Approaches to Teaching Stendhal's the Red and the Black

"A novel is a mirror moving along a highway," writes Stendhal in The Red and the Black, his chronicle of French Restoration politics, class, and society on the eve of the July Revolution of 1830. "One minute you see it reflect the azure skies, next minute the mud and puddles on the road." Stendhal's defense of his work and the widely taught novel in which it appears set forth two problematic topics for students: literary realism (and its limitations) and the presentation of history in literature. The editors of this volume focus on how best to address these questions in courses on French literature, world literature, European intellectual history, comparative literature, and more.