The Red and The Black | Stendhal

Before picking up this novel, I knew very little about it. In addition, everything that I thought I knew was wrong. I started reading thinking this was one of those Russian “Red” novels, but turns out it was all set in France, post-Napoleonic war era.

There are two main themes that I’ll discuss on this review: Love & Vanity. As always, I’ll try not to include any spoilers.

The main character, Julien Sorel, is the son of a carpenter. Unloved by his own family, Julien’s father sent him away from the homestead to become a tutor to a rich Mayor. At twenty-two, Julien has no concept of what love is because he has never experienced it in life, in any form. As such, his responses to love are akin to a 12-year old boy and his disdain for most of society has caused him to have very limited friendships. A young man without a social network, but full of ambition, leads to explosive results.

Stendhal has been known in the literary world as being an expert on love. I found his knowledge on the way a man (uneducated on the concept of love) reacts, very accurate. Minor events become major, personal thoughts betray others, trust in friendships is questioned, etc. Stendhal shares this with us, through the eyes of Julien, and it takes some of us back to our childhood experiences.

In addition, Julien’s disdain for the vanity and resentment for high society, further adds to his confusion. He hates the rich, and yet desires to fit in with them. Of course, the rich have other ideas and view Julien and his ideals as a threat to their way of life. After all, if the son of a carpenter can move up the ranks due to intelligence alone, than the floodgates of the intellectual impoverished could potentially follow the same path.

One quote that stuck with me throughout was “All is French vanity.” In our bookclub, we had a great discussion on the definition of vanity. Are you either vain or not? Or does the concept of vanity move along a continuum, in which every human being falls? I personally believe the latter, but a good discussion was had on the subject.

As such, reading this book directly following “Vanity Fair” was a good stroke of luck. While both were written with the same message, I think Stendhal made his point more eloquently. That being said, there was no Dobbin… no real hero, despite his projection that Julien’s purpose was indeed that.

The book club meeting made me appreciate the book much more than I would have without it. Other themes and statements that I missed were uncovered, and I learned a little about French history (more from the discussion than the book itself).

That being said, I would not recommend this novel. While themes of vanity and love are applicable in today’s society (a central reason as to why this novel has withstood the test of time), the thoughts within the book are sometimes unfocused: some events seem to serve little purpose. If I had to pick a book before my time that took me on a winding road which I believed was completely necessary, I would have chosen “Tess of D’Ubervilles” by Hardy.
In conclusion, I’m glad that I had the opportunity to read and discuss the novel, but when compared to my favourite classics of all time, “The Red and the Black” does not come close. Perhaps I will have more luck with Stendhal’s “The Charterhouse of Parma.”

3 out of 5 stars

Next book on tap: “True at First Light” by my buddy, Ernest Hemingway.

Book Organization | My Eclectic Segregations

My recent trip to K-W to go book shopping has caused a major upheaval. Due to the major influx of new (used) books, I had to remove my Complete Works of Shakespeare (24 vol or so) to the bedroom. In addition, I had to move some of my classic collection (about 6 volumes) from the 50’s or so as well.

I’ve had this discussion about the organization of books on their shelves, and I have found there are people out there that are just as quirky as I am!! These thoughts were re-kindled by the posting of a friend’s book collection on her blog. I’m not sure I’ll get to pictures this month, but I thought I would share how my books are currently organized.

I have four book shelves – two in the main room and two in the bedroom. One is currently being used by my girlfriend and contains all her books and study materials. The books in the main room are all hardcover, and the overflow books in the bedroom are a mix – but mostly softcover.

Main Room Bookcase #1
This bookcase is closest to the window and is parallel to my couch. When I sit to read (with my back to the window) I have an abundance of light, a comfy high-backed cushion behind me and a side view of bookcase #1. However, the books on the bottom of the bookcase sometimes get overlooked because they are blocked by the couch (such is life in the current set-up). Each bookcase has four shelves.

First shelf contains all my really eclectic books – stuff from the late 1800’s through to around the 1950’s. Small books with guilt on the side and books of like kind – they remind me a little of books people put behind them when doing media interviews (in the sense that some of them are the same editions), but they are MUCH more interesting (an old, great-smelling ‘Oliver Twist’, a select poetical works of Scott from 1912-ish from a university in the UK, etc). They’re generally inexpensive books that I took a shining to: pretty much all classics, including some first edition replicas of my faves (‘The Grapes of Wrath’, ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Of Mice and Men’. To round out the shelf, I’ve put some “Modern Library” editions which have all silver spines with pictures of their authors.

The second shelf contains all my folio books with slipcases. I have this thing for slipcases, and I still do not understand why. I think they look more organized, or something.

Third shelf contains random hardcover fiction – mostly modern classics or less well known books from famous authors.

Fourth shelf contains a lot of sci-fi: mostly Orson Scott Card and Isaac Asimov.

Main Room Bookcase #2
This bookcase is closest to the desk. On the first three shelves I have all my leather-bound books – which are mainly classics again, with a few newer titles (and modern classics such as Brave New World or To Kill A Mockingbird). Books with titles scrolled along the length of the book, are sitting in the middle on their sides. Breaks up the monotony a little bit, and they’re much easier to read. The shelf is also split by leather-type. Full leather comes first, then ¼ leather and then faux leather. I believe Eastons and Franklins are separated somehow (all Eastons are full leather).

I used to segregate based on what books I had read versus the ones that I had not yet had the pleasure to read, but that generally complicated my system.

On the fourth shelf I have some of my most prized first editions (don’t ask me why they’re on the bottom) and some over sized treasures I had to lay on their side (incl the Divine Comedy in 3 volumes from the ‘60’s with tremendous pictures and Paradise Lost in one large folio volume).

I used to be very particular about books by the same author being together, but since I started collecting different types of editions, it no longer looked very good to do it this way. I have some quirky attributes that are hard to quantify, like grouping a Bible and the DaVinci Code together. I always get a chuckle out of that. At the same time, the Bible is no where near The Koran, primarily due to edition differences.

In general, very little of my books were purchased new and a majority of them are editions that are no longer available new. I’m not a big fan of new books as a general rule, and I would prefer each book had some sort of story or feeling to me. Now, books have a different feeling AFTER you’ve read them, but I like them to have a nice feeling BEFORE as well, because there are quite a few books I haven’t made it to yet.

The other problem I have, is that I don’t like to stack books on their sides. Making matters worse is when you have so many books that you have to hide books behind other ones. I’m not at this point yet, but I’m getting close. Little can really be done about this unless you continue to buy more book shelves.

In the bedroom, my one bookcase has ‘stuff’ on two of the shelves which are not books. Mostly CD’s, picture albums, and course work materials. On the first two shelves are my soft covers, which are split into read and non-read. In addition, one shelf has all my ‘business books’ or ‘popular fiction’ which include things like “No Logo” and “Freakonomics” and “Blink.” The fourth shelf now contains Shakespeare Complete works and some old classic editions.

I almost forgot the best part. The bookshelves themselves are all the same (which was VERY important to me) and I got them for cheaper than IKEA shelves (purchased from Business Depot). They’re made of cherry wood (particle board, really), but they are bevelled outwards in an arch. They have a grey material on the topside of the shelves, which you would think would look tacky… but I think it looks quite nice. They were originally around $150-200 per, but I think I ended up getting a few of them for around $80. The bookcases are about 6 feet tall and probably 4 or 5 feet wide.

Book Shopping | Revisited

So I made one of my infamous trips to Kitchener-Waterloo to hit up the four used books store in the area. Usually I make this trip several times a year, but it's been a while now due to the job change, school and the bookclub.

Sometimes I find absolutely nothing and sometimes I come home with a whole bunch of things... and this time was the latter.

OLD GOAT BOOKS
Found two beautiful rare Tolkien books which detail the history of middle earth. I believe there are 10 volumes or so, and I was able to pick up two for $65. You never see these anywhere, so I'm pleased with the purchase despite the price. Then I was able to pick up some serviceable Hemingway books from the 30's for $8 a piece (two in total).

KW BOOKSTORE
This place is usually very 'miss', but I found a couple of things here. I finally broke down and bought a copy of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" because I had a credit note, and I was also able to pick up a "The Poetical works of Scott" which was dated 1912 or older. It was from a school in the UK, and I had a great time researching the find.

CASABLANCA
The best deals are usually found here, and sometimes they have real gems (1st edition The Great Gatsby). I did end up with some fairly old (40's?) editions of "The Jungle Books" ($8 for 2 volumes). I also picked up a present... ;)

A SECOND LOOK
Every time I walk into this store, something about it floors me. There are books everywhere in piles, but most are so rare & beautiful that you don't know where to start looking first. The problem is, the man who owns the store knows what everything is worth and he usually charges a little more than market for them. I always have to weigh a lot of factors and decide which books make the cut and which don't. I was feeling liberal, so here is what I bought:

The Koran
Arabian Nights (Burton translation)
Wisdom of Confucious
Diary of Young Girl by Anne Frank (I've read this one when I was younger)
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Middlemarch by George Eliot
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

I honestly had a real problem narrowing it down to these books. They were chosen for a mix of interest, translation (edition) and price. Maybe some will be added as bookclub books in the future... time will tell.

Sixteen books is a pretty substantial haul considering I read about a book or two a month, and I needed a bookshelf reshuffle to fit everything in. The haul has led to a further dreading of the move. Last time, I took out all the shirts from my dressor, wrapped the books in them, and ended up washing all the shirts after all was done. I probably have 30% more books this time... so it will be a challenge.

Anyhow, I haven't posted for a while so I thought I would relate my story. "The Red and the Black" review will come later this month.