Stendhal

Francesco Manzini (University of Oxford)
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Marie-Henri Beyle was born in Grenoble on 23 January 1783 to Henriette Gagnon – the educated daughter of a well-respected doctor – and Chérubin Beyle, a reasonably prosperous advocate and landowner, increasingly given to agricultural experiments. Marie-Henri was the couple’s second son: a first Henri had been born a year before him, but had only survived for a few days. Marie-Henri appears, at the very least retrospectively, to have adored his mother and detested his father. In the

Vie de Henry Brulard

– an autobiographical text written between November 1835 and May 1836, in part modelled on Rousseau’s

Les Confessions

– Brulard dates the start of his moral life to Henriette’s death in childbirth in 1790, when he was still only seven (Rousseau’s mother had died giving…

3284 words

Citation: Manzini, Francesco. "Stendhal". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 October 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4209, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4209 Stendhal 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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