Stendhal
Stendhal was deeply interested in comedy. Even in such a tragic novel as Le Rouge et le Noir, powerful emotions are interwoven with humorous effects. A remarkable passage of Le Rouge et le Noir stages Julien Sorel interacting with Amanda Binet, a barmaid, and one of her lovers. Kinesic humor is central to this scene in which the complexity of kinesic communication is thematized through Julien’s failure to emulate the swaggering gait, dynamic facial gestures, and kinesic know-how of Amanda’s lover. Stendhal’s style is carefully considered in this chapter in relation to the challenge it represents for translators.