Histoire d'Eleonore de Parme

In 1810, Stendhal read the sentimental novella Histoire d’Eléonore de Parme, whose anonymous author was certainly a woman.  His interest in English Gothic literature was aroused when such novels became popular in France after the Revolution.  Can it be asserted that Stendhal took inspiration from this novella when he wrote La Chartreuse de Parme?  The cultural affinity between the two texts is certain, and there are significant similarities between the two narratives.  Stendhal told Balzac he had a real model for the characters of Sandrino and Clélia, but it is probable he did not take inspiration from life, but rather from the fictional Eléonore.

 

This is Volume XCVIII in the series Exeter French Texts/Textes littéraires.  It includes an introduction, select bibliography and essential notes, all in French.