STENDHAL (506 pp.)—Matthew Josephson—Doubleday ($4).
THE SHORTER NOVELS OF STENDHAL (552 pp.)—LIverighf ($2.49).
Rotund, romantic Lieut. Henri-Marie Beyle—who had never ridden a horse or seen a battle—hoisted his huge rump into the saddle and galloped off to war. His armor included two pistols, a large saber and the works of Homer, Virgil, Horace, Racine and Moliere.
"You will be spitted like a hog," muttered one of Napoleon's unimaginative professionals. But Henri Beyle, in whom genius and absurdity were uniquely compounded, somehow survived—and under the pen name of "Stendhal" immortalized his adventures in soldiery...
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