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{{About||the film|La Comédie humaine (film)}}
[[Image:HBalzac.jpg|thumb|right|Honoré de Balzac]]
{{Italic title}}
{{French literature (small)}}
{{short description|1829–1848 series of novels by Honoré de Balzac}}
'''La Comédie humaine''' is the title of [[Honoré de Balzac]]'s ([[1799]] – [[1850]]) [[roman-fleuve|multi-volume collection of interlinked novels]] and stories depicting French society in the period of the [[Bourbon Dynasty, Restored|Restoration]] and the [[July Monarchy]] ([[1815]]-[[1848]]).
[[File:La Comédie humaine 06.jpg|thumb|right|250px|1901 edition of ''The Works of Honoré de Balzac'', including the entire ''Comédie humaine'']]
{{French literature sidebar}}


{{lang|fr|'''La Comédie humaine'''}} ({{IPA|fr|la kɔmedi ymɛn|lang}}; English: '''''The Human Comedy''''') is [[Honoré de Balzac]]'s 1829–48 [[roman-fleuve|multi-volume collection of interlinked novels]] and stories depicting French society in the period of the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Restoration]] (1815–30) and the [[July Monarchy]] (1830–48).
==Overview==
The "Comédie humaine" consists of 95 finished works (stories, novels or analytical essays) and 48 [[unfinished work]]s (or which exist only as titles).<ref>Pierre Citron edition, vol 1, 49-50.</ref> It does not include Balzac's 5 theatrical plays or his collection of humorous tales, the "Contes drolatiques" (1832-37). The title of the series is a reference to [[Dante]]'s "[[Divine Comedy]]." While Balzac sought the comprehensive scope of Dante, his title indicates the worldly, human concerns of a realist novelist. The stories are placed in a variety of settings, with characters reappearing in multiple stories.


''La Comédie humaine'' consists of 91 finished works (stories, novels, or analytical essays) and 46 [[unfinished work]]s (some of which exist only as titles).<ref>[[Pierre Citron]] edition, vol 1, 49–50.</ref> It does not include Balzac's five theatrical plays or his collection of humorous tales ''Les Cent Contes drolatiques''<ref>''Les Cent Contes drolatiques'' translation: {{ translation |''The Hundred Funny Tales''}}</ref> (1832–37).
===Evolution of the Project===
The "Comédie humaine" was the result of a slow evolution. The first of Balzac's works were written without any global plan ("Les Chouans" is a historical novel; "La physiologie du mariage" is an analytical study of marriage), but by 1830, Balzac began to group his first novels ("Sarrasine", "Gobseck") into a series intitled '''"Scènes de la vie privée"''' ("Scenes from Private Life").


A pioneer of the modern novel, Balzac describes the totality of reality as he understood it, and shows aspects of life hitherto ignored in literature, because they were ugly or vulgar. He shows in its various forms the rise of capitalism and the omnipotence of money, leading to the disappearance of nobility and the dissolution of social ties. La Comédie Humaine refers to the medieval poem [[Divine Comedy]]. Balzac’s world is grounded in sociology, not theology, where love and friendship are of prime importance and which highlights the complexity of people and the deep immorality of a social mechanism where the weak are crushed while the crooked banker and the venal politician triumph. A keen observer, Balzac created human types that are strikingly true. Some of his characters are so vivid that they have become archetypes, such as [[Eugène de Rastignac|Rastignac]], the ambitious young provincial, [[Eugénie Grandet|Grandet]], the miserly domestic tyrant, or [[Père Goriot|Father Goriot]], the icon of fatherhood. He gives an important place to financiers and notaries, but also to the character of [[Vautrin]], the outlaw with multiple identities. His work includes many courtesans and grisettes, as well as admirable and angelic women. The importance of these women and their psychology earned him an enthusiastic female readership very early on.
In 1833, with the publication of "Eugénie Grandet", Balzac envisioned a second series entitled '''"Scènes de la vie de province"''' (Scenes from Provincial Life). Most likely in this same year Balzac came upon the idea of having characters reappear from novel to novel, and the first novel to use this technique was "le Père Goriot" (1834-5).


Despite the opposition of the Catholic Church, this work quickly became a printing phenomenon and greatly influenced the development of the novel both in France and elsewhere. Translated into many languages, it is still published today and has often been adapted for film and television.
In a letter written to Madame Hanska in 1834, Balzac decided to reorganize his works in three larger groups, allowing him (1) to integrate his ""La physiologie du mariage" into the ensemble and (2) to separate his most fantastic or metaphysical stories -- like "La Peau de chagrin" (1831) and "Louis Lambert" (1832) -- into their own "philosophical" section. The three sections were:
* '''Etudes de Moeurs au XIXe siècle''' (Studies of Manners in the 19th Century) - including the various "Scène de la vie..."
* '''Etudes philosophiques'''
* '''Etudes analytiques''' - including the "Physiology du mariage"


==The title==
In this letter, Balzac went on to say that the "Etudes de Moeurs" would study the '''effects''' of society and touch on all genders, social classes, ages and professions of people. Meanwhile, the "Etudes philosophiques" would study the '''causes''' of these effects. Finally, the third "analytical" section would study the '''principles''' behind these phenomena. Balzac also explained that while the characters in the first section would be "individualités typisées" ("individuals made into types"), the characters of the "Etudes philosophiques" would be "types individualisés" (types made into individuals").
The title of the series is usually considered an allusion to [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[Divine Comedy]]'';<ref>Robb, Graham: ''Balzac: A Life'', pg. 330, 1996, W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.</ref> while [[Ferdinand Brunetière]], the famous French literary critic, suggests that it may stem from poems by [[Alfred de Musset]] or [[Alfred de Vigny]].<ref>Brunetière, Ferdinand, Sanderson, Robert Louis: Honoré de Balzac, pg. 77, J. B. Lippincott & Co., London, 1906.</ref> While Balzac sought the comprehensive scope of Dante, his title indicates the worldly, human concerns of a realist novelist. The stories are placed in a variety of settings, with characters reappearing in multiple stories.

==Evolution of the work==
The ''Comédie humaine'' was the result of a slow evolution. The first works of Balzac were written without any global plan (''[[Les Chouans]]'' is a historical novel; ''[[Physiologie du mariage]]'' is an analytical study of marriage), but by 1830 Balzac began to group his first novels (''[[Sarrasine]]'', ''[[Gobseck]]'') into a series entitled ''Scènes de la vie privée'' ("Scenes from Private Life").

In 1833, with the publication of ''[[Eugénie Grandet]]'', Balzac envisioned a second series entitled "Scènes de la vie de province" (Scenes from Provincial Life). Most likely in this same year Balzac came upon the idea of having characters reappear from novel to novel, and the first novel to use this technique was ''[[Le Père Goriot]]'' (1834–35).

In a letter written to Madame Hanska in 1834, Balzac decided to reorganize his works into three larger groups, allowing him (1) to integrate his "La physiologie du mariage" into the ensemble and (2) to separate his most fantastic or metaphysical stories — like ''[[La Peau de chagrin]]'' (1831) and ''[[Louis Lambert (novel)|Louis Lambert]]'' (1832) — into their own "philosophical" section. The three sections were:
* "Etudes de Moeurs au XIXe siècle" (Studies of Manners in the 19th Century) – including the various "Scènes de la vie..."
* "Etudes philosophiques"
* "Etudes analytiques" – including the "Physiologie du mariage"

In this letter, Balzac went on to say that the "Etudes de Moeurs" would study the ''effects'' of society and touch on all genders, social classes, ages and professions of people. Meanwhile, the "Etudes philosophiques" would study the ''causes'' of these effects. Finally, the third "analytical" section would study the ''principles'' behind these phenomena. Balzac also explained that while the characters in the first section would be "individualités typisées" ("individuals made into types"), the characters of the "Etudes philosophiques" would be "types individualisés" (types made into individuals").


By 1836, the "Etudes de Moeurs" was already divided into six parts:
By 1836, the "Etudes de Moeurs" was already divided into six parts:
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* "Scènes de la vie de province"
* "Scènes de la vie de province"
* "Scènes de la vie parisienne"
* "Scènes de la vie parisienne"
* "Scènes de la vie politique
* "Scènes de la vie politique"
* "Scènes de la vie militaire"
* "Scènes de la vie militaire"
* "Scènes de la vie de campagne"
* "Scènes de la vie de campagne"


In 1839, in a letter to his publisher, Balzac mentioned for the first time the expression "Comédie humaine", and this title is in the contract he signed in 1841. The publication of the "Comédie humaine" in 1842 was preceded by an important preface or "avant-propos" describing his major principles and the work's overall structure (see below). For this edition, novels which had appeared in serial form were stricken of their chapter titles.
In 1839, in a letter to his publisher, Balzac mentioned for the first time the expression ''Comédie humaine'', and this title is in the contract he signed in 1841. The publication of the ''Comédie humaine'' in 1842 was preceded by an important preface or "avant-propos" describing his major principles and the work's overall structure (see below). For this edition, novels which had appeared in serial form were stricken of their chapter titles.


Balzac's intended collection was never finished. In 1845, Balzac wrote a complete catalogue of the ensemble which includes works he started or envisioned but never finished. In some cases, Balzac moved a work around between different sections as his overall plan developed; the catalogue given below represents that last version of that process.
Balzac's intended collection was never finished. In 1845, Balzac wrote a complete catalogue of the ensemble which includes works he started or envisioned but never finished. In some cases, Balzac moved a work around between different sections as his overall plan developed; the catalogue given below represents that last version of that process.


Balzac's works were slow to be translated into English because they were perceived as unsuitable for Victorian readers. [[John Wilson Croker]] attacked it in the April 1836 issue of the ''Quarterly Review'', excoriating Balzac for immorality, saying "a baser, meaner, filthier scoundrel never polluted society …" The consensus of the day was that only ''Eugénie Grandet'', ''Le Curé de Tours'', ''Le Médecin de campagne'' and a few of the early short stories were suitable for females.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tilby|first=Michael|chapter=Honoré de Balzac: 1799–1850: French Novelist|editor-last=Classe|editor-first=Olive|title=Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English|volume=1 (A–L)|pages=98–104, 100|location=Chicago, Illinois|publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers|year=2000|isbn=1884964362}}</ref> Individual works appeared, but not until the 1890s did "complete" versions appear, from [[Ellen Marriage]] in London (1895–8, forty volumes edited by [[George Saintsbury]], five omitted as too shocking) and from G. B. Ives and others in Philadelphia (1895–1900).<ref>Margaret Lesser: Marriage, Ellen (1865–1946). In: ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, May 2010). Subscription required. Retrieved 23 August 2010.</ref>
===The "Avant-propos"===
In 1842, Balzac wrote a preface (an "Avant-propos") to the whole ensemble in which he explained his method and the collection's structure. This preface consists of the following:


==The "Avant-propos"==
Motivated by the work of biologists [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon]], [[Georges Cuvier]] and most importantly [[Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]], Balzac explains that he seeks to understand "social species" in the way a biologist would analyse "zoological species", and to accomplish this he intends to describe the interrealations of men, women and things. The importance of the woman is underlined by Balzac's contention that, while a biologist may gloss over the differences between a male and female lion, "in Society the woman is not simply the female of the man".


In 1842, Balzac wrote a preface (an "Avant-propos") to the whole ensemble in which he explained his method and the collection's structure.
Balzac then gives an extensive list of writers and works that influenced him, including [[Walter Scott]], [[François Rabelais]] and [[Miguel de Cervantes]].


Motivated by the work of biologists [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon]], [[Georges Cuvier]] and most importantly [[Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]], Balzac explains that he seeks to understand "social species" in the way a biologist would analyse "zoological species", and to accomplish this he intends to describe the interrelations of men, women and things. The importance of the woman is underlined by Balzac's contention that, while a biologist may gloss over the differences between a male and female lion, "in Society the woman is not simply the female of the man".<ref>[https://archive.org/details/boutoeuvrescom01balzuoft ''Oeuvres complètes''] volume 1, ''La maison du Chat-qui-pelote'' quotation: {{quotation|''dans la Societe la femme ne se trouve pas toujours etre la femelle du male''}}</ref>
He then describes his writerly role as a "secretary" who is transcribing society's "history"; moreover, he posits that he is interested in something that no previous historian has attempted: a history of "moeurs" (customs, manners and morals). He also notes his desire to go behind the surface of events, to show the reasons and causes for social phenomena. Balzac then professes his belief in two profound truths -- Religion and Monarchy -- and his concern for understanding the individual in the context of his Family.


Balzac then gives an extensive list of writers and works that influenced him, including [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]], [[François Rabelais]] and [[Miguel de Cervantes]].
In the last half of his preface, Balzac explains the "Comédie humaine"'s different parts (which he compares to "frames" and "galeries"), and which are more or less the final form of the collection (see below).


He then describes his writer's role as a "secretary" who is transcribing society's "history"; moreover, he posits that he is interested in something that no previous historian has attempted: a history of "moeurs" (customs, manners and morals). He also notes his desire to go behind the surface of events, to show the reasons and causes for social phenomena. Balzac then professes his belief in two profound truths — religion and monarchy&nbsp;— and his concern for understanding the individual in the context of his family.
==Sources of the "Comédie humaine"==
Because of its volume and complexity, the "Comédie humaine" touches on the major literary genres in fashion in the first half of the 19th century.


In the last half of his preface, Balzac explains the ''Comédie humaine''{{'}}s different parts (which he compares to "frames" and "galeries"), and which are more or less the final form of the collection (see below).
===Balzac and the historical novel===
The [[historical novel]] was a European phenomenon in the first half of the 19th century -- largely through the works of [[Walter Scott]], [[James Fenimore Cooper]] and, in France, [[Alexandre Dumas]] and [[Victor Hugo]]. Balzac's first novel "Les Chouans" was inspired by this vogue and tells of the rural inhabitants of [[Brittany]] during the revolution with Cooper-like descriptions of their dress and manners.


==Sources of the ''Comédie humaine''==
Although the bulk of the "Comédie humaine" takes place during the Restoration and the July Monarchy, there are several novels which take place during the [[French Revolution]] and others which take place in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, including "About Catherine de Medici" and "The Elixir of Long Life".
Because of its volume and complexity, the ''Comédie humaine'' touches on the major literary genres in fashion in the first half of the 19th century.


===Balzac and the popular novel===
===The historical novel===
The [[historical novel]] was a European phenomenon in the first half of the 19th century — largely through the works of [[Sir Walter Scott]], [[James Fenimore Cooper]] and, in France, [[Alexandre Dumas, père]] and [[Victor Hugo]]. Balzac's first novel [[Les Chouans]] was inspired by this vogue and tells of the rural inhabitants of [[Brittany]] during the revolution with Cooper-like descriptions of their dress and manners.
Balzac's later works are decidedly influenced by the popular "[[roman feuilleton]]" (especially in the works of [[Eugène Sue]] which concentrate on depicting the secret worlds of crime and vice that hide below the surface of French society) and by the [[melodrama]].


Although the bulk of the ''Comédie humaine'' takes place during the Restoration and the July Monarchy, there are several novels which take place during the [[French Revolution]] and others which take place in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, including "About Catherine de Medici" and "The Elixir of Long Life".
===Balzac and the fantastic===
Many of Balzac's shorter works have elements taken from the popular "roman noir" or [[gothic novel]], but often the fantastic elements are used for very different purposes in Balzac's work.


===The popular novel===
His use of the magical ass' skin in "[[La peau de chagrin]]" for example becomes a metaphor for diminished male potency and a key symbol of Balzac's conception of energy and will in the modern world.
Balzac's later works are decidedly influenced by the genre of the serialised novel ("[[roman feuilleton]]") popular at the time, especially the works of [[Eugène Sue]] which concentrate on depicting the secret worlds of crime and vice that hide below the surface of French society, and by the ethos of [[melodrama]] typical of these part-works.

===Fantasy===
Many of Balzac's shorter works have elements taken from the popular "roman noir" or [[gothic novel]], but often the fantastic elements are used for very different purposes in Balzac's work.

His use of the magical ass' skin in ''[[La Peau de chagrin]]'' for example becomes a metaphor for diminished male potency and a key symbol of Balzac's conception of energy and will in the modern world.


In a similar way, Balzac undermines the character of [[Melmoth the Wanderer]] in his "Melmoth Reconciled": Balzac takes a character from a fantastic novel (by [[Charles Robert Maturin]]) who has sold his soul for power and long life and has him sell his own power to another man in Paris... this man then sells this gift in turn and very quickly the infernal power is traded from person to person in the Parisian stock exchange until it loses any of its original power.
In a similar way, Balzac undermines the character of [[Melmoth the Wanderer]] in his "Melmoth Reconciled": Balzac takes a character from a fantastic novel (by [[Charles Robert Maturin]]) who has sold his soul for power and long life and has him sell his own power to another man in Paris... this man then sells this gift in turn and very quickly the infernal power is traded from person to person in the Parisian stock exchange until it loses any of its original power.


===Balzac and Swedenborg===
===Swedenborg===
Several of Balzac's characters, particularly Louis Lambert, traverse mystical crises and/or develop syncretic spiritual philosophies about human energy and action that are largely modelled on the life and work of [[Emanuel Swedenborg]] (1688 – 1772). As depicted in his works, Balzac's spiritual philosophy suggests that individuals have a limited quantity of spiritual energy and that this energy is dissipated through creative or intellectual work or through physical activity (including sex), and this is made emblematic in his philosophical tale ''[[La Peau de chagrin]]'', in which a magical wild ass' skin confers on its owner unlimited powers, but shrinks each time it is used.
Several of Balzac's characters, particularly Louis Lambert, traverse mystical crises and/or develop syncretic spiritual philosophies about human energy and action that are largely modelled on the life and work of [[Emanuel Swedenborg]] (1688–1772). As depicted in his works, Balzac's spiritual philosophy suggests that individuals have a limited quantity of spiritual energy and that this energy is dissipated through creative or intellectual work or through physical activity (including sex), and this is made emblematic in his philosophical tale ''[[La Peau de chagrin]]'', in which a magical wild ass's skin confers on its owner unlimited powers, but shrinks each time it is used in science.


==Themes of the "Comédie humaine"==
==Themes of the ''Comédie humaine''==
The following are some of the major themes that reoccur throughout the various volumes of the "Comédie humaine":
The following are some of the major themes that recur throughout the various volumes of the ''Comédie humaine'':


===France after the Revolution===
===France after the Revolution===
Balzac frequently bemoans the loss of a pre-Revolutionary society of honor which has now become -- especially after the fall of [[Charles X of France]] and the arrival of the [[July Monarchy]] -- a society dominated by money.
Balzac frequently bemoans the loss of a pre-Revolutionary society of honor which has now become — especially after the fall of [[Charles X of France]] and the arrival of the [[July Monarchy]] — a society dominated by money.


===Money and Power===
===Money and power===
"At the origin of every fortune lies a crime" : this precept from the "Red Inn" reoccurs constantly in the "Comédie humaine", both as a biographical truth (Taillefer's murderous fortune, Goriot's deals with the Revolutionary army), and as a sign of French collective guilt at the horrors of the Revolution (and most notably by the death of the [[Louis XVI of France]]).
"At the origin of every fortune lies a crime" : this precept from the "Red Inn" recurs constantly in the ''Comédie humaine'', both as a biographical truth (Taillefer's murderous fortune, Goriot's deals with the Revolutionary army), and as a sign of French [[collective guilt]] at the horrors of the Revolution (and most notably by the death of [[Louis XVI of France]]).


The other source of power is rank. People of good blood aspire to a title, while people with titles aspire to the peerage. The opening section of The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan provides an explanation of why the title of [[prince]] is not prevalent nor coveted in France (compared to contemporary Germany or Russia).
The other source of power is rank. People of good blood aspire to a title, while people with titles aspire to the peerage. The opening section of The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan provides an explanation of why the title of [[prince]] is not prevalent nor coveted in France (compared to contemporary Germany or Russia).


===Social Success===
===Social success===
Two young men dominate the "Comédie humaine": Lucien de Rubempré and [[Eugène de Rastignac]]. Both are talented but poor youths from the provinces, both attempt to achieve greatness in society through the intercession of women and both come into contact with [[Vautrin]], but only Rastignac succeeds while Lucien de Rubempré ends his life by his own hand in a jail in Paris. The difference in outcome is partly explained by Balzac's views on heredity: Rastignac comes from a noble family, while only Rubempré mother comes from a noble family (he had to obtain royal permission to use his mother's family name instead of his father's name Chardon). This deficit is compounded by the fact that his mother had not only married a commoner far beneath her in rank, but she had also performed menial labour to support herself when her husband died.
Two young men dominate the ''Comédie humaine'': Lucien de Rubempré and [[Eugène de Rastignac]]. Both are talented but poor youths from the provinces, both attempt to achieve greatness in society through the intercession of women and both come into contact with [[Vautrin]], but only Rastignac succeeds while Lucien de Rubempré ends his life by his own hand in a jail in Paris. The difference in outcome is partly explained by Balzac's views on heredity: Rastignac comes from a noble family, while only Rubempré's mother comes from a noble family (he had to obtain royal permission to use his mother's family name instead of his father's name Chardon). This deficit is compounded by the fact that his mother had not only married a commoner far beneath her in rank, but she had also performed menial labour to support herself when her husband died.


Another contrast is between [[Emile Blondet]] and [[Raoul Nathan]]. Both are multi-talented men-of-letters. Blondet is the natural son of the prefect of Alencon and is is described as witty but lazy, incurably hesitant, non-partisan, a political atheist, a player of the game of political opinions (along with Rastignac), having the most judicious mind of the day. He marries Madame de Montcornet and eventually becomes a prefect. Nathan is described as half-Jewish and possessing a second-rate mind. Nathan succumbs to the flattery of unscrupulous financiers and does not see that they are prepared to bankrupt him to achieve their purposes. Blondet sees what is happening but does not enlighten Nathan. The downfall drives Nathan to attempt suicide by the method of "any poor work-girl". He then sells out to the government of the day (on Blondet's advice) to secure an income, and returns to living with the actress/courtesan Florine. In the end he accepts the cross of the Legion of Honour (which he formerly satirised) and becomes a defender of the doctrine of heredity.
Another contrast is between [[Emile Blondet]] and [[Raoul Nathan]]. Both are multi-talented men-of-letters. Blondet is the natural son of the prefect of Alençon and is described as witty but lazy, incurably hesitant, non-partisan, a political atheist, a player of the game of political opinions (along with Rastignac), having the most judicious mind of the day. He marries Madame de Montcornet and eventually becomes a prefect. Nathan is described as half-Jewish and possessing a second-rate mind. Nathan succumbs to the flattery of unscrupulous financiers and does not see that they are prepared to bankrupt him to achieve their purposes. Blondet sees what is happening but does not enlighten Nathan. The downfall drives Nathan to attempt suicide by the method of "any poor work-girl". He then sells out to the government of the day (on Blondet's advice) to secure an income, and returns to living with the actress/courtesan Florine. In the end he accepts the cross of the Legion of Honour (which he formerly satirised) and becomes a defender of the doctrine of heredity.


===Paternity===
===Paternity===
The ''Comédie humaine'' frequently portrays the complex emotional, social and financial relationships between fathers and their children, and between father-figures and their mentors, and these relationships are metaphorically linked as well with issues of nationhood (the king as father, regicide), nobility (bloodlines, family names), history (parental secrets), wealth (the origin of parental fortunes, doweries) and artistic creation (the writer or artist as father of the work of art). Father Goriot is perhaps the most famous -- and most tragic -- of these father figures, but in [[Le Père Goriot]], Eugène de Rastignac also encounters two other paternal figures, Vautrin and Taillefer, whose aspirations and methods define different paternal paths. Other significant fathers in the series include Eugénie Grandet's abusive and money-hoarding father and César Birotteau, the doomed capitalist.
The ''Comédie humaine'' frequently portrays the complex emotional, social and financial relationships between fathers and their children, and between father-figures and their mentors, and these relationships are metaphorically linked as well with issues of nationhood (the king as father, regicide), nobility (bloodlines, family names), history (parental secrets), wealth (the origin of parental fortunes, dowries) and artistic creation (the writer or artist as father of the work of art). Father Goriot is perhaps the most famous — and most tragic — of these father figures, but in [[Le Père Goriot]], Eugène de Rastignac also encounters two other paternal figures, Vautrin and Taillefer, whose aspirations and methods define different paternal paths. Other significant fathers in the series include Eugénie Grandet's abusive and money-hoarding father and César Birotteau, the doomed capitalist.


===Maternity===
===Maternity===
At one end of the scale we have 100% maternal involvement - as depicted by the upbringing of the sisters de Granville ([[A Daughter of Eve]]) later Mesdames Felix de Vandenesse and du Tillet.
At one end of the scale we have 100% maternal involvement – as depicted by the upbringing of the sisters de Granville ([[Une fille d'Ève|A Daughter of Eve]]) later Mesdames Felix de Vandenesse and du Tillet.


At the other end of the scale we have 0% maternal involvement - as depicted by the upbringing of [[Ursula Mirouet]] by four men: her half-uncle-in-law (an atheist and republican), the local priest (saintly), the district judge (wordly) and a retired soldier.
At the other end of the scale we have 0% maternal involvement – as depicted by the upbringing of [[Ursule Mirouët]] by four men: her half-uncle-in-law (an atheist and republican), the local priest (saintly), the district judge (learned) and a retired soldier (worldly).


We are left in no doubt that it is the second option that produces what Balzac considers to be the ideal woman. Ursula is pious and prone to collapsing in tears at the slightest emotion.
We are left in no doubt that it is the second option that produces what Balzac considers to be the ideal woman. Ursula is pious and prone to collapsing in tears at the slightest emotion.


===Women, society and sex===
===Women, society and sex===
The representation of women in the ''Comédie humaine'' in extremely varied -- spanning material from both the romantic and pulp traditions -- and includes idealized women (like Pauline in ''La Peau de chagrin'' or Eugénie Grandet), the tragic prostitute Esther Gobsek (''Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes''), the worldly daughters of Goriot and other women in society who can help their lovers advance, the masculine and domineering Cousine Bette, and the alluring and impossible love object (Foedora in ''La Peau de chagrin'' or the heroine of ''La fille aux yeux d'or''). The latter category also includes several lesbian or bisexual characters.
The representation of women in the ''Comédie humaine'' is extremely varied — spanning material from both the romantic and pulp traditions — and includes idealized women (like Pauline in ''La Peau de chagrin'' or Eugénie Grandet), the tragic prostitute Esther Gobsek (''Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes''), the worldly daughters of Goriot and other women in society who can help their lovers advance, the masculine and domineering Cousine Bette, and the alluring and impossible love object (Foedora in ''La Peau de chagrin'' or the heroine of ''La fille aux yeux d'or''). The latter category also includes several lesbian or bisexual characters.


==Structure of "La Comédie humaine"==
==Structure of ''La Comédie humaine''==
{{See also|:Category:Books of La Comédie humaine}}


Balzac's final plan (1845) of the ''Comédie Humaine'' is as follows (projected works are not included):
Balzac's final plan (1845) of the ''Comédie Humaine'' is as follows (projected works are not included; dates are those of initial publication, whether or not the work was initially conceived as part of the ''Comédie Humaine''):


===Studies of Manners===
===Studies of manners (''Études de moeurs'')===
====Scenes From Private Life====
*At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
*The Ball at Sceaux
*The Purse
*The Vendetta
*Madame Firmiani
*A Second Home
*Domestic Peace
*The Imaginary Mistress
*Paz
*Study of a Woman
*Another Study of a Woman
*La Grand Breteche
*Albert Savarus
*Letters of Two Brides
*A Daughter of Eve
*A Woman of Thirty
*The Deserted Woman
*La Grenadiere
*The Message
*Gobseck
*[[A Marriage Contract]]
*A Start in Life
*Modeste Mignon
*Beatrix
*Honorine
*[[Le Colonel Chabert (novel)|Le Colonel Chabert]]
*The Atheist's Mass
*The Commission in Lunacy
*Pierre Grassou


====Scenes From Provincial Life====
====Scenes from private life (''Scènes de la vie privée'')====
* ''[[La Maison du chat-qui-pelote|At the Sign of the Cat and Racket]]'' (''La Maison du chat-qui-pelote'', 1830)
*Ursule Mirouet
* ''[[Le Bal de Sceaux|The Ball at Sceaux]]'' (''Le Bal de Sceaux'', 1830)
*[[Eugénie Grandet]]
* ''[[La Bourse|The Purse]]'' (''La Bourse'', 1832)
*The Celibates:
* ''[[La Vendetta (Balzac)|The Vendetta]]'' (''La Vendetta'', 1830)
**Pierrette
* ''[[Madame Firmiani]]'' (1832)
**The Vicar of Tours
* ''[[Une double famille|A Second Home]]'' (''Une double famille'', 1830)
*A Bachelor's Establishment
* ''[[La Paix du ménage|Domestic Bliss]]'' (''La Paix du ménage'', 1830)
*The Two Brothers
* ''[[La Fausse Maîtresse|The Imaginary Mistress]]'' (''La fausse maîtresse'', 1842, a.k.a. ''Paz'')
*The Black Sheep
* ''[[Étude de femme|Study of a Woman]]'' (''Étude de femme'', 1830)
*Parisians in the Country:
* ''Another Study of a Woman'' (''Autre étude de femme'', 1842)
**Gaudissart the Great, or The Illustrious Gaudissart
* ''[[La Grande Bretèche]]'' (1832)
**The Muse of the Department
* ''[[Albert Savarus]]'' (1842)
*The Jealousies of a Country Town:
* ''[[Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées|Letters of Two Brides]]'' (''Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées'', 1842)
**The Old Maid
* ''A Daughter of Eve'' (''Une fille d'Ève'', 1838–39)
**The Collection of Antiquities
* ''A Woman of Thirty'' (''La Femme de trente ans'', 1832)
*The Lily of the Valley
* ''The Deserted Woman'' (''La Femme abandonnée'', 1832)
*Lost Illusions ([[Les Illusions perdues]]):--I.
* ''[[La Grenadière]]'' (1832)
**The Two Poets
* ''[[Le Message|The Message]]'' (''Le Message'', 1832)
**A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Part 1
* ''[[Gobseck]]'' (1830)
*Lost Illusions ([[Les Illusions perdues]]):--II.
* ''[[Le Contrat de mariage|A Marriage Contract]]'' (''Le Contrat de mariage'', 1835)
**A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Part 2
* ''[[Un début dans la vie|A Start in Life]]'' (''Un début dans la vie'', 1845; first published as ''Le danger des mystifications'', 1842)
**Eve and David
* ''[[Modeste Mignon]]'' (1844)
* ''[[Béatrix]]'' (1839)
* ''[[Honorine (novel)|Honorine]]'' (1843)
* ''[[Le Colonel Chabert (novel)|Le Colonel Chabert]]'' (1844, first published as ''La transaction'', 1832)
* ''[[La Messe de l'athée|The Atheist's Mass]]'' (''La Messe de l'athée'', 1836)
* ''L'Interdiction'' (1836, a.k.a. ''The Commission in Lunacy'')
* ''[[Pierre Grassou]]'' (1840)


====Scenes From Parisian Life====
====Scenes from provincial life (''Scènes de la vie de province'')====
* ''[[Ursule Mirouët]]'' (1841)
*Scenes from a Courtesan's Life ([[Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes]]):
* ''[[Eugénie Grandet]]'' (1834)
**Esther Happy
* '''''The Celibates'' (''Les Célibataires'')'''
**What Love Costs an Old Man
** ''Pierrette'' (1840)
**The End of Evil Ways
** ''The Vicar of Tours'' (''[[Le Curé de Tours]]'', first published as ''Les célibataires'', 1832)
**Vautrin's Last Avatar
** ''[[La Rabouilleuse|The Black Sheep]]'' (''La Rabouilleuse'', 1842, a.k.a. ''A Bachelor's Establishment'', a.k.a. ''The Two Brothers'')
*A Prince of Bohemia
* '''''Parisians in the Country'' (''Les Parisiens en province'')'''
*A Man of Business
** ''[[L'illustre Gaudissart|The Illustrious Gaudissart]]'' (''L'Illustre Gaudissart'', 1833)
*Gaudissart II.
** ''The Muse of the Department'' (''La Muse du département'', 1843)
*The Unwitting Actors or The Unwitting Comedians
* '''''The Jealousies of a Country Town'' (''Les Rivalités'')'''
*The Thirteen:
** ''[[La Vieille Fille (novel)|The Old Maid]]'' (''La Vieille Fille'', 1836)
**Ferragus
** ''[[Le Cabinet des Antiques|The Collection of Antiquities]]'' (''Le Cabinet des Antiques'', 1839)
**The Duchesse de Langeais
* '''[[Illusions perdues|''Lost Illusions'']] (''Illusions perdues'')'''
**[[The Girl with the Golden Eyes]]
** ''The Two Poets'' (''Les Deux poètes'', 1837)
*Father Goriot ([[Le Père Goriot]])
** ''A Great Provincial in Paris'' (''Un grand homme de province à Paris'', 1839)
*The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau
** ''Eve and David'' (''Ève et David'', 1843)
*The Firm of Nucingen
*The Secrets of a Princess or The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan
*The Government Clerks
*Bureaucracy
*[[Sarrasine]]
*Facino Cane
*Poor Relations:--I.
**Cousin Bette ([[La Cousine Bette]])
*Poor Relations:--II.
**Cousin Pons
*The Middle Classes or The Lesser Bourgeoise


====Scenes From Political Life====
====Scenes from Parisian life (''Scènes de la vie parisienne'')====
* '''[[Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes|''Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans'']] (''Splendeurs et Misères des courtisanes'', 1847, a.k.a. ''A Harlot High and Low'')''', comprising
*The Gondreville Mystery or An Historical Mystery
** ''Esther Happy (Esther heureuse'', 1838'')''
*An Episode Under the Terror
** ''What Love Costs an Old Man'' (''À combien l’amour revient aux vieillards'', 1843)
*The Seamy Side of History: or The Brotherhood of Consolation:
** ''The End of Evil Ways'' (''Où mènent les mauvais chemins'', 1846)
**Madame de la Chanterie
** ''The Last Incarnation of Vautrin'' (''La Dernière incarnation de Vautrin'', 1847)
**Initiated or The Initiate
* ''A Prince of Bohemia'' (''Un prince de la Bohème'', 1844; first published as ''les Fantaisies de Claudine'', 1840)
*Z. Marcas
* ''[[Un homme d’affaires|A Man of Business]]'' (''Un homme d'affaires'', 1846; first published as ''les Roueries d’un créancier'', 1845)
*The Member for Arcis or The Deputy for Arcis
* ''[[Gaudissart II]]'' (1846; first published as ''un Gaudissart de la rue Richelieu; les Comédies qu'on peut voir gratis'', 1844)
* ''The Unwitting Comedians'' (''Les Comédiens sans le savoir'', 1846)
* '''''The Thirteen'' (''Histoire des Treize'')'''
** ''[[Ferragus (novel)|Ferragus]]'' (1833)
** ''[[La Duchesse de Langeais|The Duchess of Langeais]]'' (''La Duchesse de Langeais'', 1834)
** ''[[La Fille aux yeux d'or|The Girl with the Golden Eyes]]'' (''La fille aux yeux d'or'', 1835)
* ''[[Old Goriot]]'' (''le Père Goriot'', 1835)
* ''[[César Birotteau]]'' (''Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau'', 1837)
* ''[[La Maison Nucingen|The Firm of Nucingen]]'' (''La Maison Nucingen'', 1838)
* ''[[Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan|The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan]]'' (''Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan'', 1840, first published as ''Une Princesse parisienne'', 1839)
* ''The Government Clerks'' (''Les Employés'', 1838; first published as ''la Femme supérieure'', 1837, a.k.a. ''Bureaucracy'')
* ''[[Sarrasine]]'' (1830)
* ''[[Facino Cane (short story)|Facino Cane]]'' (1836)
*'''''Poor Relations'' (''Les parents pauvres'')'''
** ''[[Cousin Bette]]'' (''La Cousine Bette'', 1846)
** ''[[Cousin Pons]]'' (''Le Cousin Pons'', 1847)
* ''The Lesser Bourgeoisie'' (''Les Petits Bourgeois'', 1854, a.k.a. ''The Middle Classes'')


====Scenes From Military Life====
====Scenes from political life (''Scènes de la vie politique'')====
* ''[[Une ténébreuse affaire|A Murky Business]]'' (''Une ténébreuse affaire'', 1841, a.k.a. ''A Historical Mystery'', a.k.a. ''The Gondreville Mystery'')
*The Chouans
* ''[[Un épisode sous la Terreur|An Episode Under the Terror]]'' (''Un épisode sous la Terreur'', 1830)
*A Passion in the Desert
* ''The Seamy Side of History'' (''L'envers de l'histoire contemporaine'', 1848, a.k.a. ''The Wrong Side of Paris,'' a.k.a. ''The Brotherhood of Consolation'')
* ''[[Z. Marcas]]'' (1840)
* ''The Deputy for Arcis'' (Balzac published ''l'Élection'' in 1847 before he died and requested [[Charles Rabou|Rabou]] finish the rest)


====Scenes From Country Life====
====Scenes from military life (''Scènes de la vie militaire'')====
* ''[[Les Chouans|The Chouans]]'' (''Les Chouans'', 1829)
*The Country Doctor
* ''[[Une passion dans le désert|A Passion in the Desert]]'' (''Une passion dans le désert'', 1830)
*The Country Parson or The Village Rector
*The Peasantry or Sons of the Soil


====Scenes from country life (''Scènes de la vie de campagne'')====
===Philosophical Studies===
* ''[[Le Médecin de campagne|The Country Doctor]]'' (''Le Médecin de campagne'', 1833)
*The Magic Skin ([[La Peau de chagrin]])
* ''[[Le Lys dans la vallée|The Lily of the Valley]]'' (''Le Lys dans la vallée'', 1836)
*The Quest of the Absolute or The Alkahest
* ''[[Le Curé de village|The Village Rector]]'' (''Le Curé de Village'', 1839)
*Christ in Flanders
* ''The Peasants'' (''Les Paysans'', 1855; first part published in 1844, a.k.a. ''Sons of the Soil'')
*Melmoth Reconciled
*The Unknown Masterpiece or The Hidden Masterpiece
*The Hated Son
*Gambara
*Massimilla Doni
*The Maranas or Juana
*Farewell
*The Conscript or The Recruit
*El Verdugo
*A Seaside Tragedy or A Drama on the Seashore
*The Red Inn
*The Elixir of Life
*Maitre Cornelius
*About Catherine de' Medici
**The Calvinist Martyr
**The Ruggieri's Secret
**The Two Dreams
*Louis Lambert
*The Exiles
*Seraphita


===Philosophical studies (''Études philosophiques'')===
===Analytical Studies===
* ''[[La Peau de chagrin|The Wild Ass's Skin]]'' (''La Peau de chagrin'', 1831)
*Physiology of Marriage
* ''[[The Quest of the Absolute]]'' (''La Recherche de l'Absolu'', 1834, a.k.a. ''Alkahest'')
*Pathology of the Social Life
* ''[[Jésus-Christ en Flandre|Christ in Flanders]]'' (''Jésus-Christ en Flandre'', 1831)
* ''Melmoth Reconciled'' (''Melmoth réconcilié'', 1835)
* ''[[Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu|The Unknown Masterpiece]]'' (''Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu'', 1831)
* ''The Hated Son'' (''L'Enfant maudit'', 1831)
* ''[[Gambara (short story)|Gambara]]'' (1837)
* ''[[Massimilla Doni]]'' (1839)
* ''The Maranas'' (''Les Marana'', 1834, a.k.a. ''Juana'')
* ''[[Adieu (short story)|Farewell]]'' (''Adieu'', 1830)
* ''[[Le Réquisitionnaire|The Conscript]]'' (''Le Réquisitionnaire'', 1831)
* ''[[El Verdugo (short story)|El Verdugo]]'' (1830)
* ''[[Un drame au bord de la mer|A Drama on the Seashore]]'' (''Un drame au bord de la mer'', 1834)
* ''[[L'Auberge rouge (short story)|The Red Inn]]'' (''L'Auberge rouge'', 1831)
* ''[[L'Elixir de longue vie|The Elixir of Life]]'' (''L'Élixir de longue vie'', 1831)
* ''[[Les Proscrits|The Exiles]]'' (''Les Proscrits'', 1831)
* ''[[Maître Cornélius]]'' (1831)
* '''''About Catherine de' Medici'' (''Sur Catherine de Médicis'', 1842)'''
**''The Calvinist Martyr'' (''Le Martyr calviniste'')
**''The Ruggieri's Secret'' (''La Confidence des Ruggieri'')
**''The Two Dreams'' (''Les Deux Reves'')
* ''[[Louis Lambert (novel)|Louis Lambert]]'' (1832)
* ''[[Séraphîta]]'' (1835)


===Analytical studies (''Études analytiques'')===
''See also [[:Category:Books of La Comédie Humaine|Category:Books of La Comédie Humaine]]''.
* ''Physiology of Marriage'' (''Physiologie du Mariage'', 1829)
* ''Little Miseries of Conjugal Life'' (''Petites misères de la vie conjugale'', 1846)
* '''''Pathology of Social Life'' (''Pathologie de la vie sociale'', 1839)''', a collection of nonfiction essays
** ''Treatise on Elegant Living'' (''Traité de la vie élégante'', 1830)
** ''Theory of Walking Habits'' (''Théorie de la démarche'', 1833)
** ''Treatise on Contemporary Stimulants'' (''Traité des excitants modernes'', 1839)


==Posthumous "definitive" structural revision by Rabou==
==Characters==
{{main|List of characters of La Comédie humaine}}


In [[French language|French]], the series is more often published according to the plan of the posthumous "Definitive Edition" that was prepared by [[Charles Rabou]], Balzac's chosen literary executor who he even entrusted to complete some of his unfinished works in the series:


===Studies of manners (''Études de moeurs'')===
===Recurring characters===


====Scenes from private life (''Scènes de la vie privée'')====
* [[Eugène de Rastignac]] - student, dandy, financier, politician (appears in 28 works)
* ''[[La Maison du chat-qui-pelote|At the Sign of the Cat and Racket]]'' (''La Maison du chat-qui-pelote'', 1830)
* Lucien Chardon de Rubempré (the use of "de Rubempré" is contested) - journalist, parvenu
* ''[[Le Bal de Sceaux|The Ball at Sceaux]]'' (''Le Bal de Sceaux'', 1830)
* [[Vautrin|Jacques Collin]] aka Abbé Carlos Herrera aka Vautrin aka Trompe-la-Mort - a criminal run away from forced labour
* ''[[Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées|Letters of Two Brides]]'' (''Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées'', 1842)
* Camusot - examining magistrate (The Collection of Antiquities, A Commission in Lunacy, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life; his father also appears in A Distinguished Provincial at Paris)
* ''[[La Bourse|The Purse]]'' (''La Bourse'', 1832)
* Blondet, Emile - journalist, man of letters, prefect (The Collection of Antiquities, A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life). Compare and contrast with Raoul Nathan.
* ''[[Modeste Mignon]]'' (1844)
* Raoul Nathan - in 19 works, writer, politician
* ''[[Un début dans la vie|A Start in Life]]'' (''Un début dans la vie'', 1845; first published as ''Le danger des mystifications'', 1842)
* ''[[Albert Savarus]]'' (1842)
* ''[[La Vendetta (Balzac)|The Vendetta]]'' (''La Vendetta'', 1830)
* ''[[Une double famille|A Second Home]]'' (''Une double famille'', 1830)
* ''[[La Paix du ménage|Domestic Bliss]]'' (''La Paix du ménage'', 1830)
* ''[[Madame Firmiani]]'' (1832)
* ''[[Étude de femme|Study of a Woman]]'' (''Étude de femme'', 1830)
* ''[[La Fausse Maîtresse|The Imaginary Mistress]]'' (''La fausse maîtresse'', 1842, a.k.a. ''Paz'')
* ''A Daughter of Eve'' (''Une fille d'Ève'', 1838–39)
* ''[[Le Message|The Message]]'' (''Le Message'', 1832)
* ''[[La Grande Bretèche]]'' (1832; often included in ''Another Study of a Woman'' (1842))
* ''[[La Grenadière]]'' (1832)
* ''The Deserted Woman'' (''La Femme abandonnée'', 1832)
* ''[[Honorine (novel)|Honorine]]'' (1843)
* ''[[Béatrix]]'' (1839)
* ''[[Gobseck]]'' (1830)
* ''A Woman of Thirty'' (''La Femme de trente ans'', 1832)
* ''[[Old Goriot]]'' (''le Père Goriot'', 1835)
* ''[[Le Colonel Chabert (novel)|Le Colonel Chabert]]'' (1844, first published as ''La transaction'', 1832)
* ''[[La Messe de l'athée|The Atheist's Mass]]'' (''La Messe de l'athée'', 1836)
* ''L'Interdiction'' (1836, a.k.a. ''The Commission in Lunacy'')
* ''[[Le Contrat de mariage|A Marriage Contract]]'' (''Le Contrat de mariage'', 1835)
* ''Another Study of a Woman'' (''Autre étude de femme'', 1842; often includes ''La Grande Bretèche'' (1832))

====Scenes from provincial life (''Scènes de la vie de province'')====
* ''[[Ursule Mirouët]]'' (1841)
* ''[[Eugénie Grandet]]'' (1834)

* From '''The Celibates (''Les Célibataires'')'''
** ''Pierrette'' (1840)
** ''The Vicar of Tours'' (''[[Le Curé de Tours]]'', first published as ''Les célibataires'', 1832)
** ''[[La Rabouilleuse|The Black Sheep]]'' (''La Rabouilleuse'', 1842, a.k.a. ''A Bachelor's Establishment'', a.k.a. ''The Two Brothers'')

* From '''Parisians in the Country (''Les Parisiens en province'')'''
** ''[[L'illustre Gaudissart|The Illustrious Gaudissart]]'' (''L'Illustre Gaudissart'', 1833)
** ''The Muse of the Department'' (''La Muse du département'', 1843)

* From '''The Jealousies of a Country Town (''Les Rivalités'')'''
** ''[[La Vieille Fille (novel)|The Old Maid]]'' (''La Vieille Fille'', 1836)
** ''[[Le Cabinet des Antiques|The Collection of Antiquities]]'' (''Le Cabinet des Antiques'', 1839)

* From '''[[Illusions perdues|''Lost Illusions'']] (''Illusions perdues'')'''
** ''The Two Poets'' (''Les Deux poètes'', 1837)
** ''A Great Provincial in Paris'' (''Un grand homme de province à Paris'', 1839)
** ''Eve and David'' (''Ève et David'', 1843)

====Scenes from Parisian life (''Scènes de la vie parisienne'')====
* '''The Thirteen (''Histoire des Treize'')'''
** ''[[Ferragus (novel)|Ferragus]]'' (1833)
** ''[[La Duchesse de Langeais|The Duchess of Langeais]]'' (''La Duchesse de Langeais'', 1834)
** ''[[La Fille aux yeux d'or|The Girl with the Golden Eyes]]'' (''La fille aux yeux d'or'', 1835)
* ''[[César Birotteau]]'' (''Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau'', 1837)
* ''[[La Maison Nucingen|The Firm of Nucingen]]'' (''La Maison Nucingen'', 1838)
* '''[[Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes|Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans]] (''Splendeurs et Misères des courtisanes'', 1847, a.k.a. ''A Harlot High and Low'')''', comprising
** ''Esther Happy (Esther heureuse'', 1838'')''
** ''What Love Costs an Old Man'' (''À combien l’amour revient aux vieillards'', 1843)
** ''The End of Evil Ways'' (''Où mènent les mauvais chemins'', 1846)
** ''The Last Incarnation of Vautrin'' (''La Dernière incarnation de Vautrin'', 1847)
* ''[[Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan|The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan]]'' (''Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan'', 1840, first published as ''Une Princesse parisienne'', 1839)
* ''[[Facino Cane (short story)|Facino Cane]]'' (1836)
* ''[[Sarrasine]]'' (1830)
* ''[[Pierre Grassou]]'' (1840)
*'''Poor Relations (''Les parents pauvres'')'''
** ''[[Cousin Bette]]'' (''La Cousine Bette'', 1846)
** ''[[Cousin Pons]]'' (''Le Cousin Pons'', 1847)
* ''[[Un homme d’affaires|A Man of Business]]'' (''Un homme d'affaires'', 1846; first published as ''les Roueries d’un créancier'', 1845)
* ''A Prince of Bohemia'' (''Un prince de la Bohème'', 1844; first published as ''les Fantaisies de Claudine'', 1840)
* ''[[Gaudissart II]]'' (1846; first published as ''un Gaudissart de la rue Richelieu; les Comédies qu'on peut voir gratis'', 1844)
* ''The Government Clerks'' (''Les Employés'', 1838; first published as ''la Femme supérieure'', 1837, a.k.a. ''Bureaucracy'')
* ''The Unwitting Comedians'' (''Les Comédiens sans le savoir'', 1846)
* ''The Lesser Bourgeoisie'' (''Les Petits Bourgeois'', 1854, a.k.a. ''The Middle Classes'')
* ''The Seamy Side of History'' (''L'envers de l'histoire contemporaine'', 1848, a.k.a. ''The Wrong Side of Paris,'' a.k.a. ''The Brotherhood of Consolation'')

====Scenes from political life (''Scènes de la vie politique'')====
* ''[[Un épisode sous la Terreur|An Episode Under the Terror]]'' (''Un épisode sous la Terreur'', 1830)
* ''[[Une ténébreuse affaire|A Murky Business]]'' (''Une ténébreuse affaire'', 1841, a.k.a. ''A Historical Mystery'', a.k.a. ''The Gondreville Mystery'')
* ''The Deputy for Arcis'' (Balzac published ''l'Élection''in 1847 before he died and requested [[Charles Rabou|Rabou]] finish the rest)
* ''[[Z. Marcas]]'' (1840)

====Scenes from military life (''Scènes de la vie militaire'')====
* ''[[Les Chouans|The Chouans]]'' (''Les Chouans'', 1829)
* ''[[Une passion dans le désert|A Passion in the Desert]]'' (''Une passion dans le désert'', 1830)

====Scenes from country life (''Scènes de la vie de campagne'')====
* ''The Peasants'' (''Les Paysans'', 1855; first part published in 1844, a.k.a. ''Sons of the Soil'')
* ''[[Le Médecin de campagne|The Country Doctor]]'' (''Le Médecin de campagne'', 1833)
* ''[[Le Curé de village|The Village Rector]]'' (''Le Curé de Village'', 1839)
* ''[[Le Lys dans la vallée|The Lily of the Valley]]'' (''Le Lys dans la vallée'', 1836)

===Philosophical studies (''Études philosophiques'')===
* ''[[La Peau de chagrin|The Wild Ass's Skin]]'' (''La Peau de chagrin'', 1831)
* ''[[Jésus-Christ en Flandre|Christ in Flanders]]'' (''Jésus-Christ en Flandre'', 1831)
* ''Melmoth Reconciled'' (''Melmoth réconcilié'', 1835)
* ''[[Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu|The Unknown Masterpiece]]'' (''Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu'', 1831)
* ''[[Gambara (short story)|Gambara]]'' (1837)
* ''[[Massimilla Doni]]'' (1839)
* ''[[The Quest of the Absolute]]'' (''La Recherche de l'Absolu'', 1834, a.k.a. ''Alkahest'')
* ''The Hated Son'' (''L'Enfant maudit'', 1831)
* ''[[Adieu (short story)|Farewell]]'' (''Adieu'', 1830)
* ''The Maranas'' (''Les Marana'', 1834, a.k.a. ''Juana'')
* ''[[Le Réquisitionnaire|The Conscript]]'' (''Le Réquisitionnaire'', 1831)
* ''[[El Verdugo (short story)|El Verdugo]]'' (1830)
* ''[[Un drame au bord de la mer|A Drama on the Seashore]]'' (''Un drame au bord de la mer'', 1834)
* ''[[Maître Cornélius]]'' (1831)
* ''[[L'Auberge rouge (short story)|The Red Inn]]'' (''L'Auberge rouge'', 1831)
* '''''About Catherine de' Medici'' (''Sur Catherine de Médicis'', 1842)'''
**''The Calvinist Martyr'' (''Le Martyr calviniste'')
**''The Ruggieri's Secret'' (''La Confidence des Ruggieri'')
**''The Two Dreams'' (''Les Deux Reves'')
* ''[[L'Elixir de longue vie|The Elixir of Life]]'' (''L'Élixir de longue vie'', 1831)
* ''[[Les Proscrits|The Exiles]]'' (''Les Proscrits'', 1831)
* ''[[Louis Lambert (novel)|Louis Lambert]]'' (1832)
* ''[[Séraphîta]]'' (1835)

===Analytical studies (''Études analytiques'')===
* ''Physiology of Marriage'' (''Physiologie du Mariage'', 1829)
* ''Little Miseries of Conjugal Life'' (''Petites misères de la vie conjugale'', 1846)
* '''''Pathology of Social Life'' (''Pathologie de la vie sociale'', 1839)''', a collection of nonfiction essays
** ''Treatise on Elegant Living'' (''Traité de la vie élégante'', 1830)
** ''Theory of Walking Habits'' (''Théorie de la démarche'', 1833)
** ''Treatise on Contemporary Stimulants'' (''Traité des excitants modernes'', 1839)

Rabou's "definitive" revisions and additions were generally panned by literary critics, and that has left Balzac's final ordering more common in English translation than Rabou's.

==Characters==
{{main|List of La Comédie humaine characters}}

===Recurring characters===
* [[Eugène de Rastignac]] – student, dandy, financier, politician (appears in 28 works)
* Lucien Chardon de Rubempré (the use of "de Rubempré" is contested) – journalist, parvenu
* [[Vautrin|Jacques Collin]] a.k.a. Abbé Carlos Herrera a.k.a. Vautrin a.k.a. Trompe-la-Mort – a criminal run away from forced labour
* Camusot – examining magistrate (The Collection of Antiquities, A Commission in Lunacy, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life; his father also appears in A Distinguished Provincial at Paris)
* Blondet, Emile – journalist, man of letters, prefect (The Collection of Antiquities, A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life). Compare and contrast with Raoul Nathan.
* Raoul Nathan – in 19 works, writer, politician
* Daniel d'Arthez
* Daniel d'Arthez
* Delphine de Nucingen née Goriot
* Delphine de Nucingen née Goriot
Line 245: Line 387:
* la duchesse de Langeais
* la duchesse de Langeais
* la comtesse de Mortsauf
* la comtesse de Mortsauf
* Jean-Jacques Bixiou - in 19 works, artist
* Jean-Jacques Bixiou – in 19 works, artist
* Joseph Bridau - in 13 works, painter
* Joseph Bridau – in 13 works, painter
* Marquis de Ronquerolles - in 20 works
* Marquis de Ronquerolles – in 20 works
* la comtesse Hugret de Sérisy - in 20 works
* la comtesse Hugret de Sérisy – in 20 works
* Félix-Amédée de Vandenesse
* Félix-Amédée de Vandenesse
* Horace Bianchon - in 24 works, doctor
* Horace Bianchon – in 24 works, doctor
* des Lupeaulx - public servant
* des Lupeaulx – public servant


* Salon leaders: the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, the Marquise d'Espard
* Salon leaders: the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, the Marquise d'Espard
* Dandies: Maxime de Trailles, Henri de Marsay
* Dandies: Maxime de Trailles, Henri de Marsay
* Courtesans: La Torpille (Esther van Gobseck), Madame du Val-Noble
* Courtesans: La Torpille (Esther van Gobseck), Madame du Val-Noble
* Financiers: Ferdinand du Tillet, Frédérick de Nucingen, Keller brothers
* Financiers: Ferdinand du Tillet, Frédérick de Nucingen, Keller brothers
* Actresses: Florine (Sophie Grignault), Coralie,
* Actresses: Florine (Sophie Grignault), Coralie
* Publishers/Journalists/Critics: Finot, Etienne Lousteau, Felicien Vernou
* Publishers/Journalists/Critics: Finot, Etienne Lousteau, Felicien Vernou
* Money lenders: Jean-Esther van Gobseck, Bidault aka Gigonnet
* Money lenders: Jean-Esther van Gobseck, Bidault a.k.a. Gigonnet



''Characters who appear in several titles but only significantly in one of them.''
;Characters who appear in several titles but only significantly in one of them
* Birotteau
* Birotteau
* Goriot
* Goriot
* Claude Vignon
* Mademoiselle des Touches (aka Camille Maupin)


===Characters in a single volume===
===Characters in a single volume===
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* le cousin Pons
* le cousin Pons


==External links==
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
* {{gutenberg author|id=Honore_de_Balzac|name=Honoré de Balzac}}
* [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/balzac.htm Comprehensive works with dates]
*Full text of [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17635 Repertory of the Comedie Humaine] (an extensive reference of characters appearing in ''La Comédie humaine'')


==References and Notes==
==References==
* Balzac. ''La Comédie humaine''. Pierre Citron, ed. Preface by Pierre-Georges Castex. Paris: Seuil, 1965. 7 vols. ISBN 2-02-000726-6
* {{in lang|fr}} Balzac. ''La Comédie humaine''. [[Pierre Citron]], ed. Preface by Pierre-Georges Castex. Paris: Seuil, 1965. 7 vols. {{ISBN|2-02-000726-6}}
* Rey, Pierre-Louis. ''La Comédie humaine''. Collection: Profil d'une œuvre. Number 64. Paris: Hatier, 1979. ISBN 2-218-04589-3
* {{in lang|fr}} Rey, Pierre-Louis. ''La Comédie humaine''. Collection: Profil d'une œuvre. Number 64. Paris: Hatier, 1979. {{ISBN|2-218-04589-3}}

==External links==
{{Wikisourcelang|fr|La Comédie humaine|''La Comédie humaine''}}
{{Wikisource|Repertory of the Comedie Humaine}}
{{Americana Poster|Comédie Humaine}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=251|name=Honoré de Balzac}}
* [https://librivox.org/group/645 ''The Human Comedy''] at [[LibriVox]] (public domain audiobooks) {{in lang|en}}
* [https://librivox.org/group/404 ''La Comédie humaine''] at [[LibriVox]] (public domain audiobooks) {{in lang|fr}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/honore-de-balzac|Display Name=Honoré de Balzac}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/collections/the-human-comedy|Display Name=works in the sequence as}}
* {{Books and Writers |id=balzac |name=Honoré de Balzac}}
* Full text of [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17635 Repertory of the Comedie Humaine] (an extensive reference of characters appearing in ''La Comédie humaine'')
* [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-opus-124007 Thorsten Wetzenstein: Les personnages dans ''la Comédie humaine'' sous tension entre "type" et "caractère" (french)]
* [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/metabook/humancomedy.html Complete ''Comedie Humaine'' in English]
* [http://www.enotes.com/topics/passion-desert Scott Sprenger, Summary and Analysis of "Une Passion dans le désert", originally published in Masterplots II: Short Story, Pasadena, Salem Press, 1996, 3819-21.]


{{Divine Comedy navbox}}
<div class="references-small">
{{Honoré de Balzac}}
<references />
</div>


{{Authority control}}
[[Category:French novels|Comédie humaine]]
[[Category:Books of La Comédie Humaine|Comédie humaine]]
[[Category:Novel sequences|Comédie humaine]]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Comedie Humaine, La}}
[[de:Die menschliche Komödie]]
[[Category:Book series introduced in 1829]]
[[es:La comedia humana]]
[[fr:La Comédie humaine]]
[[Category:La Comédie humaine| ]]
[[Category:Novel sequences]]
[[he:הקומדיה האנושית (בלזק)]]
[[Category:Novels set in 19th-century France]]
[[ja:人間喜劇]]
[[Category:Fictional universes]]
[[sr:Људска комедија]]
[[vi:Tấn trò đời]]
[[zh:人间喜剧]]

Latest revision as of 00:27, 8 September 2024

For the film, see La Comédie humaine (film).

1901 edition of The Works of Honoré de Balzac, including the entire Comédie humaine
French and Francophone literature
by category
History
Movements
Writers
Countries and regions
Portals

La Comédie humaine (French: [la kɔmedi ymɛn]; English: The Human Comedy) is Honoré de Balzac's 1829–48 multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration (1815–30) and the July Monarchy (1830–48).

La Comédie humaine consists of 91 finished works (stories, novels, or analytical essays) and 46 unfinished works (some of which exist only as titles).[1] It does not include Balzac's five theatrical plays or his collection of humorous tales Les Cent Contes drolatiques[2] (1832–37).

A pioneer of the modern novel, Balzac describes the totality of reality as he understood it, and shows aspects of life hitherto ignored in literature, because they were ugly or vulgar. He shows in its various forms the rise of capitalism and the omnipotence of money, leading to the disappearance of nobility and the dissolution of social ties. La Comédie Humaine refers to the medieval poem Divine Comedy. Balzac’s world is grounded in sociology, not theology, where love and friendship are of prime importance and which highlights the complexity of people and the deep immorality of a social mechanism where the weak are crushed while the crooked banker and the venal politician triumph. A keen observer, Balzac created human types that are strikingly true. Some of his characters are so vivid that they have become archetypes, such as Rastignac, the ambitious young provincial, Grandet, the miserly domestic tyrant, or Father Goriot, the icon of fatherhood. He gives an important place to financiers and notaries, but also to the character of Vautrin, the outlaw with multiple identities. His work includes many courtesans and grisettes, as well as admirable and angelic women. The importance of these women and their psychology earned him an enthusiastic female readership very early on.

Despite the opposition of the Catholic Church, this work quickly became a printing phenomenon and greatly influenced the development of the novel both in France and elsewhere. Translated into many languages, it is still published today and has often been adapted for film and television.

The title

[edit]

The title of the series is usually considered an allusion to Dante's Divine Comedy;[3] while Ferdinand Brunetière, the famous French literary critic, suggests that it may stem from poems by Alfred de Musset or Alfred de Vigny.[4] While Balzac sought the comprehensive scope of Dante, his title indicates the worldly, human concerns of a realist novelist. The stories are placed in a variety of settings, with characters reappearing in multiple stories.

Evolution of the work

[edit]

The Comédie humaine was the result of a slow evolution. The first works of Balzac were written without any global plan (Les Chouans is a historical novel; Physiologie du mariage is an analytical study of marriage), but by 1830 Balzac began to group his first novels (Sarrasine, Gobseck) into a series entitled Scènes de la vie privée ("Scenes from Private Life").

In 1833, with the publication of Eugénie Grandet, Balzac envisioned a second series entitled "Scènes de la vie de province" (Scenes from Provincial Life). Most likely in this same year Balzac came upon the idea of having characters reappear from novel to novel, and the first novel to use this technique was Le Père Goriot (1834–35).

In a letter written to Madame Hanska in 1834, Balzac decided to reorganize his works into three larger groups, allowing him (1) to integrate his "La physiologie du mariage" into the ensemble and (2) to separate his most fantastic or metaphysical stories — like La Peau de chagrin (1831) and Louis Lambert (1832) — into their own "philosophical" section. The three sections were:

  • "Etudes de Moeurs au XIXe siècle" (Studies of Manners in the 19th Century) – including the various "Scènes de la vie..."
  • "Etudes philosophiques"
  • "Etudes analytiques" – including the "Physiologie du mariage"

In this letter, Balzac went on to say that the "Etudes de Moeurs" would study the effects of society and touch on all genders, social classes, ages and professions of people. Meanwhile, the "Etudes philosophiques" would study the causes of these effects. Finally, the third "analytical" section would study the principles behind these phenomena. Balzac also explained that while the characters in the first section would be "individualités typisées" ("individuals made into types"), the characters of the "Etudes philosophiques" would be "types individualisés" (types made into individuals").

By 1836, the "Etudes de Moeurs" was already divided into six parts:

  • "Scènes de la vie privée"
  • "Scènes de la vie de province"
  • "Scènes de la vie parisienne"
  • "Scènes de la vie politique"
  • "Scènes de la vie militaire"
  • "Scènes de la vie de campagne"

In 1839, in a letter to his publisher, Balzac mentioned for the first time the expression Comédie humaine, and this title is in the contract he signed in 1841. The publication of the Comédie humaine in 1842 was preceded by an important preface or "avant-propos" describing his major principles and the work's overall structure (see below). For this edition, novels which had appeared in serial form were stricken of their chapter titles.

Balzac's intended collection was never finished. In 1845, Balzac wrote a complete catalogue of the ensemble which includes works he started or envisioned but never finished. In some cases, Balzac moved a work around between different sections as his overall plan developed; the catalogue given below represents that last version of that process.

Balzac's works were slow to be translated into English because they were perceived as unsuitable for Victorian readers. John Wilson Croker attacked it in the April 1836 issue of the Quarterly Review, excoriating Balzac for immorality, saying "a baser, meaner, filthier scoundrel never polluted society …" The consensus of the day was that only Eugénie Grandet, Le Curé de Tours, Le Médecin de campagne and a few of the early short stories were suitable for females.[5] Individual works appeared, but not until the 1890s did "complete" versions appear, from Ellen Marriage in London (1895–8, forty volumes edited by George Saintsbury, five omitted as too shocking) and from G. B. Ives and others in Philadelphia (1895–1900).[6]

The "Avant-propos"

[edit]

In 1842, Balzac wrote a preface (an "Avant-propos") to the whole ensemble in which he explained his method and the collection's structure.

Motivated by the work of biologists Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, Georges Cuvier and most importantly Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Balzac explains that he seeks to understand "social species" in the way a biologist would analyse "zoological species", and to accomplish this he intends to describe the interrelations of men, women and things. The importance of the woman is underlined by Balzac's contention that, while a biologist may gloss over the differences between a male and female lion, "in Society the woman is not simply the female of the man".[7]

Balzac then gives an extensive list of writers and works that influenced him, including Sir Walter Scott, François Rabelais and Miguel de Cervantes.

He then describes his writer's role as a "secretary" who is transcribing society's "history"; moreover, he posits that he is interested in something that no previous historian has attempted: a history of "moeurs" (customs, manners and morals). He also notes his desire to go behind the surface of events, to show the reasons and causes for social phenomena. Balzac then professes his belief in two profound truths — religion and monarchy — and his concern for understanding the individual in the context of his family.

In the last half of his preface, Balzac explains the Comédie humaine's different parts (which he compares to "frames" and "galeries"), and which are more or less the final form of the collection (see below).

Sources of the Comédie humaine

[edit]

Because of its volume and complexity, the Comédie humaine touches on the major literary genres in fashion in the first half of the 19th century.

The historical novel

[edit]

The historical novel was a European phenomenon in the first half of the 19th century — largely through the works of Sir Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper and, in France, Alexandre Dumas, père and Victor Hugo. Balzac's first novel Les Chouans was inspired by this vogue and tells of the rural inhabitants of Brittany during the revolution with Cooper-like descriptions of their dress and manners.

Although the bulk of the Comédie humaine takes place during the Restoration and the July Monarchy, there are several novels which take place during the French Revolution and others which take place in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, including "About Catherine de Medici" and "The Elixir of Long Life".

[edit]

Balzac's later works are decidedly influenced by the genre of the serialised novel ("roman feuilleton") popular at the time, especially the works of Eugène Sue which concentrate on depicting the secret worlds of crime and vice that hide below the surface of French society, and by the ethos of melodrama typical of these part-works.

Fantasy

[edit]

Many of Balzac's shorter works have elements taken from the popular "roman noir" or gothic novel, but often the fantastic elements are used for very different purposes in Balzac's work.

His use of the magical ass' skin in La Peau de chagrin for example becomes a metaphor for diminished male potency and a key symbol of Balzac's conception of energy and will in the modern world.

In a similar way, Balzac undermines the character of Melmoth the Wanderer in his "Melmoth Reconciled": Balzac takes a character from a fantastic novel (by Charles Robert Maturin) who has sold his soul for power and long life and has him sell his own power to another man in Paris... this man then sells this gift in turn and very quickly the infernal power is traded from person to person in the Parisian stock exchange until it loses any of its original power.

Swedenborg

[edit]

Several of Balzac's characters, particularly Louis Lambert, traverse mystical crises and/or develop syncretic spiritual philosophies about human energy and action that are largely modelled on the life and work of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). As depicted in his works, Balzac's spiritual philosophy suggests that individuals have a limited quantity of spiritual energy and that this energy is dissipated through creative or intellectual work or through physical activity (including sex), and this is made emblematic in his philosophical tale La Peau de chagrin, in which a magical wild ass's skin confers on its owner unlimited powers, but shrinks each time it is used in science.

Themes of the Comédie humaine

[edit]

The following are some of the major themes that recur throughout the various volumes of the Comédie humaine:

France after the Revolution

[edit]

Balzac frequently bemoans the loss of a pre-Revolutionary society of honor which has now become — especially after the fall of Charles X of France and the arrival of the July Monarchy — a society dominated by money.

Money and power

[edit]

"At the origin of every fortune lies a crime" : this precept from the "Red Inn" recurs constantly in the Comédie humaine, both as a biographical truth (Taillefer's murderous fortune, Goriot's deals with the Revolutionary army), and as a sign of French collective guilt at the horrors of the Revolution (and most notably by the death of Louis XVI of France).

The other source of power is rank. People of good blood aspire to a title, while people with titles aspire to the peerage. The opening section of The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan provides an explanation of why the title of prince is not prevalent nor coveted in France (compared to contemporary Germany or Russia).

Social success

[edit]

Two young men dominate the Comédie humaine: Lucien de Rubempré and Eugène de Rastignac. Both are talented but poor youths from the provinces, both attempt to achieve greatness in society through the intercession of women and both come into contact with Vautrin, but only Rastignac succeeds while Lucien de Rubempré ends his life by his own hand in a jail in Paris. The difference in outcome is partly explained by Balzac's views on heredity: Rastignac comes from a noble family, while only Rubempré's mother comes from a noble family (he had to obtain royal permission to use his mother's family name instead of his father's name Chardon). This deficit is compounded by the fact that his mother had not only married a commoner far beneath her in rank, but she had also performed menial labour to support herself when her husband died.

Another contrast is between Emile Blondet and Raoul Nathan. Both are multi-talented men-of-letters. Blondet is the natural son of the prefect of Alençon and is described as witty but lazy, incurably hesitant, non-partisan, a political atheist, a player of the game of political opinions (along with Rastignac), having the most judicious mind of the day. He marries Madame de Montcornet and eventually becomes a prefect. Nathan is described as half-Jewish and possessing a second-rate mind. Nathan succumbs to the flattery of unscrupulous financiers and does not see that they are prepared to bankrupt him to achieve their purposes. Blondet sees what is happening but does not enlighten Nathan. The downfall drives Nathan to attempt suicide by the method of "any poor work-girl". He then sells out to the government of the day (on Blondet's advice) to secure an income, and returns to living with the actress/courtesan Florine. In the end he accepts the cross of the Legion of Honour (which he formerly satirised) and becomes a defender of the doctrine of heredity.

Paternity

[edit]

The Comédie humaine frequently portrays the complex emotional, social and financial relationships between fathers and their children, and between father-figures and their mentors, and these relationships are metaphorically linked as well with issues of nationhood (the king as father, regicide), nobility (bloodlines, family names), history (parental secrets), wealth (the origin of parental fortunes, dowries) and artistic creation (the writer or artist as father of the work of art). Father Goriot is perhaps the most famous — and most tragic — of these father figures, but in Le Père Goriot, Eugène de Rastignac also encounters two other paternal figures, Vautrin and Taillefer, whose aspirations and methods define different paternal paths. Other significant fathers in the series include Eugénie Grandet's abusive and money-hoarding father and César Birotteau, the doomed capitalist.

Maternity

[edit]

At one end of the scale we have 100% maternal involvement – as depicted by the upbringing of the sisters de Granville (A Daughter of Eve) later Mesdames Felix de Vandenesse and du Tillet.

At the other end of the scale we have 0% maternal involvement – as depicted by the upbringing of Ursule Mirouët by four men: her half-uncle-in-law (an atheist and republican), the local priest (saintly), the district judge (learned) and a retired soldier (worldly).

We are left in no doubt that it is the second option that produces what Balzac considers to be the ideal woman. Ursula is pious and prone to collapsing in tears at the slightest emotion.

Women, society and sex

[edit]

The representation of women in the Comédie humaine is extremely varied — spanning material from both the romantic and pulp traditions — and includes idealized women (like Pauline in La Peau de chagrin or Eugénie Grandet), the tragic prostitute Esther Gobsek (Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes), the worldly daughters of Goriot and other women in society who can help their lovers advance, the masculine and domineering Cousine Bette, and the alluring and impossible love object (Foedora in La Peau de chagrin or the heroine of La fille aux yeux d'or). The latter category also includes several lesbian or bisexual characters.

Structure of La Comédie humaine

[edit]
See also: Category:Books of La Comédie humaine

Balzac's final plan (1845) of the Comédie Humaine is as follows (projected works are not included; dates are those of initial publication, whether or not the work was initially conceived as part of the Comédie Humaine):

Studies of manners (Études de moeurs)

[edit]

Scenes from private life (Scènes de la vie privée)

[edit]

Scenes from provincial life (Scènes de la vie de province)

[edit]
  • Ursule Mirouët (1841)
  • Eugénie Grandet (1834)
  • The Celibates (Les Célibataires)
    • Pierrette (1840)
    • The Vicar of Tours (Le Curé de Tours, first published as Les célibataires, 1832)
    • The Black Sheep (La Rabouilleuse, 1842, a.k.a. A Bachelor's Establishment, a.k.a. The Two Brothers)
  • Parisians in the Country (Les Parisiens en province)
  • The Jealousies of a Country Town (Les Rivalités)
  • Lost Illusions (Illusions perdues)
    • The Two Poets (Les Deux poètes, 1837)
    • A Great Provincial in Paris (Un grand homme de province à Paris, 1839)
    • Eve and David (Ève et David, 1843)

Scenes from Parisian life (Scènes de la vie parisienne)

[edit]
  • Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans (Splendeurs et Misères des courtisanes, 1847, a.k.a. A Harlot High and Low), comprising
    • Esther Happy (Esther heureuse, 1838)
    • What Love Costs an Old Man (À combien l’amour revient aux vieillards, 1843)
    • The End of Evil Ways (Où mènent les mauvais chemins, 1846)
    • The Last Incarnation of Vautrin (La Dernière incarnation de Vautrin, 1847)
  • A Prince of Bohemia (Un prince de la Bohème, 1844; first published as les Fantaisies de Claudine, 1840)
  • A Man of Business (Un homme d'affaires, 1846; first published as les Roueries d’un créancier, 1845)
  • Gaudissart II (1846; first published as un Gaudissart de la rue Richelieu; les Comédies qu'on peut voir gratis, 1844)
  • The Unwitting Comedians (Les Comédiens sans le savoir, 1846)
  • The Thirteen (Histoire des Treize)
  • Old Goriot (le Père Goriot, 1835)
  • César Birotteau (Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau, 1837)
  • The Firm of Nucingen (La Maison Nucingen, 1838)
  • The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan (Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan, 1840, first published as Une Princesse parisienne, 1839)
  • The Government Clerks (Les Employés, 1838; first published as la Femme supérieure, 1837, a.k.a. Bureaucracy)
  • Sarrasine (1830)
  • Facino Cane (1836)
  • Poor Relations (Les parents pauvres)
  • The Lesser Bourgeoisie (Les Petits Bourgeois, 1854, a.k.a. The Middle Classes)

Scenes from political life (Scènes de la vie politique)

[edit]
  • A Murky Business (Une ténébreuse affaire, 1841, a.k.a. A Historical Mystery, a.k.a. The Gondreville Mystery)
  • An Episode Under the Terror (Un épisode sous la Terreur, 1830)
  • The Seamy Side of History (L'envers de l'histoire contemporaine, 1848, a.k.a. The Wrong Side of Paris, a.k.a. The Brotherhood of Consolation)
  • Z. Marcas (1840)
  • The Deputy for Arcis (Balzac published l'Élection in 1847 before he died and requested Rabou finish the rest)

Scenes from military life (Scènes de la vie militaire)

[edit]

Scenes from country life (Scènes de la vie de campagne)

[edit]

Philosophical studies (Études philosophiques)

[edit]

Analytical studies (Études analytiques)

[edit]
  • Physiology of Marriage (Physiologie du Mariage, 1829)
  • Little Miseries of Conjugal Life (Petites misères de la vie conjugale, 1846)
  • Pathology of Social Life (Pathologie de la vie sociale, 1839), a collection of nonfiction essays
    • Treatise on Elegant Living (Traité de la vie élégante, 1830)
    • Theory of Walking Habits (Théorie de la démarche, 1833)
    • Treatise on Contemporary Stimulants (Traité des excitants modernes, 1839)

Posthumous "definitive" structural revision by Rabou

[edit]

In French, the series is more often published according to the plan of the posthumous "Definitive Edition" that was prepared by Charles Rabou, Balzac's chosen literary executor who he even entrusted to complete some of his unfinished works in the series:

Studies of manners (Études de moeurs)

[edit]

Scenes from private life (Scènes de la vie privée)

[edit]

Scenes from provincial life (Scènes de la vie de province)

[edit]
  • From The Celibates (Les Célibataires)
    • Pierrette (1840)
    • The Vicar of Tours (Le Curé de Tours, first published as Les célibataires, 1832)
    • The Black Sheep (La Rabouilleuse, 1842, a.k.a. A Bachelor's Establishment, a.k.a. The Two Brothers)
  • From Parisians in the Country (Les Parisiens en province)
  • From Lost Illusions (Illusions perdues)
    • The Two Poets (Les Deux poètes, 1837)
    • A Great Provincial in Paris (Un grand homme de province à Paris, 1839)
    • Eve and David (Ève et David, 1843)

Scenes from Parisian life (Scènes de la vie parisienne)

[edit]
  • The Thirteen (Histoire des Treize)
  • César Birotteau (Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau, 1837)
  • The Firm of Nucingen (La Maison Nucingen, 1838)
  • Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans (Splendeurs et Misères des courtisanes, 1847, a.k.a. A Harlot High and Low), comprising
    • Esther Happy (Esther heureuse, 1838)
    • What Love Costs an Old Man (À combien l’amour revient aux vieillards, 1843)
    • The End of Evil Ways (Où mènent les mauvais chemins, 1846)
    • The Last Incarnation of Vautrin (La Dernière incarnation de Vautrin, 1847)
  • The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan (Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan, 1840, first published as Une Princesse parisienne, 1839)
  • Facino Cane (1836)
  • Sarrasine (1830)
  • Pierre Grassou (1840)
  • Poor Relations (Les parents pauvres)
  • A Man of Business (Un homme d'affaires, 1846; first published as les Roueries d’un créancier, 1845)
  • A Prince of Bohemia (Un prince de la Bohème, 1844; first published as les Fantaisies de Claudine, 1840)
  • Gaudissart II (1846; first published as un Gaudissart de la rue Richelieu; les Comédies qu'on peut voir gratis, 1844)
  • The Government Clerks (Les Employés, 1838; first published as la Femme supérieure, 1837, a.k.a. Bureaucracy)
  • The Unwitting Comedians (Les Comédiens sans le savoir, 1846)
  • The Lesser Bourgeoisie (Les Petits Bourgeois, 1854, a.k.a. The Middle Classes)
  • The Seamy Side of History (L'envers de l'histoire contemporaine, 1848, a.k.a. The Wrong Side of Paris, a.k.a. The Brotherhood of Consolation)

Scenes from political life (Scènes de la vie politique)

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  • An Episode Under the Terror (Un épisode sous la Terreur, 1830)
  • A Murky Business (Une ténébreuse affaire, 1841, a.k.a. A Historical Mystery, a.k.a. The Gondreville Mystery)
  • The Deputy for Arcis (Balzac published l'Électionin 1847 before he died and requested Rabou finish the rest)
  • Z. Marcas (1840)

Scenes from military life (Scènes de la vie militaire)

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Scenes from country life (Scènes de la vie de campagne)

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Philosophical studies (Études philosophiques)

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Analytical studies (Études analytiques)

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  • Physiology of Marriage (Physiologie du Mariage, 1829)
  • Little Miseries of Conjugal Life (Petites misères de la vie conjugale, 1846)
  • Pathology of Social Life (Pathologie de la vie sociale, 1839), a collection of nonfiction essays
    • Treatise on Elegant Living (Traité de la vie élégante, 1830)
    • Theory of Walking Habits (Théorie de la démarche, 1833)
    • Treatise on Contemporary Stimulants (Traité des excitants modernes, 1839)

Rabou's "definitive" revisions and additions were generally panned by literary critics, and that has left Balzac's final ordering more common in English translation than Rabou's.

Characters

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Main article: List of La Comédie humaine characters

Recurring characters

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  • Eugène de Rastignac – student, dandy, financier, politician (appears in 28 works)
  • Lucien Chardon de Rubempré (the use of "de Rubempré" is contested) – journalist, parvenu
  • Jacques Collin a.k.a. Abbé Carlos Herrera a.k.a. Vautrin a.k.a. Trompe-la-Mort – a criminal run away from forced labour
  • Camusot – examining magistrate (The Collection of Antiquities, A Commission in Lunacy, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life; his father also appears in A Distinguished Provincial at Paris)
  • Blondet, Emile – journalist, man of letters, prefect (The Collection of Antiquities, A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life). Compare and contrast with Raoul Nathan.
  • Raoul Nathan – in 19 works, writer, politician
  • Daniel d'Arthez
  • Delphine de Nucingen née Goriot
  • Roger de Granville
  • Louis Lambert
  • la duchesse de Langeais
  • la comtesse de Mortsauf
  • Jean-Jacques Bixiou – in 19 works, artist
  • Joseph Bridau – in 13 works, painter
  • Marquis de Ronquerolles – in 20 works
  • la comtesse Hugret de Sérisy – in 20 works
  • Félix-Amédée de Vandenesse
  • Horace Bianchon – in 24 works, doctor
  • des Lupeaulx – public servant
  • Salon leaders: the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, the Marquise d'Espard
  • Dandies: Maxime de Trailles, Henri de Marsay
  • Courtesans: La Torpille (Esther van Gobseck), Madame du Val-Noble
  • Financiers: Ferdinand du Tillet, Frédérick de Nucingen, Keller brothers
  • Actresses: Florine (Sophie Grignault), Coralie
  • Publishers/Journalists/Critics: Finot, Etienne Lousteau, Felicien Vernou
  • Money lenders: Jean-Esther van Gobseck, Bidault a.k.a. Gigonnet
Characters who appear in several titles but only significantly in one of them
  • Birotteau
  • Goriot
  • Claude Vignon
  • Mademoiselle des Touches (aka Camille Maupin)

Characters in a single volume

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  • Raphaël de Valentin
  • le baron Hulot
  • Balthazar Claës
  • Grandet
  • le cousin Pons

Notes

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  1. ^ Pierre Citron edition, vol 1, 49–50.
  2. ^ Les Cent Contes drolatiques translation: transl. The Hundred Funny Tales
  3. ^ Robb, Graham: Balzac: A Life, pg. 330, 1996, W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.
  4. ^ Brunetière, Ferdinand, Sanderson, Robert Louis: Honoré de Balzac, pg. 77, J. B. Lippincott & Co., London, 1906.
  5. ^ Tilby, Michael (2000). "Honoré de Balzac: 1799–1850: French Novelist". In Classe, Olive (ed.). Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English. Vol. 1 (A–L). Chicago, Illinois: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. pp. 98–104, 100. ISBN 1884964362.
  6. ^ Margaret Lesser: Marriage, Ellen (1865–1946). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, May 2010). Subscription required. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  7. ^ Oeuvres complètes volume 1, La maison du Chat-qui-pelote quotation:

    dans la Societe la femme ne se trouve pas toujours etre la femelle du male

References

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  • (in French) Balzac. La Comédie humaine. Pierre Citron, ed. Preface by Pierre-Georges Castex. Paris: Seuil, 1965. 7 vols. ISBN 2-02-000726-6
  • (in French) Rey, Pierre-Louis. La Comédie humaine. Collection: Profil d'une œuvre. Number 64. Paris: Hatier, 1979. ISBN 2-218-04589-3
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French Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Wikisource has the text of the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article Comédie Humaine.
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