Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Red and the Black

  • By: Stendhal
  • Narrated by: Davina Porter
  • Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
  • 3.2 out of 5 stars (22 ratings)
Get this deal Try for £0.00
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Red and the Black cover art

The Red and the Black

By: Stendhal
Narrated by: Davina Porter
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £28.99

Buy Now for £28.99

Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

 For Whom the Bell Tolls cover art
Sodom and Gomorrah (Cities of the Plain), Part I cover art
Gargantua and Pantagruel cover art
The Book of Disquiet cover art
Dubliners cover art
The Count of Monte Cristo (Dramatized) cover art
Into the Wilderness cover art
Camille cover art
Pride and Prejudice cover art
The Mystified Magistrate cover art
Northanger Abbey & The History of England and Persuasion & Poems cover art
The Poisonwood Bible cover art
A Tale of Two Cities cover art
Anna Karenina cover art
The Time Traveler's Wife cover art
The Theory of Moral Sentiments cover art

Summary

Madame de Renal, a wealthy heiress who married the mayor of Verrieres, suddenly finds herself in love with handsome young Julien Sorel, her children's penniless but ambitious new tutor. After a lifetime of complying with all the social rules of French high society, the unassuming Madame de Renal has always regarded true love as the height of immorality, or the subject of fanciful novels. But after meeting the mysteriously charming Julien, both of their lives are transformed in unimaginable ways. Praised for its unflinching look at the hypocrisy of romantic conquests, Stendhal's The Red and the Black remains one of the 19th century's most affecting and passionate novels, and a major influence on modern fiction.
Public Domain (P)2011 Recorded Books
Classics Literary Fiction Historical Fiction
Show More Show Less

Critic reviews

"Of all the instruments that have ever been used for sketching or writing, Stendhal's traces the most delicate line." (Andre Gide)

What listeners say about The Red and the Black

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Welsh Mafia

Stendhal Syndrome

?...a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly 'beautiful' or a large amount of art is in a single place. The term can also be used to describe a similar reaction to a surfeit of choice in other circumstances, e.g. when confronted with immense beauty in the natural world.?
Sorry to report that I didn?t suffer any of the above ? drooping eyelids, paucity of will to live, deadening of the buttocks?tempered with intermittent amusement.
Treat with a large dose of Zola followed by a course of Flaubert to be taken after Maupassant

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Thomas

A Great Reading

Stephen's review, while offering a general snipe at Stendhal, doesn't really give much information about this specific recording for those who may wish to know if it is a good audio version of the book or not.

I think Davina Porter is one of the best narrators I have ever heard- in an ideal world, every child would have a mother with a voice like this to read them bedtime stories. It may be a personal feeling, but you can check it out for yourself on the sample.

As for the text, it is also top drawer: I had to read the book in French for my degree, and I also read a Penguin edition when I wanted to reread it and was being lazy, and I bought this version for when I was being even lazier and wanted to 'read' the book while jogging etc. The point of this is that I concluded this translation was better than the Penguin one: it is more faithful to the original while at the same time being beautiful to read.

All in all, this version of this novel is a lovely experience and, in my opinion, twenty hours of your life well spent.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful