Fabrice's lover. Clelia Conti, daughter of General Fabio Conti, Fabrice's last and truest love. Marchese Crescenzi a wealthy aristocrat engaged to Clelia. Ferrante Palla a genius poet, revolutionary, and perhaps lunatic, living in self-imposed poverty. An ally of Gina with whom he is enthralled. Priore Blanès, parish priest of Grianta and astrologer, Fabrice's early mentor who made predictions about Fabrice's life. Ludovico, Fabrice's lifelong servant and friend. Translations The best-known English translation The Charterhouse of Parma is by C. K. Scott Moncrieff. Scott Moncrieff translates the French names of Italian characters in the original to Italian equivalents. Thus Fabrice becomes Fabrizio. The translation by Margaret Mauldon (Oxford University Press, 1997) retains the French names. The translation by Richard Howard (Modern Library, 1999) uses the Italian names. According to Daniel Mendelsohn of the New York Times, this "obscures the important narrative conceit that this whole tale is one we're hearing from a Frenchman who has, in turn, heard it from Italians who knew the principals. It is a book about Italians, but one seen through French eyes." Mendelsohn goes on to say that the translation "moves with admirable rapidity, fully conveying what James called the 'restlessness' of Stendhal's 'superior mind' by means of a number of subtle but quite concrete choices on Howard's part, not least of which is his rendering of French verbs more crisply and colloquially than has been done before." Literary significance While in some respects it is a "romantic thriller", interwoven with intrigue and adventures, the novel is also an exploration of human nature, psychology, and court politics. The novel is cited as an early example of realism, a stark contrast to the Romantic style popular while Stendhal was writing. It is considered by many authors to be a truly revolutionary work; Honoré de Balzac considered it the most significant novel of his time, Tolstoy was heavily influenced by Stendhal's treatment of the Battle of Waterloo in his depiction of the Battle of Borodino, forming a central part of his novel War and Peace. André Gide described it as the greatest of all French novels, while Henry James ranked it "among the dozen finest novels we possess". Criticism Stendhal wrote the book in just 52 days (from November 4, 1838, to December 26 of the same year). As a result, there are some poorly introduced plot elements (such as the poet-bandit-assassin Ferrante who suddenly appears in the