“Armanсe” is the first psychological novel by the French writer Stendhal (Henri Marie Beyle), subtitled “Scenes from the Life of a Parisian Salon,” published in 1827.
It is a story of love between young aristocrat Octave de Malivert and his distant and poor relative (half-Russian, half-French) Armanсe Zoilova, whose characters sharply differ from the circle around them—and the destruction of their destinies.
The author’s goal is to reveal the emptiness of life—under the brilliance and refinement of “high society,” the baseness of interests, and the narrow-mindedness of the feudal aristocracy.