In December of 1827, Marie-Henry Beyle read a newspaper account of the trial of a young man charged with the attempted murder of a married woman. With this as inspiration, Beyle - under the pen name of Stendhal - set about writing what was to become one of the great psychological novels of all time, The Red and the Black. Set in a small provincial French town, and in Paris, the book tells the story of Julien Sorel, a handsome and brilliant young tutor who is both hero and villain.

(Key Words: Fiction, French Literature, Henri Beyle, Stendhal, Napoleon, Love, Executions).