“Pero todos comparten la misma falla trágica; todos tuvieron la opción de salvarse y tomaron el camino de la catástrofe; y sus novelas son dedicados estudios de ese largo error y de sus consecuencias.” AnnaEmmaHamletAhabJulien SorelFedra Book:Viajes con un mapa en blanco Source: Viajes con un mapa en blanco
“The main thing is not to be deceived, that is, to lie and and simulate better than the others. All Stendhal's great novels revolve around the problem of hypocrisy, around the secret of how to deal with men and how to rule the world; they are all in the nature of text-book of political realism and courses of instruction in political amoralism. In his critique of Stendhal, Balzac already remarks that Chartreuse de Parme is a new Principe, which Machiavelli himself, if he had lived as an emigre in the Italy of nineteenth century, would not have been able to write any differently. Julien Sorel's Machiavellian motto, "Qui veut les fins veut les moyens," here acquires its classical formulation, as used repeatedly by Balzac himself, namely that one must accept the rules of the world's game, if one wants to count in the world and to take part in the play.” Nineteenth CenturyBalzacStendhalMachiavellianismJulien SorelPolitical Realism Book:The Social History of Art: Volume 4: Naturalism, Impressionism, The Film Age Source: The Social History of Art: Volume 4: Naturalism, Impressionism, The Film Age