摘要：Stendhal's Chroniques italiennes, as we now know them, were first mentioned by their author in a letterto Sainte-Beuve in December 1834 under the fulsome title of Historiettes romaines fid¨¨lement traduitesdes r¨¦cits ¨¦crits par les contemporains (1400 ¨¤ 1650) (1). Displacing them slightly geographically,Stendhal was also to refer to them in a subsequent letter as Anecdotes napolitaines(2). They onlyreceived their current title thirteen years after the death of their author in 1855 in Romain Colomb'sedition of Stendhal's .uvres compl¨¨tes.Moreover, of the six tales usually grouped under this heading, only four appeared in Stendhal's lifetime(although he was working on 'Suora scolastica' on day he died) (3). They all appeared in the Revue desdeux mondes: 'Vittoria Accoramboni' and 'Les Cenci' in 1837, anonymously, as Stendhal did not wishto jeopardize his position as Consul to Civita-Vecchia in the Roman states by declaring himself theauthor of tales detailing the murderousness, venality and lust of various popes and papal legates. 'LaDuchesse de Palliano' and 'L'Abbesse de Castro' appeared a year later in 1838, this time under thepseudonym of F. de Lagenevais
