The Seamy Side of History (The Brotherhood of Consolation) (1809,36)
[I. Madame de la Chanterie,II. L'Initie - The Initiate]
Balzac's guide to practical Christianity.
Like "The Country Doctor" and "The Country Vicar",
virtuous acts and Christianity as a social gospel
are at the center of this work.
It forms a sort of sequel to "Les Chouans" in which a small group
of people "having passed through tribulation in Revolutionary and Imperial times,
have come to realize that self-abnegation is the only valid rule of life,
and have banded together to form a religious welfare association."
The novel "offers the organized application of Christian charity
to the problems of the needy and the sick, whether respectable or probate"
based on the philosophy of the book "The Immitation of Christ."
The first part is full of reflections on this subject.
The second part of this work, entitled "L'Initie"
"sounds in parts like the lamentations of an old man,
deploring the disappearance of faith, devotion, and discipline."
This was Balzac's last complete novel and
"scenes from his life are scattered throughout it like
involuntary memories: his legal studies, his tracking of
passers-by in the streets of Paris, the restaurant in Rue de Tournon,
his pamphlet on primogeniture, battles with publishers..." (Robb, 382)
The story resembles Dickens's "The Cricket and the Hearth"
in some repects:
"the invalid Vanda (the daughter of a Polish woman)
lives in what she thinks is luxury -- in reality an illusion
created by her father, who, by scrimping and saving and selling all
his books, has filled one room of their hovel with treasures.
(Robb, 382) "L'Initie" also gives a detailed account
of what it meant to be poor in Paris." (Robb, 383)
(Long, L'Envers de l'histoire contemporaine (Madame de La Chanterie, L'Initie)
Les Freres de la Consolation, brcns10.txt)