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Notation
The novel starts off in the town of Verrières, France, in 1830. The protagonist Julien Sorel
wishes to elevate his social status and find true love after the French Revolution. A young man of nineteen, Julien is eager to leave his provincial town in search of a better life. He is hired to be a tutor by the mayor of Verrières. He falls in love with the mayor’s wife, Mme. de Rênal, the
mother of his pupils. A torrential love affair unfolds. To avoid a public scandal, he is forced to
leave the Rênal household and the love of his life, Mme. de Rênal. He ends up in Paris where he
falls in love again, this time with the young aristocratic Mathilde de La Mole whose bitter soul is
essentially cut off from the rest of the world. Complications and jealousy ensue—in short, Julien
attempts to murder Mme. de Rênal. She miraculously survives, forgives him, but remains
constantly tossed between passion and guilt. Julien is imprisoned, put on trial, found guilty, and is executed, despite Mme. de Rênal’s efforts to save him. She follows him in death. Mathilde is the only survivor of their triumvirate.

Telegraphic
VERRIÈRES FRANCE 1830 JULIEN SOREL BECOMES A TUTOR AND FALLS IN LOVE
STOP HE IS SENT AWAY AND FALLS IN LOVE AGAIN STOP HE TRIES TO KILL HIS
FIRST LOVE BUT SHE SURVIVES STOP HE IS PUT ON TRIAL AND IS GUILLOTINED
STOP HIS FIRST LOVE ALSO DIES AND HIS SECOND LOVE BURIES HIS HEAD STOP

Litotes
Verrières, France, 1830. Julien Sorel dreams of a perfect life. He works as a tutor, and begins an
affair with the mother of his pupils, Mme. de Rênal. He is sent away to Paris, where he falls in
love again. The rich, young lady’s name is Mathilde. Julien is tossed in prison for shooting Mme. de Rênal. His trial is the trial of the century. Julien is executed. Mme. de Rênal also dies.
Mathilde is heartbroken, but she’s ready to move on.

Retrograde
Mathilde finds herself alone again in her banal aristocratic life. Mme. de Rênal also dies. Julien
is guillotined for trying to kill her. Julien shoots Mme. de Rênal inside a church, but she
survives. He finds love for the second time, and gets entangled with the young Mathilde de La
Mole, the daughter of a Parisian aristocrat. The situation becomes complicated, and to keep their forbidden love affair a secret, Julien is told to go away and forget Mme. de Rênal. Their constant longing for each other becomes unbearable. Julien often sneaks into her room by using a ladder. He falls madly in love with the mother of his pupils, Mme. de Rênal, who is ridden with guilt all the time. Julien is hired by a rich family as a tutor to their three young children. Julien’s father is a greedy peasant, largely responsible for his son’s unhappiness. Young Julien Sorel, the protagonist of the novel, dreams of a better life. The story takes place in Verrières, France, in 1830.

Tanka
   Julien Sorel
Falls in love with a woman
  Then with another
His head is always spinning
 In the end it is cut off

The Rainbow
Verrières, France, 1830. A sleepy village where brown dirt roads are lined by enchanting green
trees. But there is nothing enchanting about Verrières where the blue-eyed, blonde protagonist
Julien Sorel lives. It is his utmost desire to leave this dull place behind and have a vibrant life
elsewhere. He is hired as a tutor at the Rênal household, where meals are served in colorful
china, windows are flanked by heavy maroon brocade drapes, carpets are plush green, and Mme. de Rênal wears gorgeous gowns every day. Her favorite colors are pink, red, and burgundy. She and Julien fall in love and take long walks in the orchard among yellow peaches, red apples, and purple plums. He is whisked away to Paris to be separated from her. His heart turns ash gray, but he soon falls in love with Mathilde de La Mole, who is a ray of sunshine and also a black curse in his life. She appears virtuous, but her rose-colored maidenly heart is plagued with a turbulent maelstrom that swirls at all hours of the day. He is gripped by lust and fear. Engulfed by a gun-metal gray cloud of befuddlement, he tries to take Mme. de Rênal’s life. Her crimson blood stains the stone floor of the church where she lies after he shoots her. He is put on trial. He wears a pair of beige pants and a wrinkled blue shirt every day. He is guillotined. His head falls into a brown wicker basket. After that, Mme. de Rênal dies as well. Mathilde’s complexion turns white.

Abusive
The date is 1830. The sleepy town of Verrières is a real hellhole for the novel’s protagonist,
young Julien Sorel, who is bored out of his mind, and wants to get the hell out of there. His
father is a useless piece of shit who does not wear his heart on his sleeve. Julien finally gets a
break when he gets hired by the mayor of Verrières as a tutor. Before long, he falls head over
heels in love with the mayor’s wife. They make out and have sex whenever they can, and
therefore he is sent away. He is fucking miserable without Mme. de Rênal, and she without him.
But he falls in love again, this time with a spoiled brat named Mathilde de La Mole. He is
confused, lonely, jealous, and at one point goes nuts and shoots Mme. de Rênal inside a church.
He is thrown in jail. The two women still love him and pine for his love. He is executed. Mme.
de Rênal’s heart breaks, and she also dies. Mathilde, the spoiled little bitch who’s always too wrapped up in the tragically boring clusterfuck of her own life, comes up with the preposterous
idea of burying Julien’s head with her own hands. What a muddled mess!

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Ági Bori originally hails from Hungary, and she has lived in the United States for more than thirty years. A decade ago, she decided to try her hand at translating and discovered she loved it. She is a fierce advocate for bringing more translated books to anglophone readers. In addition to translating between Hungarian and English, her favorite avocation is reading Russian short stories in the original. Her translations and writings are available or forthcoming in 3:AM, Apofenie, Asymptote, The Baffler, The Forward, Hopscotch Translation, Hungarian Literature Online, Litro Magazine, MAYDAY, Northwest Review, Points in Case, The Rumpus, Tablet, Turkoslavia, Trafika Europe, Words Without Borders, and elsewhere. She is a translation editor at the Los Angeles Review.