On Love

📕 Stendhal was the pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle (1783-1842), the French writer best-known for his novels Le Rouge et le Noir (1830) and La Chartreuse de Parme (1839). He is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism. First published in 1822, De l'Amour (On Love) is a philosophical discourse on romantic passion prompted by the author's unrequited love for Mathilde Dembowska. Stendhal analyses the four kinds of love then outlines its seven progressive stages, before presenting his views (radical at the time) against marriage and in favour of education and moral liberty for women. Reprinted from an English translation published in 1915 which includes an introduction and translators' notes.