《红与黑》主人公于连是出身于外省的青年，有些聪明才智，在当地市长家中做家庭教师，勾搭上主人年轻的妻子，后来在巴黎又勾搭上一位贵族小姐。市长妻子出于嫉妒，写信揭发于连的丑行，于连一怒之下开枪击伤市长夫人，被判死刑。这原本是报纸上的一则真实案件，司汤达通过这一情杀题材从外省写到巴黎，从底层写到高层，通过教会、政党以及各阶层错综复杂的矛盾关系，再现了查理十世统治下法国的政治斗争、社会矛盾、人情风物。
司汤达在这部作品中显示出卓越的天才，尤其是在性格刻画及对人物喜悦、痛苦、忏悔种种复杂心理的表现方面，的确绘声绘色，扣人心弦，被评论家称作“现代小说之父”。

 

司汤达(1783－1842)，法国作家，原名马里－昂利•贝尔，母亲为意大利人，外祖是伏尔泰的信徒，司汤达自幼在外祖的影响下大量阅读伏尔泰、卢梭、莎士比亚等人作品。后司汤达随拿破仑军队进入米兰，长期浸淫于意大利文艺复兴的优秀传统，于戎马倥偬之际不忘写作，有专著《意大利绘画史》、游记《罗马、那不勒斯和佛罗伦萨》等书。小说方面的代表作为《红与黑》及晚年口授写成的《巴马修道院》。 司汤达是19世纪法国现实主义创作的先驱，他提倡一种与传统文学划清界限的新文学，认为“一切伟大作家都是他们时代的浪漫主义者，表现他们时代的真实的东西，因此而感动他们同时代的人”。他所说的浪漫主义也就是后来被称作现实主义的写作方式。他的《红与黑》、《巴马修道院》、《阿芒斯》、《拉米埃尔》等杰作为巴尔扎克、福楼拜等人的创作开辟了一条新路。

 

Part ONE
CHAPTER 1 A Small Town
CHAPTER 2 A Mayor
CHAPTER 3 The Bread of the Poor
CHAPTER 4 Father and Son
CHAPTER 5 Driving a Bargain
CHAPTER 6 Dullness
CHAPTER 7 Elective Affinities
CHAPTER 8 Minor Events
CHAPTER 9 An Evening in the Country
CHAPTER 10 A Large Heart and a Small Fortune
CHAPTER 11 Night Thoughts
CHAPTER 12 A Journey
CHAPTER 13 Open-work Stockings
CHAPTER 14 The English Scissors
CHAPTER 15 Cock-crow
CHAPTER 16 The Day After
CHAPTER 17 The Principal Deputy
CHAPTER 18 A King at Verrieres
CHAPTER 19 To Think Is To Be Full of Sorrow
CHAPTER 20 The Anonymous Letters
CHAPTER 21 Conversation with a Lord and Master
CHAPTER 22 Manners and Customs in 1830
CHAPTER 23 The Sorrows of an Official
CHAPTER 24 A Capital
CHAPTER 25 The Seminary
CHAPTER 26 The World, or What the Rich Lack
CHAPTER 27 First Experience of Life
CHAPTER 28 A Procession
CHAPTER 29 The First Step
CHAPTER 30 Ambition
Part TWO
CHAPTER 1 Country Pleasures
CHAPTER 2 First Appearance in Society
CHAPTER 3 First Steps
CHAPTER 4 The Hotel de La Mole
CHAPTER 5 Sensibility and a Pious Lady
CHAPTER 6 Pronunciation
CHAPTER 7 An Attack of Gout
CHAPTER 8 What Is the Decoration that Confers Distinction?
CHAPTER 9 The Baii
CHAPTER 10 Queen Marguerite
CHAPTER 11 The Tyranny of a Girl
CHAPTER 12 Another Danton
CHAPTER 13 A Plot
CHAPTER 14 A Girl's Thoughts
CHAPTER 15 Is it a Plot?
CHAPTER 16 One o'Clock in the Morning
CHAPTER 17 An Old Sword
CHAPTER 18 Painful Moments
CHAPTER 19 The Opera-Bouffe
CHAPTER 20 The Japanese Vase
CHAPTER 21 The Secret Note
CHAPTER 22 The Discussion
CHAPTER 23 The Clergy, their Forests, Liberty
CHAPTER 24 Strasbourg
CHAPTER 25 The Office of Virtue
CHAPTER 26 Moral Love
CHAPTER 27 The Best Positions in the Church
CHAPTER 28 Manon Lescaut
CHAPTER 29 Boredom
CHAPTER 30 A Box at the Bouffes
CHAPTER 31 Making Her Afraid
CHAPTER 32 The Tiger
CHAPTER 33 The Torment of the Weak
CHAPTER 34 A Man of Spirit
CHAPTER 35 A Storm
CHAPTER 36 Painful Details
CHAPTER 37 ADungeon
CHAPTER 38 A Man of Power
CHAPTER 39 Intrigue
CHAPTER 40 Tranquillity
CHAPTER 41 The Trial
CHAPTER 42 In the Prison
CHAPTER 43 Last Adieux
CHAPTER 44 The Shadow of the Guillotine
CHAPTER 45 Exit Julien