Birth of Stendhal

Stendhal was born on 23 January 1783 in Grenoble. A French writer, Stendhal was the pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle, who served in Napoleon's administration and army, and spent much of his later career as a consul in Italy. He is best known for the novels The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma, which are regarded as masterpieces of psychological realism, for their analysis of ambition, passion and the social constraints of the Restoration period. He also wrote On Love, travel books on Italy and an unfinished autobiography. His work was little appreciated in his lifetime, but he was later admired by Balzac, Zola and Nietzsche. The term Stendhal syndrome is named after his description of overwhelming feelings in Florence.

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