The consul Henri Beyle, known as Stendhal, traveled a lot in the West of France. Notably in Nantes.
Retrospective. Return to 1837. Consul Henri Beyle, known as Stendhal, wandered through France, and his nonchalant steps led him to Nantes, the southern city of the Armorican Massif. The 19th century, it was going through a prosperous period: it opened onto the port, the open sea, and elsewhere, and its walls welcomed bubbling imaginations. Jules Verne saw great maritime hours there. Later, Flaubert, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and André Breton would find inspiration there.
Stendhal found Nantes very appealing: 'I'm staying in a gorgeous hotel and I have a beautiful room overlooking the Place Graslin, where the auditorium is also located. Five or six streets lead to this pretty little square that would be remarkable even in Paris.
The romantic Consul
The scenery of the Loire Valley are a little less enchanting. The competition with Italy is tough, indeed. However, his journey in Nantes provides some beautiful pages for his "Voyage en Bretagne". Son of a bourgeois from Grenoble, Henry Beyle has a geographical and historical foot in the Italian peninsula. His birthplace is just a stone's throw from the border, and the Italian Campaign (1800) picked him up as a young man.
Stendhal is only 17 years old but the death of his mother (1790) and the French Revolution of 1789 have already matured him a lot. He took the plunge and committed himself. It is the beginning of a long love affair with Italy, to which he devotes countless books. All interests the relentless romantic: Rossini's operas, painting, history and heritage ('Promenade in Rome', 1829). And above all the beautiful Italian women that he will sleep in his bed and on paper: 'La Chartreuse de Parme' and 'Le Rouge et le Noir' cut beautiful women's costumes that are partly autobiographical. "I put a ticket to the lottery whose jackpot is reduced to this: to be read in 1935," he liked to repeat. It was a gamble that paid off.
Stanislas Stendhal. Photo courtesy of SIPA.