The Charterhouse of Parma
by Stendhal
The Charter of Parma tells the story of the abuses of Fabrizio del Dongo, an ardent young aristocrat who joined Napoleon's army just before the Battle of Waterloo. Still, perhaps the most memorable characters in the novel are the protagonist's beautiful aunt, the summoned Duchess of Sanseverina, and Fabrizio's beloved Count Mosca, who plans to continue his political career in an extensive story that illuminates an entire period of European history at the insidious court of Parma. "Stendhal has written 'The Prince' to this day, a novel that Machiavelli would have written had he lived expulsed from Italy in the nineteenth century," Balzac said in his famous review of the Charter of Parma. "The hearts of princes, ministers, courtiers and women have never been portrayed like this before... Perfection can be seen in every detail... [It] has a canvas size of fifty meters by thirty meters, and also practice, Dutch in its delicacy.... The Charter of Parma usually contains a whole book on one page..... It's a masterpiece."
