SOURCE: "Stendhal, Balzac, and Merimee," in Short Fiction in France: 1800-1850, Syracuse University Press, 1964, pp. 65-134.

In the following excerpt, George offers a survey of Stendhal's Italian-themed short fiction.

With the exception of the Chroniques italiennes, Stendhal's ventures into short prose have received scant attention. The creator of Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme has so dazzled scholars that they pass lightly over the author of the "Souvenirs d'un gentilhomme italien," "Le Coffre et le Revenant," "Le Philtre," and "Ernestine ou la Naissance de l'amour." Nowhere are they treated as representatives of a genre long practiced in the national literature.

Stendhal himself helped foster this opinion since he considered the short tale a quick solution to his constant need for money. Only seven of his shorter pieces were published during his lifetime; the rest appeared posthumously, exhumed by Romain Colomb or by inquisitive and...