
The Red and the Black
French novelist, 1783–1842.
The Red and the Black is an 1830 novel by Stendhal, translated from French.
On 3 of the 10 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Stendhal
- First published
- 1830
- Length
- 608 pages (UK paperback)
- Original language
- Translated from French
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Class and society, Political, Love story
Is The Red and the Black worth reading?
3 of the 10 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph) and Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 85 | See the list |
| Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002) | Listed | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 80 | See the list |
Best edition of The Red and the Black
The edition we link to is the Penguin Classics paperback (2002), 608 pages.
- Publisher
- Penguin Classics (paperback, 2002)
- Pages
- 608
- ISBN
- 9780140447644
How critics and readers rate The Red and the Black
Critics rate it most highly: it earned 42% of the points available on critics' lists, against 15% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like The Red and the Black
If you liked The Red and the Black, try Pride and Prejudice, Middlemarch or Jane Eyre.



