34 Julien's story was inspired, in part, by the trial of Antoine Berthet, which took place in Grenoble in 1827. Berthet was the bright son of a blacksmith who entered the seminary and was later hired by the wealthy Michoud de La Tour family as a tutor. He and Madame Michoud had an affair, and Berthet was dismissed. Hired as a tutor by the Cordon family, he was fired for initiating a liaison with the eldest daughter of the
Chapter Forty-Five
The night before, he had said to Fouqué: "As far as emotions are concerned, I can't predict. This ugly, damp cell gives me feverish moments when I can't recognize myself. But fear—no. They won't see me turning pale." He had arranged matters, in advance, for this last day. Fouqué was to leave, afterward, with Mathilde and Madame de Rênal. "Take them in the same carriage," Julien had instructed. "Make sure the horses never stop galloping. Either they'll fall into each other's arms, or they'll show mortal hatred. In either case, the poor women will be a little distracted from their frightful sorrow." Julien had exacted from Madame de Rênal her oath that she would live on, so she could care for Mathilde's son. "Who knows? Maybe we still feel things, after our death," he'd said to Fouqué one day. "I'd like to rest, considering that 'rest' is the right word, in that little cave up on the tall mountain, overlooking Verrières. I spent the night there more than once, as I've told you, and I could see in the distance the richest provinces in all France. My heart was burning with ambition: that was my true passion, then...Anyway, that cave is dear to me, and no one can argue it isn't situated where a philosopher might envy me... All right! These fine Besançon fanatics, these Congregationalists of the Holy Virgin, are good at making money out of anything. If you handle it properly, they'll sell you my mortal remains..." Fouqué was successful, in this grim negotiation. He was spending the night in his room, alone with his friend's body, when to his great surprise he saw Mathilde come in. Just a few hours earlier, he had left her, fifteen miles from Besançon. She looked distraught, her eyes were wild. "I want to see him," she said. Fouqué did not have the courage either to speak or to rise. He pointed to a large blue cloak, lying on the floor, in which what remained of Julien was wrapped. She dropped to her knees. The memory of Boniface de La Mole and Marguerite de Navarre surely gave her superhuman courage. Her trembling hands opened the cloak. Fouqué turned away his eyes. He heard Mathilde walking rapidly around the room. She was lighting candles. When Fouqué had the strength to look at her, she had set on a marble table, in front of her, Julien's head, and she was kissing his forehead... Mathilde followed her lover to the tomb he had chosen for himself. There were a great many priests escorting the bier. No one knew it but, alone in her covered carriage, she carried on her knees the head of the man she had so loved. So, when they reached the highest point of one of the highest of the Jura mountains, in the middle of the night, in the little cave, lit by an enormous number of candles, twenty priests celebrated the service for the dead. All those who lived in the little mountain villages along their route had followed them, drawn by the bizarre nature of this strange ceremony. Mathilde was in their midst, wearing long mourning robes. At the end of the service, she had thousands of five-franc pieces scattered among the villagers. Left alone with Fouqué, she insisted on burying her lover's head with her own hands. Fouqué was almost insane with grief.
family. When Madame Michoud then refused to renew their relationship, Berthet followed her to church and shot her during Mass. Although the victim was only slightly wounded, Berthet was condemned to death, and was beheaded in Grenoble on February 27, 1828. In other writings, Stendhal compared this verdict to that in the 1829 Lafargue case, in which the defendant, Lafargue, slit the throat of a peasant girl. He was sentenced to five years in prison and pardoned after serving two.
The Red and the Black
Mathilde had this wild grotto ornamented with marble sculptures, brought at great expense from Italy. Madame de Rênal was faithful to her promise. She did not try in any way to shorten her life, but three days after Julien, she died while hugging her children.
About the Translator BURTON RAFFEL is distinguished professor of humanities at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His many translations include Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel, winner of the 1991 French-American Foundation Translation Prize; Chrétien de Troyes's Arthurian romances; Cervantes's Don Quijote; and Balzac's Père Goriot. His translation of Beowulf has sold more than a million copies.
2003 Modern Library Edition Biographical note copyright © 1995 by Random House, Inc. Introduction copyright © 2003 by Diane Johnson Translation copyright © 2003 by Burton Raffel Notes copyright © 2003 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. MODERN LIBRARY and the TORCHBEARER Design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING - IN - PUBLICATION DATA Stendhal, 1783–1842. [Rouge et le noir.English] The red and the black: a chronicle of 1830 = Le rouge et le noir / Stendhal; a new translation by Burton Raffel; introduction by Diane Johnson; notes by James Madden. p. cm. e-ISBN 1-58836-305-8 1. France—Social life and customs—19th century—Fiction. 2. Young men—France— Fiction. I. Title: Rouge et le noir. II. Raffel, Burton. III. Madden, James. IV. Title. PQ2435.R7 E5 2003 843'.7—dc21 2002040798 website address: v1.0