Dictionary.net

better known under the pseudonym of "Stendhal". A notable French novelist and critic; born in Grenoble, Jan. 23, 1783; died in Paris, March 23, 1842. In spite of interruptions due to the political upheavals in which he became involved, he found time to display his critical and imaginative genius in "Rome, Naples, and Florence in 1817", "History of Painting in Italy", and "About Love": but his celebrity now rests principally upon "The Chartreuse[Carthusian Nun] of Parma", a magnificent fiction, brilliantly original, witty, and absorbing; and to a less extent upon "The Red and the Black"[i.e., Priests and Soldiers], a romance possible only to a writer with the widest knowledge of men and things.