The Charterhouse of Parma

The Charterhouse of Parma (1839) is Stendhal’s magnificent second novel and one of the supreme masterpieces of European literature. Written in an astonishing burst of creative energy—just fifty-two days—the novel traces the fortunes of Fabrizio del Dongo, a young Italian nobleman swept up in the political turbulence of post-Napoleonic Italy. Beginning with the unforgettable depiction of the Battle of Waterloo as experienced by a bewildered, idealistic youth, the story follows Fabrizio through the glittering, treacherous court of Parma, where his brilliant aunt, the Duchess Sanseverina, and the shrewd Prime Minister Count Mosca maneuver to secure his future.

At the heart of the novel is Fabrizio’s imprisonment in the Farnese Tower and his transcendent love affair with Clélia Conti, the governor’s daughter, conducted through signals and glances across the prison walls. Stendhal weaves together political intrigue, romantic passion, and psychological insight with an ironic warmth that Balzac himself praised as comparable to Machiavelli. The novel’s portrait of Italian society—its beauty, corruption, energy, and tenderness—remains one of the most vivid and captivating in all of fiction.