The Charterhouse of Parma

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The Charterhouse of Parma is a novel written by Stendhal in 1839 on the spur of the moment in just 52 days.

The novel deals with Fabrice del Dongo, a young visionary wanting to join Napoleon Bonaparte’s army. Sadly, he doesn’t realize he’s not fit for the army, being swindled and robbed by burglars and his fellow soldiers and witnessing a whole pandemonium instead of the noble battle he expected.

Some time later, his aunt and her lover, the Count Mosca, try to plan a successful life for him, so they decide to use their influences to put Fabrice in an important place of the religious hierarchy. Whether he wants it or not it’s not relevant…

The book goes on, but it’s difficult to summarize it without starting to explain the whole plot. Let’s just say it involves a prison, love, political intrigue and conspiracies.

Famous for being written on a moment of inspiration by Stendhal from start to finish; that gives the novel a sense of freshness not usually found on many novels. On the other hand, it also means that plot points and characters are only introduced when the author thought about them, giving the feeling that they come out from nowhere and, obviously, showing a lack of planning.

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The book provides examples of:

• Alliterative Name: Clélia Conti
• Arranged Marriage: Clélia and Marquis Crescenzi.
• Author Catchphrase: "To the happy few."
• Author Tract
• Call That a Formation: The Battle of Waterloo is depicted as a complete mess, with French soldiers running to and fro, completely disorganized. Some of them don't even have interest in battling, prefering Plunder instead.
• Casanova: Fabrice.
• Coming of Age Story
• Exact Words: Clélia’s excuse to meet with Fabrice.
• Government Conspiracy
• Heroic Wannabe: Fabrice, at the beginning of the story.
• Incest Is Relative: Fabrice and the Duchess of Sanseverina.
• Kill'Em All: All the main characters eventually die.
• May-December Romance: Between a lot of characters. In some of the cases, the age bracket is not so big, though.
• Napoleon Bonaparte: The book starts with Fabrice wanting to join his army during the Battle of Waterloo.
• Non-Indicative Name: The Charterhouse of Parma only appears once in the book and adds almost nothing to the plot.
• Scarpia Ultimatum.
• Shown His Work: Stendhal not only gives us details about the usual life of the court, but also reflects the confusion of the war (Stendhal not only served under Napoleon's army, but he also was one of the survivors of the failed attempt to conquer Russia).
• Spell My Name With a Blank
• Tampering With Food and Drink
• War Is Hell
• Writing By the Seat of Your Pants