Stendhal is the writer's name. What direction in literature does the writer Frederik Stendhal belong to? Deterioration of health and further biography of Stendhal

Théodore-Marie-Melchior-Joseph de Lagrenée (1800-1862) In 1823-1825 and in 1826-1830 was at French embassy In Petersburg. In 1828, Pushkin challenged him to a duel for what seemed to him disrespectful treatment of him by Lagrenet. In 1834, Lagrené married a Russian, the beautiful lady-in-waiting V.I.

Studying the difficult, in many ways controversial biography Stendhal, it becomes clear that he was a courageous, persistent and passionate person.

Henri Marie Bayle was born in Grenoble, a beautiful city in the south-east of France. This event in the family of the lawyer Sheruben Beyle and his wife Adelaide-Henriette Beyle happened on January 23, 1783.

Unfortunately, when the boy was 7 years old, his mother died suddenly. Education fell on the shoulders of the father and aunt of the future writer. However, according to Stendhal himself, the main person in his life was his grandfather, Henri Gagnon. Only to him did he owe his upbringing, education, extensive knowledge and, most importantly, the ability to think.

Having received sufficient home education, Stendhal went to study at the local Central School. He did not stay there for long - only three years, and after that he was released to the capital of France to enter the Polytechnic School. But he was not destined to become a student. The coup of 18 Brumaire prevented the implementation of his plans.

Inspired by the courage and heroism of the young Napoleon Bonaparte, who led that conspiracy, he entered the military service. Stendhal served in the dragoon regiment for two years and retired with the intention of returning to Paris and engaging exclusively in education and literary activities.

Paris

The French capital met him favorably and gave him three years to receive a real education. He studied English, philosophy, literary history, wrote and read a lot. In the same period, he became a staunch enemy of the church and everything connected with mysticism and the other world.

In 1805, Stendhal was forced to return to military service. From 1806-1809, he participated in all European battles of the Napoleonic army. In 1812, voluntarily, on his own initiative, he went to war with Russia. He survived battle of Borodino, with his own eyes watched the death of Moscow and, together with the remnants of the once great Napoleonic army, fled through the Berezina.

The French writer has always rightly admired the spirit and valor of the Russian people. In 1814 he moved to Italy.

Creation

The writer lived in Milan for seven years. IN short biography Frederick Stendhal noted that it was during this period that he wrote his first serious works: “The Lives of Haydn, Mozart and Metastasio”, “History of Italian Painting”, “Rome, Naples and Florence” and many others. There, in Italy, for the first time his books began to be published under the pseudonym "Stendhal".

In 1821, due to the policy of violence and intimidation prevailing in Italy, he was forced to flee to his homeland. In Paris, experiencing a difficult financial situation, he worked as a literary and art critic. This did not make it easier for him, but it helped to stay afloat.

In 1930 he was appointed to a public position - the French consul in Trieste. In the same year, his most famous novel, Red and Black, was published.

March 23, 1842 classic French literature died. It happened on the street while walking.

Other biography options

• Literally five months before his death, he wrote in his diary that, most likely, death would overtake him during a walk. And so it happened.
• The day after the death of the French writer, the newspapers wrote that the funeral of an unknown person took place in wide circles German poet Friedrich Stendhal.
• In Italy, Stendhal was in close contact with the great English poet.

STENDAL (Henri Marie Bayle)

1783-1842

Stendhal's work is in many ways a reflection of what place in European society, in particular in French, occupied the periodical press already in the first third of the 19th century. His novel Red and Black (1831) is subtitled Chronicle of the 19th Century. However, this work of the writer is more an expression of his reflections on the fate of the motherland and the generation entering life, using the example of almost half a century of its history, than a chronicle in the full sense of the word.

A special place in this history, with its significant events and periods (for example, the revolution and the Empire), is occupied by the press. It became the most common occurrence in the life of a provincial town, so "a lengthy anonymous letter", in which Mr. Renal "reported in great detail about what was happening in his house", he "received from the city along with his newspaper"1 (Per. S. Bobrov and N. Bogoslovskaya). For us, it is of interest that the hero received “his” newspaper, which means that there were those that he could not call his own.

In the third chapter of the second part of the novel, there is an episode when Count Norbert went into the library "to look through the newspaper, in case the conversation turns to politics in the evening." This means that the newspaper was the means that made it possible to keep abreast of political events and, if necessary, maintain an appropriate conversation. This is not enough, the desire to look through the newspaper led to a meeting between the count and Julien, whose existence "he had already forgotten", and when he met the hero in the library, the count "was extremely kind to him and invited him to ride." It turns out that the desire of the count to keep abreast of political events in this case makes the newspaper one of the reasons further development plot.

1 Stendhal. Red and black // Stendhal Red and black. Novels. M., artist. lit., 1977. P. 127. Further references to this edition are given in the text with page indication.

The heroes of the novel, including Julien Sorel himself, can take a newspaper “for appearances” in order to hide their excitement, somehow distract themselves.

Newspapers already had their own style, their favorite turns of speech, which were well known to people who lived in France in the late 20s and early 30s of the 19th century. At a moment of particular tension in one of the discussions among the conspirators, in whose ranks Julien Sorel fell, the author notes that "confusion has reached its climax," as it is customary to express it in the newspapers about parliamentary sessions. By italicizing the words about the apogee, Stendhal emphasizes by this that they are a quotation from a certain common place in the newspaper reports about the meetings of Parliament.

At the very beginning of the novel, there is an episode that testifies that the understanding of the press has spread to the province, to the provincial town of Verrières, from where the path of the protagonist begins, in which there is a certain amount of respect, and the fear of getting on its pages, and contempt, in first of all, to the press, which expresses hostile views. The mayor of Verrieres, M. de Renal, is indignant at the behavior of M. Appert, “that upstart from Paris, who two days ago contrived to infiltrate not only the prison and the house of contempt in Verrieres, but also the hospital, which is under the gratuitous care of M. Mayor and the city's most prominent landlords.

However, the mayor is more concerned not even with the fact of penetration, but with what consequences it may have. The astonished wife of de Renal asks, “what can this gentleman from Paris do to you if you dispose of the property of the poor with such scrupulous conscientiousness?” And he gets a quite reasonable answer: "He came here only to curse us, and then he will go to squeeze articles in liberal newspapers." This answer contains distrust of the modern press, or, at least, of its liberal part, but it also contains evidence that there was a press of another, opposite to the liberal sense. In addition, Mr. de Renal's reply emphasizes a dismissive attitude towards those who contribute to the newspaper, because, according to Mr. Mayor, they do not write, but "squeeze" their "articles".

The wife again tries to say something soothing and again receives an equally reasonable answer:

“But you never read them, my friend.

But we are constantly told about these Jacobin articles; all this distracts us and prevents us from doing good<...>» .

According to Mr. de Renal's logic, the press is what prevents officials from "doing good," and he is firmly aware of this, even without reading the "Jacobin articles."

M. de Renal dislikes not only the Jacobin press. His attitude towards the press, and along with the printers that print it, was the reason that he lost one of his childhood friends, "arrogantly" pushing him away. The friend's name was Falcoz, he was “an intelligent and warm-hearted man, a paper merchant from Verrieres, bought a printing house in the main city of the department and opened a newspaper there. The congregation decided to ruin him: his newspaper was banned, and his patent for printing was taken away. Under these deplorable circumstances, he ventured to write to Monsieur de Renal, for the first time in ten years. The mayor of Verriere saw fit to answer something like ancient roman: "If the king's minister honored me with asking for my opinion, I would answer him: mercilessly destroy all provincial printers, and introduce a monopoly on printing business, like tobacco."

As you can see below hot hand a person who does not like the press, even provincial printers get caught. An act made back in 1814, which today de Renal calls "rash", only aggravates his position, the position of a deceived husband. Thinking about what can be done in such a situation, the hero comes to the conclusion that the possibilities of choosing decisions are still constrained by the same press: “I can beat this insolent tutor half to death and push him out. But what a scandal will rise up all over Verrières, and even over the whole department! After the court ordered the closing of Falcoz's newspaper and the release of the editor-in-chief from prison, I had a hand in depriving him of the place where he earned six hundred francs. They say that now this scribbler has again surfaced somewhere in Besanson: he will not miss the opportunity to disgrace me and will do it so adroitly that it would be unthinkable to bring him to court. To bring to trial ... Why, in court, this impudent one will not come up with any dirty tricks to prove that he told the truth! A man of a noble family who knows how to maintain his prestige in society, as I do, of course, inspires hatred in all these plebeians. I'll see my name in those vile Parisian newspapers - My God, what a horror! old name Renalei, trampled into the mud by gnashers! If I want to go anywhere, I'll have to change my name. Just think about it! Break up with this glory

name, in which all my pride, all my strength! Nothing could be worse than this.”

The newspaper, closed by court order, and the editor, who was imprisoned because of it, although he was released after some time, quite definitely characterize the life of France and the position of the press in it in the second decade of the 19th century. We know nothing about Falcose, who "resurfaced somewhere again", but M. de Renal calls him a "scribbler" and, moreover, at one time "had a hand" to deprive him of his place. This means that the position of the press was such that even the mayor of a provincial and in his own way provincial town could contribute to the closure of the newspaper and influence the fate of its publisher. However, a certain power is also recognized for the press, if its publisher and "scribbler" can disgrace, "trample into the mud" the glorious name of the hero, and even do it very cleverly. The Parisian "newspapers", although "vile", in the understanding of the mayor of the city of Verrieres, but he is afraid to be on their pages.

And in the story of the failed house purchase, when Mayor de Renal was outpaced, he is not so much concerned with the fact of this failure as with the fact that he is “compromised”. And again: “Well, what if the damned Jacobin newspapers pick up this anecdote and make fun of me in every possible way?” .

Julien Sorel does not like the newspaper style, however, this only happens when he is already in prison and he has left to live, according to own remark, "five or six weeks." In prison, he is visited by thoughts of suicide as an opportunity to get rid of the "fierce formalist judges", "who pursue the unfortunate defendant with such fury, and are ready to hang the best of their fellow citizens for some miserable order ... I would get rid of their power, from all their insults to the hideous French which the local newspaper will call eloquence ... ". The contemptuous "newspaper" and insults "in disgusting French", which she "will call eloquence" in her reports, testify both to the fact that the hero is well aware of the style of the local press, and how he treats it. Another thing, the attitude to the local newspaper, no doubt, is fundamentally influenced by the place where the hero is located, and the expectation of his imminent execution.

Many characters in the novel cannot imagine life without reading the latest press. With the help of a newspaper, you can try to hide or smooth over the essence of what happened, divert the attention of those who became an unwitting witness to it. So, Madame de Renal, speaking out loud about love

Julien to Eliza, understands "that she had committed some kind of imprudence": "To get rid of the maid's gaze, she ordered her to read the newspaper aloud, and, gradually calmed down by the monotonous voice of a girl who was reading some long article from Coty-dien" , Madame de Renal came to the virtuous decision to treat Julien, when she sees him, as coldly as possible.

The newspaper in the fate of the heroine can play a more significant role. It was "the departmental newspaper that announced the names of the jurors" who were instructed to decide the fate of Julien Sorel, thanks to which Madame de Renal takes decisive steps to somehow influence them.

At the moment when Julien saw the king for the first time and he “had the good fortune to see him a few steps away from me,” the author notes that he would not “repeate descriptions of all the ceremonies in Bres-le-Haut: within two weeks they filled the columns of all newspapers our department." A very remarkable fact, testifying not only to the importance attached to the king's visit to the department, but also to what "within two weeks" the columns of all the newspapers of the whole department could be filled with.

Watching the events associated with the arrival of the king, and taking part in them, the protagonist is imbued with an awareness of their extraordinary importance. He notes that "all the surrounding peasants were drunk - drunk with joy and piety." But the main thing is not even that: "One such day is capable of nullifying the work of hundreds of editions of Jacobin newspapers." It was no coincidence that Monsieur Renal recalled these same Jacobin newspapers at the very beginning of the novel. Having an idea of ​​how the Jacobins felt about the power of the king, one can imagine what “hundreds of editions of the Jacobin newspapers” were filled with. However, all the efforts of the press turn out to be powerless if people themselves can see the crowned man, watch him during the prayer service, and pray with him. The word, even if printed, without a doubt, loses the opportunity to contemplate the one to whom it is dedicated.

However, the writer understands the press, the newspaper as a means of great and, above all, educational power. There is also an idea in the novel that this force will only increase with time. When Julien received his “first promotion” at the seminary: the abbot appointed him “tutor in the New and Old Testament,” he found that “they began to hate him less.” In this regard, the writer remarks: “But why list his friends, his enemies? All this is vile, and all the more vile than

our image will be truer. And yet, after all, these are the only educators of morality that the people have: what will it be like without them? Will the newspaper ever replace the priest? .

Seminarians are future priests, "the only educators of morality," but the logic of Stendhal's questions is such that it convinces: the priest has a worthy competitor. The very posing of the question of "whether a newspaper can ever replace a priest" does not exclude such a possibility. This means that the newspaper, with the most diverse attitude towards it, already in the time of Julien Sorel, was perceived by many representatives of French society as an instrument for educating the people, whose capabilities can already be compared with those of the ministers of the church.

The press in the novel is understood not only as a means of education, especially when its rise in this role is still to be expected. They see it as a powerful means of settling scores, a threat to their own name (let us recall, for example, Mr. de Renal's attitude towards the press). Having received an offer from the Marquis to become his secretary, Julien goes to his friend Fouquet to find out his opinion on such a prospect. Fouquet, who is described in the novel as a “man of sound mind,” did not share Julien’s enthusiasm in connection with the opening prospects of life: “For you, this will end in no other way than some government position,” this adherent of the liberals told him, “and it’s too early or late will lead you to something for which you will be mixed with dirt in the newspapers. I will hear about you here only when you are disgraced<.>» .

In the above passage, there are two fundamentally important moments from the point of view of the characteristics of the modern press. Firstly, a state position makes a person immediately the object of attention of the press, which is just waiting for him to stumble, and then it will be possible to mix him up with dirt. And, secondly, the behavior of the press is such that a person becomes truly interesting to her only when he has disgraced himself: in this case, thanks to the press, not only the capital, but also the province will hear about him.

The desire of the press to play the role of an educator of morality, to be a conductor and a determining force in politics leads to the fact that already in this era a significant part of people appear who begin to avoid communication with the press. So, at the very beginning of the second part of the novel, Julien hears a conversation between that same Falcose and his friend Saint-Giraud. The latter left Paris and went to live

to the province. He explained to his neighbors, the parish priest and “small noblemen”: “I left Paris so that I would not hear a single word about politics again in my whole life. As you can see, I didn't even subscribe to a single newspaper. And the less the postman brings me letters, the more pleasant it is for me.

It turns out that the ubiquitous distribution of printed publications, and above all newspapers, leads to the fact that now it’s not enough just to leave the capital in order to “not hear a single word about politics.” To do this, you must refuse to subscribe to newspapers, and even better, so that letters do not come. This is all the more surprising since, in the course of the subsequent conversation, Falcoz calls Saint-Giraud "the old newsboy."

In the possibilities of the press, the heroes of Stendhal see something else. The abbot, who arranged for Julien the position of secretary with the Marquis, worried that “the arrogance of the Marquise and the bad jokes of her son” would make the life of his protégé unbearable, advises him in this case to still finish his education, but not far from Paris: “If arrogance the marquise or her son's bad jokes will make this house completely unbearable for you, I advise you to complete your education somewhere in a seminary thirty leagues from Paris, and better in the north than in the south. In the north, the people are more civilized and there is less injustice, and it must be admitted, ”he added, lowering his voice,“ that the neighborhood of Parisian newspapers somehow curbs these little tyrants a little.

So, in case of failure, the abbot advises Julien to complete his church education not far (about 130 kilometers) from Paris, where the “neighborhood of Parisian newspapers” is still tangible, tangible enough to be able to restrain the “little tyrants” of theological seminaries, of which Julien Sorel knows firsthand.

Observing the life of bourgeois houses, Julien noticed that the highest policy here "serves regular topic conversation", but "in the houses of the circle to which the Marquis belonged, only in moments of disaster." The author adds his own observations to the hero’s observations, noting that “the need to have fun even in our bored age. irresistible,” however, these entertainments were subject to a number of restrictions: “In conversations, only no jokes were allowed about the Lord God, about the clergy, about people with a position, about artists who are patronized by the court - in a word, about something that was considered once permanently established; no flattering remarks about Berenger, about opposition newspapers, about Voltaire, about Rousseau, about anything

no matter what, even a little bit, smacks of free-thinking, but the most important thing - in no way, it was allowed to talk about politics; everything else could be discussed quite freely.

It is impossible not to notice how the "opposition newspapers" find themselves on a par with Berenger, Voltaire, Rousseau and everything "that even slightly smacks of freethinking." Hence, the opposition press for higher secular society was a phenomenon of the same order as the poetry of Beranger, the treatises and stories of Voltaire and Rousseau.

Observing how at secular receptions "the conversation was usually carried on by two viscounts and five barons," Julien Sorel knew that these gentlemen were characterized by rent "from six to eight thousand livres", and also that "four of them subscribed to Cotidienne" , and three - "Gazette de France". Both newspapers were owned by the French government. For Stendhal's contemporaries, such a characterization was quite exhaustive, as it testified to an enviable financial situation and about well-defined political predilections.

The Marquis de La Mole, forced at a certain moment "to be content with the company of one Julien", his secretary, once "was extremely surprised to find some thoughts in him." One of the reasons that the already gifted, endowed sharp mind young men appeared their thoughts, is the press. The marquis himself contributed to the political development of his secretary: “He forced him to read newspapers aloud to himself. Soon the young secretary was already able to choose interesting places. There was one new newspaper that the Marquis hated: he swore he would never read it and talked about it every day. Julien laughed. Indignant at the present time, the marquis forced Julien to read Titus Livius to himself: an impromptu translation directly from the Latin text amused him.

Regular reading of newspapers taught Julien Sorel to find the most interesting in them, so as not to read everything. However, in this episode, of greater interest from the point of view of revealing the psychology of the marquis is the mention of a new newspaper, which the latter hated and "swore that he would never read it", but at the same time "talked about it every day." It is psychologically very accurate and interesting when the hero is attracted to something that causes his irritation and even hatred, when the disgusting at the same time appears as attractive.

On the other hand, the systematic reading of the press led Julien Sorel to disappointing conclusions. He noted that in order to conduct serious conversations with diplomats, whom he calls, not without irony,

“Great” newspaper truths are clearly not enough: “You never know what to say when you talk to our great diplomats,” Julien answered. - They just have some kind of passion to start serious conversations. So, if you stick to commonplaces and newspaper truths, you will be considered a fool<.>» .

It turns out that the truths that newspaper readers feed on make them fools, which means that Count Norbert, who looks through newspapers in case a conversation turns on politics in the evening, should be perceived in this capacity.

However, the protagonist of the novel is well aware of the power of the press, and he tried to use it. When Julien received another letter from Mademoiselle de La Mole with a request to come to the garden at night and climb the stairs to her chambers for a serious conversation, he felt a serious danger both for his “good name” and for life. He made copies of the letters of Mademoiselle de La Mole and wrote a letter to his friend Fouquet, in which he stated his request, which was binding if something happened to him: “My friend, the letter that is enclosed here, you will open only in that in case something happens, if you hear that something extraordinary has happened to me. Then erase proper names in the manuscript that I am sending you, make eight copies and send them to newspapers in Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Brussels, and so on; in ten days, print this manuscript and send the first copy to the Marquis de La Mole, and in two weeks, scatter the remaining copies at night through the streets of Verrieres.

The actions that Julien Sorel expects from his friend have their own logic. It is not enough for him that the Marquis de La Mole and his native Verrier know the truth. Including Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Brussels in the circle of addressees, he strives to ensure that this truth becomes the property of both France and Switzerland. In this case, the loss of a good name and even the loss of life itself will be avenged and to some extent justified. A very remarkable document was supposed to get into the newspapers, about which the author reports: “In this small document of justification, written in the form of a narrative, which Fouquet was to open only if something extraordinary happened, Julien tried, as far as possible, to spare good name Mademoiselle de La Mole; however, he still very accurately described his situation.

When de La Mole needs to check the memory of his secretary, Julien, called to him, finds the Marquis, who "irritably crumpled the fresh issue of Cotidienne in his hands, vainly

trying to hide the extraordinary seriousness. Already quite experienced in dealing with the Marquis Julien, realizing "that he must take quite seriously this jocular tone in which they tried to speak with him," he suggests to his master:

“This issue of Cotidienne is hardly entertaining enough, but if Monsieur the Marquis permits, tomorrow morning I will have the honor of reciting it all by heart.

How? Even ads?

Precisely. Not missing a word.

Do you vouch, do you promise me this? the Marquis suddenly asked with unexpected seriousness.<...>» .

However, the marquis had his own plan: during their conversation, he suggests writing twenty pages, and returning home, cut out four pages from them and memorize them “instead of the whole issue of Cotidien”.

However, the story of memorizing a newspaper issue by heart did not end there. The next day, already on the road, Julien tells the marquis:

«<.>“Monsieur,” said Julien, “while they were adjusting this suit, I learned by heart the first page of today's Cotidienne.”

The marquis took the newspaper, and Julien read everything from memory, without missing a single word. “Excellent,” said the marquis to himself, who had become a real diplomat that evening. “At least the young man does not notice the streets we are driving on.”

The newspaper in the above story acts as a means of testing the memory of the hero. Its merit in this case is that a newspaper, unlike a book, cannot be learned in advance and then pretended to have been learned overnight. As it turns out later, the memorization had another purpose: during the verification of this memorization, the Marquis's companion, busy retelling, does not notice the streets along which he is being taken to a secret address.

In the apartment where Julien Sorel ended up with the Marquis, the story of the memory test on the newspaper continued: “I present to you Monsieur Abbé Sorel,” said the Marquis. - He is endowed with an amazing memory; only an hour ago I informed him that he might be honored with a high mission, and he, in order to show his memory, memorized the entire first page of Cotidienne.

Ah! Messages from abroad of this poor N., - said the owner of the house.

He hastily seized the newspaper, and, putting on a kind of absurd face, for he was trying to give himself an imposing air, glanced at Julien. “Please, sir,” he said.

There was a profound silence, all eyes fixed on Julien; he answered so well that after twenty lines the duke interrupted him, saying:

Enough" .

It was only here that Julien Sorel truly realized that he had “at least fallen into the hands of the conspirators.” His memory was needed in order to memorize the entire conversation, and then draw it up from memory in a protocol, which eventually became public. Retelling its content, the writer says that he is only “a brief summary of it, although rather pale,” and by the time the novel was written, this protocol can be read in full in the newspaper: “Julien's protocol took twenty-six pages; here is a brief summary of it, although rather pale, for it was necessary, as is always done in such cases, to let out various curiosities, the abundance of which might repel or seem implausible (see Gazette de Tribuneau) ".

The writer is not afraid to send the reader to the newspaper, in which the minutes of the meeting of the conspirators were printed in full. He finds a completely logical justification in such a reference, despite the fact that literally before this explanation in the novel there are the words of a newspaper publisher, also a participant in the conspiracy, who, talking about politics, himself denies the press the ability to correctly and expressively reflect its processes, and even take into account the interests of all readers: “Politics,” objected the author, “is a stone around the neck of literature; in less than half a year, he will sink a literary work. Politics in the midst of fantasies is like a pistol shot in the middle of a concert: a heartbreaking sound, but without any expressiveness. It does not harmonize with any instruments. Politics will hurt one half of my readers to death, and the other half will seem boring, because what they read this morning in the newspaper was much more interesting and sharper ... ".

The publisher is sure that the reflection of political events in the newspaper is "much more interesting and sharper" than what these events actually are. This means that the periodical press follows the path of distorting the true political picture, by giving it a special poignancy and adding "interesting" details.

However, despite the fact that the newspaper is "much more interesting and sharper" than in life, some of the conspirators consider newspapers to be almost the only source of information about political events. The same newspapers for them are the main culprit for the fact that by the end of the 20s in France, and especially in Paris, social evil had spread so much. The young Bishop of Agde, a participant in the discussion of the conspirators, in connection with their goals, declares: “Now, gentlemen, it is required to crush not one person, but all of Paris. All France takes an example from Paris. What is the use of arming your five hundred men in every department? The idea is risky, and it will not end well. Why should we involve all of France in a matter that concerns Paris alone? Only Paris, with its newspapers, with its salons, gave birth to this evil, let this new Babylon perish.

According to the priest, shared by other participants in the conspiracy, among the main culprits of the evil that struck France is Paris, first of all, "with its newspapers." In solidarity with the young bishop, for example, the Marquis de La Mole, who proposes that there should be only two parties in France, “but that these should be two parties not only in name, but two completely clear, sharply demarcated parties. Let's determine who needs to be crushed. On the one hand, journalists, voters, in short, public opinion; youth and all who admire it<...>» .

It is no coincidence that the first on the list of “who should be crushed” are journalists who, along with voters, represent “public opinion”, to crush the youth, as well as all those who admire them.

Julien Sorel begins to understand newspapers, too, as a real evil at the moment when he finds himself in prison, when already during the investigation he is awaiting a death sentence. In a letter to Mademoiselle de La Mole, written in his cell, he notes that he “avenged himself,” but “unfortunately, my name will get into the newspapers, and I will not be able to disappear from this world unnoticed. Please forgive me for this."

The name of the criminal, which got into the newspapers, causes trouble not only for him, but also for those who were close to him, who trusted and trusted him. Hence - the apology of the awaiting death sentence to those who remain to live. A person who dreamed of glorifying his name regrets in the end that it will indeed be glorified, and he will not be able to leave this world unnoticed. At the same time, however, he does not forget to compare himself with Napoleon, who, even in prison, does not

put his hands on himself. The name of Napoleon, his example keep Julien Sorel from committing suicide in prison.

It is significant that after the passing of the sentence that sentenced Julien Sorel to death, the newspaper is invariably present in his reflections on how the execution of the sentence would be perceived by people with whom he was close, who were dear to him. Deciding not to appeal, "he fell into thoughtfulness": "The postman will bring the newspaper, as usual, at six o'clock, and at eight, after Monsieur de Renal has read it, Eliza will tiptoe in and put the newspaper on her bed. Then she wakes up and suddenly, running through her eyes, she screams, her lovely hand trembles, she reads the words: "At ten o'clock five minutes he was gone."

She will cry burning tears, I know her. Even if I wanted to kill her, everything will be forgotten, and this woman, from whom I wanted to take the life, will be the only creature who will mourn my death from the bottom of her heart.

"Good matchup!" he thought, and all the time, all those fifteen minutes, while Mathilde continued to scold him, he indulged in thoughts of Madame de Renal. And although he even answered from time to time what Matilda told him, he could not tear his soul away from the memories of the bedroom in Verrieres. He saw: here lies the Besancon newspaper on an orange taffeta quilt; he saw her convulsively squeezed by this white-white hand; I saw Madame de Renal crying ... He followed with his eyes every tear that rolled down this lovely face.

The newspaper in this episode acts as a detail, without which the picture would not be complete and less expressive. She is not a simple addition to the interior, such a dear and memorable space for Julien, she carries the news that the hero is no longer in the world, and she is squeezed by “this white-white hand”, which, when caressing him, she is where the hero was really happy.

The idea of ​​a newspaper will once again come to the hero, but for a completely different reason. When the local priest sought a meeting with Julien Sorel, “in order to soften the heart of this apostate,” the hero, “beside himself with rage,” exclaimed: “Oh, my homeland, in what dark ignorance you still remain!<...>This priest wants to get into the papers, and of course he will achieve this. Ah, vile provincials!

The italics in the above passage are ours - S.A., S.V.

In Paris, I would not have had to endure such humiliations. There charlatans are more skillful. In the act of the priest, Julien guessed only the desire of the provincial to “get into the newspapers”, which seems to him the same charlatanism as in Paris, only there the charlatans were more skillful.

In the novel The Parma Monastery (1839), Italy during the Restoration was chosen as the scene of action, the author reports this in the preface as the first trouble for the reader: “My characters are Italians, and this may reduce interest in the book, since the hearts of Italians very different from the hearts of the inhabitants of France; in Italy people are sincere, complacent and not timid - they say what they think, vanity finds on them only fits, but then it becomes a passion, called puntiglio. And, finally, they do not laugh at poverty”1 (Translated by N. Nemchinov).

The writer is concerned about the fate of that generation of Italians, which entered life at the turn of two centuries, entered with a dream of a united and independent homeland.

Already the first paragraph of the novel, which tells about the events in Milan in 1796, gives expressive image one Milan newspaper published three times a week: “On May 15, 1796, General Bonaparte entered Milan at the head of a young army that crossed the bridge at Lodi, showing the whole world that after many centuries Caesar and Alexander had a successor. The miracles of courage and genius that Italy witnessed, in a few months awakened all her people from sleep; even a week before the entry of the French army, the inhabitants of Milan saw in it only a horde of robbers, accustomed to fleeing from the troops of his imperial and royal majesty - so, at least, a Milan newspaper inspired them three times a week, published on a sheet of crappy yellow paper the size of a palm."

Myself appearance newspapers "the size of a palm", and besides, published on a "sheet of trashy yellow paper", no longer commands respect. But the main thing is that the army, which before the eyes of Italy showed "miracles of courage and genius", was presented by this newspaper as a horde of robbers and cowards. That is, the newspaper supplied its fellow citizens with outright lies three times a week.

This does not prevent the protagonist of the novel, Fabrizio, after being wounded, from looking in the newspapers for information about what happened, what he was guilty of.

took the most direct part. According to the writer, “he remained a child in only one respect: he really wanted to know whether what he saw was really a battle and whether this battle was the Battle of Waterloo. For the first time in his life, he enjoyed reading: he kept hoping to find in the newspapers or in stories about this battle a description of those places through which he passed in the retinue of Marshal Ney and another general.

Forced to hide from the authorities as having fought on the side of Napoleon, Fabrizio receives instructions from Canon Borda on how to behave "during his voluntary exile in Romannano." One of the points of this instruction read: “Never go to coffee houses, never read newspapers, except for two government leaflets - Turin and Milan, and in general show great reluctance to read, and most importantly, do not read any books written after 1720 - at most an exception can be made for the novels of Walter Scott.

Such an instruction indicates that a person who read anything other than "government leaflets" could arouse suspicion, he was put on notice that Fabrizio's position was unacceptable.

However, the hero's craving for newspapers does not disappear even during the voluntary exile in Romagnano. Only this has to be done secretly from others: “he walked three leagues on foot in order to read the Constitutional in an impenetrable, as it seemed to him, secret - he considered this newspaper a revelation. "It's as beautiful as Alfieri and Dante!" he often exclaimed. Fabrizio had one trait that made him related to the French youth: he was more serious about his beloved riding horse and his favorite newspaper than his well-meaning mistress.

The Constitutionelle, a French liberal newspaper founded in 1815, was a favorite, apparently because the hero had a special sympathy for Napoleon. He likens this newspaper to the poetry of Dante and Vittorio Alfieri, considering it as beautiful as their poetry.

The press was such an important element in Fabrizio's life that when he was imprisoned in the fortress, Clelia, along with her own short notes, passed books and newspapers to his cell.

There are newspapers in the novel that cannot in any way arouse the sympathy of the protagonist, his like-minded people. When General Fabio Conti was appointed commandant of the fortress, "it became known that a newspaper of an ultra-monarchist direction would be published in Parma."

There is a remarkable episode in the novel when the duchess discusses with the person who decided on such a publication, possible consequences this company:

“How much strife such a newspaper will give rise to! said the Duchess.

Well! The idea of ​​publishing it is perhaps the height of my ingenuity, - the count answered, laughing. - Little by little the leadership of the newspaper will be taken away from me by the most ardent monarchists - of course, against my will. I have already arranged for a good salary for the editors. These posts will be sought from all sides. This matter will occupy us for two months, and in the meantime everyone will forget what danger threatened me. Two important persons, P. and D., have already put forward their candidacies.”

The duchess is sure that “outrageous absurdities” will be printed in the count’s newspaper, but the latter cannot be embarrassed by this, because being a far-sighted and even cunning politician, he is counting on this: “I am counting on this,” objected the count. - The prince will read it every morning and admire my views, because I am its founder. He will begin to approve or condemn individual trifles, and so two hours of those that he devotes to work will pass. The newspaper will, of course, cause criticism, but by the time serious complaints arrive - that is, in eight or ten months - it will already be completely in the hands of rabid monarchists. They will have to answer. This party interferes with me, and I will oppose its newspaper. But in the end, it is better to write the wildest absurdities than to send a single person to the gallows. Who remembers the absurdity printed in an official newspaper, two years after the issue was published? But the sons and relatives of the hanged man will harbor a hatred for me that will outlive me and, perhaps, shorten my life.

In order to find worthy employees in the newspaper of the "ultra-monarchist direction" even after the defeat at Waterloo, good salaries to the editors are necessary. At the same time, for some reason, the duchess is sure that a newspaper of this kind will print “outrageous absurdities,” and the newspaper’s publisher absolutely agrees with this. Moreover, he counts on it. Only outrageous absurdities will arouse the sympathy of the monarchical family, the prince himself, for him. There is another justification for these absurdities, against which it is difficult to object: "it is better to write the wildest absurdities than to send at least one person to the gallows." Very convincing are the words about how people's memory preserves what is printed in the "official newspaper" in comparison with what and how the relatives of the people remember.

schennogo. The writer is clearly on the side of the publishers, who, regardless of the direction and style of their publication, no matter how liberal or reactionary, oppositional or semi-official it is, still look better than those who rule the destinies of people and their lives.

The conversation about the official press does not stop there. It reappears during Fabrizio's audience with the prince. The prince himself became its initiator, “having said a few words about the great principles of the organization of society and the state”, he remarked: “These principles, of course, surprise you, young man,. - yes, these principles, of course, surprise you, young man. I confess that they are not at all like the hosanna to the autocracy (he said so!), which you can see every day in my official newspaper. But, my God, what am I saying! Of course, you don’t read our newspaper hacks!”

The prince, who calls the official newspaper his own, tries to assure Fabrizio that the principles of the organization of society and the state, which he adheres to, are “not at all like the hosanna of autocracy”, which is daily filled with his newspaper. It turns out that the press is not a mirror image of those true ideas and principles that the people who own it adhere to. It is also noteworthy how disparagingly the prince calls the devoted journalists who work for him, who defend his ideology with their pen, “hacks”. So the prince knew the price of this devotion and this work.

Fabrizio hurries to compliment the official newspaper of the prince: “I beg your pardon, your highness, I not only read the Parma newspaper, but I find that they write quite well in it, and just like this newspaper, I believe that everything that happened from one thousand seven hundred fifteenth year, that is, from the time of the death of Louis the Fourteenth, was both a crime and stupidity.

The author seems to be afraid that the reader, knowing Fabrizio, after such words, will suspect him of double-mindedness, especially since his favorite newspaper was of a completely different kind. Therefore, after the hero’s departure from the prince, he explains a few paragraphs later: “Fabrizio really believed almost everything that he said to the prince, although he didn’t think about “great principles” twice a month. He had a lust for life, he had a mind, but he was a believer.”

In addition, the hero had his own understanding of freedom, his own understanding of happiness, which diverged from their fashionable interpretations, according to

developing modern society which, however, did not prevent him, even at the risk, from reading French newspapers that wrote in the spirit of these newfangled ideas: and all heresy, and inevitably had to disappear, however, destroying many human souls, just as a plague destroys human flesh, reigning for a while in some region. But, despite all this, Fabrizio enjoyed reading French newspapers and even committed imprudent acts in order to get them.

The danger of reading French newspapers in Italy, particularly in Parma, was very real. At the end of the novel, the reader learns from one statesman, count, that, leaving his post, he will leave “all affairs in an unimaginable mess; I have in my various ministries, - he admits, - there were about five sensible and hardworking officials; two months ago I retired them for reading French newspapers, and put complete fools in their place.

Reading French newspapers was the reason that sensible and hardworking officials were retired, and their places were taken by "round fools." According to the logic of this hero, it turns out that only "round fools" in our time in Italy do not read French newspapers, although the authorities do not welcome this.

French newspapers are recalled in Stendhal's novel and in connection with a reception at the Marquise Crescenzi, but it is precisely those who do not read them who are represented here: about the number and size of buttons that must be sewn onto soldier's uniforms so that the commander-in-chief can win victories. In this drawing room it would be imprudent to mention the news printed in the French newspapers; even if the news turned out to be the most pleasant, as, for example, the message about the execution in Spain of fifty liberals, the narrator would nevertheless expose himself in reading French newspapers. All these people considered it the height of dexterity to beg for an increase of one hundred and fifty francs every ten years to their pension. So the monarch shares with his nobility the pleasure of reigning over the peasants and the bourgeois<.>».

One way or another, but the discussion of the question "about the number and size of buttons" for the troops of the commander in chief, who is counting on

victory, and the ability to beg for an increase in pension act as an opposition to the French newspapers. The author creates the impression that those who read them are not capable of such "profound thought" and such "military" dexterity.

Reading French newspapers by Fabrizio himself is not hindered even by his agreement with his uncle, who believes that "it is not for us to destroy the prestige of power: French newspapers deal with him quite successfully without us."

Everyone, including the prince, is afraid of the opinions of these newspapers. When there is a danger that Fabrizio will be poisoned in the fortress where he is imprisoned, the prince is not so much worried about the very fact of his possible death, but that this fact will be known and will disgrace him throughout Europe: “In my possessions, he laments, - they poison the prisoners, and I don't know anything about it! Rassi wants to embarrass me in front of all of Europe! God knows what I will read in a month in the Parisian newspapers! .. "

Sometimes in the novel the press appears from a side that is unexpected for the hero, whom we are accustomed to seeing in an effort, with the help of the press, to get an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bmodern life, politics, and himself. So the newspaper is mentioned in connection with the story "with a lean horse", which Fabrizio abandoned "on the banks of Lago Maggiore". Feeling guilty, he announces: “I firmly decided,” Fabrizio said very seriously, “to reimburse the owner of the horse for all the expenses of advertising in the newspaper and other costs of searching for it; the peasants must have found it and will return it. I will carefully read the Milanese newspaper and, of course, I will come across an advertisement there about the loss of this horse - I know its signs well.

In this case, the newspaper acts for the hero as one of the means to atone for his guilt and reimburse, among other things, the costs of the owner of the horse for advertisements in newspapers.

News in Parma can spread quite quickly without the help of newspapers. It even happens that, having spread in the form of rumors, the Parma news then returns to Parma from Paris, but already thanks to the newspapers and in a modified form. This is what happens with the news of the appointment of a new Bishop of Parma:<.>The bourgeoisie, followed by the common people, concluded that the prince had no doubt decided to make Monsignor del Dongo archbishop of Parma. In coffee houses, cunning politicians even claimed that the current archbishop, Father Landriani, was ordered to resign under the pretext of illness, and as a reward for this he would apparently be given a substantial pension from the proceeds of the tobacco mono-

polya; such rumors, having reached the archbishop, greatly disturbed him, and for several days his zealous concern for our hero was considerably weakened. Two months later, this important news appeared in the Parisian newspapers with a small change: it turned out that they were going to appoint "the Count of Mosca, nephew of the Duchess of Sanseverin" as archbishop.

It is important here not only that the news came with a small change, but also that this "important news" came from Paris only two months later: an unusually long time for important news.

In Stendhal's novel, newspapers very often mislead their readers, wishful thinking, publish unverified, and even frankly fabricated information. Having met the Duchess, who did not allow Fabrizio to openly return to Parma, the Count tells her that in the city "the reaction is in full swing." Along with other indicators of reaction, he warns the interlocutor: “<...>We've tried to cover everything up here. If you look into our newspaper, you will find out that a certain Barbone, a scribe from the fortress, died of bruises after falling from the carriage. And the sixty-odd idlers whom I ordered to be shot when they threw themselves on the statue of the prince in the palace garden are by no means killed, but are in good health, but have just set off to travel. Count Zurla, the Minister of the Interior, personally visited the home of each of these unfortunate heroes, gave fifteen sequins to their families or friends, and ordered that the dead traveler be told, threatening very strongly with prison if they dare to say that he was killed. From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a man was specially sent to Milan and Turin to negotiate with journalists so that they would not write anything about the sad event - such is the term we have established; this man must also go to London and Paris and give almost official denials in all the newspapers of all possible rumors about the disorders that have taken place in our country. The second official was sent to Bologna and Florence. I just shrugged."

Administrative and repressive measures can stop the riots, punish the perpetrators, but it is impossible to create the necessary idea of ​​​​these events, to calm the society agitated by them. Here, the authorities resort to the possibilities of the press, publishing distorted information in an official newspaper, taking measures to “negotiate with journalists”, giving “almost official denials” in the newspapers of European capitals to “all possible rumors”.

This is how the concept of mass media appears in the vision of the characters of two novels and their author, the writer Stendhal.