On Love (O Lyubvi)

One of the most outstanding French writers of the 19th century, Henri Marie Beyle, who wrote under the pseudonym Stendhal, enjoyed neither critical acclaim nor general readership during his lifetime. His magnificent short stories, including The Red and the Black (1830) and The Charterhouse of Parma (1839), passed unnoticed, only occasionally receiving reviews, which were far from always favorable. The writer took a philosophical approach to this. Nevertheless, Mérimée, influenced by Stendhal himself, held him in high regard, Balzac admired him, and Goethe and Pushkin enjoyed reading his novel The Red and the Black. In the 20th century, Stendhal firmly established himself in the pantheon of classic European literature. A special place in Stendhal's oeuvre is occupied by his book On Love (1822). This is not a work of fiction, but a unique treatise on the oddities and peculiarities of love, its phases (admiration, the birth of love, crystallization, hope, doubt, etc.), on first impressions, on the specifics of the manifestation of love feelings in different countries.