Reader's Guide

Balzac's World

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Reader's Guide: Themes in the Novels of Balzac

An attempt to unravel and understand Balzac's world of the Comedy Humaine. Some of these mini-reviews are meager attempts at humor, especially the ones regarding "Love" below. I can't resist the temptation to have a little fun with Balzac's melodrama. Balzac writes on a wide variety of themes:

Politics and Economics

Careers

Marx's Trilogy

Psychology of Avarice

Corruption

Inheritances

War and Political Conspiracy

(See also a listing of titles according to the fictional chronology of Balzac with shorter descriptions).

Politics and Economics

Careers:

Lost Illusions (1819-23) Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans: Promising Young Man Fails Repeatedly
Father Goriot (1819-1820): Mistress as entrance into society
Albert Savarus (1834-35): Middle Class Lawyer Fails
Gobseck (1806-30): Middle Class Lawyer Succeeds
The Cabinet of Antiquities (1822-24): Dissolute Young Aristocrat Fails
A Start in Life (1822-38): Young Inept Middle Class Man Fails Repeatedly
The Lesser Bourgeoisie (The Middle Classes) (1830-40): Young Lawyer Succeeds
Middle Class Politician Succeeds
The Seamy Side of History (The Brotherhood of Consolation,L'Initie (1809,36): Young Middle Class Man Starts Career in Charity.
(After Failing in Business)
Z. Marcas (1836): Fails in Politics Repeatedly
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau (1819-23): Middle Class Man Fails in Business
The Government Clerks (Bureaucracy) (1824-30): Government Official Fails
The Vicar of Tours (The Bachelors) (1826): Priest Fails

Marx's Trilogy

The Country Doctor (1829-30): Agrarian Utopia I
A Country Vicar (The Village Rector) (1827-43): Agrarian Utopia II
The Peasants (Sons of the Soil) (1823-26): Failure of an Agrarian Utopia

Psychology of Avarice (Monomania)

Eugenie Grandet (1819-1833): The Miser
Gobseck (1806-30): The Money Lender
Master Cornelius (1479): A miser who robs himself in his sleep.

Corruption

The Interdiction (A Commission in Lunacy) (1828): Judicial Corruption
The Deputy of Arcis (1839): Corrupt Elections
Lost Illusions (1819-23): Corruption in Journalism
The Marriage Contract (1821-27): Corruption in Negotiating a Marriage Contract
Pierrette (The Bachelors I) (1827-28): Child Abuse and Corrupt Foster Parents
The House of Nucingen (Nucingen & Co., Bankers) (1826,37): Corrupt Financial Deals
The Unconscious Comedians (Comedians Without Knowing It) (1846): Panoramic View of Corruption All Over Paris
The Illustrious Gaudissart (1830-31): Corrupt Travelling Salesman
Gaudissart II (1844): Corrupt Shopkeepers

Inheritances

Ursule Mirouet (Ursula) (1829-37): Dream reveals stolen inheritance.
Two Brothers (La Rabouilleuse, A Bachelor's Establishment) (1792,1839): Woman and her lover control a wealthy simpleton.
Rake soldier reclaims inheritance.
Cousin Pons (1844-46): Everyone schemes to get part of dieing antique collector's collection.

War and Political Conspiracy

The Chouans (1799): Guerilla warfare
A Dark Affair (The Gondreville Mystery, A Murky Business) (1803-1806,1834): Political conspiracies
Catherine de Medici (1560,1573,1591-1617,1612,1786): Machiavellian politics justified.

Metaphysics

Longevity and the Inevitable Deterioration of Man's Vital Energies:

The Wild Ass's Skin (The Magic Skin) (1830-31): The symbolic prototype for the world of the Comedie Humaine.
Melmoth Reconciled (Before 1822): Marx and Oscar Wilde's favorite Faustian story.
The Elixir of Long Life (16th century)

Search for the Absolute (Monomania)

Search for the Absolute: Alchemist machine builder brings family to ruin.
The Unknown masterpiece: Picasso's favorite story of an obsessed artist.
Gambara: Avant-garde musician only becomes intelligible when drunk.

Balzac's Metaphysics

Louis Lambert
Seraphita: Hermaphrodite reveals Swedenborgian mysticism to young man and woman amidst the fjords of Norway.
The Exiles

Fantastic Tales

Adieu (1812,1819)
The Atheist's Mass (1820,1831)
A Drama on the Seashore (1824)
La Grande Breteche (1830)
The Recruit (1783)
An Episode under the Terror (1793)
The Red Inn (1799)
A Passion in the Desert (1799)
The Executioner (El Verdugo) (1808)
Facino Cane (1822)
Jesus Christ in Flanders: Rewriting of the gospel story of Jesus Christ walking on water.
The Hated Son
Master Cornelius (1479): A miser who robs himself in his sleep.

Love

Sarrasine (1758,1830): If you inadvertently fall in love with a Castrati, beware of powerful cardinals.
A Double Family (A Double Life, A Second Home) (1806-1833): Old men may not have what it takes to satisfy young, beautiful mistresses.
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket (Before 1815): If you fall in love with an artist, you better be kind of artsy yourself.
Domestic Peace (1809): Older women might be able to tell you about some really cool ways to win back your husband.
A Woman of Thirty (1813-1844): Don't marry a soldier.
If you do, don't have any children with your inevitable lover.
They will push their half-brother into the river and kill him.
Then run off and marry a pirate and live on his pirate ship.
The Girl with the Golden Eyes (1815)
Two Brothers (La Rabouilleuse, A Bachelor's Establishment) (1792,1839)
The Message
Father Goriot (1819-1820): If you love your daughters, don't give them everything you possess.
Adieu (1812,1819): Male and female veterans of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow nurse a secret love for each other during the campaign. Meeting several years later, the trauma following defeat has driven her to madness. He tragically attempts a cure with a mock recreation of a battle scene in his backyard.
Ferragus (History of the Thirteen,1819)
Colonel Chabert (1818,1840): Soldier who married a prostitute comes back from the dead. She gives him some money and tells him to get lost.
Lost Illusions (1819-23): Young man chooses beautiful actress instead of wealthy, powerful patroness. Does not live to regret it. Hangs himself.
La Grenadiere (1819-30): Beautiful woman with children but no husband dies slowly in a scenic vacation house by the Rhine.
The Lily of the Valley (1809,1823): Platonic love with a married woman is bound to fail.
The Old Maid (1816-20): Woman in search of mate and family life
uses wrong criteria for choice.
New husband obtains political influence from her wealth,
but she remains a virg*n without child.
The Duchesse de Langeais (1818-29): Grand dame uses every trick in the book to avoid the consequences of her flirtations. Her admirer kidnaps her, brands her, she succumbs. He gives her the cold shoulder, she runs away to a convent, he sails the high seas looking for her, finds her, kidnaps her again, she dies, end of story.
Madame Firmiani (1825): If you date aristocracy, be prepared to sacrifice your money for higher ideals and don't expect your family from the provinces to understand.
The Purse (1819)
The Ball at Sceaux (The Rural Ball) (1819)
Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans: Witty but naive blond guy lays waste to society coquettes.
The Marriage Contract (1821-27): Young man with inheritance equals accident waiting to happen.
The Deserted Woman (1822): Grand dame dumped by lover flees to countryside.
Loved for nine years by another young man.
Dumps her when his parents tell him to marry.
Realizing his mistake, she refuses to have him back.
Offs himself.
Study of a Woman (1823): When someone sends you a love letter, always remember....it might be a mistake.
A Start in Life (1822-38): Don't shoot off your mouth about someone in a public conveyance. They might be sitting next to you, travelling incognito. Then when your boss entrusts you with money and important duties, don't gamble it all away and fall asleep in a pr*st*t*te's room.
Modeste Mignon (1829): If you're a young woman and you're rich and you write a letter to a famous vain poet, he'll inevitably show up at your doorstep with all his buddies ready to compete for your hand in marriage.
Another Study of Woman (Before 1815): Powerful dandy reveals all during a dinner party.
La Grande Breteche (1830): Lover hiding from husband in closet gets just deserts.
Letters of Two Brides (1825-33): Of two friends, the less obsessed with love finally achieves it in the end.
Man of Business (1833,40): Creditor finally catches shifty dandy debtor.
A Daughter of Eve (1833-34): World wise husband reclaims wife who's been lead astray.
The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan (1830-33): Aging woman about town snares yet another brilliant young man.
Honorine (1824-36): Wife who grew up with husband as a child finds married life difficult to bear.
The False Mistress (Paz) (1835-42): Handsome soldier uses trick to avoid affair with best friend's wife.
Beatrix (1836-40): Femme fatale breaks up marriages for sport.
Wreaks havoc but is finally subdued by rogue dandies
recruited by the aristocratic parents of the bride.
A Prince of Bohemia (1830-37): Unseemly mysogynist exploits of a dandy in Bohemia.
The Muse of the Department (1836-43): Married woman runs away to Bohemia with writer. Becomes common household drudge. Runs back.
Cousin Bette (1838-44): Monomaniac womanizer goaded on to his doom by vindicative old maid bent on getting even for being treated too well.
Juana (Les Maranas): Courtesan mom wants good life for her daughter.
Marries her to a brute of a husband who takes to gambling and drink.
Mother senses through ESP that her daughter is about to stab her husband.
Hurries to the rescue, but is too late.
The Vendetta (1800, 1815): Corsican beauty falls in love with the one surviving son of the family her family is waging a vendetta against. Her father rejects the marriage, they marry anyway, can't even feed their child, and finally die a slow and painful death.
Petty Annoyances of Married life (1830-45)
Physiology of Marriage: (No review)

Music

Massimilla Doni (1820): Music and neurosis.
Gambara (1831-37): Composer in search of the absolute.

Art

The Unknown Masterpiece: Tragedy of painter in search of the absolute.
Sarrasine (1758,1830): Tragedy of sculptor obsessed with castrati opera singer.
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket (Before 1815): Beautiful but simple middle class woman fails to satisfy her artist husband.
Pierre Grassou (1832): Mediocre painter caters to the middle class. Becomes famous and wealthy.
Cousin Pons: Mentality of art collectors: Pons and Elie Magus

Literature

Lost Illusions: Journalism vs. Literature (Etienne Lousteau vs. Daniel d'Arthez)
Modeste Mignon: The vanity and shallowness of a poet exposed. (Canalis)