The Charterhouse of Parma

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La Chartreuse de Parme , title page from 1846

The Charterhouse of Parma is a novel by the French writer Stendhal from 1839 .

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Part 1

The novel begins in Milan in 1796 after Napoleon conquered the city during his Italian campaign . While the Marchese del Dongo and his older son Ascanio, as partisans of the expelled Habsburgs and reactionaries , abhor the revolutionary troops and retreat to the countryside, the younger son Fabrizio welcomes the French army as the liberation of the Italians from political backwardness. Fabrizio's mother, the Marchesa Del Dongo, and his aunt Contessa Gina Pietranera, described as 'beautiful', who is half secretly, half visibly in love with him, sympathize with him and his views without openly opposing the Marchese. Stendhal suggests a love affair between the Marchesa and a French officer named Robert, from whom Fabrizio is said to have sprung.

In 1815, at the age of 17, Fabrizio signed up as a volunteer in Napoleon's army and fought in the Battle of Waterloo ; his hopes for fame are dashed. He is called to the court of Parma by his aunt, the remarried Duchezza Gina Sanseverina-Taxis, and begins a career within the Church with the support of his aunt Gina and her lover, the powerful and liberal Prime Minister Count Mosca, and Archbishop Landrini. From the beginning, Gina has been considered the most beautiful, influential and powerful woman at the Parmaer Hof, whom she binds to herself through grandiose events and balls. Fabrizio also had influential enemies at court due to his close relationship with Gina and Mosca, including the Duke of Parma himself, as well as the clique around the Marchesa Raversi and the Generalfiscal Rassi.

When Fabrizio starts a relationship with the actress Marietta, he is involved in a fight by her jealous lover Giletti and kills the attacker.

Part 2

The opponents of Gina and Mosca at court accuse Fabrizio of murder and reach a trial against him in which he is sentenced to twelve years in prison. He is captured and imprisoned in the citadel of Parma.

Here the previously frivolous and capricious Fabrizio falls passionately in love with Clelia Conti, the daughter of the prison governor General Count Conti, who reciprocates his feelings. Clelia and Gina can help him escape. However, against her will, Chlelia has to marry Marchese Crescenzi, the richest man at the court of Parma. After his aunt Gina had the duke murdered with poison, Fabrizio was able to return to Parma. Through the efforts of Gina, who makes the new duke 'madly' in love with her, he gets his rehabilitation back, his old offices and dignities back, and after Landrini's death he becomes archbishop as his successor. After the childless death of his older brother Ascanio, he also inherits the family inheritance, from which he generously distributes to the needy. Gina is appointed her stewardess by the duchess widow.

Fabrizio secretly resumes contact with the now married Clelia, who had vowed to the Madonna not to see him again. So the lovers only meet in the deepest darkness of the night, and these meetings remain completely secret. Ultimately, Clelia has a child from Fabrizio, whom she can pass off as legitimate. This relationship lasts three years, then the child dies and soon afterwards Clelia too, who has perceived the child's death as God's punishment for her sinful relationship.

Fabrizio gives up his offices after the death of the two and retires to the Charterhouse of Parma . In the meantime, Gina has married Count Mosca, but her domicile is outside the Duchy of Parma, where her husband is Prime Minister. There she visits Fabrizio every day until he dies about a year later, shortly followed by Countess Gina Mosca, who loves him dearly.

The novel ends with the words "To the Happy Few".

reception

One of the first to recognize the importance of Stendhal's novel was Honoré de Balzac , who dedicated an enthusiastic essay to him in his magazine Revue parisienne (1840).

Film adaptations

The novel was filmed in 1948 under the same title by Christian-Jaque and in 1982 as a television series of the same name .

Translations into German

  • The Charterhouse of Parma. Transferred by Arthur Schurig. Collected works edited by Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski. Second volume. Propylaea, 1921.
  • The Certosa of Parma. German transmission by Erwin Rieger. Edited with an afterword by Franz Blei . Munich, Georg Müller, 1923
  • The Charterhouse of Parma. Translated and with an afterword, explanations and comments by Otto Freihernn von Taube. Double title and cover by Walter Tiemann. Leipzig, Insel 1925.
  • The Charterhouse of Parma. Translated from the French by Walter Widmer . Munich, Winkler, 1952.
  • The Charterhouse of Parma. Complete edition. Translated by W. Widmer. Munich, Winkler Verlag 1978
  • The Charterhouse of Parma. New translation by Elisabeth Edl. Munich: dtv Verlagsgesellschaft, 2009 ISBN 978-3-423-13776-8 .

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