milanese", qui figure dans l'épitaphe du cimetière Montmartre, n'a pas seulement une valeur sentimentale : elle constate un état de fait. L'écrivain a passé dans la péninsule - et à des titres divers comme militaire, touriste, exilé volontaire, consul de France - un tiers environ de sa vie. Ce séjour prolongé au-delà des Alpes non seulement a donné à la plus grande partie de son oeuvre une coloration particulière, mais aussi ne lui a pas inspiré moins de trois relations de voyage. C'est beaucoup, lorsqu'on songe que Stendhal n'a publié qu'une douzaine d'ouvrages. Ainsi le voyage occupe, avec le roman, une place privilégiée dans sa production littéraire. Ce n'est pas le seul rapprochement possible entre deux genres différents, voire antithétiques. De même que le roman stendhalien a une structure et une portée inconnues jusqu'alors, de même le récit de voyage stendhalien n'a rien de commun avec une catégorie d'ouvrages où, en dépit de noms illustres - Montaigne, le président De Brosses, Montesquieu, et, à une date plus récente, Chateaubriand - foisonnait un fatras d'itinéraires dont la note dominante était la banalité. Loin de là, les voyages publiés par le Grenoblois tranchent avec la tradition ; ils se font lire avec un intérêt renouvelé, bien que vieux d'un siècle et demi, car ils sont le vivant reflet de la personnalité si riche, si originale, si excitante, de leur auteur." V. Del Litto.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1829

About the author

Marie-Henri Beyle, better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black, 1830) and La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma, 1839).

Reviews

[Sebastian Rinken · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reread this book in a German translation almost 40 years after purchasing my copy in East Berlin to make good use of the GDR money I had obliged to acquire as a Western day tourist. The reread was triggered by a weekend trip to Florence, where I had spent eight marvelous years, again: some decades ago. Alas, one needs a bit of patience for this piece of writing. Pieces, rather, given that the book does not offer anything resembling an integrated story; rather, it consists of a varied assortment of travel notes, some of which fictitious to confuse Habsburg censors. Most of these describe or assess the author’s impressions and thoughts regarding artistic performances or artwork, including óperas, ballet, music, and paintings, as well as natural and urban landscapes and their inhabitants. Some take stabs against the oppressive regimes installed by the Austro-Hungarian and Spanish empires respectively across much of Italy at that time, shortly after the Monarchist backlash subsequent to Napoleon’s defeat. Henri Beyle alias Stendhal was a French government official who had served under Napoleon; his sympathies lay with the bourgeois revolutionaries. Witty throughout, the notes are nevertheless rather tiring to read 200 years on, given that many of the cultural references that could be taken for granted at the time of writing have since lost salience for most readers, to put it politely. I was surprised to find much more material about Milan and Bologna than any of the three cities that appear in the title; Florence induces that famous syndrome of feeling overwhelmed by an excessive dosage of beauty, yet it remains vastly underexplored by comparison to other places. This might be because the author did not particularly like the Florentine people, considering them dull by comparison to those in Bologna: wherever he goes, Beyle mingles relentlessly with locals and does not hold back his often quite idiosyncratic judgment.

[Carlos Serrano Nouaille · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rome, Naples et Florence (1817) ★★

Solo cuando termino de leer la primera versión de Rome, Naples et Florence, la de 1817, me entero de que hay otra de 1826 ampliada y más novelada. Supongo que es de esa última de donde provenía la reputación de este libro de Stendhal, porque la primera versión es un 80% crítica de ópera, un 18% comentarios sobre las costumbres italianas y un 2% sobre los monumentos y la cultura del país. Y es muy tediosa de leer… En el futuro compararé con la segunda versión, que espero que sea más digerible…

[Cristina Contilli]

In lettura.... come documentazione per il mio prossimo romanzo...

Italie, il sogno di Stendhal
books.google.itGiuseppe Marcenaro, Piero Boragina, Banco di Chiavari e della Riviera Ligure - 2000 - 239 pagine - Visualizzazione snippet
Ai redattori del Conciliatore Stendhal si sentiva molto vicino per le comuni idee politiche e letterarie e per l'amicizia che lo univa a molti di essi, al di Breme, al Pellico, al Borsieri, al Visconti, al Berchet.

Italie, il sogno di Stendhal
books.google.itGiuseppe Marcenaro, Piero Boragina, Banco di Chiavari e della Riviera Ligure - 2000 - 239 pagine - Visualizzazione snippet
“Gliene ha coperto le spese il signor Lodovico di Breme. Pellico mi ha fatto leggere i manoscritti di altre tragedie, che mi sembrano più tragiche e meno elegiache di Francesca. Pellico descrive l'amore molto meglio di Alfieri,” ...(testo tratto dal Viaggio in Italia di Stendhal)

[Olivierco · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is typically what travel books were before photography: many long descriptions of buildings, paintings and sculptures. Some judgments on operas and plays and many references to history.