One of the most prominent French authors of the 19th century, Henri Marie Bayle, who wrote under the pseudonym Stendhal, during his lifetime did not enjoy either critical recognition or success among the general reader. Nevertheless, Mérimée, who was influenced by Stendhal, who later took his place in the pantheon of classics of European literature, highly valued his work, Goethe and Pushkin read his novel “The Red and the Black.” The action of Stendhal’s last novel, “The Monastery of Parma,” enthusiastically received by Balzac, takes place in Italy, a country of strong passions and great culture. Its theme is the fate of a generation of Italians who entered life at the end of the 18th century, passionately dreaming of the independence of their homeland, but the Battle of Waterloo marked the collapse of enthusiastic illusions. The intensity of the events (murder, imprisonment, escape, finding out the secrets of birth and death), the deep psychological experiences of the heroes who, for the sake of love, go to betrayal and sacrifice the most precious, as well as the impressive depiction of historical events of that era, turn the novel into an undoubted masterpiece of world literature .