STENDHALIAN OBLIVION: DUTY OR DECADENCE?
STENDHALIAN OBLIVION: DUTY OR DECADENCE?

Summary/Abstract: Nineteenth-century literature and, more particularly, the Romantic Age, appears to be a rejection of reason favored by the Age of Enlightenment, while being characterized by a wish for sensitivity and individualism. However, and this paradoxically if we focus on the choice for the historical past at Stendhal, we often notice a recurring feeling of oblivion. Between duty and decadence, Julien Sorel must forget much more than to heal. He has to forget about his family, his minor condition, his first lover and all that in order to move up the social ladder. But, torn between love and ambition, it will ultimately be the same oblivion that will raise the tragic note of the novel. Julien forgets his ambitious plans and lets himself fall prey into a fatal love.

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