《交際花盛衰記》講述了巴黎交際花埃絲黛簡短、奇特，卻註定悲劇的一生。她對詩人呂西安一往情深，渴望過幸福貞潔的生活。然而，交際花的身世和地位使她與沉浮在上流社會的呂西安隔着一條無法逾越的社會天塹。小說根植於社會現實，通過深刻細緻的觀察和典型形象的塑造，給人以強烈的真實感。其中塑造的一大批貴族、野心傢、教士、銀行傢、妓女、犯人、警察等，再現了那個色彩斑斕卻又冷酷無情的社會。
媒體推薦
我剛開始讀書時，就感受到巴爾紮剋作品的魅力，景仰之餘，愛不釋捲。巴爾紮剋動蕩不安和偉大的一生，至今還得在他的浩瀚宏偉的巨著中追憶。
--【法]亨利特羅亞
在最偉大的人物中間，巴爾紮剋是名列前茅者；在最優秀的人物中間，巴爾紮剋是佼佼者之一。
--【法】雨果
Honoré de Balzac's Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, translated either as The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans or as The Harlot High and Low, was published in four parts from 1838-1847. It continues the story of Lucien de Rubempré, who was a main character in Illusions perdues, a preceding Balzac novel. Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes forms part of Balzac's La Comédie humaine.
Plot summary
Lucien de Rubempré and "Abbé Herrera" (Vautrin) have made a pact, in which Lucien will arrive at success in Paris if he agrees to follow Vautrin's instructions on how to do so. Esther Van Gobseck throws a wrench into Vautrin's best-laid plans, however, because Lucien falls in love with her and she with him. Instead of forcing Lucien to abandon her, he allows Lucien this secret affair, but also makes good use of it. For four years, Esther remains locked away in a house in Paris, taking walks only at night. One night, however, the Baron de Nucingen spots her and falls deeply in love with her. When Vautrin realizes that Nucingen's obsession is with Esther, he decides to use her powers to help advance Lucien.
The plan is the following: Vautrin and Lucien are 60,000 francs in debt because of the lifestyle that Lucien has had to maintain. They also need one million francs to buy the old Rubempré land back, so that Lucien can marry Clotilde, the rich but ugly daughter of the Grandlieu's. Esther will be the tool they use to get as much money as possible out of the impossibly rich Nucingen. Things don't work out as smoothly as Vautrin would have liked, however, because Esther commits suicide after giving herself to Nucingen for the first and only time (after making him wait for months). Since the police have already been suspicious of Vautrin and Lucien, they arrest the two on suspicion of murder over the suicide. This turn of events is particularly tragic because it turns out that only hours before, Esther had actually inherited a huge amount of money from an estranged family member. If only she had held on, she could have married Lucien herself.
Lucien, ever the poet, doesn't do well in prison. Although Vautrin actually manages to fool his interrogators into believing that he might be Carlos Herrera, a priest on a secret mission for the Spanish king, Lucien succumbs to the wiles of his interviewer. He tells his interrogator everything, including Vautrin's true identity. Afterwards he regrets what he has done and hangs himself in his cell.
His suicide, like Esther's, is badly timed. In an effort not to compromise the high society ladies who were involved with him, the justices had arranged to let Lucien go. But when he kills himself, things get more sticky and the maneuverings more desperate. It turns out that Vautrin possesses the very compromising letters sent by these women to Lucien, and he uses them to negotiate his release. He also manages to save and help several of his accomplices along the way, helping them to avoid a death sentence or abject poverty.
At the end of the novel, Vautrin actually becomes a member of the police force before retiring in 1845. The nobility that was so fearful for its reputation moves on to other affairs.
Main characters
* Esther Van Gobseck, former courtesan and lover of Lucien, assigned to seducing Nucingen. Commits suicide after sleeping with Nucingen for money.
* Lucien de Rubempré, ambitious young man protected by Vautrin, trying to marry Clotilde de Grandlieu. Commits suicide in prison.
* Vautrin, escaped convict with the alias Carlos Herrera, real name Jacques Collin, nickname Trompe-la-Mort. Has a weakness for pretty young men, tries to help Lucien move up in society in every evil way possible.
* Baron de Nucingen, obsessed with Esther and the target of Vautrin's money machinations.
* Jacqueline Collin, aunt of Vautrin, alias of Asie. Charged with watching over Esther and helping Vautrin in his various schemes.
* Clotilde de Grandlieu, target of Lucien's affections, key to his advancement in society. But he cannot marry her unless he buys back his family's ancient land, worth one million francs. Her father prevents the marriage after finding out that the money, which actually came from Esther, did not really come from an inheritance (from Lucien's father), like Lucien was saying.
* Comtesse de Sérizy and Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, former lovers of Lucien of whom Vautrin possesses very compromising letters.
* Camusot de Marville, Comte de Granville, judge and magistrate respectively. Try to work out the case of Vautrin and Lucien without compromising the women involved.
* Peyrade, Contenson, Corentin, Bibi-Lupin, spies of various sorts associated with the police. Try to get Vautrin for various personal reasons.
媒體推薦
我剛開始讀書時，就感受到巴爾紮剋作品的魅力，景仰之餘，愛不釋捲。巴爾紮剋動蕩不安和偉大的一生，至今還得在他的浩瀚宏偉的巨著中追憶。
--【法]亨利特羅亞
在最偉大的人物中間，巴爾紮剋是名列前茅者；在最優秀的人物中間，巴爾紮剋是佼佼者之一。
--【法】雨果
Honoré de Balzac's Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, translated either as The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans or as The Harlot High and Low, was published in four parts from 1838-1847. It continues the story of Lucien de Rubempré, who was a main character in Illusions perdues, a preceding Balzac novel. Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes forms part of Balzac's La Comédie humaine.
Plot summary
Lucien de Rubempré and "Abbé Herrera" (Vautrin) have made a pact, in which Lucien will arrive at success in Paris if he agrees to follow Vautrin's instructions on how to do so. Esther Van Gobseck throws a wrench into Vautrin's best-laid plans, however, because Lucien falls in love with her and she with him. Instead of forcing Lucien to abandon her, he allows Lucien this secret affair, but also makes good use of it. For four years, Esther remains locked away in a house in Paris, taking walks only at night. One night, however, the Baron de Nucingen spots her and falls deeply in love with her. When Vautrin realizes that Nucingen's obsession is with Esther, he decides to use her powers to help advance Lucien.
The plan is the following: Vautrin and Lucien are 60,000 francs in debt because of the lifestyle that Lucien has had to maintain. They also need one million francs to buy the old Rubempré land back, so that Lucien can marry Clotilde, the rich but ugly daughter of the Grandlieu's. Esther will be the tool they use to get as much money as possible out of the impossibly rich Nucingen. Things don't work out as smoothly as Vautrin would have liked, however, because Esther commits suicide after giving herself to Nucingen for the first and only time (after making him wait for months). Since the police have already been suspicious of Vautrin and Lucien, they arrest the two on suspicion of murder over the suicide. This turn of events is particularly tragic because it turns out that only hours before, Esther had actually inherited a huge amount of money from an estranged family member. If only she had held on, she could have married Lucien herself.
Lucien, ever the poet, doesn't do well in prison. Although Vautrin actually manages to fool his interrogators into believing that he might be Carlos Herrera, a priest on a secret mission for the Spanish king, Lucien succumbs to the wiles of his interviewer. He tells his interrogator everything, including Vautrin's true identity. Afterwards he regrets what he has done and hangs himself in his cell.
His suicide, like Esther's, is badly timed. In an effort not to compromise the high society ladies who were involved with him, the justices had arranged to let Lucien go. But when he kills himself, things get more sticky and the maneuverings more desperate. It turns out that Vautrin possesses the very compromising letters sent by these women to Lucien, and he uses them to negotiate his release. He also manages to save and help several of his accomplices along the way, helping them to avoid a death sentence or abject poverty.
At the end of the novel, Vautrin actually becomes a member of the police force before retiring in 1845. The nobility that was so fearful for its reputation moves on to other affairs.
Main characters
* Esther Van Gobseck, former courtesan and lover of Lucien, assigned to seducing Nucingen. Commits suicide after sleeping with Nucingen for money.
* Lucien de Rubempré, ambitious young man protected by Vautrin, trying to marry Clotilde de Grandlieu. Commits suicide in prison.
* Vautrin, escaped convict with the alias Carlos Herrera, real name Jacques Collin, nickname Trompe-la-Mort. Has a weakness for pretty young men, tries to help Lucien move up in society in every evil way possible.
* Baron de Nucingen, obsessed with Esther and the target of Vautrin's money machinations.
* Jacqueline Collin, aunt of Vautrin, alias of Asie. Charged with watching over Esther and helping Vautrin in his various schemes.
* Clotilde de Grandlieu, target of Lucien's affections, key to his advancement in society. But he cannot marry her unless he buys back his family's ancient land, worth one million francs. Her father prevents the marriage after finding out that the money, which actually came from Esther, did not really come from an inheritance (from Lucien's father), like Lucien was saying.
* Comtesse de Sérizy and Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, former lovers of Lucien of whom Vautrin possesses very compromising letters.
* Camusot de Marville, Comte de Granville, judge and magistrate respectively. Try to work out the case of Vautrin and Lucien without compromising the women involved.
* Peyrade, Contenson, Corentin, Bibi-Lupin, spies of various sorts associated with the police. Try to get Vautrin for various personal reasons.
巴爾紮剋在《幻滅》中描寫未來的大作傢德·阿泰茲時，說過這樣一句話：“他要像莫裏哀那樣，先成為深刻的哲學家，再寫喜劇。”看來，這正是《人間喜劇》的作者對自己提出的要求。而且他也和德·阿泰茲一樣，在巴黎的六層閣樓上受過饑餓和寒冷的折磨，在人類知識的寶藏中耐心地挖掘過，在“毒氣熏蒸”的巴黎社會中生活過、搏鬥過、感受過。
人們常說《歐也妮·葛朗臺》和《高老頭》是巴爾紮剋的代表作。實際上，在表現作傢本人的思想感情和直接的生活體驗方面，《幻滅》比其他小說具有更大的代表性。書中幾個主要人物的遭遇，大部分取自作傢本人的經歷，他們的激情、幻想和苦難，他幾乎全都親自體嘗過。他把自己二十年的奮鬥歷程分別給了三個不同類型的青年：他在大衛·賽夏的故事裏，傾訴了自己經營印刷所、鑄字廠和受債務迫害的慘痛經驗；在呂西安的遭遇裏，溶入了自己在文壇和新聞出版界的沉浮；他把自己從生活和創作中總結出的各種信念和主張給了德·阿泰茲；同時讓盧斯托和伏脫冷充當了他剖析社會的代言人。可以想見，作傢對這部作品是傾註了極大熱情的。他在給韓斯卡夫人的信中，曾將《幻滅》稱作“我的作品中居首位的著作”①，聲稱這部小說“充分地表現了我們的時代”②。在《幻滅》第三部初版序言中，巴爾紮剋明確宣稱這是“風俗研究”中“迄今最為重要的一部著作”。
《幻滅》的中心內容，是兩個有才能、有抱負的青年理想破滅的故事。主人公呂西安是一位詩人，在外省頗有些名氣。他帶着滿腦子幻想來到巴黎，結果在巴黎新聞界惡劣風氣的影響下，離開了嚴肅的創作道路，變成無恥的報痞文氓，最後在黨派傾軋、文壇鬥爭中身敗名裂。他的妹夫大衛·賽夏是個埋頭苦幹的發明傢，因為敵不過同行的陰險算計，被迫放棄發明專利，從此棄絶了科學研究的理想。
作者將這兩個青年的遭遇與整整一代青年的精神狀態，與整個社會生活，特別是巴黎生活的影響緊緊聯繫在一起，使之具有了普遍意義。在巴爾紮剋筆下，十九世紀的巴黎好比希臘神話中的塞壬女仙，不斷地吸引着和毀滅着外省的青年。
“巴黎就像一座盅惑人的碉堡，所有的外省青年都準備嚮它進攻……在這些才能、意志和成就的較量中，有着三十年來一代青年的慘史。”③
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①巴爾紮剋：《緻外國女子的信》（1843年3月2日）。
②巴爾紮剋：《緻外國女子的信》（1842年12 月21日）。
③巴爾紮剋：《幻滅》第三部初版序言（1843）。
在這兒，巴黎顯然是作為資本主義生活法則的表徵出現的。隨着封建所有製的解體，等級門閥觀念的削弱，憑藉個人才智到社會上尋求發跡的機會，已成為法國青年的普遍幻想，也是傢傢戶戶對那些稍有天賦的孩子必然抱有的期望。所以巴爾紮剋不無嘲諷地寫道：“拿破侖的榜樣，使多少平凡的人狂妄自大，成為十九世紀的致命傷。”這種幻想是歷史發展的必然産物，也反映了時代的進步。因為在封建時代，每個人的身分地位是早已劃定了的，衹有資本主義自由競爭，以及與自由競爭相適應的社會制度和政治制度産生以後，纔給個人的發展提供了可能。
巴黎是法國政治、經濟、文化的中心，是十八世紀末葉資産階級革命的發源地。資産階級的意識形態，必然以巴黎為圓心嚮外省擴散；巴黎的財富、權力，對外省青年必然具有無法抗拒的魅力。人人都想到巴黎去碰運氣，如此便形成各種人才雲集巴黎、互相競爭角逐的局面。競爭者是如此之多，真正能爬上顯赫地位的又如此之少，這就必然挑起無窮無盡極其殘酷的鬥爭，由此産生一首首個人奮鬥的詩篇，一出出理想破滅的悲劇，同時也産生了十九世紀文學中的一個普遍的主題——個人與社會的對抗。巴爾紮剋的哲理深度在於：他不僅意識到時代給個人的發展提供了可能，刺激了青年一代的美妙幻想；同時看到了社會還包含着那麽多阻礙個人發展的因素，看到了物的統治使多少人才遭受摧殘，多少理想歸於幻滅。這種理想與現實的矛盾，個人發展的可能性與阻礙可能性轉化為現實性的社會環境的矛盾，構成了小說的悲劇衝突。
既然衝突主要是在個人與環境之間展開，對主人公不幸命運的描繪，必然與對整個社會的批判揭露交織在一起。作者並不是孤立地塑造人物，而是將人物放在歷史的框架內，讓整個社會在他周圍活動着，呼吸着，影響着他的思想，製約着他的行動。人物在生活的波濤中沉浮，距離自己最初的目標愈來愈遠，終於被捲進危險的深淵。《幻滅》好像一幅巨型壁畫，展示了法國大革命以後從外省到巴黎的廣阔圖景，描繪出王政復闢時期種種最富特徵意義的現象：一方面，貴族的高貴姓氏和顯赫地位仍然強烈地吸引着愛慕虛榮的青年；另一方面，資産者的財富已成為控製和奴役一切的力量，在野的資産階級自由黨在社會上比執政的保王黨更有勢力。這兩大階級的爭奪，牽動着文壇上兩派勢力的鬥爭，也支配着呂西安的思想和命運。在這裏，作者敏銳地指出了在復闢時期還處於萌芽狀態的資本集中現象，描繪出工商業的競爭、同行間的傾軋和吞併是以何等陰險毒辣的方式在進行。大衛·賽夏就是在這類鬥爭中受圍獵的一個犧牲品。在這些不同的角鬥場上，作者勾勒了衆多的不同階層、不同身分的人物……總之，《幻滅》好比社會的縮影，集中了法國社會在新舊交替時期的種種怪現象。其中最富時代特色的現象之一，就是剛起步不久的新聞界。
在十九世紀的法國文學中，正面揭露新聞界內幕的作品，巴爾紮剋的《幻滅》屬於最早的，也是寫得最大膽的一部。他撕開報界這座聖殿的帷幕，讓人們看到這是個拿靈魂作交易的鋪子。他一樁一件列舉新聞界那些見不得人的勾當，惹得新聞界的首腦和文藝界的“執政”們暴跳如雷。在巴爾紮剋看來，報界既是現代社會惡劣風氣的集中而露骨的表現，也是進一步毒化社會風氣的大癰疽，正是報界這股邪惡的勢力，“扼殺了大量的青春和才能”①，把無數呂西安式的青年引嚮毀滅。
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①巴爾紮剋：《幻滅》第二部初版序言。
《幻滅》的主人公呂西安不是英雄（當然也不是壞蛋），而是一個中間人物。作者是把他作為思想性格有嚴重弱點，而又有相當天賦的一類青年來刻畫的。這是十九世紀上半期法國社會的典型環境中的一種典型性格。他聰明，有才華，但是自私、虛榮，野心很大而又意志薄弱，總想抄近路一步登天，沒有毅力在真學問上下功夫。所以他經不起浮華世界的引誘，不可避免地走嚮了墮落。對這樣一個人物，作者的態度是既有批判，也有同情。對於他的錯誤和失敗，作者既不完全歸咎於社會，也不完全歸咎於個人。社會環境的惡劣影響，正是通過呂西安自身的弱點起作用的。
呂西安到巴黎以後，面前清清楚楚擺着兩條路。一是德·阿泰茲和他的小團體的道路，這條路艱苦、漫長，然而清白可靠。要走這條路，呂西安缺的是堅強的意志和恆心。另一條就是斐諾已經取得成功、盧斯托正尾隨其後的道路，這條路骯髒、危險，然而表面看來是名利雙收的捷徑。要走這條路，呂西安卻又缺乏作惡的魄力和本領。因此呂西安兩條路都走不通。
大衛·賽夏是與呂西安完全不同類型的一個青年。他正直寬厚、淳樸善良。他沒有什麽嚮上爬的野心，但並非沒有才能或抱負。他用全副精力從事一項科學發明，想為他所愛的人掙起一份傢業，他不乏恆心與毅力，卻仍遭到慘敗，原因是他的心地過於單純，對現實缺乏透徹的理解，不像德·阿泰茲等人對人對事都有極冷靜的分析。他在虎狼成群的社會裏毫無自衛的準備；出沒在生存競爭的槍林彈雨中卻不穿鎧甲，不戴頭盔。因此他當科學家綽綽有餘，作買賣必定虧本，競爭中必定一敗塗地。
德·阿泰茲是理想化了的巴爾紮剋。小團體的道路正是作者為自己選擇的生活道路。他相信，儘管社會環境險惡，衹要有堅定的意志和恆久的努力，仍然可以開拓自我，戰勝激流險灘，到達勝利的彼岸。所以，《幻滅》一書所描寫的雖是理想的破滅，卻並不給人以悲觀的印象。因為作者在揭露黑暗的同時，也着力刻畫了一些追求正義者、自強不息者，時刻讓讀者感覺到有一股不與惡濁環境同流合污的對抗力量，也就是說，巴爾紮剋認為：人是可以與社會較量的。
艾 珉
一九九二年七月
書摘： “好吧，那麽我對今天的戲就按照我的印象來報導，”呂西安氣憤憤的說。
年輕的女主角對舞臺監督說：“你好糊塗！他是柯拉莉的情人啊。”
舞臺監督立刻回過身來招呼呂西安：“先生，我去報告經理。”
可見報紙在小事情上也顯出無邊的威力，使呂西安的虛榮心感到滿足。經理出來和德·雷托雷公爵和舞蹈明星蒂麗婭商量，要求把呂西安安插在他們緊靠前臺的包廂裏。公爵見是呂西安，答應了。
年輕的雷托雷提到夏特萊男爵和德·巴日東太太，說道：
“兩個人被你擺布得好苦啊。”
呂西安道：“再看明天吧。到此為止，都是我的朋友們出場，衹能算輕裝的步兵，今晚我纔親自放炮。明天你就知道為什麽我們取笑波特萊。文章的題目叫做《從一八一一年的波特萊到一八二一年的波特萊》。在不認恩主，嚮波旁傢賣身投靠的人裏頭，夏特萊是個典型。我的本事要他們完全領教過了，再上德·蒙柯奈太太傢。”
呂西安和青年公爵談話之間盡量賣弄才華，急於嚮這位爵爺證明，德·埃斯巴太太和德·巴日東太太瞧他不起是有眼無珠，大錯特錯。可是他終於顯了原形：他想自稱為德·呂邦潑雷，而德·雷托雷公爵偏偏捉弄他，叫他沙爾東。
公爵說：“你應該做保王黨。你已經顯出你的才氣，現在要表示你識時務了。要得到王上的詔書准許你改用母係的姓，唯一的辦法是先為宮廷出一番力，再要求這個恩典。自由黨永遠不能使你成為伯爵！真正可怕的力量，報刊，早晚要被政府壓倒的。報刊非加以箝製不可，這件事已經拖延太久了。言論自由此刻到了最後階段，你該盡量利用，造成你的聲勢。再過幾年，在法國用姓氏和頭銜做資本，比才幹更可靠。有了這兩樣，一切都不成問題：才智，門第，美貌，要什麽有什麽。你此刻做自由黨，目的衹應該是將來投靠保王黨的時候多沾一些便宜。”
公爵告訴呂西安，他在佛洛麗納的半夜餐席上遇到的公使，要請他吃飯，希望他不要拒絶。呂西安被公爵的議論打動了；幾個月之前以為永遠走不進去的上流社會嚮他開了門，更使他喜出望外。他暗暗贊嘆筆桿子的力量。報刊，才智，竟是現代社會的敲門磚。呂西安心上想，說不定盧斯托正在後悔，不該把他引進廟堂；呂西安為自己打算，已經覺得需要築起壁壘，把從外省趕到巴黎來的野心傢攔在外面。他不敢問自己，倘若有個詩人象他當初投奔艾蒂安那樣來找他，他會采取什麽態度。呂西安心事重重的神氣瞞不過年輕的公爵，原因也被他猜着了；因為公爵嚮這個缺乏意志而欲望不小的野心傢揭露了政治舞臺的遠景，正如早先記者們象魔鬼把耶穌帶到聖殿的頂上①，讓呂西安看到文壇和文壇的財富。呂西安不知道被他的小報傷害的一些人正在設計劃策對付他，其中也有德·雷托雷公爵參加。公爵嚮德·埃斯巴太太圈子裏的人提到呂西安的才氣，叫他們聽着吃驚。他受德·巴日東太太委托，做一番試探工作，本來希望在昂必居喜劇院遇到呂西安。其實上流社會也罷，新聞記者也罷，都談不到深謀遠慮，別以為他們的陷阱經過什麽周密的安排。他們並沒定下方案，姦詐的權術也不過做到哪裏是哪裏，主要是始終存着心，隨機應變，不管好事壞事，都準備利用，但等對方在情欲播弄之下自己送上門來。在佛洛麗納傢吃消夜那天，青年公爵就摸清呂西安的性格，剛纔便覷準他的虛榮心進攻，同時藉他來練練自己的外交手腕。
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①魔彈試探耶穌，忽而帶他到曠野裏，忽而帶往殿堂頂上，忽而帶上高山。見《新約·馬太福音》第四章。
散了戲，呂西安趕往聖菲阿剋街寫劇評，有心寫得潑辣，尖刻，想試試自己的力量。那出戲比上回全景劇場的那一出高明；可是他想知道是否真象人傢說的，能夠把一本好戲壓下去，把一本壞戲捧出來。第二天他和柯拉莉吃着中飯，翻開報紙；他跟昂必居喜劇院搗亂的事已經先和柯拉莉說了。呂西安念了他攻擊德·巴日東太太和夏特萊的文章，然後很奇怪的發現，他的劇評一夜之間忽然變得非常緩和，除掉他極風趣的分析原封不動之外，結論竟是贊美。這出戲盡可使劇院大大的賺一筆。呂西安的氣惱簡直沒法形容，决意嚮盧斯托抗議。他已經以為人傢少不了他了，他不願意做傻子，聽人支配，受人宰割。呂西安為了肯定自己的勢力，替道裏阿和斐諾的雜志寫好一篇文章，把批評拿當作品的議論歸納起來，做一番比較。答應給小報長期執筆的小品，也乘興寫了一篇。年輕的記者都有一股熱情，寫稿很認真，往往很冒失的拿出自己的全部精華。全景劇場的經理貼了一出新排的喜劇，讓佛洛麗納和柯拉莉當晚輪空。吃消夜之前還要賭錢。呂西安看過新戲彩排，預先寫好評論，免得臨時鬧稿荒；盧斯托上門來拿稿子。小報靠呂西安寫的巴黎花絮風行一時；呂西安把纔寫的一個有趣的短篇念給盧斯托聽了，盧斯托親着他兩頰，說他真是新聞界的天使。
“那麽幹嗎你忽發奇想，要改我的稿子呢？”呂西安問。他寫那篇精彩的文章原是想發泄他的怨氣的。
“我改你稿子？”盧斯托叫起來。
“那麽誰改的？”
艾蒂安笑道：“朋友，你還不懂生意經。昂必居訂我們二十份報，實際衹送去九份，就是經理，樂隊指揮，舞臺監督，他們的情婦，另外還有三個股東。大街上的戲院每傢都用這個方式報效我們報館八百法郎。白送斐諾的包廂也抵得這個數目，演員和編劇訂的報還不算在內。壞蛋斐諾在大街上撈到八千法郎。小戲院如此，大戲院可想而知！你明白沒有？咱們不能不盡量客氣。”
“我明白了，我不能照我的心思寫稿子……”
盧斯托道：“那跟你有什麽相幹，衹要你油水撈飽就行了。再說，你對戲院有什麽過不去呢？要砸掉昨天的戲，總得有個理由。為破壞而破壞，衹能損害報紙。按照是非麯直去打擊人，報紙還有什麽作用？可是經理招待不周嗎？”（第2部第28章）
Plot summary
Lucien Chardon, the son of a lower middle-class father and an impoverished mother of remote aristocratic descent, is the pivotal figure of the entire work. Living at Angoulême, he is impoverished, impatient, handsome and ambitious. His widowed mother, his sister Ève and his best friend, David Séchard, do nothing to lessen his high opinion of his own talents, for it is an opinion they share.
Even as Part I of Illusions perdues, Les Deux poètes (The Two Poets), begins, Lucien has already written a historical novel and a sonnet sequence, whereas David is a scientist. But both, according to Balzac, are "poets" in that they creatively seek truth. Theirs is a fraternity of poetic aspiration, whether as scientist or writer: thus, even before David marries Ève, the two young men are spiritual brothers.
Lucien is introduced into the drawing-room of the leading figure of Angoulême high society, Mme de Bargeton, who rapidly becomes infatuated with him. It is not long before the pair flee to Paris where Lucien adopts his maternal patronymic of de Rubempré and hopes to make his mark as a poet. Mme de Bargeton, on the other hand, recognises her mésalliance and, though remaining in Paris, severs all ties with Lucien, abandoning him to a life of destitution.
In Part II, Un Grand homme de province à Paris, Lucien is contrasted both with the journalist Lousteau and the high-minded writer Daniel d’Arthez. Jilted by Mme de Bargeton for the adventurer Sixte du Châtelet, he moves in a social circle of high-class actress-prostitutes and their journalist lovers: soon he becomes the lover of Coralie. As a literary journalist he prostitutes his talent. But he still harbours the ambition of belonging to high society and longs to assume by royal warrant the surname and coat of arms of the de Rubemprés. He therefore switches his allegiance from the liberal opposition press to the one or two royalist newspapers that support the government. This act of betrayal earns him the implacable hatred of his erstwhile journalist colleagues, who destroy Coralie’s theatrical reputation. In the depths of his despair he forges his brother-in-law’s name on three promissory notes. This is his ultimate betrayal of his integrity as a person. After Coralie’s death he returns in disgrace to Angoulême, stowed away behind the Châtelets’ carriage: Mme de Bargeton has just married du Châtelet, who has been appointed prefect of that region.
Meanwhile, at Angoulême David Séchard is betrayed on all sides but is supported by his loving wife. He invents a new and cheaper method of paper production: thus, at a thematic level, the commercialization of paper-manufacturing processes is very closely interwoven with the commercialization of literature. Lucien’s forgery of his brother-in-law’s signature almost bankrupts David, who has to sell the secret of his invention to business rivals. He is about to commit suicide when he is approached by a sham Jesuit priest, the Abbé Carlos Herrera: this, in another guise, is the escaped convict Vautrin whom Balzac had already presented in Le Père Goriot. Herrera takes Lucien under his protection and they drive off to Paris, there to begin a fresh assault on the capital.
Fundamental themes of the work
The novel has four main themes.
(1) The lifestyle of the provinces is juxtaposed with that of the metropolis, as Balzac contrasts the varying tempos of life at Angoulême and in Paris, the different standards obtaining in those cities, and their different perceptions.
(2) Balzac explores the artistic life of Paris in 1821-22, and furthermore the nature of the artistic life generally. Lucien, who was already a not quite published author when the novel begins, fails to get that early literary work published whilst he is in Paris and during his time in the capital writes nothing of any consequence. Daniel d’Arthez, on the other hand, does not actively seek literary fame: it comes to him because of his solid literary merit.
(3) Balzac denounces journalism, presenting it as the most pernicious form of intellectual prostitution.
(4) Balzac affirms the duplicity – and two-facedness – of all things, both in Paris and at Angoulême: e.g., the character of Lucien de Rubempré, who even has two surnames; David Séchard’s ostensible friend, the notary Petit-Claud, who operates against his client, not for him; the legal comptes (accounts) which are contes fantastiques (fantastic tales); the theatre which lives by make-believe; high society likewise; the Abbé Carlos Herrera who is a sham priest, and in fact a criminal; the Sin against the Holy Ghost, whereby Lucien abandons his true integrity as a person, forging his brother-in-law’s signature and even contemplating suicide.
Narrative strategies
(1) Although Illusions perdues is a commentary upon the contemporary world, Balzac is tantalizingly vague in his delineation of the historico-political background. His delineation of the broader social background is far more precise.
(2) Illusions perdues is remarkable for its innumerable changes of tempo. However, even the change of tempo from Part II to Part III is but a superficial point of contrast between life as it is lived in the capital and life in the provinces. Everywhere the same laws of human behaviour apply. A person’s downfall may come from the rapier thrust of the journalist or from the slowly strangling machinations of the law.
(3) Most notably in La Cousine Bette Balzac was one of the first novelists to employ the technique of in medias res. In Illusions perdues there is an unusual example of this, Part II of the novel serving as the prelude to the extended flashback which follows in Part III.
(4) Illusions perdues is also full of the "sublimities and degradations", "excited emphasis" and "romantic rhetoric" to which F.R. Leavis[1] has objected in Le Père Goriot. Characters and viewpoints are polarized. There is the strong and perhaps somewhat artificial contrast between Lucien and David, art and science, Lousteau and d’Arthez, journalism and literature, Paris and the provinces, etc. And this polarization reaches the point of melodrama as Balzac appears to draw moral distinctions between "vice" and "virtue". Coralie is the Fallen Woman, Ève an Angel of strength and purity. Yet Balzac also describes Coralie’s love for Lucien as a form of redemptive purity, an "absolution" and a "benediction". Thus, through what structurally is melodrama, he underlines what he considers to be the fundamental resemblance of opposites.
(5) Introduced into narrative fiction by the Gothic novel (The Castle of Otranto, The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Monk), melodrama was widespread in literature around the time when Illusions perdues was written. Jane Austen satirizes it in Northanger Abbey. Eugène Sue made regular use of it. Instances in Illusions perdues are the use of improbable coincidence; Lucien, in an endeavour to pay Coralie’s funeral expenses, writing bawdy love-songs when her body is hardly yet cold; and the deus ex machina (or Satanas ex machina?) in the form of Herrera’s appearance at the end of the novel.
(6) Like all the major works of the Comédie humaine, Illusions perdues pre-eminently focuses on the social nexus. Within the nexus of love, in her relationship with Lucien, Coralie is life-giving: her love has a sacramental quality. However, in an environment of worldly manœuvring her influence upn him is fatal. She is, in other words, both a Fallen and a Risen Woman; all depends upon the nexus within which she is viewed. In the unpropitious environment of Angoulême Mme de Bargeton is an absurd bluestocking; transplanted to Paris, she undergoes an immediate "metamorphosis", becoming a true denizen of high society – and rightfully, in Part III, the occupant of the préfecture at Angoulême. As to whether Lucien’s writings have any value, the social laws are paramount: this is a fact which he does not realize until it is too late.
(7) A parallel ambiguity is present in the character of the epicene Lucien de Rubempré. Mme de Bargeton finds no fault with his amorous competence, nor does Coralie. Yet, partly because of his existential circumstances and also because of the narrative context in which Balzac places him, it appears that Lucien is fundamentally homosexual. This, incidentally, is almost the first appearance of homosexuality in modern literature.
(8) Illusions perdues is, according to Donald Adamson, "a revelation of the secret workings of the world, rather than a Bildungsroman illuminating the development of character"[2].
The success of this novel inspired Balzac to write a four-part sequel, Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes. Illusions perdues and Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes form part of the Comédie humaine, the series of novels and short stories written by Balzac depicting French society in the period of the Restoration and July Monarchy (1815-1848).
人們常說《歐也妮·葛朗臺》和《高老頭》是巴爾紮剋的代表作。實際上，在表現作傢本人的思想感情和直接的生活體驗方面，《幻滅》比其他小說具有更大的代表性。書中幾個主要人物的遭遇，大部分取自作傢本人的經歷，他們的激情、幻想和苦難，他幾乎全都親自體嘗過。他把自己二十年的奮鬥歷程分別給了三個不同類型的青年：他在大衛·賽夏的故事裏，傾訴了自己經營印刷所、鑄字廠和受債務迫害的慘痛經驗；在呂西安的遭遇裏，溶入了自己在文壇和新聞出版界的沉浮；他把自己從生活和創作中總結出的各種信念和主張給了德·阿泰茲；同時讓盧斯托和伏脫冷充當了他剖析社會的代言人。可以想見，作傢對這部作品是傾註了極大熱情的。他在給韓斯卡夫人的信中，曾將《幻滅》稱作“我的作品中居首位的著作”①，聲稱這部小說“充分地表現了我們的時代”②。在《幻滅》第三部初版序言中，巴爾紮剋明確宣稱這是“風俗研究”中“迄今最為重要的一部著作”。
《幻滅》的中心內容，是兩個有才能、有抱負的青年理想破滅的故事。主人公呂西安是一位詩人，在外省頗有些名氣。他帶着滿腦子幻想來到巴黎，結果在巴黎新聞界惡劣風氣的影響下，離開了嚴肅的創作道路，變成無恥的報痞文氓，最後在黨派傾軋、文壇鬥爭中身敗名裂。他的妹夫大衛·賽夏是個埋頭苦幹的發明傢，因為敵不過同行的陰險算計，被迫放棄發明專利，從此棄絶了科學研究的理想。
作者將這兩個青年的遭遇與整整一代青年的精神狀態，與整個社會生活，特別是巴黎生活的影響緊緊聯繫在一起，使之具有了普遍意義。在巴爾紮剋筆下，十九世紀的巴黎好比希臘神話中的塞壬女仙，不斷地吸引着和毀滅着外省的青年。
“巴黎就像一座盅惑人的碉堡，所有的外省青年都準備嚮它進攻……在這些才能、意志和成就的較量中，有着三十年來一代青年的慘史。”③
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①巴爾紮剋：《緻外國女子的信》（1843年3月2日）。
②巴爾紮剋：《緻外國女子的信》（1842年12 月21日）。
③巴爾紮剋：《幻滅》第三部初版序言（1843）。
在這兒，巴黎顯然是作為資本主義生活法則的表徵出現的。隨着封建所有製的解體，等級門閥觀念的削弱，憑藉個人才智到社會上尋求發跡的機會，已成為法國青年的普遍幻想，也是傢傢戶戶對那些稍有天賦的孩子必然抱有的期望。所以巴爾紮剋不無嘲諷地寫道：“拿破侖的榜樣，使多少平凡的人狂妄自大，成為十九世紀的致命傷。”這種幻想是歷史發展的必然産物，也反映了時代的進步。因為在封建時代，每個人的身分地位是早已劃定了的，衹有資本主義自由競爭，以及與自由競爭相適應的社會制度和政治制度産生以後，纔給個人的發展提供了可能。
巴黎是法國政治、經濟、文化的中心，是十八世紀末葉資産階級革命的發源地。資産階級的意識形態，必然以巴黎為圓心嚮外省擴散；巴黎的財富、權力，對外省青年必然具有無法抗拒的魅力。人人都想到巴黎去碰運氣，如此便形成各種人才雲集巴黎、互相競爭角逐的局面。競爭者是如此之多，真正能爬上顯赫地位的又如此之少，這就必然挑起無窮無盡極其殘酷的鬥爭，由此産生一首首個人奮鬥的詩篇，一出出理想破滅的悲劇，同時也産生了十九世紀文學中的一個普遍的主題——個人與社會的對抗。巴爾紮剋的哲理深度在於：他不僅意識到時代給個人的發展提供了可能，刺激了青年一代的美妙幻想；同時看到了社會還包含着那麽多阻礙個人發展的因素，看到了物的統治使多少人才遭受摧殘，多少理想歸於幻滅。這種理想與現實的矛盾，個人發展的可能性與阻礙可能性轉化為現實性的社會環境的矛盾，構成了小說的悲劇衝突。
既然衝突主要是在個人與環境之間展開，對主人公不幸命運的描繪，必然與對整個社會的批判揭露交織在一起。作者並不是孤立地塑造人物，而是將人物放在歷史的框架內，讓整個社會在他周圍活動着，呼吸着，影響着他的思想，製約着他的行動。人物在生活的波濤中沉浮，距離自己最初的目標愈來愈遠，終於被捲進危險的深淵。《幻滅》好像一幅巨型壁畫，展示了法國大革命以後從外省到巴黎的廣阔圖景，描繪出王政復闢時期種種最富特徵意義的現象：一方面，貴族的高貴姓氏和顯赫地位仍然強烈地吸引着愛慕虛榮的青年；另一方面，資産者的財富已成為控製和奴役一切的力量，在野的資産階級自由黨在社會上比執政的保王黨更有勢力。這兩大階級的爭奪，牽動着文壇上兩派勢力的鬥爭，也支配着呂西安的思想和命運。在這裏，作者敏銳地指出了在復闢時期還處於萌芽狀態的資本集中現象，描繪出工商業的競爭、同行間的傾軋和吞併是以何等陰險毒辣的方式在進行。大衛·賽夏就是在這類鬥爭中受圍獵的一個犧牲品。在這些不同的角鬥場上，作者勾勒了衆多的不同階層、不同身分的人物……總之，《幻滅》好比社會的縮影，集中了法國社會在新舊交替時期的種種怪現象。其中最富時代特色的現象之一，就是剛起步不久的新聞界。
在十九世紀的法國文學中，正面揭露新聞界內幕的作品，巴爾紮剋的《幻滅》屬於最早的，也是寫得最大膽的一部。他撕開報界這座聖殿的帷幕，讓人們看到這是個拿靈魂作交易的鋪子。他一樁一件列舉新聞界那些見不得人的勾當，惹得新聞界的首腦和文藝界的“執政”們暴跳如雷。在巴爾紮剋看來，報界既是現代社會惡劣風氣的集中而露骨的表現，也是進一步毒化社會風氣的大癰疽，正是報界這股邪惡的勢力，“扼殺了大量的青春和才能”①，把無數呂西安式的青年引嚮毀滅。
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①巴爾紮剋：《幻滅》第二部初版序言。
《幻滅》的主人公呂西安不是英雄（當然也不是壞蛋），而是一個中間人物。作者是把他作為思想性格有嚴重弱點，而又有相當天賦的一類青年來刻畫的。這是十九世紀上半期法國社會的典型環境中的一種典型性格。他聰明，有才華，但是自私、虛榮，野心很大而又意志薄弱，總想抄近路一步登天，沒有毅力在真學問上下功夫。所以他經不起浮華世界的引誘，不可避免地走嚮了墮落。對這樣一個人物，作者的態度是既有批判，也有同情。對於他的錯誤和失敗，作者既不完全歸咎於社會，也不完全歸咎於個人。社會環境的惡劣影響，正是通過呂西安自身的弱點起作用的。
呂西安到巴黎以後，面前清清楚楚擺着兩條路。一是德·阿泰茲和他的小團體的道路，這條路艱苦、漫長，然而清白可靠。要走這條路，呂西安缺的是堅強的意志和恆心。另一條就是斐諾已經取得成功、盧斯托正尾隨其後的道路，這條路骯髒、危險，然而表面看來是名利雙收的捷徑。要走這條路，呂西安卻又缺乏作惡的魄力和本領。因此呂西安兩條路都走不通。
大衛·賽夏是與呂西安完全不同類型的一個青年。他正直寬厚、淳樸善良。他沒有什麽嚮上爬的野心，但並非沒有才能或抱負。他用全副精力從事一項科學發明，想為他所愛的人掙起一份傢業，他不乏恆心與毅力，卻仍遭到慘敗，原因是他的心地過於單純，對現實缺乏透徹的理解，不像德·阿泰茲等人對人對事都有極冷靜的分析。他在虎狼成群的社會裏毫無自衛的準備；出沒在生存競爭的槍林彈雨中卻不穿鎧甲，不戴頭盔。因此他當科學家綽綽有餘，作買賣必定虧本，競爭中必定一敗塗地。
德·阿泰茲是理想化了的巴爾紮剋。小團體的道路正是作者為自己選擇的生活道路。他相信，儘管社會環境險惡，衹要有堅定的意志和恆久的努力，仍然可以開拓自我，戰勝激流險灘，到達勝利的彼岸。所以，《幻滅》一書所描寫的雖是理想的破滅，卻並不給人以悲觀的印象。因為作者在揭露黑暗的同時，也着力刻畫了一些追求正義者、自強不息者，時刻讓讀者感覺到有一股不與惡濁環境同流合污的對抗力量，也就是說，巴爾紮剋認為：人是可以與社會較量的。
艾 珉
一九九二年七月
書摘： “好吧，那麽我對今天的戲就按照我的印象來報導，”呂西安氣憤憤的說。
年輕的女主角對舞臺監督說：“你好糊塗！他是柯拉莉的情人啊。”
舞臺監督立刻回過身來招呼呂西安：“先生，我去報告經理。”
可見報紙在小事情上也顯出無邊的威力，使呂西安的虛榮心感到滿足。經理出來和德·雷托雷公爵和舞蹈明星蒂麗婭商量，要求把呂西安安插在他們緊靠前臺的包廂裏。公爵見是呂西安，答應了。
年輕的雷托雷提到夏特萊男爵和德·巴日東太太，說道：
“兩個人被你擺布得好苦啊。”
呂西安道：“再看明天吧。到此為止，都是我的朋友們出場，衹能算輕裝的步兵，今晚我纔親自放炮。明天你就知道為什麽我們取笑波特萊。文章的題目叫做《從一八一一年的波特萊到一八二一年的波特萊》。在不認恩主，嚮波旁傢賣身投靠的人裏頭，夏特萊是個典型。我的本事要他們完全領教過了，再上德·蒙柯奈太太傢。”
呂西安和青年公爵談話之間盡量賣弄才華，急於嚮這位爵爺證明，德·埃斯巴太太和德·巴日東太太瞧他不起是有眼無珠，大錯特錯。可是他終於顯了原形：他想自稱為德·呂邦潑雷，而德·雷托雷公爵偏偏捉弄他，叫他沙爾東。
公爵說：“你應該做保王黨。你已經顯出你的才氣，現在要表示你識時務了。要得到王上的詔書准許你改用母係的姓，唯一的辦法是先為宮廷出一番力，再要求這個恩典。自由黨永遠不能使你成為伯爵！真正可怕的力量，報刊，早晚要被政府壓倒的。報刊非加以箝製不可，這件事已經拖延太久了。言論自由此刻到了最後階段，你該盡量利用，造成你的聲勢。再過幾年，在法國用姓氏和頭銜做資本，比才幹更可靠。有了這兩樣，一切都不成問題：才智，門第，美貌，要什麽有什麽。你此刻做自由黨，目的衹應該是將來投靠保王黨的時候多沾一些便宜。”
公爵告訴呂西安，他在佛洛麗納的半夜餐席上遇到的公使，要請他吃飯，希望他不要拒絶。呂西安被公爵的議論打動了；幾個月之前以為永遠走不進去的上流社會嚮他開了門，更使他喜出望外。他暗暗贊嘆筆桿子的力量。報刊，才智，竟是現代社會的敲門磚。呂西安心上想，說不定盧斯托正在後悔，不該把他引進廟堂；呂西安為自己打算，已經覺得需要築起壁壘，把從外省趕到巴黎來的野心傢攔在外面。他不敢問自己，倘若有個詩人象他當初投奔艾蒂安那樣來找他，他會采取什麽態度。呂西安心事重重的神氣瞞不過年輕的公爵，原因也被他猜着了；因為公爵嚮這個缺乏意志而欲望不小的野心傢揭露了政治舞臺的遠景，正如早先記者們象魔鬼把耶穌帶到聖殿的頂上①，讓呂西安看到文壇和文壇的財富。呂西安不知道被他的小報傷害的一些人正在設計劃策對付他，其中也有德·雷托雷公爵參加。公爵嚮德·埃斯巴太太圈子裏的人提到呂西安的才氣，叫他們聽着吃驚。他受德·巴日東太太委托，做一番試探工作，本來希望在昂必居喜劇院遇到呂西安。其實上流社會也罷，新聞記者也罷，都談不到深謀遠慮，別以為他們的陷阱經過什麽周密的安排。他們並沒定下方案，姦詐的權術也不過做到哪裏是哪裏，主要是始終存着心，隨機應變，不管好事壞事，都準備利用，但等對方在情欲播弄之下自己送上門來。在佛洛麗納傢吃消夜那天，青年公爵就摸清呂西安的性格，剛纔便覷準他的虛榮心進攻，同時藉他來練練自己的外交手腕。
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①魔彈試探耶穌，忽而帶他到曠野裏，忽而帶往殿堂頂上，忽而帶上高山。見《新約·馬太福音》第四章。
散了戲，呂西安趕往聖菲阿剋街寫劇評，有心寫得潑辣，尖刻，想試試自己的力量。那出戲比上回全景劇場的那一出高明；可是他想知道是否真象人傢說的，能夠把一本好戲壓下去，把一本壞戲捧出來。第二天他和柯拉莉吃着中飯，翻開報紙；他跟昂必居喜劇院搗亂的事已經先和柯拉莉說了。呂西安念了他攻擊德·巴日東太太和夏特萊的文章，然後很奇怪的發現，他的劇評一夜之間忽然變得非常緩和，除掉他極風趣的分析原封不動之外，結論竟是贊美。這出戲盡可使劇院大大的賺一筆。呂西安的氣惱簡直沒法形容，决意嚮盧斯托抗議。他已經以為人傢少不了他了，他不願意做傻子，聽人支配，受人宰割。呂西安為了肯定自己的勢力，替道裏阿和斐諾的雜志寫好一篇文章，把批評拿當作品的議論歸納起來，做一番比較。答應給小報長期執筆的小品，也乘興寫了一篇。年輕的記者都有一股熱情，寫稿很認真，往往很冒失的拿出自己的全部精華。全景劇場的經理貼了一出新排的喜劇，讓佛洛麗納和柯拉莉當晚輪空。吃消夜之前還要賭錢。呂西安看過新戲彩排，預先寫好評論，免得臨時鬧稿荒；盧斯托上門來拿稿子。小報靠呂西安寫的巴黎花絮風行一時；呂西安把纔寫的一個有趣的短篇念給盧斯托聽了，盧斯托親着他兩頰，說他真是新聞界的天使。
“那麽幹嗎你忽發奇想，要改我的稿子呢？”呂西安問。他寫那篇精彩的文章原是想發泄他的怨氣的。
“我改你稿子？”盧斯托叫起來。
“那麽誰改的？”
艾蒂安笑道：“朋友，你還不懂生意經。昂必居訂我們二十份報，實際衹送去九份，就是經理，樂隊指揮，舞臺監督，他們的情婦，另外還有三個股東。大街上的戲院每傢都用這個方式報效我們報館八百法郎。白送斐諾的包廂也抵得這個數目，演員和編劇訂的報還不算在內。壞蛋斐諾在大街上撈到八千法郎。小戲院如此，大戲院可想而知！你明白沒有？咱們不能不盡量客氣。”
“我明白了，我不能照我的心思寫稿子……”
盧斯托道：“那跟你有什麽相幹，衹要你油水撈飽就行了。再說，你對戲院有什麽過不去呢？要砸掉昨天的戲，總得有個理由。為破壞而破壞，衹能損害報紙。按照是非麯直去打擊人，報紙還有什麽作用？可是經理招待不周嗎？”（第2部第28章）
Plot summary
Lucien Chardon, the son of a lower middle-class father and an impoverished mother of remote aristocratic descent, is the pivotal figure of the entire work. Living at Angoulême, he is impoverished, impatient, handsome and ambitious. His widowed mother, his sister Ève and his best friend, David Séchard, do nothing to lessen his high opinion of his own talents, for it is an opinion they share.
Even as Part I of Illusions perdues, Les Deux poètes (The Two Poets), begins, Lucien has already written a historical novel and a sonnet sequence, whereas David is a scientist. But both, according to Balzac, are "poets" in that they creatively seek truth. Theirs is a fraternity of poetic aspiration, whether as scientist or writer: thus, even before David marries Ève, the two young men are spiritual brothers.
Lucien is introduced into the drawing-room of the leading figure of Angoulême high society, Mme de Bargeton, who rapidly becomes infatuated with him. It is not long before the pair flee to Paris where Lucien adopts his maternal patronymic of de Rubempré and hopes to make his mark as a poet. Mme de Bargeton, on the other hand, recognises her mésalliance and, though remaining in Paris, severs all ties with Lucien, abandoning him to a life of destitution.
In Part II, Un Grand homme de province à Paris, Lucien is contrasted both with the journalist Lousteau and the high-minded writer Daniel d’Arthez. Jilted by Mme de Bargeton for the adventurer Sixte du Châtelet, he moves in a social circle of high-class actress-prostitutes and their journalist lovers: soon he becomes the lover of Coralie. As a literary journalist he prostitutes his talent. But he still harbours the ambition of belonging to high society and longs to assume by royal warrant the surname and coat of arms of the de Rubemprés. He therefore switches his allegiance from the liberal opposition press to the one or two royalist newspapers that support the government. This act of betrayal earns him the implacable hatred of his erstwhile journalist colleagues, who destroy Coralie’s theatrical reputation. In the depths of his despair he forges his brother-in-law’s name on three promissory notes. This is his ultimate betrayal of his integrity as a person. After Coralie’s death he returns in disgrace to Angoulême, stowed away behind the Châtelets’ carriage: Mme de Bargeton has just married du Châtelet, who has been appointed prefect of that region.
Meanwhile, at Angoulême David Séchard is betrayed on all sides but is supported by his loving wife. He invents a new and cheaper method of paper production: thus, at a thematic level, the commercialization of paper-manufacturing processes is very closely interwoven with the commercialization of literature. Lucien’s forgery of his brother-in-law’s signature almost bankrupts David, who has to sell the secret of his invention to business rivals. He is about to commit suicide when he is approached by a sham Jesuit priest, the Abbé Carlos Herrera: this, in another guise, is the escaped convict Vautrin whom Balzac had already presented in Le Père Goriot. Herrera takes Lucien under his protection and they drive off to Paris, there to begin a fresh assault on the capital.
Fundamental themes of the work
The novel has four main themes.
(1) The lifestyle of the provinces is juxtaposed with that of the metropolis, as Balzac contrasts the varying tempos of life at Angoulême and in Paris, the different standards obtaining in those cities, and their different perceptions.
(2) Balzac explores the artistic life of Paris in 1821-22, and furthermore the nature of the artistic life generally. Lucien, who was already a not quite published author when the novel begins, fails to get that early literary work published whilst he is in Paris and during his time in the capital writes nothing of any consequence. Daniel d’Arthez, on the other hand, does not actively seek literary fame: it comes to him because of his solid literary merit.
(3) Balzac denounces journalism, presenting it as the most pernicious form of intellectual prostitution.
(4) Balzac affirms the duplicity – and two-facedness – of all things, both in Paris and at Angoulême: e.g., the character of Lucien de Rubempré, who even has two surnames; David Séchard’s ostensible friend, the notary Petit-Claud, who operates against his client, not for him; the legal comptes (accounts) which are contes fantastiques (fantastic tales); the theatre which lives by make-believe; high society likewise; the Abbé Carlos Herrera who is a sham priest, and in fact a criminal; the Sin against the Holy Ghost, whereby Lucien abandons his true integrity as a person, forging his brother-in-law’s signature and even contemplating suicide.
Narrative strategies
(1) Although Illusions perdues is a commentary upon the contemporary world, Balzac is tantalizingly vague in his delineation of the historico-political background. His delineation of the broader social background is far more precise.
(2) Illusions perdues is remarkable for its innumerable changes of tempo. However, even the change of tempo from Part II to Part III is but a superficial point of contrast between life as it is lived in the capital and life in the provinces. Everywhere the same laws of human behaviour apply. A person’s downfall may come from the rapier thrust of the journalist or from the slowly strangling machinations of the law.
(3) Most notably in La Cousine Bette Balzac was one of the first novelists to employ the technique of in medias res. In Illusions perdues there is an unusual example of this, Part II of the novel serving as the prelude to the extended flashback which follows in Part III.
(4) Illusions perdues is also full of the "sublimities and degradations", "excited emphasis" and "romantic rhetoric" to which F.R. Leavis[1] has objected in Le Père Goriot. Characters and viewpoints are polarized. There is the strong and perhaps somewhat artificial contrast between Lucien and David, art and science, Lousteau and d’Arthez, journalism and literature, Paris and the provinces, etc. And this polarization reaches the point of melodrama as Balzac appears to draw moral distinctions between "vice" and "virtue". Coralie is the Fallen Woman, Ève an Angel of strength and purity. Yet Balzac also describes Coralie’s love for Lucien as a form of redemptive purity, an "absolution" and a "benediction". Thus, through what structurally is melodrama, he underlines what he considers to be the fundamental resemblance of opposites.
(5) Introduced into narrative fiction by the Gothic novel (The Castle of Otranto, The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Monk), melodrama was widespread in literature around the time when Illusions perdues was written. Jane Austen satirizes it in Northanger Abbey. Eugène Sue made regular use of it. Instances in Illusions perdues are the use of improbable coincidence; Lucien, in an endeavour to pay Coralie’s funeral expenses, writing bawdy love-songs when her body is hardly yet cold; and the deus ex machina (or Satanas ex machina?) in the form of Herrera’s appearance at the end of the novel.
(6) Like all the major works of the Comédie humaine, Illusions perdues pre-eminently focuses on the social nexus. Within the nexus of love, in her relationship with Lucien, Coralie is life-giving: her love has a sacramental quality. However, in an environment of worldly manœuvring her influence upn him is fatal. She is, in other words, both a Fallen and a Risen Woman; all depends upon the nexus within which she is viewed. In the unpropitious environment of Angoulême Mme de Bargeton is an absurd bluestocking; transplanted to Paris, she undergoes an immediate "metamorphosis", becoming a true denizen of high society – and rightfully, in Part III, the occupant of the préfecture at Angoulême. As to whether Lucien’s writings have any value, the social laws are paramount: this is a fact which he does not realize until it is too late.
(7) A parallel ambiguity is present in the character of the epicene Lucien de Rubempré. Mme de Bargeton finds no fault with his amorous competence, nor does Coralie. Yet, partly because of his existential circumstances and also because of the narrative context in which Balzac places him, it appears that Lucien is fundamentally homosexual. This, incidentally, is almost the first appearance of homosexuality in modern literature.
(8) Illusions perdues is, according to Donald Adamson, "a revelation of the secret workings of the world, rather than a Bildungsroman illuminating the development of character"[2].
The success of this novel inspired Balzac to write a four-part sequel, Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes. Illusions perdues and Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes form part of the Comédie humaine, the series of novels and short stories written by Balzac depicting French society in the period of the Restoration and July Monarchy (1815-1848).
《幽𠔌百合》是法國著名作傢巴爾紮剋最優秀的小說之一，是法國文學寶庫中一顆璀璨的明珠。
青年貴族費利剋斯追求莫瑟夫伯爵夫人。伯爵夫人的丈夫暴戾，家庭生活缺少樂趣。他的介入，掀起她感情上的波瀾。她忍受着內心的痛苦，對丈夫保持忠貞。費利剋斯後去巴黎，經不起貴婦迪特利小姐的誘惑，墜入情網。伯爵夫人得悉，悲痛欲絶，把死當做是天主的恩賜。彌留之際，費利剋斯趕到，她在臨終時給他的信中吐露了隱衷。這是一麯哀婉動人的愛情悲歌。在古堡發生的故事中，讓我們看到了時代變幻的風雲。百日政變的影響、宮廷的變化、老貴族的流亡生活、年輕貴族巴黎發跡等等，無一不打上深深的時代印記。
影片《幽𠔌百合》根據法國著名的批判現實主義文學巨匠巴爾紮剋的同名小說改編。
這是一麯哀婉動人的愛情悲歌。青年貴族費利剋斯在一次舞會上偶遇莫瑟夫伯爵夫人，立刻被她的美貌和高貴的氣質所吸引。費利剋斯回家乡療養時，再度與伯爵夫人相遇，對她産生了真摯的愛情。伯爵夫人的丈夫脾氣暴戾，家庭缺少樂趣，費利剋斯的介入令伯爵夫人感情上掀起了波瀾，但她卻不想背叛丈夫。兩人之間柏拉圖式的精神之戀，引起了英國女貴族杜德萊勳爵夫人的好奇，費利剋斯經不起誘惑，墜入情網，不能自拔。伯爵夫人得知悲痛欲絶，把死當做天主的恩賜，彌留之際，費利剋斯趕到了……
Inspiration
Henriette de Mortsauf was modelled on Balzac's close friend Laure Antoinette de Berny (née Hinner), a woman 22-years his senior who greatly encouraged his early career.[1] Mme de Berny died shortly after reading the completed novel[2] — in which Henriette also dies.
青年貴族費利剋斯追求莫瑟夫伯爵夫人。伯爵夫人的丈夫暴戾，家庭生活缺少樂趣。他的介入，掀起她感情上的波瀾。她忍受着內心的痛苦，對丈夫保持忠貞。費利剋斯後去巴黎，經不起貴婦迪特利小姐的誘惑，墜入情網。伯爵夫人得悉，悲痛欲絶，把死當做是天主的恩賜。彌留之際，費利剋斯趕到，她在臨終時給他的信中吐露了隱衷。這是一麯哀婉動人的愛情悲歌。在古堡發生的故事中，讓我們看到了時代變幻的風雲。百日政變的影響、宮廷的變化、老貴族的流亡生活、年輕貴族巴黎發跡等等，無一不打上深深的時代印記。
影片《幽𠔌百合》根據法國著名的批判現實主義文學巨匠巴爾紮剋的同名小說改編。
這是一麯哀婉動人的愛情悲歌。青年貴族費利剋斯在一次舞會上偶遇莫瑟夫伯爵夫人，立刻被她的美貌和高貴的氣質所吸引。費利剋斯回家乡療養時，再度與伯爵夫人相遇，對她産生了真摯的愛情。伯爵夫人的丈夫脾氣暴戾，家庭缺少樂趣，費利剋斯的介入令伯爵夫人感情上掀起了波瀾，但她卻不想背叛丈夫。兩人之間柏拉圖式的精神之戀，引起了英國女貴族杜德萊勳爵夫人的好奇，費利剋斯經不起誘惑，墜入情網，不能自拔。伯爵夫人得知悲痛欲絶，把死當做天主的恩賜，彌留之際，費利剋斯趕到了……
Inspiration
Henriette de Mortsauf was modelled on Balzac's close friend Laure Antoinette de Berny (née Hinner), a woman 22-years his senior who greatly encouraged his early career.[1] Mme de Berny died shortly after reading the completed novel[2] — in which Henriette also dies.
慳吝精明的百萬富翁有一位天真美麗的獨生女兒，她愛上了一個破産落魄的親戚，為了資助他“闖天下”，傾囊贈予全部積蓄，從而激怒愛財如命的父親，父女間發生激烈衝突，膽小而賢惠的慈母從此一病不起；可在期待中喪失父親，又白白浪費青春的癡情姑娘，最終等到的卻是發財歸來的負心漢。
《歐也妮.葛朗臺》講述的是老葛朗臺的獨生女兒天真美麗的歐也妮愛上了破産落魄的表弟夏爾。為了資助夏爾，她將父親的金幣全部贈給了他，這一舉動激怒了老葛朗臺，父女倆兒發生了激烈的衝突。一嚮膽小而賢淑的母親因此一病不起，而歐也妮這個癡情的姑娘最終等到的卻是發了小財歸來的負心漢。
《歐也妮.葛朗臺》是巴爾紮剋諷刺作品中最具有活力的一部力作。小說中，老葛朗臺與傳統的守財奴的形象不大一樣，它不僅熱衷於守財，更善於發財，他精於算計，能審時度勢，平時不動聲色，看準時機一定會果斷出擊。索漠城裏，誰都嘗到過他的厲害，但他們反倒更敬佩他了，把他看成索漠城的光榮，這是因為金錢在當時社會具有無邊的魅力。老葛朗臺死後，雖然歐也妮.葛朗臺有了一大筆遺産和收入，可是她和以前一樣，過着儉樸的生活。她也是精打細算地，積攢了許多年的傢産，有人說她和她的父親一樣吝嗇。可是，她把錢用到了慈善機構和教育上。她和她的爸爸形成了鮮明的對照。
這本書濃縮之後可能就是一句人生格言，或者，是富含着哲理的一句話，不過他很重要。
《歐也妮.葛朗臺》這部小說揭露了當時資産階級社會中赤裸裸的金錢關係，我讀了這本書受益無窮，我十分喜歡它。
Plot Summary
Eugenie Grandet is set in the town of Saumur. Eugenie's father Felix is a former cooper who has become wealthy through both business ventures and inheritance. However he is very miserly, and he, his wife, daughter and their servant Nanon live in a run down old house which he is too miserly to repair. His banker des Grassins wishes Eugenie to marry his son Adolphe, and his lawyer Cruchot wishes Eugenie to marry his nephew President Cruchot des Bonfons. The two families constantly visit the Grandets to get Felix's favour, and Felix in turn plays them off against each other for his own advantage.
One day in 1819, Felix's nephew Charles Grandet arrives from Paris unexpectedly at their home having been sent there by his father Guillaume. Charles does not realise that his father has gone bankrupt and plans to takes his own life. Guillaume reveals this to his brother Felix in a confidential letter which Charles has carried.
Charles is a spoilt, and indolent young man, who is having an affair with an older woman. His father's ruin and suicide are soon published in the newspaper, and his uncle Felix reveals his problems to him. Felix considers Charles to be a burden, and plans to send him off overseas to make his own fortune. However, Eugenie and Charles fall in love with each other, and hope to eventually marry. She gives him some of her own money to help with his trading ventures.
Meanwhile Felix hatches a plan to profit from his brother's ruin. He announces to Cruchot des Bonfons that he plans to liquidate his brother's business, and so avoid a declaration of bankruptcy, and therefore save the family honour. Cruchot des Bonfons volunteers to go Paris to make the arrangements provided that Felix pays his expenses. The des Grassins then visit just as they are in the middle of discussions, and the banker des Grassins volunteers to do Felix's bidding for free. So Felix accepts des Grassins offer instead of Cruchot des Bonfons. The business is liquidated, and the creditors get 46% of their debts, in exchange for their bank bills. Felix then ignores all demands to pay the rest, whilst selling the bank bills at a profit.
By now Charles has left to travel overseas. He entrusts Eugenie with a small gold plated cabinet which contains pictures of his parents.
Later Felix is angered when he discovers that Eugenie has given her money (all in gold coins) to Charles. This leads to his wife falling ill, and his daughter being confined to her room. Eventually they are reconciled, and Felix reluctantly agrees that Eugenie can marry Charles.
In 1827 Charles returns to France. By now both of Eugenie's parents have died. However Charles is no longer in love with Eugenie. He has become very wealthy through his trading, but he has also become extremely corrupt. He becomes engaged to the daughter of an impoverished aristocratic family, in order to make himself respectable. He writes to Eugenie to announce his marriage plans, and to break off their engagement. He also sends a cheque to pay off the money that she gave him. Eugenie is heartbroken, especially when she discovers that Charles had been back in France for a month when he wrote to her. She sends back the cabinet.
Eugenie then decides to become engaged to Cruchot des Bonfons on two conditions. One is that she remains a virgin, and the other is that he agrees to go to Paris to act for her to pay off all the debts due Guillaume Grandet's creditor's. Bonfons de Cruchot carries out the debt payment in full. This comes just in time for Charles who finds that his future father-in-law objects to letting his daughter marry the son of a bankrupt. When Charles meets Bonfons de Cruchot, he discovers that Eugenie is in fact far wealthier than he is. During his brief stay at Saumur, he had assumed from the state of their home that his relatives were poor.
Bonfons de Cruchot marries Eugenie hopeful of becoming fabulously wealthy. However he dies young, and at the end of the book Eugenie is a very wealthy widow having now inherited her husband's fortune. However she is also very unhappy, and tells her servant Nanon "You are the only one who loves me". She lives in the miserly way in which she was brought up, though without her father's obsession for gold.
Adaptations
Adaptation for cinema:
* 1921 - The Conquering Power - by Rex Ingram - starring Alice Terry (Eugénie), Rudolph Valentino (Charles), Ralph Lewis (Father), Carrie Daumery (Mother), Bridgetta Clark (Mrs Des Grassins)
* 1946 - Eugenia Grandet - by Mario Soldati - starring Alida Valli
* 1965 - Eugenie Grandet - by Rex Tucker - starring Valerie Gearon (Eugénie), Mary Kerridge (Madame des Grassins), Beatrix Lehmann (Madame Grandet), Jonathan Cecil (Adolphe)
* 1993 - Eugénie Grandet, by Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe; starring: Alexandra London (Eugénie), Jean Carmet (Father Grandet), Dominique Labourier (Mother Grandet), Claude Jade (Lucienne des Grassins).
《歐也妮.葛朗臺》講述的是老葛朗臺的獨生女兒天真美麗的歐也妮愛上了破産落魄的表弟夏爾。為了資助夏爾，她將父親的金幣全部贈給了他，這一舉動激怒了老葛朗臺，父女倆兒發生了激烈的衝突。一嚮膽小而賢淑的母親因此一病不起，而歐也妮這個癡情的姑娘最終等到的卻是發了小財歸來的負心漢。
《歐也妮.葛朗臺》是巴爾紮剋諷刺作品中最具有活力的一部力作。小說中，老葛朗臺與傳統的守財奴的形象不大一樣，它不僅熱衷於守財，更善於發財，他精於算計，能審時度勢，平時不動聲色，看準時機一定會果斷出擊。索漠城裏，誰都嘗到過他的厲害，但他們反倒更敬佩他了，把他看成索漠城的光榮，這是因為金錢在當時社會具有無邊的魅力。老葛朗臺死後，雖然歐也妮.葛朗臺有了一大筆遺産和收入，可是她和以前一樣，過着儉樸的生活。她也是精打細算地，積攢了許多年的傢産，有人說她和她的父親一樣吝嗇。可是，她把錢用到了慈善機構和教育上。她和她的爸爸形成了鮮明的對照。
這本書濃縮之後可能就是一句人生格言，或者，是富含着哲理的一句話，不過他很重要。
《歐也妮.葛朗臺》這部小說揭露了當時資産階級社會中赤裸裸的金錢關係，我讀了這本書受益無窮，我十分喜歡它。
Plot Summary
Eugenie Grandet is set in the town of Saumur. Eugenie's father Felix is a former cooper who has become wealthy through both business ventures and inheritance. However he is very miserly, and he, his wife, daughter and their servant Nanon live in a run down old house which he is too miserly to repair. His banker des Grassins wishes Eugenie to marry his son Adolphe, and his lawyer Cruchot wishes Eugenie to marry his nephew President Cruchot des Bonfons. The two families constantly visit the Grandets to get Felix's favour, and Felix in turn plays them off against each other for his own advantage.
One day in 1819, Felix's nephew Charles Grandet arrives from Paris unexpectedly at their home having been sent there by his father Guillaume. Charles does not realise that his father has gone bankrupt and plans to takes his own life. Guillaume reveals this to his brother Felix in a confidential letter which Charles has carried.
Charles is a spoilt, and indolent young man, who is having an affair with an older woman. His father's ruin and suicide are soon published in the newspaper, and his uncle Felix reveals his problems to him. Felix considers Charles to be a burden, and plans to send him off overseas to make his own fortune. However, Eugenie and Charles fall in love with each other, and hope to eventually marry. She gives him some of her own money to help with his trading ventures.
Meanwhile Felix hatches a plan to profit from his brother's ruin. He announces to Cruchot des Bonfons that he plans to liquidate his brother's business, and so avoid a declaration of bankruptcy, and therefore save the family honour. Cruchot des Bonfons volunteers to go Paris to make the arrangements provided that Felix pays his expenses. The des Grassins then visit just as they are in the middle of discussions, and the banker des Grassins volunteers to do Felix's bidding for free. So Felix accepts des Grassins offer instead of Cruchot des Bonfons. The business is liquidated, and the creditors get 46% of their debts, in exchange for their bank bills. Felix then ignores all demands to pay the rest, whilst selling the bank bills at a profit.
By now Charles has left to travel overseas. He entrusts Eugenie with a small gold plated cabinet which contains pictures of his parents.
Later Felix is angered when he discovers that Eugenie has given her money (all in gold coins) to Charles. This leads to his wife falling ill, and his daughter being confined to her room. Eventually they are reconciled, and Felix reluctantly agrees that Eugenie can marry Charles.
In 1827 Charles returns to France. By now both of Eugenie's parents have died. However Charles is no longer in love with Eugenie. He has become very wealthy through his trading, but he has also become extremely corrupt. He becomes engaged to the daughter of an impoverished aristocratic family, in order to make himself respectable. He writes to Eugenie to announce his marriage plans, and to break off their engagement. He also sends a cheque to pay off the money that she gave him. Eugenie is heartbroken, especially when she discovers that Charles had been back in France for a month when he wrote to her. She sends back the cabinet.
Eugenie then decides to become engaged to Cruchot des Bonfons on two conditions. One is that she remains a virgin, and the other is that he agrees to go to Paris to act for her to pay off all the debts due Guillaume Grandet's creditor's. Bonfons de Cruchot carries out the debt payment in full. This comes just in time for Charles who finds that his future father-in-law objects to letting his daughter marry the son of a bankrupt. When Charles meets Bonfons de Cruchot, he discovers that Eugenie is in fact far wealthier than he is. During his brief stay at Saumur, he had assumed from the state of their home that his relatives were poor.
Bonfons de Cruchot marries Eugenie hopeful of becoming fabulously wealthy. However he dies young, and at the end of the book Eugenie is a very wealthy widow having now inherited her husband's fortune. However she is also very unhappy, and tells her servant Nanon "You are the only one who loves me". She lives in the miserly way in which she was brought up, though without her father's obsession for gold.
Adaptations
Adaptation for cinema:
* 1921 - The Conquering Power - by Rex Ingram - starring Alice Terry (Eugénie), Rudolph Valentino (Charles), Ralph Lewis (Father), Carrie Daumery (Mother), Bridgetta Clark (Mrs Des Grassins)
* 1946 - Eugenia Grandet - by Mario Soldati - starring Alida Valli
* 1965 - Eugenie Grandet - by Rex Tucker - starring Valerie Gearon (Eugénie), Mary Kerridge (Madame des Grassins), Beatrix Lehmann (Madame Grandet), Jonathan Cecil (Adolphe)
* 1993 - Eugénie Grandet, by Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe; starring: Alexandra London (Eugénie), Jean Carmet (Father Grandet), Dominique Labourier (Mother Grandet), Claude Jade (Lucienne des Grassins).
巴爾紮剋從1829年開始創作《人間喜劇》，到1848年，其間經過20年。從創作發展道路看，大約可分為三個階段：①1829～1835年，是他的創作走上成熟的時期，這期間，一共寫了40多部，大都是中、短篇小說。《歐也妮·葛朗臺》和《高老頭》是這一時期的代表作。前者真實、生動地再現了19世紀初期法國的外省生活，塑造了在法國大革命變動中發跡的資産階級人物，特別是刻畫了一個狡獪、貪婪、吝嗇的暴發戶的典型形象，揭露了資本主義社會人與人之間的金錢關係；後者是巴爾紮剋最知名的作品，深刻反映了復闢王朝的社會狀況，以高老頭的父愛反襯出金錢的罪惡，尤其刻畫了資産階級個人野心傢的典型。②1836～1842年共寫了30多部作品。其中最重要的是《幻滅》，它深刻反映了復闢王朝時期尖銳的階級對立和黨派鬥爭，還描寫了經濟領域的自由競爭吞併現象。③1843～1848年。當時正是七月王朝末期，階級鬥爭十分尖銳，社會腐敗日益明顯，因而，七月王朝的現實便成為他作品中正面描寫的重大題材。代表作《農民》是一部直接描寫農村階級鬥爭的長篇小說。它通過復闢王朝時期農村中資産階級聯合農民同返回農村的貴族地主進行較量，終於把貴族趕走的過程，深刻反映了當時法國農村發生的變化。這一階段另一部代表作《貝姨》通過對好色的於洛男爵和暴發戶剋勒凡的刻畫，及對七月王朝社會現象的廣阔細緻的描繪，抨擊了七月王朝腐朽的本質。
《蘇城舞會》蘇城舞會
《人間喜劇》共包括90多部長篇、中篇、短篇小說，出現了2400多個人物，觸及到社會各階層，包括資産者、貴族、野心傢、政治傢、司法人員、軍人、教士、藝術傢、農民、工人、科學家、職員、警探等，被稱為“社會百科全書”，為世界文學史所罕見。恩格斯認為《人間喜劇》是一部偉大的作品，稱贊作者“提供了一部法國‘社會’特別是巴黎‘上流社會’的卓越的現實主義歷史”。恩格斯還說,巴爾紮剋的“偉大作品是對上流社會必然崩潰的一麯無盡的輓歌,他的全部同情都在註定要滅亡的那個階級方面。但是，儘管如此,當他讓他所深切同情的那些貴族男女行動的時候,他的嘲笑是空前尖刻,他的諷刺是空前辛辣的”。
《蘇城舞會》-作品介紹
作品幽默地描寫了美麗而又聰慧的愛米莉小姐，因為一個神情喜歡上了一個陌生男子，甚至把他誇張想象成了亞力山大、拜侖、其它偉大的人物，但卻因為荒唐的傳統觀念和陳腐的成見竟在一瞬之間毀掉了她夢寐以求的幸福，釀成了一生令人欲哭無淚的愛情悲劇。
《蘇城舞會》愛米莉
老貴族德·封丹納伯爵對王室忠心耿耿，但在現實生活中卻表現得十分實際。他讓三個兒子和兩個女兒都與資産者新貴聯姻，為的是彌補自己財力的空虛，表現出他對江河日下的命運的清醒認識。三女愛米莉雖是最年輕的一個，但其觀念之陳腐既甚於兄姐，也甚於老父。她虛榮而固執的認為一位巴黎女子，可以跑到沙漠裏去住帳篷，但是絶不會坐到店鋪的櫃臺裏。决不屈尊下嫁的門閥之見釀成了她的婚姻悲劇，使她失去了愛情的幸福，也失去了她所追求的虛榮。而審時度勢，善於順應潮流，且有務實精神的貴族後裔馬剋西米利安，卻成了政治舞臺和經濟生活中的佼佼者。巴爾紮剋對封建傳統觀念的嘲弄是辛辣的，對社會情勢的把握是準確的。最後愛米莉看着舊日愛人出神的時候,輸掉了牌局,德·佩塞波裏主教和藹地說：“美麗的夫人，您把‘紅心王’打出去了，我贏了。不過，您不必吝惜輸掉的錢，我都給我的修道院留着。”一語雙關,指愛米莉因為分神出錯了牌，打錯了紅心王；又諷刺她因為門第偏見和虛榮錯失了自己最愛的人，同時也錯失了自己最嚮往的虛榮生活。
《蘇城舞會》巴爾紮剋
《蘇城舞會》發表於七月革命前夕的1829年，尚屬巴爾紮剋的試筆之作，但作者形象地刻畫了復闢時期貴族的尷尬地位。隨着貴族階級經濟力量的衰落, 比較明智的貴族不斷改變着以往根深蒂固的封建意識,紛紛與資産階級聯姻,以維持和加強自我在經濟上和政治上的實力地位。《蘇城舞會》中的封丹納伯爵就是這樣的識時務者，封丹納伯爵雖然出身於古老的貴族世傢，但他看到了貴族不可避免的衰亡命運因而贊同兒子、女兒與資産者結親。巴爾紮剋寫出了社會風氣的變化，對門閥的尊崇讓位於對金錢的膜拜，資産階級婦女取代了貴婦人，活躍在上流社會中。巴爾紮剋的階級同情,是在註定要滅亡的貴族一邊的,然而他同情的淚水擋不住他現實主義的目光, 他不得不違背自己的階級同情和政治偏愛,如泣如訴地描繪了他心愛的貴族階級的必然沒落而不配有更好的命運。
《蘇城舞會》-作品引用
愛米莉是巴黎貴族世傢德.封丹納伯爵的女兒。她不僅長得美麗，而且才華出衆。在社交界裏，她被驕傲的女皇。
《蘇城舞會》愛米莉
這年夏季，德.封丹納一傢來到蘇城避暑。每逢星期日，這兒都舉行盛大的露天舞會。愛米莉別出心裁地把自己打扮成一個村姑去參加舞會。在舞會上，愛米莉偶然發現一個青年，她被他漂亮的外表所吸引，並從他瀟灑的風度和華麗的服飾斷定：“他肯定是貴族。”後來她認識了她眼中的貴族——竜格威並且兩人情投意合。
在回去時她鼓足勇氣問道：“你是貴族嗎？”
竜格威面色陰沉，他說：“我愛你。難道還有別的比這更重要嗎？”他那堅定的口氣和目光使她羞愧得低下了頭。
後愛米莉走進市中心的一傢布店，一個意想不到的場面驚得她瞠目結舌：竜格威坐在櫃臺裏，正用商人熟練的動作數着金幣。
竜格威看見愛米莉，惶惑不安地來到她面前說：“小姐，這種生意上麻煩弄得人不可開交。我希望你能理解......”
“這跟我毫無相幹！”愛米莉說完轉身便走。
竜格威多次求見，都遭到她的拒絶。她用最刻毒的言語來咒駡世上的一切商人。
即使舅公告訴愛米莉：竜格威出身貴族家庭，為了哥哥的前程，他放棄了財産和爵位的繼承。他要靠自己的力量來生活，他是個有為的青年。愛米莉聽了無動於衷。
在一個舞會上，竜格威來到她跟前，懇切地說：“愛米莉，丟掉那種過份的虛榮心吧！”愛米莉尖刻地答道：“我寧可跟情人到沙漠上去，也不願陪他去坐櫃臺！”格威面色蒼白，表情痛苦地說：“那我衹得離開巴黎......”愛米莉不耐煩地打斷他的話：“等你回來我也許已經同別人結婚了。”竜格威到意大利去了。
《蘇城舞會》蘇城舞會
由於愛米莉那種高傲的門第觀念和好挑剔的性格，那些過去的追求者都成了她現在的敵人。社會輿論使她變得非常孤立。德.封丹納的門庭顯得空前冷落。隨着年華的逝去，愛米莉的父母先後去世，舅公成了她唯一的保護人。愛米莉為了自己不成為老處女，衹得同年邁的舅公結婚。在豪華的婚禮上，人們從她美麗的臉頰上看到一種失敗的笑容。海軍基地中將對年輕的夫人百般體貼。為了使她開心，他不停地舉行着宴會。可是，表面的富麗堂皇永遠無法填補愛米莉空虛的心靈。
二年之後，竜格威在一次公開宴會上出現。愛米莉聽說竜格威的哥哥去世後，他不僅繼承了父兄的遺産，而且得到了世襲議院貴族封號。事到如今，悔之晚矣！愛米莉全身哆嗦，她神志恍惚地打出一張牌，在座的主教譏諷地笑着說：“美麗的夫人，您把‘紅心王’打出去了，我贏了。不過，您不必吝惜輸掉的錢，我都給我的修道院留着。”
《蘇城舞會》-藝術價值
巴爾紮剋善於通過環境描寫再現時代風貌，他的作品富有時代氣息，具有非凡的藝術魅力。他還把環境描寫同人物塑造緊密結合起來，善於對人物外貌作精細描寫，又擅長刻畫人物的心理變化，並運用個性化的語言和誇張手法來充實和突出性格特徵，使人物顯得有血有肉。巴爾紮剋的小說構思巧妙，結構多種多樣而又具有獨特的風格。他的不少作品還帶有濃厚的浪漫色彩，大大豐富和發展了現實主義創作方法。他的創作方法和藝術技巧對後世的法國文學乃至世界文學産生了極其深遠的影響。作為藝術巨匠的巴爾紮剋，在他描寫人物的多方面成就中，通過一係列具體而典型的細節描寫來突出人物性格特點，這點則更可稱道。這種對細節描寫的逼真同樣使人物更具真實感，更富感染力。
巴爾紮剋的世界觀充滿了矛盾，並充分體現在其作品中。《蘇城舞會》通過對小說主人公形象、命運的分析，探討女性意識對作品主題及人物的影響，洞察和解讀作傢內心復雜而真實的潛隱思想。
The first edition of this novella was published in 1830 by Mame and Delaunay-Vallée in the Scènes de la vie privée (Scenes of Private Life). It was republished in 1835 by Madame Charles-Béchet, in 1839 in the Charpentier edition, and then in 1842 in the first volume of the Furne edition of la Comédie Humaine.
Analysis
In writing this novella Balzac seems to have been inspired by the fables of La Fontaine, especially La fille ("The Girl") and Héron ("The Heron"). There is also an allusion to La Fontaine in the choice of Émilie’s surname. The plot is similar to that of another of Balzac's works, La Vieille Fille (The Old Maid), the subject of which hesitates between several suitors and finishes by making do with the only one left.
A similar plot informs Aleksandr Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin, which was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832.
Plot
After having haughtily refused a number of suitors, under the pretext that they are not peers of France, Émilie de Fontaine falls in love with a mysterious young man who quietly appeared at the village dance at Sceaux. Despite his refined appearance and aristocratic bearing, the unknown (Maximilien Longueville) never tells his identity and seems interested in nobody but his sister, a sickly young girl. But he is not insensible to the attention Émilie gives him and he accepts the invitation of Émilie’s father, the Comte de Fontaine. Émilie and Maximilien soon fall in love. The Comte de Fontaine, concerned for his daughter, decides to investigate this mysterious young man, and he discovers him on the Rue du Sentier, a simple cloth merchant, which horrifies Émilie. Piqued, she marries a 70 year old uncle for his title of Vice Admiral, the Comte de Kergarouët.
Several years after her marriage, Émilie discovers that Maximilien is not a clothier at all, but in fact a Vicomte de Longueville who has become a Peer of France. The young man finally explains why he secretly tended a store: he did it in order to support his family, sacrificing himself for his sick sister and for his brother, who had departed the country.
《蘇城舞會》蘇城舞會
《人間喜劇》共包括90多部長篇、中篇、短篇小說，出現了2400多個人物，觸及到社會各階層，包括資産者、貴族、野心傢、政治傢、司法人員、軍人、教士、藝術傢、農民、工人、科學家、職員、警探等，被稱為“社會百科全書”，為世界文學史所罕見。恩格斯認為《人間喜劇》是一部偉大的作品，稱贊作者“提供了一部法國‘社會’特別是巴黎‘上流社會’的卓越的現實主義歷史”。恩格斯還說,巴爾紮剋的“偉大作品是對上流社會必然崩潰的一麯無盡的輓歌,他的全部同情都在註定要滅亡的那個階級方面。但是，儘管如此,當他讓他所深切同情的那些貴族男女行動的時候,他的嘲笑是空前尖刻,他的諷刺是空前辛辣的”。
《蘇城舞會》-作品介紹
作品幽默地描寫了美麗而又聰慧的愛米莉小姐，因為一個神情喜歡上了一個陌生男子，甚至把他誇張想象成了亞力山大、拜侖、其它偉大的人物，但卻因為荒唐的傳統觀念和陳腐的成見竟在一瞬之間毀掉了她夢寐以求的幸福，釀成了一生令人欲哭無淚的愛情悲劇。
《蘇城舞會》愛米莉
老貴族德·封丹納伯爵對王室忠心耿耿，但在現實生活中卻表現得十分實際。他讓三個兒子和兩個女兒都與資産者新貴聯姻，為的是彌補自己財力的空虛，表現出他對江河日下的命運的清醒認識。三女愛米莉雖是最年輕的一個，但其觀念之陳腐既甚於兄姐，也甚於老父。她虛榮而固執的認為一位巴黎女子，可以跑到沙漠裏去住帳篷，但是絶不會坐到店鋪的櫃臺裏。决不屈尊下嫁的門閥之見釀成了她的婚姻悲劇，使她失去了愛情的幸福，也失去了她所追求的虛榮。而審時度勢，善於順應潮流，且有務實精神的貴族後裔馬剋西米利安，卻成了政治舞臺和經濟生活中的佼佼者。巴爾紮剋對封建傳統觀念的嘲弄是辛辣的，對社會情勢的把握是準確的。最後愛米莉看着舊日愛人出神的時候,輸掉了牌局,德·佩塞波裏主教和藹地說：“美麗的夫人，您把‘紅心王’打出去了，我贏了。不過，您不必吝惜輸掉的錢，我都給我的修道院留着。”一語雙關,指愛米莉因為分神出錯了牌，打錯了紅心王；又諷刺她因為門第偏見和虛榮錯失了自己最愛的人，同時也錯失了自己最嚮往的虛榮生活。
《蘇城舞會》巴爾紮剋
《蘇城舞會》發表於七月革命前夕的1829年，尚屬巴爾紮剋的試筆之作，但作者形象地刻畫了復闢時期貴族的尷尬地位。隨着貴族階級經濟力量的衰落, 比較明智的貴族不斷改變着以往根深蒂固的封建意識,紛紛與資産階級聯姻,以維持和加強自我在經濟上和政治上的實力地位。《蘇城舞會》中的封丹納伯爵就是這樣的識時務者，封丹納伯爵雖然出身於古老的貴族世傢，但他看到了貴族不可避免的衰亡命運因而贊同兒子、女兒與資産者結親。巴爾紮剋寫出了社會風氣的變化，對門閥的尊崇讓位於對金錢的膜拜，資産階級婦女取代了貴婦人，活躍在上流社會中。巴爾紮剋的階級同情,是在註定要滅亡的貴族一邊的,然而他同情的淚水擋不住他現實主義的目光, 他不得不違背自己的階級同情和政治偏愛,如泣如訴地描繪了他心愛的貴族階級的必然沒落而不配有更好的命運。
《蘇城舞會》-作品引用
愛米莉是巴黎貴族世傢德.封丹納伯爵的女兒。她不僅長得美麗，而且才華出衆。在社交界裏，她被驕傲的女皇。
《蘇城舞會》愛米莉
這年夏季，德.封丹納一傢來到蘇城避暑。每逢星期日，這兒都舉行盛大的露天舞會。愛米莉別出心裁地把自己打扮成一個村姑去參加舞會。在舞會上，愛米莉偶然發現一個青年，她被他漂亮的外表所吸引，並從他瀟灑的風度和華麗的服飾斷定：“他肯定是貴族。”後來她認識了她眼中的貴族——竜格威並且兩人情投意合。
在回去時她鼓足勇氣問道：“你是貴族嗎？”
竜格威面色陰沉，他說：“我愛你。難道還有別的比這更重要嗎？”他那堅定的口氣和目光使她羞愧得低下了頭。
後愛米莉走進市中心的一傢布店，一個意想不到的場面驚得她瞠目結舌：竜格威坐在櫃臺裏，正用商人熟練的動作數着金幣。
竜格威看見愛米莉，惶惑不安地來到她面前說：“小姐，這種生意上麻煩弄得人不可開交。我希望你能理解......”
“這跟我毫無相幹！”愛米莉說完轉身便走。
竜格威多次求見，都遭到她的拒絶。她用最刻毒的言語來咒駡世上的一切商人。
即使舅公告訴愛米莉：竜格威出身貴族家庭，為了哥哥的前程，他放棄了財産和爵位的繼承。他要靠自己的力量來生活，他是個有為的青年。愛米莉聽了無動於衷。
在一個舞會上，竜格威來到她跟前，懇切地說：“愛米莉，丟掉那種過份的虛榮心吧！”愛米莉尖刻地答道：“我寧可跟情人到沙漠上去，也不願陪他去坐櫃臺！”格威面色蒼白，表情痛苦地說：“那我衹得離開巴黎......”愛米莉不耐煩地打斷他的話：“等你回來我也許已經同別人結婚了。”竜格威到意大利去了。
《蘇城舞會》蘇城舞會
由於愛米莉那種高傲的門第觀念和好挑剔的性格，那些過去的追求者都成了她現在的敵人。社會輿論使她變得非常孤立。德.封丹納的門庭顯得空前冷落。隨着年華的逝去，愛米莉的父母先後去世，舅公成了她唯一的保護人。愛米莉為了自己不成為老處女，衹得同年邁的舅公結婚。在豪華的婚禮上，人們從她美麗的臉頰上看到一種失敗的笑容。海軍基地中將對年輕的夫人百般體貼。為了使她開心，他不停地舉行着宴會。可是，表面的富麗堂皇永遠無法填補愛米莉空虛的心靈。
二年之後，竜格威在一次公開宴會上出現。愛米莉聽說竜格威的哥哥去世後，他不僅繼承了父兄的遺産，而且得到了世襲議院貴族封號。事到如今，悔之晚矣！愛米莉全身哆嗦，她神志恍惚地打出一張牌，在座的主教譏諷地笑着說：“美麗的夫人，您把‘紅心王’打出去了，我贏了。不過，您不必吝惜輸掉的錢，我都給我的修道院留着。”
《蘇城舞會》-藝術價值
巴爾紮剋善於通過環境描寫再現時代風貌，他的作品富有時代氣息，具有非凡的藝術魅力。他還把環境描寫同人物塑造緊密結合起來，善於對人物外貌作精細描寫，又擅長刻畫人物的心理變化，並運用個性化的語言和誇張手法來充實和突出性格特徵，使人物顯得有血有肉。巴爾紮剋的小說構思巧妙，結構多種多樣而又具有獨特的風格。他的不少作品還帶有濃厚的浪漫色彩，大大豐富和發展了現實主義創作方法。他的創作方法和藝術技巧對後世的法國文學乃至世界文學産生了極其深遠的影響。作為藝術巨匠的巴爾紮剋，在他描寫人物的多方面成就中，通過一係列具體而典型的細節描寫來突出人物性格特點，這點則更可稱道。這種對細節描寫的逼真同樣使人物更具真實感，更富感染力。
巴爾紮剋的世界觀充滿了矛盾，並充分體現在其作品中。《蘇城舞會》通過對小說主人公形象、命運的分析，探討女性意識對作品主題及人物的影響，洞察和解讀作傢內心復雜而真實的潛隱思想。
The first edition of this novella was published in 1830 by Mame and Delaunay-Vallée in the Scènes de la vie privée (Scenes of Private Life). It was republished in 1835 by Madame Charles-Béchet, in 1839 in the Charpentier edition, and then in 1842 in the first volume of the Furne edition of la Comédie Humaine.
Analysis
In writing this novella Balzac seems to have been inspired by the fables of La Fontaine, especially La fille ("The Girl") and Héron ("The Heron"). There is also an allusion to La Fontaine in the choice of Émilie’s surname. The plot is similar to that of another of Balzac's works, La Vieille Fille (The Old Maid), the subject of which hesitates between several suitors and finishes by making do with the only one left.
A similar plot informs Aleksandr Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin, which was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832.
Plot
After having haughtily refused a number of suitors, under the pretext that they are not peers of France, Émilie de Fontaine falls in love with a mysterious young man who quietly appeared at the village dance at Sceaux. Despite his refined appearance and aristocratic bearing, the unknown (Maximilien Longueville) never tells his identity and seems interested in nobody but his sister, a sickly young girl. But he is not insensible to the attention Émilie gives him and he accepts the invitation of Émilie’s father, the Comte de Fontaine. Émilie and Maximilien soon fall in love. The Comte de Fontaine, concerned for his daughter, decides to investigate this mysterious young man, and he discovers him on the Rue du Sentier, a simple cloth merchant, which horrifies Émilie. Piqued, she marries a 70 year old uncle for his title of Vice Admiral, the Comte de Kergarouët.
Several years after her marriage, Émilie discovers that Maximilien is not a clothier at all, but in fact a Vicomte de Longueville who has become a Peer of France. The young man finally explains why he secretly tended a store: he did it in order to support his family, sacrificing himself for his sick sister and for his brother, who had departed the country.
一八二二年春初，巴黎的大夫們把一個病後復原的青年送到下諾曼底來，他害的是炎癥，原因是用功過度，或者是生活放蕩，漫沒節制。他的康復要求絶對休息，飲食清淡，周圍有寒冷空氣和完全避免過度的感宮刺激。貝森的肥沃的田野和外省死氣沉沉的生活，似乎最有利於他的恢復健康。於是他就到貝葉城住進他的一個表姐傢；貝葉是一個美麗的城市，離海衹有八公裏，他的表姐過慣了隱居的生活，有一個親戚或者朋友到來就喜不自勝，對他表示了特別熱烈的歡迎。
除了少數特殊習俗。所有小城市都是相似的。這位名叫加斯東·德·尼埃耶男爵先生的巴黎青年，在他表姐聖瑟韋爾夫人傢裏，或者在她的一夥朋友傢裏，參加了幾個晚會以後。不久就認識了這個僻靜社會視為全城頭面人物的人們。加斯東·德·尼埃耶把這些人視為永久不變的人物，任何一個觀察傢在從前組成法蘭西的無數封建藩侯的首府裏，都可以發現這些人物 。同時每個人都斥責別人的生活方式，盡力叫人相信他是這個社會中的一個例外，他曾經設法改革這個社會而沒有成功。如果，這個新來的人不幸也說了幾句批評的話，證實這些人彼此間互相指摘的意見是正確的。那麽他馬上就被視為無法無天的壞人，是個腐化墮落的巴黎人，跟通常所有的巴黎人一樣。
加斯東·德·尼埃耶在這個小小天地裏露臉的時候，事先他已經被貝葉城公共輿論不會有錯的天平稱過斤兩。因為在這個小小社會裏一切完全遵守禮節，生活裏每件事都是協調的，沒有半點事情能瞞過別人，所有爵位和領地的價值都有價格標明，跟報紙末頁所登載的債券價格一樣。他的表姐聖瑟韋爾夫人早已說過他的財産數字，他的未來希望，也展示過他的傢譜，吹噓過他的學識，他的禮貌和他的廉讓。他所受到的歡迎是他理應受到的，他被不客氣地接待為一個優秀的小貴族，因為他的年紀衹有二十三歲；可是有幾個年輕姑娘和幾位母親卻對他另眼相看，允滿溫情。他在奧熱山𠔌裏擁有一萬八千法朗的年地租，他的父親早晚會遺留給他那座馬內維爾古堡及其他部附屬建築物。至於他的所受教育，他的政治前程，他的人品，他的天才，都不成其為問題。他擁有的土地都十分肥沃，地租是有保證的；栽種的植物尤其優良，維修費用和捐稅都由佃戶負擔；”蘋果樹都已經長了三十八年了；而他的父親還在商量一筆交易，想把同他的花園連接的二百阿爾邦森林買下來，給花園圍上圍墻；這些優點是任何當部長的希望，任何人世的聲譽都不能與之競爭的，不知是出於狡猾或是另有打算，聖瑟韋爾夫人沒有提起加斯東的哥哥，加斯東自己也一字不提。這個哥哥患上肺病，似乎不久就要被人埋葬、哀哭而且遺忘了。開頭加斯東·德·尼埃耶拿這些人物來作消遣，可以說，他把這些人物的尊容都描繪在他的畫册裏了，他把這些人物的有凌角的、多皺紋的、鈎鼻的模樣兒描繪得有趣而逼真，他註意到他們的服裝和臉上肌肉的抽搐多麽古怪而可笑；他非常喜歡聽他們說話裏的諾曼底方言，非常喜歡他們守舊的觀念和粗野的性格。可是，在一段時間內習慣了這種鬆鼠在籠子裏打轉似的生活以後，他覺察到在這種停滯而不可改變的生活中缺乏對立的變化，同修道士關在修道院裏沒有什麽兩樣，因而他就苦悶起來，雖然這種苦悶還不是煩惱和厭惡，但是這兩者的效果都有了。經過這種過渡時期的輕微痛苦以後，一個人像植物一樣移植到一個相反環境的過程就完成了，在這個新環境中他必須自行萎縮，過着一種生長不良的生活。事實上，如果沒有任何東西把他拉出這個社會，他就會在不知不覺間適應了這個社會的生活習慣，他不再怕這個社會的空虛無聊，這種空虛無聊會侵襲他，把他完全消滅。加斯東的肺部早已習慣於呼吸這種空氣了。他已經完全準備好要確認在這種無所用心、不動腦筋的日子裏有一種麻木不仁的幸福，他開始忘記了那種精力不斷更新的運動，忘記了他在巴黎曾經那麽熱愛過的能經常結出豐碩成果的腦力運用，他要永久留在這裏，在這些化石中間僵化，像尤利西斯的夥伴們一樣，在豬身裏就滿足了。有一天晚上，加斯東·德·尼埃耶在一傢人傢的客廳裏，坐在一位老太太和本主教管區的一個代理主教之間。這所客廳的細木護壁板漆成灰色，地上鋪着白土大方磚，挂着幾張傢裏人的畫像，擺着四張賭桌，十六個人圍着賭桌一邊閑談，一邊打惠斯特紙牌。他在那裏什麽也不想，衹在消化他吃下去的美味晚餐，這種精美的晚餐就是外省日常生活的美好未來，他出乎意外發現自己正在贊同當地的生活習慣。他明白了為什麽這些人繼續使用昨天的舊紙牌，為什麽他們在破舊的賭桌上洗牌，他們怎樣才能做到既不為自己，也不為別人穿上好看的衣服。他猜到了有一種哲學思想隱藏在這種循環往復、千篇一律的生活裏，在這種合乎邏輯的安靜習慣裏，在他們不識時髦豪華為何物裏。總之，他幾乎懂得了奢侈生活的無益。巴黎城，連同它的激情，它的風暴，它的歡樂，在他的心中已經變成了童年的回憶。他真心誠意地贊美一個年輕姑娘的紅潤的雙手，謙卑和含羞的神態，雖然初看起來，他覺得她一臉蠢相，舉止缺少風韻，全身令人厭惡，外貌尤其可笑。他已經無可救藥了。從前他從外省到巴黎去，現在他又從巴黎火熱的生活中回到外省的冷冰冰的生活裏來，沒有一句話可以震動他的耳膜，可以使他突然激動起來，如同一出沉悶歌劇的伴奏，突然出現一段奇特的樂章叫人興奮一樣。
“你昨天不是去看過德·鮑賽昂夫人嗎？”一位老太太問這地區最豪華府第的主人。
“我是今天早上去看她的，”他回答。“我發覺她十分愁悶和痛苦，以至我沒法子叫她答應明天來我傢吃飯。”
“你是同尊夫人一起去的嗎？”老太太大聲問，露出驚異的神色。
“不錯，是同內人一起去的，”貴族平靜地回答。“德·鮑賽昂夫人不是勃艮弟傢族的人嗎？雖然衹是女傢方面的親戚，可是這個姓把一切都洗刷了。內人很喜歡鮑賽昂子爵夫人，這位可憐的夫人孤單一個人已經過了這麽長的日子了……”說着最後幾句話的時候，德·尚皮涅勒侯爵冷冷地、平靜地環顧周圍聽他說話而且端詳着他的貴婦人；不過幾乎不可能猜出他是同情德·鮑賽昂夫人的不幸遭遇呢，還是對她的貴族身份讓步；也不知他以接待她為榮呢，還是他為了滿足自尊心，要強迫當地的貴族和他們的夫人們去接見她。
在場的貴婦面面相覷，仿佛用眼睛來互相商量；於是最深沉的靜寂籠罩着客廳，她們的態度看來是表示不同意這樣做。“這位德·鮑賽昂夫人會不會就是那位跟笪瞿達—潘托先生戀愛而鬧得滿城風雨的那位呀？”加斯東問他旁邊的那位女客。
在沿着庫爾瑟勒樓房的圍墻走着的時候，如果偶然聽到了一個園丁的笨重的腳步聲，加斯東的心就會由於希望和快樂而劇烈地跳動。
他很想寫信給德·鮑賽昂夫人，可是對一個沒有見過面而且與他不認識的女人，說些什麽好呢？何況加斯東也不相信自己；他同許多還充滿幻想的青年一樣，不怕死，更害怕的是得不到對方的答復，因為這就是最可怕的蔑視，衹要他一想起他的第一封情書完全有可能被扔進火裏，他就戰慄起來。他心裏有千萬種矛盾的思想在鬥爭着。可是到了最後，由於他多方幻想，假設了各種離奇的遭遇，又絞盡腦汁，他居然找到了一個可喜的計策，這種計策衹要拼命想象，總是可以在想象出來的一大堆計策中找到的，它能告訴最天真的女人，一個男子熱情關心她到了怎樣的程度。社會上的怪現象在一個女人和她的情人間所製造出來的真正障礙，並不比東方詩人的的美妙神話故事中虛構出來的障礙少，而且他們虛構的最荒誕的形象也很少是過甚其詞的。因此，在現實生活中就如同在童話世界裏一樣，女人總屬於那個懂得到達她身邊，而且能把她從受煎熬的環境裏解救出來的男人所有。最窮苦的遊方僧們如果愛上以了哈裏發的女兒，他們兩人間的距離，也决不會比加斯東和德·鮑賽昂夫人之間的距離更遠。子爵夫人一點也不知道德·尼埃耶先生會在她的周圍挖了一道封鎖壕，而德·尼埃耶先生的愛情卻隨着障礙的擴大而加深，並且把遙遠景物所具有的美感和魅力，都放在以他這位想象中的情人身上。
《被遺棄的女人》-創作背景
19世紀上半葉是法國資本主義建立的初期，拿破侖在1815年的滑鐵盧戰役中徹底敗北，由此波旁王朝復闢，統治一直延續到1830年。由於查理十世的反動政策激怒了人民，七月革命僅僅三天便推倒了復闢王朝，開始了長達18年的七月王朝的統治，由金融資産階級掌握了政權。《歐也妮·葛朗臺》發表於1833年，也即七月王朝初期。剛過去的復闢王朝在人們的頭腦中還記憶猶新。復闢時期，貴族雖然從國外返回了法國，耀武揚威，不可一世，可是他們的實際地位與法國大革命以前不可同日而語，因為資産階級已經強大起來。剛上臺的路易十八不得不頒布新憲法，實行君主立憲，嚮資産階級做出讓步，以維護搖搖欲墜的政權。資産階級雖然失去了政治權力，卻憑藉經濟上的實力與貴族相抗衡。到了復闢王朝後期，資産階級不僅在城市，而且在貴族保持廣泛影響的農村，都把貴族打得落花流水。復闢王朝實際上大勢已去。巴爾紮剋比同時代作傢更敏銳，獨具慧眼地觀察到這個重大社會現象。
除了少數特殊習俗。所有小城市都是相似的。這位名叫加斯東·德·尼埃耶男爵先生的巴黎青年，在他表姐聖瑟韋爾夫人傢裏，或者在她的一夥朋友傢裏，參加了幾個晚會以後。不久就認識了這個僻靜社會視為全城頭面人物的人們。加斯東·德·尼埃耶把這些人視為永久不變的人物，任何一個觀察傢在從前組成法蘭西的無數封建藩侯的首府裏，都可以發現這些人物 。同時每個人都斥責別人的生活方式，盡力叫人相信他是這個社會中的一個例外，他曾經設法改革這個社會而沒有成功。如果，這個新來的人不幸也說了幾句批評的話，證實這些人彼此間互相指摘的意見是正確的。那麽他馬上就被視為無法無天的壞人，是個腐化墮落的巴黎人，跟通常所有的巴黎人一樣。
加斯東·德·尼埃耶在這個小小天地裏露臉的時候，事先他已經被貝葉城公共輿論不會有錯的天平稱過斤兩。因為在這個小小社會裏一切完全遵守禮節，生活裏每件事都是協調的，沒有半點事情能瞞過別人，所有爵位和領地的價值都有價格標明，跟報紙末頁所登載的債券價格一樣。他的表姐聖瑟韋爾夫人早已說過他的財産數字，他的未來希望，也展示過他的傢譜，吹噓過他的學識，他的禮貌和他的廉讓。他所受到的歡迎是他理應受到的，他被不客氣地接待為一個優秀的小貴族，因為他的年紀衹有二十三歲；可是有幾個年輕姑娘和幾位母親卻對他另眼相看，允滿溫情。他在奧熱山𠔌裏擁有一萬八千法朗的年地租，他的父親早晚會遺留給他那座馬內維爾古堡及其他部附屬建築物。至於他的所受教育，他的政治前程，他的人品，他的天才，都不成其為問題。他擁有的土地都十分肥沃，地租是有保證的；栽種的植物尤其優良，維修費用和捐稅都由佃戶負擔；”蘋果樹都已經長了三十八年了；而他的父親還在商量一筆交易，想把同他的花園連接的二百阿爾邦森林買下來，給花園圍上圍墻；這些優點是任何當部長的希望，任何人世的聲譽都不能與之競爭的，不知是出於狡猾或是另有打算，聖瑟韋爾夫人沒有提起加斯東的哥哥，加斯東自己也一字不提。這個哥哥患上肺病，似乎不久就要被人埋葬、哀哭而且遺忘了。開頭加斯東·德·尼埃耶拿這些人物來作消遣，可以說，他把這些人物的尊容都描繪在他的畫册裏了，他把這些人物的有凌角的、多皺紋的、鈎鼻的模樣兒描繪得有趣而逼真，他註意到他們的服裝和臉上肌肉的抽搐多麽古怪而可笑；他非常喜歡聽他們說話裏的諾曼底方言，非常喜歡他們守舊的觀念和粗野的性格。可是，在一段時間內習慣了這種鬆鼠在籠子裏打轉似的生活以後，他覺察到在這種停滯而不可改變的生活中缺乏對立的變化，同修道士關在修道院裏沒有什麽兩樣，因而他就苦悶起來，雖然這種苦悶還不是煩惱和厭惡，但是這兩者的效果都有了。經過這種過渡時期的輕微痛苦以後，一個人像植物一樣移植到一個相反環境的過程就完成了，在這個新環境中他必須自行萎縮，過着一種生長不良的生活。事實上，如果沒有任何東西把他拉出這個社會，他就會在不知不覺間適應了這個社會的生活習慣，他不再怕這個社會的空虛無聊，這種空虛無聊會侵襲他，把他完全消滅。加斯東的肺部早已習慣於呼吸這種空氣了。他已經完全準備好要確認在這種無所用心、不動腦筋的日子裏有一種麻木不仁的幸福，他開始忘記了那種精力不斷更新的運動，忘記了他在巴黎曾經那麽熱愛過的能經常結出豐碩成果的腦力運用，他要永久留在這裏，在這些化石中間僵化，像尤利西斯的夥伴們一樣，在豬身裏就滿足了。有一天晚上，加斯東·德·尼埃耶在一傢人傢的客廳裏，坐在一位老太太和本主教管區的一個代理主教之間。這所客廳的細木護壁板漆成灰色，地上鋪着白土大方磚，挂着幾張傢裏人的畫像，擺着四張賭桌，十六個人圍着賭桌一邊閑談，一邊打惠斯特紙牌。他在那裏什麽也不想，衹在消化他吃下去的美味晚餐，這種精美的晚餐就是外省日常生活的美好未來，他出乎意外發現自己正在贊同當地的生活習慣。他明白了為什麽這些人繼續使用昨天的舊紙牌，為什麽他們在破舊的賭桌上洗牌，他們怎樣才能做到既不為自己，也不為別人穿上好看的衣服。他猜到了有一種哲學思想隱藏在這種循環往復、千篇一律的生活裏，在這種合乎邏輯的安靜習慣裏，在他們不識時髦豪華為何物裏。總之，他幾乎懂得了奢侈生活的無益。巴黎城，連同它的激情，它的風暴，它的歡樂，在他的心中已經變成了童年的回憶。他真心誠意地贊美一個年輕姑娘的紅潤的雙手，謙卑和含羞的神態，雖然初看起來，他覺得她一臉蠢相，舉止缺少風韻，全身令人厭惡，外貌尤其可笑。他已經無可救藥了。從前他從外省到巴黎去，現在他又從巴黎火熱的生活中回到外省的冷冰冰的生活裏來，沒有一句話可以震動他的耳膜，可以使他突然激動起來，如同一出沉悶歌劇的伴奏，突然出現一段奇特的樂章叫人興奮一樣。
“你昨天不是去看過德·鮑賽昂夫人嗎？”一位老太太問這地區最豪華府第的主人。
“我是今天早上去看她的，”他回答。“我發覺她十分愁悶和痛苦，以至我沒法子叫她答應明天來我傢吃飯。”
“你是同尊夫人一起去的嗎？”老太太大聲問，露出驚異的神色。
“不錯，是同內人一起去的，”貴族平靜地回答。“德·鮑賽昂夫人不是勃艮弟傢族的人嗎？雖然衹是女傢方面的親戚，可是這個姓把一切都洗刷了。內人很喜歡鮑賽昂子爵夫人，這位可憐的夫人孤單一個人已經過了這麽長的日子了……”說着最後幾句話的時候，德·尚皮涅勒侯爵冷冷地、平靜地環顧周圍聽他說話而且端詳着他的貴婦人；不過幾乎不可能猜出他是同情德·鮑賽昂夫人的不幸遭遇呢，還是對她的貴族身份讓步；也不知他以接待她為榮呢，還是他為了滿足自尊心，要強迫當地的貴族和他們的夫人們去接見她。
在場的貴婦面面相覷，仿佛用眼睛來互相商量；於是最深沉的靜寂籠罩着客廳，她們的態度看來是表示不同意這樣做。“這位德·鮑賽昂夫人會不會就是那位跟笪瞿達—潘托先生戀愛而鬧得滿城風雨的那位呀？”加斯東問他旁邊的那位女客。
在沿着庫爾瑟勒樓房的圍墻走着的時候，如果偶然聽到了一個園丁的笨重的腳步聲，加斯東的心就會由於希望和快樂而劇烈地跳動。
他很想寫信給德·鮑賽昂夫人，可是對一個沒有見過面而且與他不認識的女人，說些什麽好呢？何況加斯東也不相信自己；他同許多還充滿幻想的青年一樣，不怕死，更害怕的是得不到對方的答復，因為這就是最可怕的蔑視，衹要他一想起他的第一封情書完全有可能被扔進火裏，他就戰慄起來。他心裏有千萬種矛盾的思想在鬥爭着。可是到了最後，由於他多方幻想，假設了各種離奇的遭遇，又絞盡腦汁，他居然找到了一個可喜的計策，這種計策衹要拼命想象，總是可以在想象出來的一大堆計策中找到的，它能告訴最天真的女人，一個男子熱情關心她到了怎樣的程度。社會上的怪現象在一個女人和她的情人間所製造出來的真正障礙，並不比東方詩人的的美妙神話故事中虛構出來的障礙少，而且他們虛構的最荒誕的形象也很少是過甚其詞的。因此，在現實生活中就如同在童話世界裏一樣，女人總屬於那個懂得到達她身邊，而且能把她從受煎熬的環境裏解救出來的男人所有。最窮苦的遊方僧們如果愛上以了哈裏發的女兒，他們兩人間的距離，也决不會比加斯東和德·鮑賽昂夫人之間的距離更遠。子爵夫人一點也不知道德·尼埃耶先生會在她的周圍挖了一道封鎖壕，而德·尼埃耶先生的愛情卻隨着障礙的擴大而加深，並且把遙遠景物所具有的美感和魅力，都放在以他這位想象中的情人身上。
《被遺棄的女人》-創作背景
19世紀上半葉是法國資本主義建立的初期，拿破侖在1815年的滑鐵盧戰役中徹底敗北，由此波旁王朝復闢，統治一直延續到1830年。由於查理十世的反動政策激怒了人民，七月革命僅僅三天便推倒了復闢王朝，開始了長達18年的七月王朝的統治，由金融資産階級掌握了政權。《歐也妮·葛朗臺》發表於1833年，也即七月王朝初期。剛過去的復闢王朝在人們的頭腦中還記憶猶新。復闢時期，貴族雖然從國外返回了法國，耀武揚威，不可一世，可是他們的實際地位與法國大革命以前不可同日而語，因為資産階級已經強大起來。剛上臺的路易十八不得不頒布新憲法，實行君主立憲，嚮資産階級做出讓步，以維護搖搖欲墜的政權。資産階級雖然失去了政治權力，卻憑藉經濟上的實力與貴族相抗衡。到了復闢王朝後期，資産階級不僅在城市，而且在貴族保持廣泛影響的農村，都把貴族打得落花流水。復闢王朝實際上大勢已去。巴爾紮剋比同時代作傢更敏銳，獨具慧眼地觀察到這個重大社會現象。
巴爾紮剋（1799~1850）是法國現實主義文學大師，他一生創作的91部長、中、短篇小說，全部收入《人間喜劇》中，除了廣為人知的《歐也妮·葛朗臺》、《高老頭》等，還有《貝姨》、《都蘭趣話》等。
《貝姨》是他的一部著名小說。本書的主人公貝姨，是一個生在鄉下的姑娘，帶着一身的鄉裏氣息，由於美麗善良又得到高貴的堂姐的關切來到了法國巴黎城裏，性格倔強的貝姨一方面滿懷着對堂姐的妒忌，一方面又以自己好勝的忘我勤奮學習，成立了屬於自己的家庭，然而時代社會的動蕩萬變和本性的頑固不得不又一次下貶成工人，接下來的故事並不會就此平淡度過，貝姨沒有放棄和屈服於現狀，為着自己的目標繼續活着，堅強地拼搏，最終得到了他的滿足——有了一份自己的事業。
貝姨是巴爾紮剋筆下相當特殊的一個形象。小說以其命名，可見作傢對她的重視。她為某種情欲所左右，但色調構成卻十分復雜。集“醜”與“惡”於一身，是這個人物給讀者的第一印象。作傢為她勾畫了一幅令人生厭、令人生畏的漫畫像，又賦予她同樣令人生厭、令人生畏的嫉妒心。這種仿佛與生俱來的怪癖心理，侵擾着她自己的靈魂，也破壞着別人的幸福；在與瓦萊麗的淫蕩結合後，更形成為一種巨大的，甚至能“毀滅整個城市”的邪惡力量。 但是，貝姨的形象又遠非“惡”的化身。
In the 1840s, a serial format known as the roman-feuilleton was highly popular in France, and the most acclaimed expression of it was the socialist writing of Eugène Sue. Balzac wanted to challenge Sue's supremacy, and prove himself the most capable feuilleton author in France. Writing quickly and with intense focus, Balzac produced La Cousine Bette, one of his longest novels, in two months. It was published in Le Constitutionnel at the end of 1846, then collected with a companion work, Le Cousin Pons, the following year.
The novel's characters represent polarities of contrasting morality. The vengeful Bette and disingenuous Valérie stand on one side, with the merciful Adeline and her patient daughter Hortense on the other. The patriarch of the Hulot family, meanwhile, is consumed by his own sexual desire. Hortense's husband, the Polish exile Wenceslas Steinbock, represents artistic genius, though he succumbs to uncertainty and lack of motivation. Balzac based the character of Bette in part on his mother and the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. At least one scene involving Baron Hulot was likely based on an event in the life of Balzac's friend, the novelist Victor Hugo.
La Cousine Bette is considered Balzac's last great work. His trademark use of realist detail combines with a panorama of characters returning from earlier novels. Several critics have hailed it as a turning point in the author's career, and others have called it a prototypical naturalist text. It has been compared to William Shakespeare's Othello as well as Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. The novel explores themes of vice and virtue, as well as the influence of money on French society. Bette's relationship with Valérie is also seen as an important exploration of homoerotic themes. A number of film versions of the story have been produced, including a 1971 BBC mini-series starring Margaret Tyzack and Dame Helen Mirren, and a 1998 feature film with Jessica Lange in the title role.
By 1846 Honoré de Balzac had achieved tremendous fame as a writer, but his finances and health were deteriorating rapidly. After writing a series of potboiler novels in the 1820s, he published his first book under his own name, Les Chouans, in 1829. He followed this with dozens of well-received novels and stories, including La Peau de chagrin (1831), Le Père Goriot (1835), and the two-volume Illusions perdues (1837 and 1839). Because of his lavish lifestyle and penchant for financial speculation, however, he spent most of his life trying to repay a variety of debts. He wrote tirelessly, driven as much by economic necessity as by the muse and black coffee. This regimen of constant work exhausted his body and brought reprimands from his doctor.[2]
As his work gained recognition, Balzac began corresponding with a Polish Baronness named Ewelina Hańska, who first contacted him through an anonymous 1832 letter signed "L'Étrangère". They developed an affectionate friendship in letters, and when she became a widow in 1841, Balzac sought her hand in marriage. He visited her often in Poland and Germany, but various complications prohibited their union. One of these was an affair Balzac had with his housekeeper, Louise Breugniot. As she became aware of his affection for Mme. Hanska, Breugniot stole a collection of their letters and used them to extort money from Balzac. Even after this episode, however, he grew closer to Mme. Hanska with each visit and by 1846 he had begun preparing a home to share with her. He grew hopeful that they could marry when she became pregnant, but she fell ill in December and suffered a miscarriage.[3]
The mid-nineteenth century was a time of profound transformation in French government and society. The reign of King Charles X ended in 1830 when a wave of agitation and dissent forced him to abdicate. He was replaced by Louis-Philippe, who named himself "King of the French", rather than the standard "King of France" – an indication that he answered more to the nascent bourgeoisie than the aristocratic Ancien Régime. The change in government took place while the economy in France was moving from mercantilism to industrial development. This opened new opportunities for individuals hoping to acquire wealth, and led to significant changes in social norms. Members of the aristocracy, for example, were forced to relate socially to the nouveau riche, usually with tense results. The democratic spirit of the French Revolution also affected social interactions, with a shift in popular allegiance away from the church and the monarchy.[4]
In the mid-nineteenth century, a new style of novel became popular in France. The serial format known as the roman-feuilleton presented stories in short regular installments, often accompanied by melodramatic plots and stock characters. Although Balzac's La Vielle fille (1836) was the first such work published in France,[5] the roman-feuilleton gained prominence thanks mostly to his friends Eugène Sue and Alexandre Dumas, père.[6] Balzac disliked their serial writing, however, especially Sue's socialist depiction of lower-class suffering.[7] Balzac wanted to dethrone what he called "les faux dieux de cette littérature bâtarde" ("the false gods of this bastard literature").[8] He also wanted to show the world that, despite his poor health and tumultuous career, he was "plus jeune, plus frais, et plus grand que jamais" ("younger, fresher, and greater than ever").[8] His first efforts to render a quality feuilleton were unsuccessful. Even though Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes (published in segments from 1838 to 1847) was celebrated by critics, Balzac complained to Mme. Hanska that he was "doing pue Sue".[9] He tried again in 1844 with Modeste Mignon, but public reactions were mixed.[10] Two years later Balzac began a new project, determined to create something from his "own old pen again".[9]
Writing and publication
Balzac first visited the Château de Saché in 1832, when he wrote the autobiographical novel Louis Lambert.[11]
After resting for a week in June 1846 at the Château de Saché in Tours, Balzac returned to Paris and began working on a short story called "Le Parasite", which he eventually developed into the novel Le Cousin Pons. He intended from the start to pair it with another novel, collecting them under the title Les Parents pauvres ("The Poor Relations"). He based the second book on a story his sister Laure Surville had written called "La Cousine Rosalie" and published in 1844 in Le Journal des enfants.[12] Writing intensively, he produced the entire novel, named La Cousine Bette after the main character, in two months. This was a significant accomplishment owing to his bad health, but its length made Balzac's writing speed especially remarkable.[13] One critic calls the writing of Les Parents pauvres Balzac's "last explosion of creative energy".[14] Another suggests that this effort was "almost the last straw which broke down Balzac's gigantic strength".[15]
Balzac's usual mode of revision involved vast, complicated edits made to galley proofs he received from the printer. When creating La Cousine Bette, however, he submitted the work to his editor piece by piece, without viewing a single proof.[15] The book was serialized in Le Constitutionnel from 8 October to 3 December, and Balzac rushed to keep up with the newspaper's rapid printing schedule. He produced an average of eight pages each day, but was struck by the unexpected enormity of the story as it evolved.[16] Balzac was paid 12,836 francs for the series, which was later published with Le Cousin Pons as a twelve-volume book by Chiendowski and Pétion.[17] The first collected edition of La Cousine Bette was organized into 132 chapters, but these divisions were removed when Balzac added it to his massive collection La Comédie humaine in 1848.[18]
Plot summary
While caring for him, Bette refers to Wenceslas Steinbock as "mon enfant ... un garçon qui se relève du cercueil" ("my child ... a son risen from the grave").[19]
The first third of the novel provides a lengthy exploration of the characters' histories. Balzac makes this clear after 150 pages: "Ici se termine, en quelque sorte, l'introduction de cette histoire." ("Here ends what is, in a way, the introduction to this story.")[20] At the start of the novel, Adeline Hulot – wife of the successful Baron Hector Hulot – is being pressured into an affair by a wealthy perfumer named Célestin Crevel. His desire stems in part from an earlier contest in which the adulterous Baron Hulot had won the hand of the singer Josépha Mirah, also favored by Crevel. The Hulots' daughter, Hortense, has begun searching for a husband; their son Victorin is married to Crevel's daughter Celestine. Mme. Hulot resists Crevel's advances, and he turns his attention elsewhere.
Mme. Hulot's cousin, Bette (also called Lisbeth), harbors a deep but hidden resentment of her relatives' success. A peasant woman with none of the physical beauty of her cousin, Bette has rejected a series of marriage proposals from middle-class suitors, and remains unmarried at the age of 42. One day she comes upon a young unsuccessful Polish sculptor named Wenceslas Steinbock, attempting suicide in the tiny apartment upstairs from her own. As she nourishes him back to health, she develops a maternal fondness for him. She also befriends Valérie, the wife of a War Department clerk named Marneffe; the two women form a bond of mutual affection and protection.
Baron Hulot, meanwhile, is rejected by Josépha, who explains bluntly that she has chosen another man because of his larger fortune. Hulot's despair is quickly alleviated when he meets and falls in love with Valérie Marneffe. He showers her with gifts, and soon establishes a luxurious house for her and M. Marneffe, with whom he works at the War Department. These debts, compounded by the money he borrowed to lavish on Josépha, threaten the Hulot family's financial security. Panicked, he convinces his uncle Johann Fischer to quietly embezzle funds from a War Department outpost in Algiers. Hulot's woes are momentarily abated and Bette's happiness is shattered, when – at the end of the "introduction" – Hortense Hulot marries Wenceslas Steinbock.
Crushed at having lost Steinbock's company, Bette swears vengeance on the Hulot family. She works behind the scenes with Valérie to extract more money from Baron Hulot. Valérie also seduces Crevel and watches with delight as they vie for her attention. With Bette's help, Valérie turns to Steinbock and draws him into her bedroom. When Hortense learns of his infidelity, she leaves Steinbock and returns with their son to live with her mother Adeline. Valérie also proclaims her love to a Brazilian Baron named Henri Montès de Montéjanos, and swears devotion constantly to each of the five men.
When Baron Hulot marries the kitchen maid Agathe, his son Victorin concludes: "les enfants ne peuvent pas empêcher la folie des ancêtres en enfance" ("children cannot interfere with the insane acts of their parents in their second childhood").[21]
Baron Hulot's brother, known as "le maréchal" ("the Marshal"), hires Bette as his housekeeper, and they develop a mild affection. He learns of his brother's infidelities (and the difficulties they have caused Adeline, who refuses to leave her husband), and promises to marry Bette if she will provide details. She agrees eagerly, delighted at the prospect of finally securing an enviable marriage. While investigating his brother's behavior, however, the Marshal discovers Baron Hulot's scheme in Algiers. He is overwhelmed by the disgrace, and his health deteriorates. Bette's last hope for a brighter future dies with him.
When Valérie becomes pregnant, she tells each of her lovers (and her husband) that he is the father. She gives birth to a stillborn child, however, and her husband dies soon thereafter. Hulot and Crevel are ecstatic when they hear this news, each believing that he will become her only love once the official mourning period has passed. Valérie chooses Crevel for his comfortable fortune, and they quickly wed. This news outrages Baron Montès, and he devises a plot to poison the newlyweds. Crevel and Valérie die slowly, their bodies devoured by an exotic Brazilian toxin.
Victorin Hulot is later visited by the Prince of Wissembourg, who delivers news of economic good fortune. The Marshal, prior to his death, had made arrangements for repayment of the Baron's debts, as well as employment for Adeline in a Catholic charity. Baron Hulot has disappeared, and Adeline spends her free time searching for him in houses of ill repute. She eventually finds him living with a fifteen-year-old courtesan, and begs him to return to the family. He agrees, but as he climbs into the carriage, Hulot asks: "mais pourrai-je emmener la petite?" ("But can I take the girl?")[22] The Hulot home is reunited for a time, and Bette's fury at their apparent happiness hastens her death. One evening after the funeral, Adeline overhears Hulot seducing a kitchen maid named Agathe. On her deathbed, Adeline delivers her first rebuke to her husband: "[D]ans un moment, tu seras libre, et tu pourras faire une baronne Hulot." ("In a moment, you will be free, and you can make another Baronne Hulot.")[23] Soon after burying his wife, Hulot marries Agathe.
Characters and inspirations
The death of Marshal Hulot has been called "one of the most moving in all of Balzac".[24]
Balzac had written more than seventy novels when he began La Cousine Bette, and populated them with recurring characters. Many of the characters in the novel, therefore, appear with extensive back-stories and biographical depth. For example, Célestin Crevel first appeared in Balzac's 1837 novel César Birotteau, working for the title character. Having accumulated a considerable fortune in that book, Crevel spends his time in La Cousine Bette enjoying the spoils of his labor. Another important recurring character is Marshal Hulot, who first appeared as a colonel in Les Chouans. In the years between that story and La Cousine Bette, he became the Count of Forzheim; in a letter to the Constitutionnel, Balzac described how Marshal Hulot gained this title. The presence of Crevel and Marshal Hulot – among others – in La Cousine Bette allows a continuation of each character's life story, adding emphasis or complexity to earlier events.[25]
Other recurring characters appear only briefly in La Cousine Bette; previous appearances, however, give deep significance to the characters' presence. This is the case with Vautrin, the criminal mastermind who tutors young Eugene de Rastignac in Balzac's 1835 novel Le Père Goriot. When he resurfaces in La Cousine Bette, he has joined the police and introduces the Hulot family to his aunt, Mme. Nourrison, who offers a morally questionable remedy for their woes. Although Vautrin's presence in La Cousine Bette is brief, his earlier adventures in Le Père Goriot provide instant recognition and emotional texture. Elsewhere, Balzac presents an entire world of experience by including characters from a particular sphere of society. For example, several scenes feature artists like Jean-Jacques Bixiou, who first appeared in 1837's Les Employés and in many other books thereafter. The world of Parisian nightlife is quickly brought to mind with the inclusion of several characters from Les Comédiens sans le savoir (1846), and Bianchon appears – as always – when a doctor is needed.[26]
Balzac's use of recurring characters has been identified as a unique component of his fiction. It enables a depth of characterization that goes beyond simple narration or dialogue. "When the characters reappear", notes the critic Samuel Rogers, "they do not step out of nowhere; they emerge from the privacy of their own lives which, for an interval, we have not been allowed to see."[27] Some readers, however, are intimidated by the depth created by these interdependent stories, and feel deprived of important context for the characters. Detective novelist Arthur Conan Doyle said that he never tried to read Balzac, because he "did not know where to begin".[28] The characterization in La Cousine Bette is considered especially skillful. Anthony Pugh, in his book Balzac's Recurring Characters, says that the technique is employed "for the most part without that feeling of self-indulgence that mars some of Balzac's later work. Almost every example arises quite naturally out of the situation."[29] Biographer Noel Gerson calls the characters in La Cousine Bette "among the most memorable Balzac ever sketched".[30]
Bette Fischer
Lisbeth Fischer (Cousin Bette) is described as "maigre, brune ... les sourcils épais et réunis par un bouquet ... quelques verrues dans sa face longue et simiesque" ("lean, brown, with ... thick eyebrows joining in a tuft ... and some moles on her narrow simian face").[31]
Descriptions of Bette are often connected to savagery and animal imagery. Her name, for example, is a homophone in French for "bête" ("beast"). One passage explains that "elle ressemblait aux singes habillés en femmes" ("she sometimes looked like one of those monkeys in petticoats");[32] elsewhere her voice is described as having "une jalousie de tigre" ("tiger-like jealousy").[33] Her beastly rage comes to the surface with ferocity when she learns of Steinbock's engagement to Hortense:
La physionomie de la Lorraine était devenue terrible. Ses yeux noirs et pénétrants avaient la fixité de ceux des tigres. Sa figure ressemblait à celles que nous supposons aux pythonisses, elle serrait les dents pour les empêcher de claquer, et une affreuse convulsion faisait trembler ses membres. Elle avait glissé sa main crochue entre son bonnet et ses cheveux pour les empoigner et soutenir sa tête, devenue trop lourde; elle brûlait! La fumée de l'incendie qui la ravageait semblait passer par ses rides comme par autant de crevasses labourées par une éruption volcanique.
The peasant-woman's face was terrible; her piercing black eyes had the glare of the tiger's; her face was like that we ascribe to a pythoness; she set her teeth to keep them from chattering, and her whole frame quivered convulsively. She had pushed her clenched fingers under her cap to clutch her hair and support her head, which felt too heavy; she was on fire. The smoke of the flame that scorched her seemed to emanate from her wrinkles as from the crevasses rent by a volcanic eruption.[34]
When she learns that her cousin Adeline has been welcoming Steinbock into the Hulot home, Bette swears revenge: "Adeline! se dit Lisbeth, ô Adeline, tu me le payeras, je te rendrai plus laide que moi!" ("'Adeline!' muttered Lisbeth. 'Oh, Adeline, you shall pay for this! I will make you uglier than I am.'")[34] Her cruelty and lust for revenge lead critics to call her "demonic"[35] and "one of Balzac's most terrifying creations".[36] Because of her willingness to manipulate the people around her, Bette has been compared to Iago in William Shakespeare's play Othello.[37] Her fierce persona is attributed partly to her peasant background, and partly to her virginity, which provides (according to Balzac) "une force diabolique ou la magie noire de la volonté" ("diabolical strength, or the black magic of the Will").[38][39]
In a letter to Mme. Hanska, Balzac indicated that he based the character of Bette on three women from his life: his mother, Mme. Hanska's aunt Rosalie Rzewuska, and the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. Balzac had a tumultuous relationship with his mother for most of his life, and he incorporated some of her personality (particularly her "obstinate persistence in living",[40] as one critic calls it) into Bette.[41] Rosalie Rzewuska disapproved of Mme. Hanska's relationship with Balzac; biographers agree that her cold determination was part of the author's recipe for Bette.[42] Elements taken from Marceline Desbordes-Valmore are more complex; she faced many setbacks in life and she and Balzac became friends after she left the theatre to take up poetry.[43]
Valérie Marneffe
Bette's co-conspirator in the destruction of the Hulot family is beautiful and greedy Valérie Marneffe, the unsatisfied wife of a War Department clerk. They develop a deep friendship, which many critics consider an example of lesbian affection.[44] Because of their relationship and similar goals, the critic Frederic Jameson says that "Valérie serves as a kind of emanation of Bette".[45]
Valérie Marneffe "attirait tous les regards, excitait tous les désirs, dans le cercle où elle rayonnait" ("attracted every eye, and excited every desire in the circle she shone upon").[46]
Valérie is repulsed by her ugly husband and has gone five years without kissing him.[47] She explains bluntly that her position as a married woman provides subtleties and options unavailable to the common prostitute who has one set price; after Marneffe dies, Valérie jockeys for position between Hulot and Montés (while also sleeping with Steinbock), then discards them all to marry Crevel, who offers the most wealth. She amuses herself by mocking her lovers' devotion, and this wickedness – not to mention her gruesome demise – has led some critics to speculate that she is actually the focus of Balzac's morality tale.[48]
In one important scene, Valérie models for Steinbock as Delilah, standing victorious over the ruined Samson. With obvious parallels to her own activities, she describes her vision for the piece: "Il s'agit d'exprimer la puissance de la femme. Samson n'est rien, là. C'est le cadavre de la force. Dalila, c'est la passion qui ruine tout." ("What you have to show is the power of woman. Samson is a secondary consideration. He is the corpse of dead strength. It is Delilah—passion—that ruins everything.")[49]
Although Balzac did not draw specifically from the women in his life to create Valérie, parallels have been observed in some areas. The tumultuous end of his affair with Louise Breugniot and the advantage she gains from his devotion to Mme. Hanska is similar in some ways to Valérie's manipulation of Steinbock.[50] Critics also connect the pride and anguish felt by Balzac during Mme. Hanska's pregnancy and miscarriage to the same emotions felt by Baron Hulot when Valérie conceives and loses her child.[51] Although he never ascribed to Mme. Hanska any of the traits in Valérie's treacherous character, he felt a devotion similar to that of Hulot. He once wrote to her: "je fais pour mon Eve toute les folies qu'un Hulot fait pour une Marneffe, je te donnerai mon sang, mon honneur, ma vie" ("I commit for [you] all the follies that a Hulot commits for Madame Marneffe; I give you my blood, my honor, my life").[52]
Hector and Adeline Hulot
Baron Hector Hulot is a living manifestation of male sexual desire, unrestrained and unconcerned with its consequences for the man or his family. As the novel progresses, he becomes consumed by his libido, even in a physical sense. When Valérie tells him to stop dyeing his hair, he does so to please her. His financial woes and public disgrace lead him to flee his own home; by the end of the book he is an elderly, decrepit shell of a man. Baron Hulot is so overcome by his taste for female flesh that he even asks his wife – without irony – if he can bring home his fifteen-year-old mistress.[53]
Adeline Hulot, on the other hand, is mercy personified. Like her cousin Bette, she comes from a peasant background, but has internalized the ideals of 19th-century womanhood, including devotion, grace, and deference. She reveals in the first scene that she has known for years about her husband's infidelities, but refuses to condemn him. Adeline's forgiving nature is often considered a significant character flaw. Some suggest that she is partly to blame for Hulot's wandering affection. C.A. Prendergast, for example, calls her forgiveness "an inadequate and even positively disastrous response" to her situation.[54] He further suggests that Adeline, by choosing the role of quiet and dutiful wife, has excised from herself the erotic power to which the Baron is drawn. "[O]ne could at the very least offer the tentative speculation that Hulot's obsessional debauchery is in part the result of a certain poverty in Adeline, that the terrible logic of Hulot's excess is partially shaped by a crucial deficiency in his wife."[55] Others are less accusatory; Adeline's nearly infinite mercy, they say, is evidence of foolishness. Critic Herbert J. Hunt declares that she shows "more imbecility than Christian patience",[56] and David Bellos points out that, like her husband, she is driven by passion – albeit of a different kind: "Adeline's desire (for good, for the family, for Hector, for God) is so radically different from the motivating desires of the other characters that she seems in their context to be without desire...."[57]
Balzac's inspiration for the characters of Hector and Adeline remain unclear, but several critics have been eager to speculate. Three officers named Hulot were recognized for their valor in the Napoleonic Wars, and some suggest that Balzac borrowed the name of Comte Hector d'Aure. None of these men, however, were known for the sort of philandering or thievery exhibited by Baron Hulot in the novel. Instead, Balzac may have used himself as the model; his many affairs with women across the social spectrum lead some to suggest that the author "found much of Hulot in himself".[58] Balzac's friend Victor Hugo, meanwhile, was famously discovered in bed with his mistress in July 1845. The similarity of his name to Hector Hulot (and that of his wife's maiden name, Adèle Foucher, to Adeline Fischer) has been posited as a possible indication of the characters' origins.[59]
Wenceslas Steinbock
"Quoique Steinbock eût vingt-neuf ans, il paraissait, comme certains blonds, avoir cinq ou six ans de moins ... cette jeunesse ... avait cédé sous les fatigues et les misères de l'exil" ("Though Steinbock was nine-and-twenty, like many fair men, he looked five or six years younger ... his youth ... had faded under the fatigue and stress of life in exile".)[60]
The Polish sculptor Wenceslas Steinbock is important primarily because of Bette's attachment to him. He offers Bette a source of pride, a way for her to prove herself worthy of her family's respect. When Hortense marries Steinbock, Bette feels as though she has been robbed. Prendergast insists that the incident "must literally be described as an act of theft".[61]
Steinbock's relevance also lies in his background and profession, illustrating Balzac's conception of the Polish people, as well as himself. Having spent more than a decade befriending Mme. Hanska and visiting her family in Poland, Balzac believed he had insight into the national character (as he felt about most groups he observed). Thus, descriptions of Steinbock are often laced with commentary about the Polish people: "Soyez mon amie, dit-il avec une de ces démonstrations caressantes si familières aux Polonais, et qui les font accuser assez injustement de servilité." ("'Be my sweetheart,' he added, with one of the caressing gestures familiar to the Poles, for which they are unjustly accused of servility.")[62][63]
Critics also consider Steinbock important because of his artistic genius. Like Louis Lambert and Lucien Chardon in Illusions perdues, he is a brilliant man – just as Balzac considered himself to be. Before he is nurtured and directed by Bette, however, Steinbock's genius languishes under his own inertia and he attempts suicide. Later, when he leaves Bette's circle of influence, he fails again. Thus he demonstrates Balzac's conviction that genius alone is useless without determination.[64] Bellos organizes Steinbock and Bette into a duality of weakness and strength; whereas the Polish artist is unable to direct his energies into productive work, Bette draws strength from her virginity and thus becomes powerful by denying the lust to which Steinbock falls prey.[65] Steinbock's drive is further eroded by the praise he receives for his art, which gives him an inflated sense of accomplishment. One critic refers to the artist's downfall as "vanity ... spoiled by premature renown".[66]
Style
If Balzac's goal was (as he claimed) to write a realist novel from his "own old pen" rather than mimic the style of Eugène Sue, history and literary criticism have declared him successful. William Stowe calls La Cousine Bette "a masterpiece of classical realism"[67] and Bellos refers to it as "one of the great achievements of nineteenth-century realism", comparing it to War and Peace.[68] Some sections of the book are criticized for being melodramatic, and Balzac biographer V. S. Pritchett even refers to a representative excerpt as "bad writing".[69] Most critics, however, consider the moralistic elements of the novel deceptively complex, and some point out that the roman-feuilleton format required a certain level of titillation to keep readers engaged.[70] Others indicate that Balzac's interest in the theatre was an important reason for the inclusion of melodramatic elements.[71]
Émile Zola said that Balzac's fiction was "uniquement le compte-rendu brutal de ce que l'écrivain a observé" ("only the brutal report of what the writer has observed").[72]
Balzac's trademark realism begins on the first page of the novel, wherein Crevel is described wearing a National Guard uniform, complete with the Légion d'honneur. Details from the 1830s also appear in the novel's geographic locations. The Hulot family home, for example, is found in the aristocratic area of Paris known as the Faubourg Saint-Germain.[73] Bette's residence is on the opposite end of the social spectrum, in the impoverished residential area which surrounded the Louvre: "Les ténèbres, le silence, l'air glacial, la profondeur caverneuse du sol concourent à faire de ces maisons des espèces de cryptes, des tombeaux vivants." ("Darkness, silence, an icy chill, and the cavernous depth of the soil combine to make these houses a kind of crypt, tombs of the living.")[74] Descriptions of her meager quarters are – as usual in Balzac's work – an acute reflection of her personality. The same is true of the Marneffe home at the outset: it contains "les trompeuses apparences de ce faux luxe" ("the illusory appearance of sham luxury"),[75] from the shabby chairs in the drawing-room to the dust-coated bedroom.[76]
Precise detail is not spared in descriptions of decay and disease, two vivid elements in the novel. Marneffe, for example, represents crapulence. His decrepit body is a symbol of society's weakness at the time, worn away from years of indulgence. The poison which kills Valérie and Crevel is also described in ghastly detail. The doctor Bianchon explains: "Ses dents et ses cheveux tombent, elle a l'aspect des lépreux, elle se fait horreur à elle-même; ses mains, épouvantables à voir, sont enflées et couvertes de pustules verdâtres; les ongles déchaussés restent dans les plaies qu'elle gratte; enfin, toutes les extrémités se détruisent dans la sanie qui les ronge." ("She is losing her hair and teeth, her skin is like a leper's, she is a horror to herself; her hands are horrible, covered with greenish pustules, her nails are loose, and the flesh is eaten away by the poisoned humors.")[77]
La Cousine Bette is unapologetic in its bleak outlook, and makes blunt connections between characters' origins and behavior. For these reasons, it is considered a key antecedent to naturalist literature. Novelist Émile Zola called it an important "roman expérimental" ("experimental novel"),[78] and praised its acute exploration of the characters' motivations.[79][80] Some critics note that La Cousine Bette showed an evolution in Balzac's style – one which he had little time to develop. Pointing to the nuance of plot and comprehensive narration style, Stowe suggests that the novel "might in happier circumstances have marked the beginning of a new, mature 'late Balzac'".[81]
Themes
Passion, vice, and virtue
Valérie's line about Delilah being "la passion qui ruine tout" ("passion which ruins everything") is symbolic, coming as it does from a woman whose passion accelerates the ruin of most people around her – including herself. Baron Hulot, meanwhile, is desire incarnate; his wandering libido bypasses concern for his wife, brother, children, finances, and even his own health. Bette, of course, is living vengeance, and Adeline desperately yearns for the happy home she imagined in the early years of marriage. Each character is driven by a fiery passion, which in most cases consumes the individual.[82] As Balzac puts it: "La passion est un martyre." ("Passion is martyrdom.")[83]
After acknowledging herself as Delilah, Valérie warns her guests: "Prenez garde à vos toupets, messieurs!" ("Take care of your wigs, gentlemen!")[84]
The intensity of passion, and the consequences of its manifestation, result in a stark contrast of vice and virtue. Bette and Valérie are pure wickedness, and even celebrate the ruin of their targets. As one critic says, "life's truths are viewed in their most atrocious form".[85] Mocking the use of the guillotine during the French Revolution while acknowledging her own malicious intent, Valérie says with regard to Delilah: "La vertu coupe la tête, le Vice ne vous coupe que les cheveux." ("Virtue cuts off your head; vice only cuts off your hair.")[84] Hulot is not intentionally cruel, but his actions are no less devastating to the people around him.[86]
On the other side of the moral divide, Adeline and her children stand as shining examples of virtue and nobility – or so it would seem. Hortense ridicules her aunt when Bette mentions her protégé Wenceslas Steinbock, providing a psychological catalyst for the ensuing conflict.[87] Victorin repeatedly expresses outrage at his father's philandering, yet crosses a significant moral boundary when he agrees to fund Mme. Nourrison's plan to eradicate Valérie. As one critic puts it, Victorin's decision marks a point in the novel where "the scheme of right versus wrong immediately dissolves into a purely amoral conflict of different interests and passions, regulated less by a transcendent moral law than by the relative capacity of the different parties for cunning and ruthlessness."[88] The cruelties of the Hulot children are brief but significant, owing as much to their obliviousness (intentional in the case of Victorin, who asks not to learn the details of Mme. Nourrison's scheme) as to malicious forethought.[89]
The question of Adeline's virtue is similarly complicated. Although she is forgiving to the point of absurdity, she is often considered more of a dupe than a martyr. Some have compared her to Balzac's title character in Le Père Goriot, who sacrifices himself for his daughters.[90] As Bellos puts it: "Adeline's complicity with Hector certainly makes her more interesting as a literary character, but it undermines her role as the symbol of virtue in the novel."[91] This complicity reaches an apex when she unsuccessfully attempts to sell her affections to Crevel (who has since lost interest) in order to repay her husband's debts. Her flirtation with prostitution is sometimes considered more egregious than Valérie's overt extortion, since Adeline is soiling her own dignity in the service of Baron Hulot's infidelity. For the remainder of the novel, Adeline trembles uncontrollably, a sign of her weakness.[92] Later, when she visits the singer Josépha (on whom her husband once doted), Adeline is struck by the splendor earned by a life of materialistic seduction. She wonders aloud if she is capable of providing the carnal pleasures Hulot seeks outside of their home.[93]
Ultimately, both vice and virtue fail. Valérie is devoured by Montés' poison, a consequence of her blithe attitude toward his emotion. Bette is unsuccessful in her effort to crush her cousin's family, and dies (as one critic puts it) "in the margins".[94] Adeline's Catholic mercy, on the other hand, fails to redeem her husband, and her children are similarly powerless – as Victorin finally admits on the novel's last page. Like Raphael de Valentin in Balzac's 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin, Hulot is left with nothing but "vouloir": desire, a force which is both essential for human existence and eventually apocalyptic.[95]
Gender and homoeroticism
Gender roles, especially the figure of the ideal woman, are central to La Cousine Bette. The four leading female characters (Bette, Valérie, Adeline, and Hortense) embody stereotypically feminine traits. Each pair of women revolves around a man, and they compete for his attention: Valérie and Adeline for Baron Hulot; Bette and Hortense for Wenceslas Steinbock. Balzac's study of masculinity is limited to the insatiable lust of Hulot and the weak-willed inconstancy of Steinbock, with the occasional appearance of Victorin as a sturdy patriarch in his father's absence.[96]
French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec depicted lesbian relationships similar to (though more explicit than) that of Bette and Valérie, as in his 1893 painting "In Bed".[97]
Critics pay special attention to Bette's lack of traditional femininity, and her unconventional relationships with two characters. She is described from the outset as having "des qualités d'homme" ("certain manly qualities"),[98] with similar descriptions elsewhere. Her relationship and attitude toward Steinbock, moreover, hint at her masculinity. She commands him into submission, and even binds him with economic constraints by lending him the money to develop his sculpture. Her domination is tempered by maternal compassion, but the couple's relationship is compared to an abusive marriage: "Il fut comme une femme qui pardonne les mauvais traitements d'une semaine à cause des caresses d'un fugitif raccommodement." ("He was like a woman who forgives a week of ill-usage for the sake of a kiss and a brief reconciliation.")[99][100]
Bette's relationship with Valérie is layered with overtones of lesbianism. Early in the book Bette is "captée" ("bewitched")[101] by Valérie, and quickly declares to her: "Je vous aime, je vous estime, je suis à vous!" ("I love you, I esteem you, I am wholly yours!")[102] This affection may have been platonic, but neighbors of the Marneffes – along with many readers – suspect that their bond transcends friendship.[103] As with Steinbock, Bette and Valérie assume butch and femme roles; the narration even mentions "Le contraste de la mâle et sèche nature de la Lorraine avec la jolie nature créole de Valérie" ("The contrast between Lisbeth's dry masculine nature and Valerie's creole prettiness").[104] The homoeroticism evolves through the novel, as Bette feeds on Valérie's power to seduce and control the Hulot men. As one critic says: "Valérie's body becomes, at least symbolically, the locus of Bette's only erotic pleasure."[105]
Wealth and society
Balzac once wrote: "The worst fault of the July Revolution is that it did not allow Louis-Philippe three months of dictatorship in which to put the rights of the people and the throne on a secure basis."[106]
As with many of his novels, Balzac analyzes the influence of history and social status in La Cousine Bette. The book takes places between 1838 and 1846, when the reign of Louis-Philippe reflected and directed significant changes in the social structure. Balzac was a legitimist favoring the House of Bourbon, and idolized Napoleon Bonaparte as a paragon of effective absolutist power. Balzac felt that French society under the House of Orléans lacked strong leadership, and was fragmented by the demands of parliament. He also believed that Catholicism provided guidance for the nation, and that its absence heralded moral decay.[107]
Balzac demonstrated these beliefs through the characters' lives in La Cousine Bette. The conflict between Baron Hulot and the perfumer Crevel mirrors the animosity between the aristocracy of the Ancien Régime and the newly-developed bourgeoisie of traders and industrial entrepreneurs. Although he despised the socialist politics of Eugène Sue, Balzac worried that bourgeois desperation for financial gain drove people from life's important virtues. The characters – especially Bette, Valérie, and Crevel – are fixated on their need for money, and do whatever they must to obtain it.[108] As Crevel explains to Adeline: "Vous vous abusez, cher ange, si vous croyez que c'est le roi Louis-Philippe qui règne ... au-dessus de la Charte il y a la sainte, la vénérée, la solide, l'aimable, la gracieuse, la belle, la noble, la jeune, la toute-puissante pièce de cent sous!" ("You are quite mistaken, my angel, if you suppose that King Louis-Philippe rules us ... supreme above the Charter reigns the holy, venerated, substantial, delightful, obliging, beautiful, noble, ever-youthful, and all-powerful five-franc piece!")[109]
Themes of corruption and salvation are brought to the fore as Valérie and Crevel lie dying from the mysterious poison. When his daughter urges him to meet with a priest, Crevel angrily refuses, mocking the church and indicating that his social stature will be his salvation: "la mort regarde à deux fois avant de frapper un maire de Paris!" ("Death thinks twice of it before carrying off a Mayor of Paris.")[110] Valérie, meanwhile, makes a deathbed conversion and urges Bette to abandon her quest for revenge. Ever the courtesan, Valérie describes her new Christianity in terms of seduction: "je ne puis maintenant plaire qu'à Dieu! je vais tâcher de me réconcilier avec lui, ce sera ma dernière coquetterie!" ("I can please no one now but God. I will try to be reconciled to Him, and that will be my last flirtation...!")[111]
Reception and adaptations
In 1921 actor Bette Davis, born Ruth Elizabeth Davis, chose Bette as her stage name in honor of Balzac's character.[112]
The critical reaction to La Cousine Bette was immediate and positive, which Balzac did not expect. Whether due to the intensity of its creation or the tumult of his personal life, the author was surprised by the praise he received. He wrote: "I did not realize how good La Cousine Bette is.... There is an immense reaction in my favour. I have won!"[113] The collected edition sold consistently well, and was reprinted nineteen times before the turn of the century. 20th-century critics remain enthusiastic in their praise for the novel; Saintsbury insists it is "beyond all question one of the very greatest of [Balzac's] works".[114] Biographer Graham Robb calls La Cousine Bette "the masterpiece of his premature old age".[115]
Some 19th-century critics attacked the book, on the grounds that it normalized vice and corrupt living. Chief among these were disciples of the utopian theorist Charles Fourier; they disapproved of the "immorality" inherent in the novel's bleak resolution. Critics like Alfred Nettement and Eugène Marron declared that Balzac's sympathy lay with Baron Hulot and Valérie Marneffe. They lambasted him for not commenting more on the characters' degenerate behavior – the same stylistic choice later celebrated by naturalist writers Émile Zola and Hippolyte Taine.[116]
Balzac's novel has been adapted several times for the screen. The first was in 1927, when French filmmaker Max DeRieux directed Alice Tissot in the title role.[117] Margaret Tyzack played the role of Bette in the five part serial Cousin Bette aired on the BBC, which also starred Helen Mirren as Valérie Marneffe.[118] The film Cousin Bette was released in 1998, directed by Des McAnuff. Jessica Lange starred in the title role, joined by Bob Hoskins as Crevel, and Elisabeth Shue as the singer Jenny Cadine. Screenwriters Lynn Siefert and Susan Tarr changed the story significantly, and eliminated Valérie. The 1998 film was panned by critics for its generally poor acting and awkward dialogue. Stephen Holden of the New York Times commented that the movie "treats the novel as a thoroughly modern social comedy peopled with raging narcissists, opportunists and flat-out fools".[119][120]
La Cousine Bette was adapted for the stage by Jeffrey Hatcher, best known for his screenplay Stage Beauty (based on his stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty). The Antaeus Company in North Hollywood produced a workshop in 2008 and presented the world premiere of Cousin Bette in early 2010 in North Hollywood, California.[121] The adaptation retains many of the main characters but places Bette as the story's narrator.
《貝姨》是他的一部著名小說。本書的主人公貝姨，是一個生在鄉下的姑娘，帶着一身的鄉裏氣息，由於美麗善良又得到高貴的堂姐的關切來到了法國巴黎城裏，性格倔強的貝姨一方面滿懷着對堂姐的妒忌，一方面又以自己好勝的忘我勤奮學習，成立了屬於自己的家庭，然而時代社會的動蕩萬變和本性的頑固不得不又一次下貶成工人，接下來的故事並不會就此平淡度過，貝姨沒有放棄和屈服於現狀，為着自己的目標繼續活着，堅強地拼搏，最終得到了他的滿足——有了一份自己的事業。
貝姨是巴爾紮剋筆下相當特殊的一個形象。小說以其命名，可見作傢對她的重視。她為某種情欲所左右，但色調構成卻十分復雜。集“醜”與“惡”於一身，是這個人物給讀者的第一印象。作傢為她勾畫了一幅令人生厭、令人生畏的漫畫像，又賦予她同樣令人生厭、令人生畏的嫉妒心。這種仿佛與生俱來的怪癖心理，侵擾着她自己的靈魂，也破壞着別人的幸福；在與瓦萊麗的淫蕩結合後，更形成為一種巨大的，甚至能“毀滅整個城市”的邪惡力量。 但是，貝姨的形象又遠非“惡”的化身。
In the 1840s, a serial format known as the roman-feuilleton was highly popular in France, and the most acclaimed expression of it was the socialist writing of Eugène Sue. Balzac wanted to challenge Sue's supremacy, and prove himself the most capable feuilleton author in France. Writing quickly and with intense focus, Balzac produced La Cousine Bette, one of his longest novels, in two months. It was published in Le Constitutionnel at the end of 1846, then collected with a companion work, Le Cousin Pons, the following year.
The novel's characters represent polarities of contrasting morality. The vengeful Bette and disingenuous Valérie stand on one side, with the merciful Adeline and her patient daughter Hortense on the other. The patriarch of the Hulot family, meanwhile, is consumed by his own sexual desire. Hortense's husband, the Polish exile Wenceslas Steinbock, represents artistic genius, though he succumbs to uncertainty and lack of motivation. Balzac based the character of Bette in part on his mother and the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. At least one scene involving Baron Hulot was likely based on an event in the life of Balzac's friend, the novelist Victor Hugo.
La Cousine Bette is considered Balzac's last great work. His trademark use of realist detail combines with a panorama of characters returning from earlier novels. Several critics have hailed it as a turning point in the author's career, and others have called it a prototypical naturalist text. It has been compared to William Shakespeare's Othello as well as Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. The novel explores themes of vice and virtue, as well as the influence of money on French society. Bette's relationship with Valérie is also seen as an important exploration of homoerotic themes. A number of film versions of the story have been produced, including a 1971 BBC mini-series starring Margaret Tyzack and Dame Helen Mirren, and a 1998 feature film with Jessica Lange in the title role.
By 1846 Honoré de Balzac had achieved tremendous fame as a writer, but his finances and health were deteriorating rapidly. After writing a series of potboiler novels in the 1820s, he published his first book under his own name, Les Chouans, in 1829. He followed this with dozens of well-received novels and stories, including La Peau de chagrin (1831), Le Père Goriot (1835), and the two-volume Illusions perdues (1837 and 1839). Because of his lavish lifestyle and penchant for financial speculation, however, he spent most of his life trying to repay a variety of debts. He wrote tirelessly, driven as much by economic necessity as by the muse and black coffee. This regimen of constant work exhausted his body and brought reprimands from his doctor.[2]
As his work gained recognition, Balzac began corresponding with a Polish Baronness named Ewelina Hańska, who first contacted him through an anonymous 1832 letter signed "L'Étrangère". They developed an affectionate friendship in letters, and when she became a widow in 1841, Balzac sought her hand in marriage. He visited her often in Poland and Germany, but various complications prohibited their union. One of these was an affair Balzac had with his housekeeper, Louise Breugniot. As she became aware of his affection for Mme. Hanska, Breugniot stole a collection of their letters and used them to extort money from Balzac. Even after this episode, however, he grew closer to Mme. Hanska with each visit and by 1846 he had begun preparing a home to share with her. He grew hopeful that they could marry when she became pregnant, but she fell ill in December and suffered a miscarriage.[3]
The mid-nineteenth century was a time of profound transformation in French government and society. The reign of King Charles X ended in 1830 when a wave of agitation and dissent forced him to abdicate. He was replaced by Louis-Philippe, who named himself "King of the French", rather than the standard "King of France" – an indication that he answered more to the nascent bourgeoisie than the aristocratic Ancien Régime. The change in government took place while the economy in France was moving from mercantilism to industrial development. This opened new opportunities for individuals hoping to acquire wealth, and led to significant changes in social norms. Members of the aristocracy, for example, were forced to relate socially to the nouveau riche, usually with tense results. The democratic spirit of the French Revolution also affected social interactions, with a shift in popular allegiance away from the church and the monarchy.[4]
In the mid-nineteenth century, a new style of novel became popular in France. The serial format known as the roman-feuilleton presented stories in short regular installments, often accompanied by melodramatic plots and stock characters. Although Balzac's La Vielle fille (1836) was the first such work published in France,[5] the roman-feuilleton gained prominence thanks mostly to his friends Eugène Sue and Alexandre Dumas, père.[6] Balzac disliked their serial writing, however, especially Sue's socialist depiction of lower-class suffering.[7] Balzac wanted to dethrone what he called "les faux dieux de cette littérature bâtarde" ("the false gods of this bastard literature").[8] He also wanted to show the world that, despite his poor health and tumultuous career, he was "plus jeune, plus frais, et plus grand que jamais" ("younger, fresher, and greater than ever").[8] His first efforts to render a quality feuilleton were unsuccessful. Even though Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes (published in segments from 1838 to 1847) was celebrated by critics, Balzac complained to Mme. Hanska that he was "doing pue Sue".[9] He tried again in 1844 with Modeste Mignon, but public reactions were mixed.[10] Two years later Balzac began a new project, determined to create something from his "own old pen again".[9]
Writing and publication
Balzac first visited the Château de Saché in 1832, when he wrote the autobiographical novel Louis Lambert.[11]
After resting for a week in June 1846 at the Château de Saché in Tours, Balzac returned to Paris and began working on a short story called "Le Parasite", which he eventually developed into the novel Le Cousin Pons. He intended from the start to pair it with another novel, collecting them under the title Les Parents pauvres ("The Poor Relations"). He based the second book on a story his sister Laure Surville had written called "La Cousine Rosalie" and published in 1844 in Le Journal des enfants.[12] Writing intensively, he produced the entire novel, named La Cousine Bette after the main character, in two months. This was a significant accomplishment owing to his bad health, but its length made Balzac's writing speed especially remarkable.[13] One critic calls the writing of Les Parents pauvres Balzac's "last explosion of creative energy".[14] Another suggests that this effort was "almost the last straw which broke down Balzac's gigantic strength".[15]
Balzac's usual mode of revision involved vast, complicated edits made to galley proofs he received from the printer. When creating La Cousine Bette, however, he submitted the work to his editor piece by piece, without viewing a single proof.[15] The book was serialized in Le Constitutionnel from 8 October to 3 December, and Balzac rushed to keep up with the newspaper's rapid printing schedule. He produced an average of eight pages each day, but was struck by the unexpected enormity of the story as it evolved.[16] Balzac was paid 12,836 francs for the series, which was later published with Le Cousin Pons as a twelve-volume book by Chiendowski and Pétion.[17] The first collected edition of La Cousine Bette was organized into 132 chapters, but these divisions were removed when Balzac added it to his massive collection La Comédie humaine in 1848.[18]
Plot summary
While caring for him, Bette refers to Wenceslas Steinbock as "mon enfant ... un garçon qui se relève du cercueil" ("my child ... a son risen from the grave").[19]
The first third of the novel provides a lengthy exploration of the characters' histories. Balzac makes this clear after 150 pages: "Ici se termine, en quelque sorte, l'introduction de cette histoire." ("Here ends what is, in a way, the introduction to this story.")[20] At the start of the novel, Adeline Hulot – wife of the successful Baron Hector Hulot – is being pressured into an affair by a wealthy perfumer named Célestin Crevel. His desire stems in part from an earlier contest in which the adulterous Baron Hulot had won the hand of the singer Josépha Mirah, also favored by Crevel. The Hulots' daughter, Hortense, has begun searching for a husband; their son Victorin is married to Crevel's daughter Celestine. Mme. Hulot resists Crevel's advances, and he turns his attention elsewhere.
Mme. Hulot's cousin, Bette (also called Lisbeth), harbors a deep but hidden resentment of her relatives' success. A peasant woman with none of the physical beauty of her cousin, Bette has rejected a series of marriage proposals from middle-class suitors, and remains unmarried at the age of 42. One day she comes upon a young unsuccessful Polish sculptor named Wenceslas Steinbock, attempting suicide in the tiny apartment upstairs from her own. As she nourishes him back to health, she develops a maternal fondness for him. She also befriends Valérie, the wife of a War Department clerk named Marneffe; the two women form a bond of mutual affection and protection.
Baron Hulot, meanwhile, is rejected by Josépha, who explains bluntly that she has chosen another man because of his larger fortune. Hulot's despair is quickly alleviated when he meets and falls in love with Valérie Marneffe. He showers her with gifts, and soon establishes a luxurious house for her and M. Marneffe, with whom he works at the War Department. These debts, compounded by the money he borrowed to lavish on Josépha, threaten the Hulot family's financial security. Panicked, he convinces his uncle Johann Fischer to quietly embezzle funds from a War Department outpost in Algiers. Hulot's woes are momentarily abated and Bette's happiness is shattered, when – at the end of the "introduction" – Hortense Hulot marries Wenceslas Steinbock.
Crushed at having lost Steinbock's company, Bette swears vengeance on the Hulot family. She works behind the scenes with Valérie to extract more money from Baron Hulot. Valérie also seduces Crevel and watches with delight as they vie for her attention. With Bette's help, Valérie turns to Steinbock and draws him into her bedroom. When Hortense learns of his infidelity, she leaves Steinbock and returns with their son to live with her mother Adeline. Valérie also proclaims her love to a Brazilian Baron named Henri Montès de Montéjanos, and swears devotion constantly to each of the five men.
When Baron Hulot marries the kitchen maid Agathe, his son Victorin concludes: "les enfants ne peuvent pas empêcher la folie des ancêtres en enfance" ("children cannot interfere with the insane acts of their parents in their second childhood").[21]
Baron Hulot's brother, known as "le maréchal" ("the Marshal"), hires Bette as his housekeeper, and they develop a mild affection. He learns of his brother's infidelities (and the difficulties they have caused Adeline, who refuses to leave her husband), and promises to marry Bette if she will provide details. She agrees eagerly, delighted at the prospect of finally securing an enviable marriage. While investigating his brother's behavior, however, the Marshal discovers Baron Hulot's scheme in Algiers. He is overwhelmed by the disgrace, and his health deteriorates. Bette's last hope for a brighter future dies with him.
When Valérie becomes pregnant, she tells each of her lovers (and her husband) that he is the father. She gives birth to a stillborn child, however, and her husband dies soon thereafter. Hulot and Crevel are ecstatic when they hear this news, each believing that he will become her only love once the official mourning period has passed. Valérie chooses Crevel for his comfortable fortune, and they quickly wed. This news outrages Baron Montès, and he devises a plot to poison the newlyweds. Crevel and Valérie die slowly, their bodies devoured by an exotic Brazilian toxin.
Victorin Hulot is later visited by the Prince of Wissembourg, who delivers news of economic good fortune. The Marshal, prior to his death, had made arrangements for repayment of the Baron's debts, as well as employment for Adeline in a Catholic charity. Baron Hulot has disappeared, and Adeline spends her free time searching for him in houses of ill repute. She eventually finds him living with a fifteen-year-old courtesan, and begs him to return to the family. He agrees, but as he climbs into the carriage, Hulot asks: "mais pourrai-je emmener la petite?" ("But can I take the girl?")[22] The Hulot home is reunited for a time, and Bette's fury at their apparent happiness hastens her death. One evening after the funeral, Adeline overhears Hulot seducing a kitchen maid named Agathe. On her deathbed, Adeline delivers her first rebuke to her husband: "[D]ans un moment, tu seras libre, et tu pourras faire une baronne Hulot." ("In a moment, you will be free, and you can make another Baronne Hulot.")[23] Soon after burying his wife, Hulot marries Agathe.
Characters and inspirations
The death of Marshal Hulot has been called "one of the most moving in all of Balzac".[24]
Balzac had written more than seventy novels when he began La Cousine Bette, and populated them with recurring characters. Many of the characters in the novel, therefore, appear with extensive back-stories and biographical depth. For example, Célestin Crevel first appeared in Balzac's 1837 novel César Birotteau, working for the title character. Having accumulated a considerable fortune in that book, Crevel spends his time in La Cousine Bette enjoying the spoils of his labor. Another important recurring character is Marshal Hulot, who first appeared as a colonel in Les Chouans. In the years between that story and La Cousine Bette, he became the Count of Forzheim; in a letter to the Constitutionnel, Balzac described how Marshal Hulot gained this title. The presence of Crevel and Marshal Hulot – among others – in La Cousine Bette allows a continuation of each character's life story, adding emphasis or complexity to earlier events.[25]
Other recurring characters appear only briefly in La Cousine Bette; previous appearances, however, give deep significance to the characters' presence. This is the case with Vautrin, the criminal mastermind who tutors young Eugene de Rastignac in Balzac's 1835 novel Le Père Goriot. When he resurfaces in La Cousine Bette, he has joined the police and introduces the Hulot family to his aunt, Mme. Nourrison, who offers a morally questionable remedy for their woes. Although Vautrin's presence in La Cousine Bette is brief, his earlier adventures in Le Père Goriot provide instant recognition and emotional texture. Elsewhere, Balzac presents an entire world of experience by including characters from a particular sphere of society. For example, several scenes feature artists like Jean-Jacques Bixiou, who first appeared in 1837's Les Employés and in many other books thereafter. The world of Parisian nightlife is quickly brought to mind with the inclusion of several characters from Les Comédiens sans le savoir (1846), and Bianchon appears – as always – when a doctor is needed.[26]
Balzac's use of recurring characters has been identified as a unique component of his fiction. It enables a depth of characterization that goes beyond simple narration or dialogue. "When the characters reappear", notes the critic Samuel Rogers, "they do not step out of nowhere; they emerge from the privacy of their own lives which, for an interval, we have not been allowed to see."[27] Some readers, however, are intimidated by the depth created by these interdependent stories, and feel deprived of important context for the characters. Detective novelist Arthur Conan Doyle said that he never tried to read Balzac, because he "did not know where to begin".[28] The characterization in La Cousine Bette is considered especially skillful. Anthony Pugh, in his book Balzac's Recurring Characters, says that the technique is employed "for the most part without that feeling of self-indulgence that mars some of Balzac's later work. Almost every example arises quite naturally out of the situation."[29] Biographer Noel Gerson calls the characters in La Cousine Bette "among the most memorable Balzac ever sketched".[30]
Bette Fischer
Lisbeth Fischer (Cousin Bette) is described as "maigre, brune ... les sourcils épais et réunis par un bouquet ... quelques verrues dans sa face longue et simiesque" ("lean, brown, with ... thick eyebrows joining in a tuft ... and some moles on her narrow simian face").[31]
Descriptions of Bette are often connected to savagery and animal imagery. Her name, for example, is a homophone in French for "bête" ("beast"). One passage explains that "elle ressemblait aux singes habillés en femmes" ("she sometimes looked like one of those monkeys in petticoats");[32] elsewhere her voice is described as having "une jalousie de tigre" ("tiger-like jealousy").[33] Her beastly rage comes to the surface with ferocity when she learns of Steinbock's engagement to Hortense:
La physionomie de la Lorraine était devenue terrible. Ses yeux noirs et pénétrants avaient la fixité de ceux des tigres. Sa figure ressemblait à celles que nous supposons aux pythonisses, elle serrait les dents pour les empêcher de claquer, et une affreuse convulsion faisait trembler ses membres. Elle avait glissé sa main crochue entre son bonnet et ses cheveux pour les empoigner et soutenir sa tête, devenue trop lourde; elle brûlait! La fumée de l'incendie qui la ravageait semblait passer par ses rides comme par autant de crevasses labourées par une éruption volcanique.
The peasant-woman's face was terrible; her piercing black eyes had the glare of the tiger's; her face was like that we ascribe to a pythoness; she set her teeth to keep them from chattering, and her whole frame quivered convulsively. She had pushed her clenched fingers under her cap to clutch her hair and support her head, which felt too heavy; she was on fire. The smoke of the flame that scorched her seemed to emanate from her wrinkles as from the crevasses rent by a volcanic eruption.[34]
When she learns that her cousin Adeline has been welcoming Steinbock into the Hulot home, Bette swears revenge: "Adeline! se dit Lisbeth, ô Adeline, tu me le payeras, je te rendrai plus laide que moi!" ("'Adeline!' muttered Lisbeth. 'Oh, Adeline, you shall pay for this! I will make you uglier than I am.'")[34] Her cruelty and lust for revenge lead critics to call her "demonic"[35] and "one of Balzac's most terrifying creations".[36] Because of her willingness to manipulate the people around her, Bette has been compared to Iago in William Shakespeare's play Othello.[37] Her fierce persona is attributed partly to her peasant background, and partly to her virginity, which provides (according to Balzac) "une force diabolique ou la magie noire de la volonté" ("diabolical strength, or the black magic of the Will").[38][39]
In a letter to Mme. Hanska, Balzac indicated that he based the character of Bette on three women from his life: his mother, Mme. Hanska's aunt Rosalie Rzewuska, and the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. Balzac had a tumultuous relationship with his mother for most of his life, and he incorporated some of her personality (particularly her "obstinate persistence in living",[40] as one critic calls it) into Bette.[41] Rosalie Rzewuska disapproved of Mme. Hanska's relationship with Balzac; biographers agree that her cold determination was part of the author's recipe for Bette.[42] Elements taken from Marceline Desbordes-Valmore are more complex; she faced many setbacks in life and she and Balzac became friends after she left the theatre to take up poetry.[43]
Valérie Marneffe
Bette's co-conspirator in the destruction of the Hulot family is beautiful and greedy Valérie Marneffe, the unsatisfied wife of a War Department clerk. They develop a deep friendship, which many critics consider an example of lesbian affection.[44] Because of their relationship and similar goals, the critic Frederic Jameson says that "Valérie serves as a kind of emanation of Bette".[45]
Valérie Marneffe "attirait tous les regards, excitait tous les désirs, dans le cercle où elle rayonnait" ("attracted every eye, and excited every desire in the circle she shone upon").[46]
Valérie is repulsed by her ugly husband and has gone five years without kissing him.[47] She explains bluntly that her position as a married woman provides subtleties and options unavailable to the common prostitute who has one set price; after Marneffe dies, Valérie jockeys for position between Hulot and Montés (while also sleeping with Steinbock), then discards them all to marry Crevel, who offers the most wealth. She amuses herself by mocking her lovers' devotion, and this wickedness – not to mention her gruesome demise – has led some critics to speculate that she is actually the focus of Balzac's morality tale.[48]
In one important scene, Valérie models for Steinbock as Delilah, standing victorious over the ruined Samson. With obvious parallels to her own activities, she describes her vision for the piece: "Il s'agit d'exprimer la puissance de la femme. Samson n'est rien, là. C'est le cadavre de la force. Dalila, c'est la passion qui ruine tout." ("What you have to show is the power of woman. Samson is a secondary consideration. He is the corpse of dead strength. It is Delilah—passion—that ruins everything.")[49]
Although Balzac did not draw specifically from the women in his life to create Valérie, parallels have been observed in some areas. The tumultuous end of his affair with Louise Breugniot and the advantage she gains from his devotion to Mme. Hanska is similar in some ways to Valérie's manipulation of Steinbock.[50] Critics also connect the pride and anguish felt by Balzac during Mme. Hanska's pregnancy and miscarriage to the same emotions felt by Baron Hulot when Valérie conceives and loses her child.[51] Although he never ascribed to Mme. Hanska any of the traits in Valérie's treacherous character, he felt a devotion similar to that of Hulot. He once wrote to her: "je fais pour mon Eve toute les folies qu'un Hulot fait pour une Marneffe, je te donnerai mon sang, mon honneur, ma vie" ("I commit for [you] all the follies that a Hulot commits for Madame Marneffe; I give you my blood, my honor, my life").[52]
Hector and Adeline Hulot
Baron Hector Hulot is a living manifestation of male sexual desire, unrestrained and unconcerned with its consequences for the man or his family. As the novel progresses, he becomes consumed by his libido, even in a physical sense. When Valérie tells him to stop dyeing his hair, he does so to please her. His financial woes and public disgrace lead him to flee his own home; by the end of the book he is an elderly, decrepit shell of a man. Baron Hulot is so overcome by his taste for female flesh that he even asks his wife – without irony – if he can bring home his fifteen-year-old mistress.[53]
Adeline Hulot, on the other hand, is mercy personified. Like her cousin Bette, she comes from a peasant background, but has internalized the ideals of 19th-century womanhood, including devotion, grace, and deference. She reveals in the first scene that she has known for years about her husband's infidelities, but refuses to condemn him. Adeline's forgiving nature is often considered a significant character flaw. Some suggest that she is partly to blame for Hulot's wandering affection. C.A. Prendergast, for example, calls her forgiveness "an inadequate and even positively disastrous response" to her situation.[54] He further suggests that Adeline, by choosing the role of quiet and dutiful wife, has excised from herself the erotic power to which the Baron is drawn. "[O]ne could at the very least offer the tentative speculation that Hulot's obsessional debauchery is in part the result of a certain poverty in Adeline, that the terrible logic of Hulot's excess is partially shaped by a crucial deficiency in his wife."[55] Others are less accusatory; Adeline's nearly infinite mercy, they say, is evidence of foolishness. Critic Herbert J. Hunt declares that she shows "more imbecility than Christian patience",[56] and David Bellos points out that, like her husband, she is driven by passion – albeit of a different kind: "Adeline's desire (for good, for the family, for Hector, for God) is so radically different from the motivating desires of the other characters that she seems in their context to be without desire...."[57]
Balzac's inspiration for the characters of Hector and Adeline remain unclear, but several critics have been eager to speculate. Three officers named Hulot were recognized for their valor in the Napoleonic Wars, and some suggest that Balzac borrowed the name of Comte Hector d'Aure. None of these men, however, were known for the sort of philandering or thievery exhibited by Baron Hulot in the novel. Instead, Balzac may have used himself as the model; his many affairs with women across the social spectrum lead some to suggest that the author "found much of Hulot in himself".[58] Balzac's friend Victor Hugo, meanwhile, was famously discovered in bed with his mistress in July 1845. The similarity of his name to Hector Hulot (and that of his wife's maiden name, Adèle Foucher, to Adeline Fischer) has been posited as a possible indication of the characters' origins.[59]
Wenceslas Steinbock
"Quoique Steinbock eût vingt-neuf ans, il paraissait, comme certains blonds, avoir cinq ou six ans de moins ... cette jeunesse ... avait cédé sous les fatigues et les misères de l'exil" ("Though Steinbock was nine-and-twenty, like many fair men, he looked five or six years younger ... his youth ... had faded under the fatigue and stress of life in exile".)[60]
The Polish sculptor Wenceslas Steinbock is important primarily because of Bette's attachment to him. He offers Bette a source of pride, a way for her to prove herself worthy of her family's respect. When Hortense marries Steinbock, Bette feels as though she has been robbed. Prendergast insists that the incident "must literally be described as an act of theft".[61]
Steinbock's relevance also lies in his background and profession, illustrating Balzac's conception of the Polish people, as well as himself. Having spent more than a decade befriending Mme. Hanska and visiting her family in Poland, Balzac believed he had insight into the national character (as he felt about most groups he observed). Thus, descriptions of Steinbock are often laced with commentary about the Polish people: "Soyez mon amie, dit-il avec une de ces démonstrations caressantes si familières aux Polonais, et qui les font accuser assez injustement de servilité." ("'Be my sweetheart,' he added, with one of the caressing gestures familiar to the Poles, for which they are unjustly accused of servility.")[62][63]
Critics also consider Steinbock important because of his artistic genius. Like Louis Lambert and Lucien Chardon in Illusions perdues, he is a brilliant man – just as Balzac considered himself to be. Before he is nurtured and directed by Bette, however, Steinbock's genius languishes under his own inertia and he attempts suicide. Later, when he leaves Bette's circle of influence, he fails again. Thus he demonstrates Balzac's conviction that genius alone is useless without determination.[64] Bellos organizes Steinbock and Bette into a duality of weakness and strength; whereas the Polish artist is unable to direct his energies into productive work, Bette draws strength from her virginity and thus becomes powerful by denying the lust to which Steinbock falls prey.[65] Steinbock's drive is further eroded by the praise he receives for his art, which gives him an inflated sense of accomplishment. One critic refers to the artist's downfall as "vanity ... spoiled by premature renown".[66]
Style
If Balzac's goal was (as he claimed) to write a realist novel from his "own old pen" rather than mimic the style of Eugène Sue, history and literary criticism have declared him successful. William Stowe calls La Cousine Bette "a masterpiece of classical realism"[67] and Bellos refers to it as "one of the great achievements of nineteenth-century realism", comparing it to War and Peace.[68] Some sections of the book are criticized for being melodramatic, and Balzac biographer V. S. Pritchett even refers to a representative excerpt as "bad writing".[69] Most critics, however, consider the moralistic elements of the novel deceptively complex, and some point out that the roman-feuilleton format required a certain level of titillation to keep readers engaged.[70] Others indicate that Balzac's interest in the theatre was an important reason for the inclusion of melodramatic elements.[71]
Émile Zola said that Balzac's fiction was "uniquement le compte-rendu brutal de ce que l'écrivain a observé" ("only the brutal report of what the writer has observed").[72]
Balzac's trademark realism begins on the first page of the novel, wherein Crevel is described wearing a National Guard uniform, complete with the Légion d'honneur. Details from the 1830s also appear in the novel's geographic locations. The Hulot family home, for example, is found in the aristocratic area of Paris known as the Faubourg Saint-Germain.[73] Bette's residence is on the opposite end of the social spectrum, in the impoverished residential area which surrounded the Louvre: "Les ténèbres, le silence, l'air glacial, la profondeur caverneuse du sol concourent à faire de ces maisons des espèces de cryptes, des tombeaux vivants." ("Darkness, silence, an icy chill, and the cavernous depth of the soil combine to make these houses a kind of crypt, tombs of the living.")[74] Descriptions of her meager quarters are – as usual in Balzac's work – an acute reflection of her personality. The same is true of the Marneffe home at the outset: it contains "les trompeuses apparences de ce faux luxe" ("the illusory appearance of sham luxury"),[75] from the shabby chairs in the drawing-room to the dust-coated bedroom.[76]
Precise detail is not spared in descriptions of decay and disease, two vivid elements in the novel. Marneffe, for example, represents crapulence. His decrepit body is a symbol of society's weakness at the time, worn away from years of indulgence. The poison which kills Valérie and Crevel is also described in ghastly detail. The doctor Bianchon explains: "Ses dents et ses cheveux tombent, elle a l'aspect des lépreux, elle se fait horreur à elle-même; ses mains, épouvantables à voir, sont enflées et couvertes de pustules verdâtres; les ongles déchaussés restent dans les plaies qu'elle gratte; enfin, toutes les extrémités se détruisent dans la sanie qui les ronge." ("She is losing her hair and teeth, her skin is like a leper's, she is a horror to herself; her hands are horrible, covered with greenish pustules, her nails are loose, and the flesh is eaten away by the poisoned humors.")[77]
La Cousine Bette is unapologetic in its bleak outlook, and makes blunt connections between characters' origins and behavior. For these reasons, it is considered a key antecedent to naturalist literature. Novelist Émile Zola called it an important "roman expérimental" ("experimental novel"),[78] and praised its acute exploration of the characters' motivations.[79][80] Some critics note that La Cousine Bette showed an evolution in Balzac's style – one which he had little time to develop. Pointing to the nuance of plot and comprehensive narration style, Stowe suggests that the novel "might in happier circumstances have marked the beginning of a new, mature 'late Balzac'".[81]
Themes
Passion, vice, and virtue
Valérie's line about Delilah being "la passion qui ruine tout" ("passion which ruins everything") is symbolic, coming as it does from a woman whose passion accelerates the ruin of most people around her – including herself. Baron Hulot, meanwhile, is desire incarnate; his wandering libido bypasses concern for his wife, brother, children, finances, and even his own health. Bette, of course, is living vengeance, and Adeline desperately yearns for the happy home she imagined in the early years of marriage. Each character is driven by a fiery passion, which in most cases consumes the individual.[82] As Balzac puts it: "La passion est un martyre." ("Passion is martyrdom.")[83]
After acknowledging herself as Delilah, Valérie warns her guests: "Prenez garde à vos toupets, messieurs!" ("Take care of your wigs, gentlemen!")[84]
The intensity of passion, and the consequences of its manifestation, result in a stark contrast of vice and virtue. Bette and Valérie are pure wickedness, and even celebrate the ruin of their targets. As one critic says, "life's truths are viewed in their most atrocious form".[85] Mocking the use of the guillotine during the French Revolution while acknowledging her own malicious intent, Valérie says with regard to Delilah: "La vertu coupe la tête, le Vice ne vous coupe que les cheveux." ("Virtue cuts off your head; vice only cuts off your hair.")[84] Hulot is not intentionally cruel, but his actions are no less devastating to the people around him.[86]
On the other side of the moral divide, Adeline and her children stand as shining examples of virtue and nobility – or so it would seem. Hortense ridicules her aunt when Bette mentions her protégé Wenceslas Steinbock, providing a psychological catalyst for the ensuing conflict.[87] Victorin repeatedly expresses outrage at his father's philandering, yet crosses a significant moral boundary when he agrees to fund Mme. Nourrison's plan to eradicate Valérie. As one critic puts it, Victorin's decision marks a point in the novel where "the scheme of right versus wrong immediately dissolves into a purely amoral conflict of different interests and passions, regulated less by a transcendent moral law than by the relative capacity of the different parties for cunning and ruthlessness."[88] The cruelties of the Hulot children are brief but significant, owing as much to their obliviousness (intentional in the case of Victorin, who asks not to learn the details of Mme. Nourrison's scheme) as to malicious forethought.[89]
The question of Adeline's virtue is similarly complicated. Although she is forgiving to the point of absurdity, she is often considered more of a dupe than a martyr. Some have compared her to Balzac's title character in Le Père Goriot, who sacrifices himself for his daughters.[90] As Bellos puts it: "Adeline's complicity with Hector certainly makes her more interesting as a literary character, but it undermines her role as the symbol of virtue in the novel."[91] This complicity reaches an apex when she unsuccessfully attempts to sell her affections to Crevel (who has since lost interest) in order to repay her husband's debts. Her flirtation with prostitution is sometimes considered more egregious than Valérie's overt extortion, since Adeline is soiling her own dignity in the service of Baron Hulot's infidelity. For the remainder of the novel, Adeline trembles uncontrollably, a sign of her weakness.[92] Later, when she visits the singer Josépha (on whom her husband once doted), Adeline is struck by the splendor earned by a life of materialistic seduction. She wonders aloud if she is capable of providing the carnal pleasures Hulot seeks outside of their home.[93]
Ultimately, both vice and virtue fail. Valérie is devoured by Montés' poison, a consequence of her blithe attitude toward his emotion. Bette is unsuccessful in her effort to crush her cousin's family, and dies (as one critic puts it) "in the margins".[94] Adeline's Catholic mercy, on the other hand, fails to redeem her husband, and her children are similarly powerless – as Victorin finally admits on the novel's last page. Like Raphael de Valentin in Balzac's 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin, Hulot is left with nothing but "vouloir": desire, a force which is both essential for human existence and eventually apocalyptic.[95]
Gender and homoeroticism
Gender roles, especially the figure of the ideal woman, are central to La Cousine Bette. The four leading female characters (Bette, Valérie, Adeline, and Hortense) embody stereotypically feminine traits. Each pair of women revolves around a man, and they compete for his attention: Valérie and Adeline for Baron Hulot; Bette and Hortense for Wenceslas Steinbock. Balzac's study of masculinity is limited to the insatiable lust of Hulot and the weak-willed inconstancy of Steinbock, with the occasional appearance of Victorin as a sturdy patriarch in his father's absence.[96]
French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec depicted lesbian relationships similar to (though more explicit than) that of Bette and Valérie, as in his 1893 painting "In Bed".[97]
Critics pay special attention to Bette's lack of traditional femininity, and her unconventional relationships with two characters. She is described from the outset as having "des qualités d'homme" ("certain manly qualities"),[98] with similar descriptions elsewhere. Her relationship and attitude toward Steinbock, moreover, hint at her masculinity. She commands him into submission, and even binds him with economic constraints by lending him the money to develop his sculpture. Her domination is tempered by maternal compassion, but the couple's relationship is compared to an abusive marriage: "Il fut comme une femme qui pardonne les mauvais traitements d'une semaine à cause des caresses d'un fugitif raccommodement." ("He was like a woman who forgives a week of ill-usage for the sake of a kiss and a brief reconciliation.")[99][100]
Bette's relationship with Valérie is layered with overtones of lesbianism. Early in the book Bette is "captée" ("bewitched")[101] by Valérie, and quickly declares to her: "Je vous aime, je vous estime, je suis à vous!" ("I love you, I esteem you, I am wholly yours!")[102] This affection may have been platonic, but neighbors of the Marneffes – along with many readers – suspect that their bond transcends friendship.[103] As with Steinbock, Bette and Valérie assume butch and femme roles; the narration even mentions "Le contraste de la mâle et sèche nature de la Lorraine avec la jolie nature créole de Valérie" ("The contrast between Lisbeth's dry masculine nature and Valerie's creole prettiness").[104] The homoeroticism evolves through the novel, as Bette feeds on Valérie's power to seduce and control the Hulot men. As one critic says: "Valérie's body becomes, at least symbolically, the locus of Bette's only erotic pleasure."[105]
Wealth and society
Balzac once wrote: "The worst fault of the July Revolution is that it did not allow Louis-Philippe three months of dictatorship in which to put the rights of the people and the throne on a secure basis."[106]
As with many of his novels, Balzac analyzes the influence of history and social status in La Cousine Bette. The book takes places between 1838 and 1846, when the reign of Louis-Philippe reflected and directed significant changes in the social structure. Balzac was a legitimist favoring the House of Bourbon, and idolized Napoleon Bonaparte as a paragon of effective absolutist power. Balzac felt that French society under the House of Orléans lacked strong leadership, and was fragmented by the demands of parliament. He also believed that Catholicism provided guidance for the nation, and that its absence heralded moral decay.[107]
Balzac demonstrated these beliefs through the characters' lives in La Cousine Bette. The conflict between Baron Hulot and the perfumer Crevel mirrors the animosity between the aristocracy of the Ancien Régime and the newly-developed bourgeoisie of traders and industrial entrepreneurs. Although he despised the socialist politics of Eugène Sue, Balzac worried that bourgeois desperation for financial gain drove people from life's important virtues. The characters – especially Bette, Valérie, and Crevel – are fixated on their need for money, and do whatever they must to obtain it.[108] As Crevel explains to Adeline: "Vous vous abusez, cher ange, si vous croyez que c'est le roi Louis-Philippe qui règne ... au-dessus de la Charte il y a la sainte, la vénérée, la solide, l'aimable, la gracieuse, la belle, la noble, la jeune, la toute-puissante pièce de cent sous!" ("You are quite mistaken, my angel, if you suppose that King Louis-Philippe rules us ... supreme above the Charter reigns the holy, venerated, substantial, delightful, obliging, beautiful, noble, ever-youthful, and all-powerful five-franc piece!")[109]
Themes of corruption and salvation are brought to the fore as Valérie and Crevel lie dying from the mysterious poison. When his daughter urges him to meet with a priest, Crevel angrily refuses, mocking the church and indicating that his social stature will be his salvation: "la mort regarde à deux fois avant de frapper un maire de Paris!" ("Death thinks twice of it before carrying off a Mayor of Paris.")[110] Valérie, meanwhile, makes a deathbed conversion and urges Bette to abandon her quest for revenge. Ever the courtesan, Valérie describes her new Christianity in terms of seduction: "je ne puis maintenant plaire qu'à Dieu! je vais tâcher de me réconcilier avec lui, ce sera ma dernière coquetterie!" ("I can please no one now but God. I will try to be reconciled to Him, and that will be my last flirtation...!")[111]
Reception and adaptations
In 1921 actor Bette Davis, born Ruth Elizabeth Davis, chose Bette as her stage name in honor of Balzac's character.[112]
The critical reaction to La Cousine Bette was immediate and positive, which Balzac did not expect. Whether due to the intensity of its creation or the tumult of his personal life, the author was surprised by the praise he received. He wrote: "I did not realize how good La Cousine Bette is.... There is an immense reaction in my favour. I have won!"[113] The collected edition sold consistently well, and was reprinted nineteen times before the turn of the century. 20th-century critics remain enthusiastic in their praise for the novel; Saintsbury insists it is "beyond all question one of the very greatest of [Balzac's] works".[114] Biographer Graham Robb calls La Cousine Bette "the masterpiece of his premature old age".[115]
Some 19th-century critics attacked the book, on the grounds that it normalized vice and corrupt living. Chief among these were disciples of the utopian theorist Charles Fourier; they disapproved of the "immorality" inherent in the novel's bleak resolution. Critics like Alfred Nettement and Eugène Marron declared that Balzac's sympathy lay with Baron Hulot and Valérie Marneffe. They lambasted him for not commenting more on the characters' degenerate behavior – the same stylistic choice later celebrated by naturalist writers Émile Zola and Hippolyte Taine.[116]
Balzac's novel has been adapted several times for the screen. The first was in 1927, when French filmmaker Max DeRieux directed Alice Tissot in the title role.[117] Margaret Tyzack played the role of Bette in the five part serial Cousin Bette aired on the BBC, which also starred Helen Mirren as Valérie Marneffe.[118] The film Cousin Bette was released in 1998, directed by Des McAnuff. Jessica Lange starred in the title role, joined by Bob Hoskins as Crevel, and Elisabeth Shue as the singer Jenny Cadine. Screenwriters Lynn Siefert and Susan Tarr changed the story significantly, and eliminated Valérie. The 1998 film was panned by critics for its generally poor acting and awkward dialogue. Stephen Holden of the New York Times commented that the movie "treats the novel as a thoroughly modern social comedy peopled with raging narcissists, opportunists and flat-out fools".[119][120]
La Cousine Bette was adapted for the stage by Jeffrey Hatcher, best known for his screenplay Stage Beauty (based on his stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty). The Antaeus Company in North Hollywood produced a workshop in 2008 and presented the world premiere of Cousin Bette in early 2010 in North Hollywood, California.[121] The adaptation retains many of the main characters but places Bette as the story's narrator.
這篇小說塑造了一個放高利貸的守財奴形象，這一形象概括了私有心理的最令人作嘔的特點。主人公曾經是一個有熱情，有抱負的人，但飽經滄桑後卻總結出一條無恥的信條：金錢就是一切。金錢的腐蝕作用使它自己的主人也淪為了奴隸。
邦斯舅舅是音樂傢，一個誠實而高尚的自食其力的人。他非常喜歡繪畫藝術，為了豐富自己所收藏的名畫，他不惜付出一切精力，挖空一切心思。當人們不知道他手中有這一切寶藏時，誰也不把他放在心上。
為了奪取孤零漢邦斯的遺産，像王室首席推事加繆索之流的一些冠冕堂皇的人便千萬百計，使盡種種手段下毒手害他，不達目的誓不罷休。對邦斯來說，收藏名畫是一種高尚的愛好，對他那些有錢的親戚來說，名畫衹不過是發財的手段而已。
《邦斯舅舅》-銀屏再現
影片根據法國著名的批判現實主義作傢巴爾紮剋的代表作《邦斯舅舅》改編而成。
誠實而高尚的主人公邦斯是一位音樂傢，收藏了大量珍貴的藝術品，一次他與自己唯一的親戚加繆索一傢發生爭吵，有人懷疑他要取消侄女的繼承權。邦斯患病期間，衹有他的朋友施密剋和女門房西卜太太照顧他。而女門房的真正目在於邦斯收藏品，企圖竊為己有。在老邦斯病危之際，人們上演了一場為財産你爭我奪的醜劇。影片為您充分展現了巴爾紮剋筆下各種小人物形象。
根據法國名作傢巴爾紮原著改編，一場為財産你爭我奪的醜劇，為您充分展現了巴爾紮剋筆下各種小人物形象。邦斯的一生是善良的一生，一生都在音樂環境和古代藝術品的熏陶中生活，心地單純看待，世態人情還帶着兒童的天真。在他身上同時還具有收藏藝術品的雅癖和貪吃美食的惡癖。邦斯醜陋的外貌與金子般的內心、邦斯的善良與周圍污濁的世界形成鮮明對比，表現在金錢貪欲下善良的人悲劇命運。
《邦斯舅舅》-人物形象
邦斯舅舅：
是一個善良的破落貴族形象。
他年輕是寫過不少感傷樂麯，給巴黎的婦女淺唱低吟。因為相貌生得奇醜，一生未能結婚。青年時期獲得藝術的最高奬--羅馬奬，被政府送到羅馬深造，但在音樂上沒有取得突出成就，而是迷戀於漫遊意大利的名城，並養成了收集古代藝術精品的癖好，成為一個貪心的收藏傢、藝術鑒賞傢。他在留學期間收集的古玩耗盡了他全部的奬學金及父母的遺産。在德國音樂氛圍和意大利藝術珍品的陶醉之中，他忘卻了城市的苦惱，但是生計問題使她東顛西跑，去女子學堂兼課才能維持起碼的生活，當他的一顆心沉浸在欣賞人類美妙藝術傑作時，不幸染上了貪嘴的惡習，為此懷着期待的心情日夜盼望着接到闊親戚的邀請去美餐一頓。在外甥媳婦傢，他受到了冷遇，連僕人們都咒駡他"吃白食的人又來了。"從此邦斯遭到闊親戚們的誤解，特別是外甥傢的誤解，而一病不起。在他病情日益加重時，他身邊的僕人古董商馬古斯波冷醫生等對他收藏的古玩珍品估價，發現他收藏的各種藝術品十分名貴，總價達到一百八十萬法郎，於是他們展開了掠奪。他們收買心腹，打聽病情，無情包圍，暗中控製，為防止遺産的外流費盡心計，甚至偷盜邦斯的遺囑，折磨邦斯的病情，加速邦斯的死亡。邦斯死後，他一生收藏的藝術品全部落入外甥的手中，而參與陰謀的竊奪者們幾乎都分了肥。
《邦斯舅舅》-藝術賞析
一部傳統的小說，自然可以用傳統的方法去解讀。讓我們着重看一看《邦斯舅舅》中的主要人物邦斯舅舅。
邦斯舅舅是個舊時代的“遺跡”。小說一開始，便以極富象徵和概括性的手法，為我們描繪了他那悲劇性的外表及這外表所兆示的悲劇性的命運。
故事發生在十九世紀四十年代的巴黎，那是七月王朝統治時期，法國社會生活的各個方面正經受着激烈的動蕩。貴族階級逐漸沒落，資産階級政客、大銀行傢，投機商和大批食利者占據了法國的政治和經濟舞臺，而邦斯舅舅在這個時代的的舞臺上是顯得那麽格格不入：他“衣着的某些細微之處依舊忠實地保留着一八○六年的式樣，讓人回想起第一帝國時代。”這個“又幹又瘦的”老人，“在綴着白色金屬扣的暗緑色上衣外，又套着一件慄色的斯賓塞！……一個穿斯賓塞的人，要知道在這一八四四年，不啻於拿破侖尊駕一時復生，”
怪不得他一出場，巴黎街頭早已麻木的無聊看客也不由得發出含義豐富的微笑，帶着譏刺、嘲弄或憐憫：他“身上無意中留存了某個時代的全部笑料，看起來活脫是整整一個時代的化身”，“就像人們說帝國式樣傢具一樣，毫不猶豫地稱他為帝國時代人物。”
這位“帝國時代人物”，原本是個頗有才華的音樂傢，他的麯子還獲得過羅馬大奬。當初，國傢把他派往羅馬，本想把他造就成一個偉大的音樂傢，可他卻在那兒染上了古董癖，還 “染上了七大原罪中恐怕上帝懲罰最輕的一樁：貪饞”。
一方面，邦斯那顆“生機盎然的心靈永不疲憊地欣賞着人類壯麗的創造”，在收藏和欣賞人類的藝術創造中得到慰藉和升華；另一方面，他那張挑剔的嘴巴充滿嗜欲，腐蝕了他的氣節，那“嗜欲潛伏在人的心中，無處不在，在那兒發號施令，要衝破人的意志和榮譽的缺口……”
從表面看，似乎是邦斯犯的那樁原罪――“貪饞”把他推嚮悲劇的道路，由一個具有藝術追求的音樂傢“淪落到一個吃白食”；養成了“吃好喝好”的惡習，“衹要能夠繼續活個痛快，嘗到所有那些時鮮的瓜果蔬菜，敞開肚子大吃（話雖俗，但卻富有表現力）那些製作精細的美味佳餚，什麽下賤事都能做得出來”。他不僅為滿足自己的貪饞付出了沉重的代價，喪失了獨立的人格，而且還被腐蝕了靈魂，“對交際場上那些客套，那些取代了真情的虛偽表演全已習以為常，說起來恭維話來，那簡直就像花幾個小錢一樣方便”。
然而，這僅僅是邦斯人生悲劇的一個方面，一個非本質的方面。他的悲劇的深刻原因，在於他的“窮”，在於他與他的那些富有、顯赫的“親戚”根本上的格格不入。一個在一八四四年還穿着斯賓塞的“帝國時代人物”，偏偏又生活在一群七月革命的既得利益者之中。在他身邊，有法國藥材界巨頭博比諾，“當年鬧七月革命，好處盡讓博比諾得了，至少與波旁王族第二分支得到好處不相上下”；有 “不惜犧牲自己的長子”，拼命嚮政界爬的老卡繆佐；有野心勃勃一心想當司法部長的最高法院庭長；有公證人出身，後來當上了巴黎某區區長，撈盡了好處的卡爾多。邦斯擔任樂隊指揮的那傢戲院的經理，也同樣是個典型的資産階級暴發戶。
從本質上講，邦斯是個藝術傢。衹有在藝術的天地裏，他纔擁有青春；衹有與藝術交流時，他纔顯得那麽才氣橫溢。在樂隊的指揮臺上，他的手勢是那麽有力；在他的那間充滿人類美的創造的收藏室裏，他是那麽幸福。對於藝術和美的創造，他是那麽一往情深。他“熱愛藝術”，“對任何手工藝品，對任何神奇的創造，無不感到一種難以滿足的欲望，那是一位男士對一位美麗的戀人的愛”。甚至，當他因為得不到愛而絶望，投入到“連富有德行的僧侶也不可避免的罪過――貪饞”的懷抱時，也是“像投入到對藝術品的熱愛和對音樂的崇拜之中”。
然而，他對藝術的熱愛是與他所處的那個時代的價值取嚮和道德標準相悖的。對七月王朝時期那些資産階級暴發戶來說，音樂衹是那些音樂傢的一種“糊口的”手段，戲院經理戈迪薩爾看重邦斯的，不是他的才華，而是邦斯編的樂麯可以給他招徠觀衆，帶來滾滾財源；對愛慕虛榮，耍盡一切手段要讓丈夫當上議員，乃至司法部長的德・瑪維爾庭長太太來說，邦斯搜集的那些藝術品，那些稀世珍品，“純粹是一錢不值的玩藝”，藝術癡迷的邦斯，完全是“一個怪物”。
在這些人的府上，邦斯老人經受着百般的奚落、嘲諷和耍弄，最終被逐出“他們的天地”，實在是不可避免的。在他們這裏，沒有藝術的位置，他們“崇拜的是成功，看重的衹是一八三○年以來獵取的一切：巨大的財富或顯赫的社會地位”。劇院的頭牌舞女愛洛伊斯・布利茲圖說得是那麽一針見血：如今這個世道，“當老闆的斤斤計較，做國王的巧取豪奪，當大臣的營私舞弊，有錢的吝嗇摳門……藝術傢就太慘了！”看來，邦斯由藝術傢淪為“吃白食的”，這不能不說藝術本身的淪喪，而邦斯的悲劇，恐怕就是藝術的悲劇了。
《邦斯舅舅》-小說簡介
邦斯，天真可愛的德國老頭兒。一生獨居。除了在音樂方面的才華，就衹剩下收藏這一愛好來豐富他的人生了。
沒有遺産，衹靠着在戲院做音樂指揮的微薄薪水，可憐的老頭兒不惜付出一切精力，挖空一切心思，憑着自己小小的聰明，以極其便宜的價格收藏了許多的名畫。
邦斯美術館可謂是收藏頗豐。邦斯對於美術品的愛好正如情人愛一個美麗的情婦，永遠不知饜足。對邦斯來說，收藏名畫是一種時尚的愛好。他的美術館是給自己時時刻刻享受的。然而，對於邦斯的親人以及周圍的鄰居來說，卻並非如此。
邦斯好心的給自己唯一的承繼人－－外甥的女兒做媒，當外甥一傢人都看好的小夥子拒絶了這門親事，外甥媳婦為了保住自己的面子，而到處宣揚此事是邦斯舅舅的惡意的報復。以致於連老頭兒一嚮尊敬的人都對邦斯不理不睬！
可憐的老頭兒一生從未有過半點害人之心，怎麽能夠承受如此沉重而致命的打擊？
邦斯因此而一病不起。身邊衹有忠誠的許模剋和門房太太的照顧！
門房太太照顧好人兒邦斯和許模剋已經有十年了。雖有些嘮叨，卻也是善良的，跟許模剋一樣，對邦斯如此的珍愛那些收藏覺得有些好笑，卻也是小心翼翼的守護着。
衹是所有的一切在古董商雷蒙諾剋和猶太人收藏傢瑪古斯背着邦斯看過他的美術館之後改變！
猶太人瑪古斯是跟邦斯暗中較勁的收藏傢。對邦斯的收藏一直虎視眈眈。
門房太太希望能夠在邦斯的遺囑上占有一個名字，在這個願望沒有得到邦斯的直接確定之後，為了能從邦斯的收
藏中分得一杯殘羹，由一絲不苟的誠實一剎那間變成無惡不作！
古董商雷蒙諾剋，其姦刁陰狠不下於猶太人，一個小錢都要掙的貪得無厭，怎能放過可憐的邦斯那些價值連城的收藏？
貧睏潦倒的初級法庭律師弗萊齊埃，有着一雙可怕的緑眼睛和兇惡的氣息，好比青天上的雲一樣的明顯。將邦斯的收藏作為自己可以接觸邦斯的唯一承繼人——邦斯的外甥——最高法庭庭長的墊腳石！
最高法庭庭長一傢，當他們不知道邦斯手中有着那大批的寶藏之時，從未把邦斯放在心上。作為邦斯舅舅唯一的親人，甚至連老頭兒來傢裏吃晚飯也加以刻意羞辱，不惜破壞邦斯的聲譽以維護自己的面子。然而當得知邦斯有着一筆極其可觀的遺産時，這些冠冕堂皇的人便千方百計、使盡種種手段下毒害他，不達目的誓不罷休！
老實，謙和，天真的邦斯和許模剋怎麽能夠想到又怎麽能夠相信這些人內心裏的貪婪、狠毒、姦詐？
The novella grew in 1847 into a full-length novel with a male poor relation, Pons, as its subject, whereas La Cousine Bette describes the female aspect of that subordinate relationship. The two novels were thus similar yet diametrically different. They were complementary, forming two parts of a whole.
Le Cousin Pons has been classified by Balzac as the second Episode of Les Parents pauvres, the first Episode being La Cousine Bette. Especially admired by Paul Bourget, it is one of the very greatest of his novels.
Plot summary
The novella was based on a short story by an acquaintance of Balzac, Albéric Second,[1] as Tim Farrant has demonstrated. Its original title was to have been “Le Parasite”. Sylvain Pons, a musician in a Parisian boulevard orchestra, has a close friend in another musician from that same orchestra, the German pianist Wilhelm Schmucke. They lodge with Mme Cibot, but Pons – unlike Schmucke – has two failings: his passion (which is almost a mania) for collecting works of art, and his passion for good food. Schmucke, on the other hand, has only one passion, and that is his affection for Pons. Pons, being a gourmet, much enjoys dining regularly with his wealthy lawyer cousins M. and Mme Camusot de Marville, for their food is more interesting than Mme Cibot’s and full of gastronomic surprises. In an endeavour to remain on good terms with the Camusots, and to repay their favour, he tries to find a bridegroom for their unappealing only child Cécile. However, when this ill-considered marriage project falls through, Pons is banished from the house.
The novella becomes a novel as Mme Camusot learns of the value of Pons’s art collection and strives to obtain possession of it as the basis of a dowry for her daughter. In this new development of the plot line a bitter struggle ensues between various vulture-like figures all of whom are keen to lay their hands on the collection: Rémonencq, Élie Magus, Mme Camusot – and Mme Cibot herself. Betraying his client Mme Cibot’s interests, the unsavoury barrister Fraisier acts for the Camusots. Mme Cibot sells Rémonencq eight of Pons’s choicest paintings, untruthfully stating in the receipt that they are works of lesser value. She also steals one for herself.
Horrified to discover his betrayal by Mme Cibot, and the plots that are raging around him, Pons dies, bequeathing all his worldly possessions to Schmucke. The latter is browbeaten out of them by Fraisier. He in turn dies a broken-hearted man, for in Pons he has lost all that he valued in the world. The art collection comes to the Camusot de Marville family, and the vultures profit from their ill-gotten gains.
Fundamental themes of the work
(1) Le Cousin Pons is set entirely in Paris, where, as Balzac informs us in his Avant-propos (Foreword) to the Comédie humaine, “the extremes of good and evil are to be found”. However, Le Cousin Pons is not exclusively about the clash of extremes. Some characters, even the eponymous hero himself, are presented in a nuanced way.
(2) Balzac’s hatred of the bourgeoisie is epitomized by the greedy, money-obsessed M. and Mme Camusot de Marville who put up with the weekly visits of their poor relation Sylvain Pons until they realize he is a very wealthy art collector, whereupon their sole concern is to exploit him. Balzac also presents the lawyer Fraisier and the doctor Poulain in an ambivalent light.
(3) The morals of the working-class characters, e.g., La Cibot and Rémonencq, are scarcely any better than those of the bourgeoisie. As in Balzac’s novel of the countryside, Les Paysans, the proletarian world is displayed in a fiercely aggressive, acquisitive light – almost to the extent of engaging in bitter class conflict.
(4) The values of art are contrasted with those of money. As Balzac says in Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, “la Charte ( Charter of 1814 ) a proclamé le règne de l’argent, le succès devient alors la raison suprême d’une époque athée”. Artistic values aside, Balzac displays the reification or materialization of the world.
(5) The law is seen by Balzac as a (totally illegal!) way of depriving people of their rightful property. Harassed by Fraisier, Schmucke renounces his property rights. Pons’s second will is more vulnerable than the first.
(6) Balzac subverts conventional social values as social norms are revealed to be a fiction. The values of the Camusot de Marville family are materialistic. It is not the personality of Cécile Camusot herself but Pons’s art collection which is “the heroine of this story”; it is that, not her value as a person, which secures her marriage. The union of the Topinards, who are not strictly married, is the kindest, most affectionate relationship of man and woman in the novel. The friendship of Pons and Schmucke is true love but not love within marriage. The two men are poor and physically ugly but their relationship is golden and pure. Their Platonic friendship runs parallel to the idealizing function of art.
(7) Though not a lover in the human physical sense, Pons is a man with an overriding passion, the passion for artistic beauty. In its etymological sense passion equates to suffering. Pons is a Christ-like figure, like some other characters in Balzac's novels (e.g., Joseph Bridau in La Rabouilleuse, and Goriot). He is a man with a mania or idee fixe, and this passion is the cause of his suffering and death.
Narrative strategies
(1) As has been shown by Donald Adamson, Le Cousin Pons began its existence as a novella, or nouvelle, and was suddenly transformed into a full-length novel. This process of transformation necessitated certain inconsistencies and an uneasy transition from long-short story to fiction of sizable proportions and complexity. Though this longer fiction is often referred to as “Part II” of the novel, Balzac himself does not embark upon his “Part II” of Le Cousin Pons until all the new characters – the corrupt Mme Cibot, Rémonencq, Élie Magus, Poulain and Fraisier – have been introduced. It is in dispute whether these two narrative elements have been fused into a perfect whole. V.S. Pritchett considers that Balzac has been totally successful in combining the two storylines.[2]
(2) Le Cousin Pons thus became one of Balzac’s four inheritance novels (the others being Eugénie Grandet, Ursule Mirouët and La Rabouilleuse). From being the vignette of a downtrodden elderly man it mutated into a story of conflict, though with a plot far less complex than that of La Cousine Bette or Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes. The struggle for an inheritance was one of the narrative situations most congenial to Balzac.
(3) In the tradition of melodrama Schmucke represents “extreme good”, Mme Camusot “extreme evil”, whereas Pons is an amalgam of the two whilst, Janus-like, Mme Cibot embodies aspects of both. The lurid tones of Pons’s deathbed scene are the height of melodrama. In this drama of light and darkness, or chiaroscuro, the art collection is the heroine of the story.
(4) Roman-feuilleton (serial (literature)). The serialization of novels was a feature of the rapid growth of the newspaper industry in France after 1814. Leading feuilletonistes were Eugène Sue, Alexandre Dumas, père, Paul Féval, père, Frédéric Soulié and Eugène Scribe. Balzac became increasingly preoccupied by their popularity in the 1840s and tried to emulate them. This involved incorporating many features of melodrama; it also encouraged the ending of each serialized extract on a note of high suspense.
(5) The serialization of fiction also necessitated the increasing use of dialogue. This is particularly so in the later stages of the novel. In Donald Adamson’s words, “the second half of Le Cousin Pons is surely unsurpassed in the extent to which it uses dialogue and in the variety of purposes to which dialogue is applied. It contains few narrative interludes or other digressions”.[3] This gave the novel its markedly dramatic flavour.
邦斯舅舅是音樂傢，一個誠實而高尚的自食其力的人。他非常喜歡繪畫藝術，為了豐富自己所收藏的名畫，他不惜付出一切精力，挖空一切心思。當人們不知道他手中有這一切寶藏時，誰也不把他放在心上。
為了奪取孤零漢邦斯的遺産，像王室首席推事加繆索之流的一些冠冕堂皇的人便千萬百計，使盡種種手段下毒手害他，不達目的誓不罷休。對邦斯來說，收藏名畫是一種高尚的愛好，對他那些有錢的親戚來說，名畫衹不過是發財的手段而已。
《邦斯舅舅》-銀屏再現
影片根據法國著名的批判現實主義作傢巴爾紮剋的代表作《邦斯舅舅》改編而成。
誠實而高尚的主人公邦斯是一位音樂傢，收藏了大量珍貴的藝術品，一次他與自己唯一的親戚加繆索一傢發生爭吵，有人懷疑他要取消侄女的繼承權。邦斯患病期間，衹有他的朋友施密剋和女門房西卜太太照顧他。而女門房的真正目在於邦斯收藏品，企圖竊為己有。在老邦斯病危之際，人們上演了一場為財産你爭我奪的醜劇。影片為您充分展現了巴爾紮剋筆下各種小人物形象。
根據法國名作傢巴爾紮原著改編，一場為財産你爭我奪的醜劇，為您充分展現了巴爾紮剋筆下各種小人物形象。邦斯的一生是善良的一生，一生都在音樂環境和古代藝術品的熏陶中生活，心地單純看待，世態人情還帶着兒童的天真。在他身上同時還具有收藏藝術品的雅癖和貪吃美食的惡癖。邦斯醜陋的外貌與金子般的內心、邦斯的善良與周圍污濁的世界形成鮮明對比，表現在金錢貪欲下善良的人悲劇命運。
《邦斯舅舅》-人物形象
邦斯舅舅：
是一個善良的破落貴族形象。
他年輕是寫過不少感傷樂麯，給巴黎的婦女淺唱低吟。因為相貌生得奇醜，一生未能結婚。青年時期獲得藝術的最高奬--羅馬奬，被政府送到羅馬深造，但在音樂上沒有取得突出成就，而是迷戀於漫遊意大利的名城，並養成了收集古代藝術精品的癖好，成為一個貪心的收藏傢、藝術鑒賞傢。他在留學期間收集的古玩耗盡了他全部的奬學金及父母的遺産。在德國音樂氛圍和意大利藝術珍品的陶醉之中，他忘卻了城市的苦惱，但是生計問題使她東顛西跑，去女子學堂兼課才能維持起碼的生活，當他的一顆心沉浸在欣賞人類美妙藝術傑作時，不幸染上了貪嘴的惡習，為此懷着期待的心情日夜盼望着接到闊親戚的邀請去美餐一頓。在外甥媳婦傢，他受到了冷遇，連僕人們都咒駡他"吃白食的人又來了。"從此邦斯遭到闊親戚們的誤解，特別是外甥傢的誤解，而一病不起。在他病情日益加重時，他身邊的僕人古董商馬古斯波冷醫生等對他收藏的古玩珍品估價，發現他收藏的各種藝術品十分名貴，總價達到一百八十萬法郎，於是他們展開了掠奪。他們收買心腹，打聽病情，無情包圍，暗中控製，為防止遺産的外流費盡心計，甚至偷盜邦斯的遺囑，折磨邦斯的病情，加速邦斯的死亡。邦斯死後，他一生收藏的藝術品全部落入外甥的手中，而參與陰謀的竊奪者們幾乎都分了肥。
《邦斯舅舅》-藝術賞析
一部傳統的小說，自然可以用傳統的方法去解讀。讓我們着重看一看《邦斯舅舅》中的主要人物邦斯舅舅。
邦斯舅舅是個舊時代的“遺跡”。小說一開始，便以極富象徵和概括性的手法，為我們描繪了他那悲劇性的外表及這外表所兆示的悲劇性的命運。
故事發生在十九世紀四十年代的巴黎，那是七月王朝統治時期，法國社會生活的各個方面正經受着激烈的動蕩。貴族階級逐漸沒落，資産階級政客、大銀行傢，投機商和大批食利者占據了法國的政治和經濟舞臺，而邦斯舅舅在這個時代的的舞臺上是顯得那麽格格不入：他“衣着的某些細微之處依舊忠實地保留着一八○六年的式樣，讓人回想起第一帝國時代。”這個“又幹又瘦的”老人，“在綴着白色金屬扣的暗緑色上衣外，又套着一件慄色的斯賓塞！……一個穿斯賓塞的人，要知道在這一八四四年，不啻於拿破侖尊駕一時復生，”
怪不得他一出場，巴黎街頭早已麻木的無聊看客也不由得發出含義豐富的微笑，帶着譏刺、嘲弄或憐憫：他“身上無意中留存了某個時代的全部笑料，看起來活脫是整整一個時代的化身”，“就像人們說帝國式樣傢具一樣，毫不猶豫地稱他為帝國時代人物。”
這位“帝國時代人物”，原本是個頗有才華的音樂傢，他的麯子還獲得過羅馬大奬。當初，國傢把他派往羅馬，本想把他造就成一個偉大的音樂傢，可他卻在那兒染上了古董癖，還 “染上了七大原罪中恐怕上帝懲罰最輕的一樁：貪饞”。
一方面，邦斯那顆“生機盎然的心靈永不疲憊地欣賞着人類壯麗的創造”，在收藏和欣賞人類的藝術創造中得到慰藉和升華；另一方面，他那張挑剔的嘴巴充滿嗜欲，腐蝕了他的氣節，那“嗜欲潛伏在人的心中，無處不在，在那兒發號施令，要衝破人的意志和榮譽的缺口……”
從表面看，似乎是邦斯犯的那樁原罪――“貪饞”把他推嚮悲劇的道路，由一個具有藝術追求的音樂傢“淪落到一個吃白食”；養成了“吃好喝好”的惡習，“衹要能夠繼續活個痛快，嘗到所有那些時鮮的瓜果蔬菜，敞開肚子大吃（話雖俗，但卻富有表現力）那些製作精細的美味佳餚，什麽下賤事都能做得出來”。他不僅為滿足自己的貪饞付出了沉重的代價，喪失了獨立的人格，而且還被腐蝕了靈魂，“對交際場上那些客套，那些取代了真情的虛偽表演全已習以為常，說起來恭維話來，那簡直就像花幾個小錢一樣方便”。
然而，這僅僅是邦斯人生悲劇的一個方面，一個非本質的方面。他的悲劇的深刻原因，在於他的“窮”，在於他與他的那些富有、顯赫的“親戚”根本上的格格不入。一個在一八四四年還穿着斯賓塞的“帝國時代人物”，偏偏又生活在一群七月革命的既得利益者之中。在他身邊，有法國藥材界巨頭博比諾，“當年鬧七月革命，好處盡讓博比諾得了，至少與波旁王族第二分支得到好處不相上下”；有 “不惜犧牲自己的長子”，拼命嚮政界爬的老卡繆佐；有野心勃勃一心想當司法部長的最高法院庭長；有公證人出身，後來當上了巴黎某區區長，撈盡了好處的卡爾多。邦斯擔任樂隊指揮的那傢戲院的經理，也同樣是個典型的資産階級暴發戶。
從本質上講，邦斯是個藝術傢。衹有在藝術的天地裏，他纔擁有青春；衹有與藝術交流時，他纔顯得那麽才氣橫溢。在樂隊的指揮臺上，他的手勢是那麽有力；在他的那間充滿人類美的創造的收藏室裏，他是那麽幸福。對於藝術和美的創造，他是那麽一往情深。他“熱愛藝術”，“對任何手工藝品，對任何神奇的創造，無不感到一種難以滿足的欲望，那是一位男士對一位美麗的戀人的愛”。甚至，當他因為得不到愛而絶望，投入到“連富有德行的僧侶也不可避免的罪過――貪饞”的懷抱時，也是“像投入到對藝術品的熱愛和對音樂的崇拜之中”。
然而，他對藝術的熱愛是與他所處的那個時代的價值取嚮和道德標準相悖的。對七月王朝時期那些資産階級暴發戶來說，音樂衹是那些音樂傢的一種“糊口的”手段，戲院經理戈迪薩爾看重邦斯的，不是他的才華，而是邦斯編的樂麯可以給他招徠觀衆，帶來滾滾財源；對愛慕虛榮，耍盡一切手段要讓丈夫當上議員，乃至司法部長的德・瑪維爾庭長太太來說，邦斯搜集的那些藝術品，那些稀世珍品，“純粹是一錢不值的玩藝”，藝術癡迷的邦斯，完全是“一個怪物”。
在這些人的府上，邦斯老人經受着百般的奚落、嘲諷和耍弄，最終被逐出“他們的天地”，實在是不可避免的。在他們這裏，沒有藝術的位置，他們“崇拜的是成功，看重的衹是一八三○年以來獵取的一切：巨大的財富或顯赫的社會地位”。劇院的頭牌舞女愛洛伊斯・布利茲圖說得是那麽一針見血：如今這個世道，“當老闆的斤斤計較，做國王的巧取豪奪，當大臣的營私舞弊，有錢的吝嗇摳門……藝術傢就太慘了！”看來，邦斯由藝術傢淪為“吃白食的”，這不能不說藝術本身的淪喪，而邦斯的悲劇，恐怕就是藝術的悲劇了。
《邦斯舅舅》-小說簡介
邦斯，天真可愛的德國老頭兒。一生獨居。除了在音樂方面的才華，就衹剩下收藏這一愛好來豐富他的人生了。
沒有遺産，衹靠着在戲院做音樂指揮的微薄薪水，可憐的老頭兒不惜付出一切精力，挖空一切心思，憑着自己小小的聰明，以極其便宜的價格收藏了許多的名畫。
邦斯美術館可謂是收藏頗豐。邦斯對於美術品的愛好正如情人愛一個美麗的情婦，永遠不知饜足。對邦斯來說，收藏名畫是一種時尚的愛好。他的美術館是給自己時時刻刻享受的。然而，對於邦斯的親人以及周圍的鄰居來說，卻並非如此。
邦斯好心的給自己唯一的承繼人－－外甥的女兒做媒，當外甥一傢人都看好的小夥子拒絶了這門親事，外甥媳婦為了保住自己的面子，而到處宣揚此事是邦斯舅舅的惡意的報復。以致於連老頭兒一嚮尊敬的人都對邦斯不理不睬！
可憐的老頭兒一生從未有過半點害人之心，怎麽能夠承受如此沉重而致命的打擊？
邦斯因此而一病不起。身邊衹有忠誠的許模剋和門房太太的照顧！
門房太太照顧好人兒邦斯和許模剋已經有十年了。雖有些嘮叨，卻也是善良的，跟許模剋一樣，對邦斯如此的珍愛那些收藏覺得有些好笑，卻也是小心翼翼的守護着。
衹是所有的一切在古董商雷蒙諾剋和猶太人收藏傢瑪古斯背着邦斯看過他的美術館之後改變！
猶太人瑪古斯是跟邦斯暗中較勁的收藏傢。對邦斯的收藏一直虎視眈眈。
門房太太希望能夠在邦斯的遺囑上占有一個名字，在這個願望沒有得到邦斯的直接確定之後，為了能從邦斯的收
藏中分得一杯殘羹，由一絲不苟的誠實一剎那間變成無惡不作！
古董商雷蒙諾剋，其姦刁陰狠不下於猶太人，一個小錢都要掙的貪得無厭，怎能放過可憐的邦斯那些價值連城的收藏？
貧睏潦倒的初級法庭律師弗萊齊埃，有着一雙可怕的緑眼睛和兇惡的氣息，好比青天上的雲一樣的明顯。將邦斯的收藏作為自己可以接觸邦斯的唯一承繼人——邦斯的外甥——最高法庭庭長的墊腳石！
最高法庭庭長一傢，當他們不知道邦斯手中有着那大批的寶藏之時，從未把邦斯放在心上。作為邦斯舅舅唯一的親人，甚至連老頭兒來傢裏吃晚飯也加以刻意羞辱，不惜破壞邦斯的聲譽以維護自己的面子。然而當得知邦斯有着一筆極其可觀的遺産時，這些冠冕堂皇的人便千方百計、使盡種種手段下毒害他，不達目的誓不罷休！
老實，謙和，天真的邦斯和許模剋怎麽能夠想到又怎麽能夠相信這些人內心裏的貪婪、狠毒、姦詐？
The novella grew in 1847 into a full-length novel with a male poor relation, Pons, as its subject, whereas La Cousine Bette describes the female aspect of that subordinate relationship. The two novels were thus similar yet diametrically different. They were complementary, forming two parts of a whole.
Le Cousin Pons has been classified by Balzac as the second Episode of Les Parents pauvres, the first Episode being La Cousine Bette. Especially admired by Paul Bourget, it is one of the very greatest of his novels.
Plot summary
The novella was based on a short story by an acquaintance of Balzac, Albéric Second,[1] as Tim Farrant has demonstrated. Its original title was to have been “Le Parasite”. Sylvain Pons, a musician in a Parisian boulevard orchestra, has a close friend in another musician from that same orchestra, the German pianist Wilhelm Schmucke. They lodge with Mme Cibot, but Pons – unlike Schmucke – has two failings: his passion (which is almost a mania) for collecting works of art, and his passion for good food. Schmucke, on the other hand, has only one passion, and that is his affection for Pons. Pons, being a gourmet, much enjoys dining regularly with his wealthy lawyer cousins M. and Mme Camusot de Marville, for their food is more interesting than Mme Cibot’s and full of gastronomic surprises. In an endeavour to remain on good terms with the Camusots, and to repay their favour, he tries to find a bridegroom for their unappealing only child Cécile. However, when this ill-considered marriage project falls through, Pons is banished from the house.
The novella becomes a novel as Mme Camusot learns of the value of Pons’s art collection and strives to obtain possession of it as the basis of a dowry for her daughter. In this new development of the plot line a bitter struggle ensues between various vulture-like figures all of whom are keen to lay their hands on the collection: Rémonencq, Élie Magus, Mme Camusot – and Mme Cibot herself. Betraying his client Mme Cibot’s interests, the unsavoury barrister Fraisier acts for the Camusots. Mme Cibot sells Rémonencq eight of Pons’s choicest paintings, untruthfully stating in the receipt that they are works of lesser value. She also steals one for herself.
Horrified to discover his betrayal by Mme Cibot, and the plots that are raging around him, Pons dies, bequeathing all his worldly possessions to Schmucke. The latter is browbeaten out of them by Fraisier. He in turn dies a broken-hearted man, for in Pons he has lost all that he valued in the world. The art collection comes to the Camusot de Marville family, and the vultures profit from their ill-gotten gains.
Fundamental themes of the work
(1) Le Cousin Pons is set entirely in Paris, where, as Balzac informs us in his Avant-propos (Foreword) to the Comédie humaine, “the extremes of good and evil are to be found”. However, Le Cousin Pons is not exclusively about the clash of extremes. Some characters, even the eponymous hero himself, are presented in a nuanced way.
(2) Balzac’s hatred of the bourgeoisie is epitomized by the greedy, money-obsessed M. and Mme Camusot de Marville who put up with the weekly visits of their poor relation Sylvain Pons until they realize he is a very wealthy art collector, whereupon their sole concern is to exploit him. Balzac also presents the lawyer Fraisier and the doctor Poulain in an ambivalent light.
(3) The morals of the working-class characters, e.g., La Cibot and Rémonencq, are scarcely any better than those of the bourgeoisie. As in Balzac’s novel of the countryside, Les Paysans, the proletarian world is displayed in a fiercely aggressive, acquisitive light – almost to the extent of engaging in bitter class conflict.
(4) The values of art are contrasted with those of money. As Balzac says in Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, “la Charte ( Charter of 1814 ) a proclamé le règne de l’argent, le succès devient alors la raison suprême d’une époque athée”. Artistic values aside, Balzac displays the reification or materialization of the world.
(5) The law is seen by Balzac as a (totally illegal!) way of depriving people of their rightful property. Harassed by Fraisier, Schmucke renounces his property rights. Pons’s second will is more vulnerable than the first.
(6) Balzac subverts conventional social values as social norms are revealed to be a fiction. The values of the Camusot de Marville family are materialistic. It is not the personality of Cécile Camusot herself but Pons’s art collection which is “the heroine of this story”; it is that, not her value as a person, which secures her marriage. The union of the Topinards, who are not strictly married, is the kindest, most affectionate relationship of man and woman in the novel. The friendship of Pons and Schmucke is true love but not love within marriage. The two men are poor and physically ugly but their relationship is golden and pure. Their Platonic friendship runs parallel to the idealizing function of art.
(7) Though not a lover in the human physical sense, Pons is a man with an overriding passion, the passion for artistic beauty. In its etymological sense passion equates to suffering. Pons is a Christ-like figure, like some other characters in Balzac's novels (e.g., Joseph Bridau in La Rabouilleuse, and Goriot). He is a man with a mania or idee fixe, and this passion is the cause of his suffering and death.
Narrative strategies
(1) As has been shown by Donald Adamson, Le Cousin Pons began its existence as a novella, or nouvelle, and was suddenly transformed into a full-length novel. This process of transformation necessitated certain inconsistencies and an uneasy transition from long-short story to fiction of sizable proportions and complexity. Though this longer fiction is often referred to as “Part II” of the novel, Balzac himself does not embark upon his “Part II” of Le Cousin Pons until all the new characters – the corrupt Mme Cibot, Rémonencq, Élie Magus, Poulain and Fraisier – have been introduced. It is in dispute whether these two narrative elements have been fused into a perfect whole. V.S. Pritchett considers that Balzac has been totally successful in combining the two storylines.[2]
(2) Le Cousin Pons thus became one of Balzac’s four inheritance novels (the others being Eugénie Grandet, Ursule Mirouët and La Rabouilleuse). From being the vignette of a downtrodden elderly man it mutated into a story of conflict, though with a plot far less complex than that of La Cousine Bette or Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes. The struggle for an inheritance was one of the narrative situations most congenial to Balzac.
(3) In the tradition of melodrama Schmucke represents “extreme good”, Mme Camusot “extreme evil”, whereas Pons is an amalgam of the two whilst, Janus-like, Mme Cibot embodies aspects of both. The lurid tones of Pons’s deathbed scene are the height of melodrama. In this drama of light and darkness, or chiaroscuro, the art collection is the heroine of the story.
(4) Roman-feuilleton (serial (literature)). The serialization of novels was a feature of the rapid growth of the newspaper industry in France after 1814. Leading feuilletonistes were Eugène Sue, Alexandre Dumas, père, Paul Féval, père, Frédéric Soulié and Eugène Scribe. Balzac became increasingly preoccupied by their popularity in the 1840s and tried to emulate them. This involved incorporating many features of melodrama; it also encouraged the ending of each serialized extract on a note of high suspense.
(5) The serialization of fiction also necessitated the increasing use of dialogue. This is particularly so in the later stages of the novel. In Donald Adamson’s words, “the second half of Le Cousin Pons is surely unsurpassed in the extent to which it uses dialogue and in the variety of purposes to which dialogue is applied. It contains few narrative interludes or other digressions”.[3] This gave the novel its markedly dramatic flavour.
如果人世間真有一塊驢皮，使你的一切願望都能實現，同時隨着願望的實現，驢皮將會縮小，你的生命也會縮短，試問，你是否願意接受這塊驢皮?
對大多數人來說，答案將是肯定的。且不說那些如本書的主人翁那樣，窮途末路， 已經輸掉身上最後一枚金幣，準備投水自殺的人，世上有許多人，面對金錢和物質享受的誘惑，還不是將名譽、地位、家庭、祖國，甚至自己的生命，全部置諸腦後，而甘冒天下之大不韙，不顧道德、法律、輿論的阻力，殺人放火，詐騙盜竊，無所不為，小小一張驢皮，哪裏阻止得住他們?然而這塊小小的驢皮， 巴爾紮剋還是費盡心思纔得到的。 巴爾紮剋經過十載艱辛，深刻地體驗了金錢的威力和貧窮的痛苦，深知一個人如果瘋狂地追求金錢，世間上很少有力量能夠阻止他。巴爾紮剋首先想到的力量，是良心的譴責和特殊的疾病。在這部小說裏，召開盛大宴會的東道主是泰伊番，而且在小說裏一再提到《紅色旅館》 ，可見泰伊番是經常出現在巴爾紮剋腦際的一個人。為什麽這個形象會纏住巴爾紮剋，揮之不去呢?原來在《紅色旅館》裏，泰伊番是個殺人犯，他用最要好的朋友的解剖刀，殺害了一個商人，盜走了商人的十萬法郎珠寶，逃之天天，害得他的最要好的朋友被軍事法庭判處死刑。泰伊番因此發了財，當上銀行傢，擁有價值一百萬的地産，在社交場所出觀時，他很愛笑，舉止態度完全像個慈祥的老好人。他完全逃脫了法律的製裁，正在安享他：的不義之財。 巴爾紮剋沒有違反現實對這樣一個人給於間的製裁， 正如《驢皮記》裏拉斐爾得到六百萬遺産以後，泰伊番所說的：“拉斐爾先生已成為六百萬法郎的富翁，登上了權的寶座。他是國王，他可以為所欲為，他凌駕一切，像所有的富翁那樣。對他來說，從今以後，所謂‘法國人在法律面前人人平等’，不過是記載在大憲章裏的一句謊言。他不會服從法律，法律倒要服從他。沒有為百萬富翁而設的斷頭臺，也沒有對他們的行刑的劊子手。”拉斐爾回答道：“他們都是給自己行刑的劊子手。”
Before the book was completed, Balzac created excitement about it by publishing a series of articles and story fragments in several Parisian journals. Although he was five months late in delivering the manuscript, he succeeded in generating sufficient interest that the novel sold out instantly upon its publication. A second edition, which included a series of twelve other "philosophical tales", was released one month later.
Although the novel uses fantastic elements, its main focus is a realistic portrayal of the excesses of bourgeois materialism. Balzac's renowned attention to detail is used to describe a gambling house, an antique shop, a royal banquet, and other locales. He also includes details from his own life as a struggling writer, placing the main character in a home similar to the one he occupied at the start of his literary career. The central theme of La Peau de chagrin is the conflict between desire and longevity. The magic skin represents the owner's life-force, which is depleted through every expression of will, especially when it is employed for the acquisition of power. Ignoring a caution from the shopkeeper who offers him the skin, the protagonist greedily surrounds himself with wealth, only to find himself miserable and decrepit at the story's end.
La Peau de chagrin firmly established Balzac as a writer of significance in France. His social circle widened significantly, and he was sought eagerly by publishers for future projects. The book served as the catalyst for a series of letters he exchanged with a Polish baroness named Ewelina Hańska, who later became his wife. It also inspired Giselher Klebe's opera Die tödlichen Wünsche.
對大多數人來說，答案將是肯定的。且不說那些如本書的主人翁那樣，窮途末路， 已經輸掉身上最後一枚金幣，準備投水自殺的人，世上有許多人，面對金錢和物質享受的誘惑，還不是將名譽、地位、家庭、祖國，甚至自己的生命，全部置諸腦後，而甘冒天下之大不韙，不顧道德、法律、輿論的阻力，殺人放火，詐騙盜竊，無所不為，小小一張驢皮，哪裏阻止得住他們?然而這塊小小的驢皮， 巴爾紮剋還是費盡心思纔得到的。 巴爾紮剋經過十載艱辛，深刻地體驗了金錢的威力和貧窮的痛苦，深知一個人如果瘋狂地追求金錢，世間上很少有力量能夠阻止他。巴爾紮剋首先想到的力量，是良心的譴責和特殊的疾病。在這部小說裏，召開盛大宴會的東道主是泰伊番，而且在小說裏一再提到《紅色旅館》 ，可見泰伊番是經常出現在巴爾紮剋腦際的一個人。為什麽這個形象會纏住巴爾紮剋，揮之不去呢?原來在《紅色旅館》裏，泰伊番是個殺人犯，他用最要好的朋友的解剖刀，殺害了一個商人，盜走了商人的十萬法郎珠寶，逃之天天，害得他的最要好的朋友被軍事法庭判處死刑。泰伊番因此發了財，當上銀行傢，擁有價值一百萬的地産，在社交場所出觀時，他很愛笑，舉止態度完全像個慈祥的老好人。他完全逃脫了法律的製裁，正在安享他：的不義之財。 巴爾紮剋沒有違反現實對這樣一個人給於間的製裁， 正如《驢皮記》裏拉斐爾得到六百萬遺産以後，泰伊番所說的：“拉斐爾先生已成為六百萬法郎的富翁，登上了權的寶座。他是國王，他可以為所欲為，他凌駕一切，像所有的富翁那樣。對他來說，從今以後，所謂‘法國人在法律面前人人平等’，不過是記載在大憲章裏的一句謊言。他不會服從法律，法律倒要服從他。沒有為百萬富翁而設的斷頭臺，也沒有對他們的行刑的劊子手。”拉斐爾回答道：“他們都是給自己行刑的劊子手。”
Before the book was completed, Balzac created excitement about it by publishing a series of articles and story fragments in several Parisian journals. Although he was five months late in delivering the manuscript, he succeeded in generating sufficient interest that the novel sold out instantly upon its publication. A second edition, which included a series of twelve other "philosophical tales", was released one month later.
Although the novel uses fantastic elements, its main focus is a realistic portrayal of the excesses of bourgeois materialism. Balzac's renowned attention to detail is used to describe a gambling house, an antique shop, a royal banquet, and other locales. He also includes details from his own life as a struggling writer, placing the main character in a home similar to the one he occupied at the start of his literary career. The central theme of La Peau de chagrin is the conflict between desire and longevity. The magic skin represents the owner's life-force, which is depleted through every expression of will, especially when it is employed for the acquisition of power. Ignoring a caution from the shopkeeper who offers him the skin, the protagonist greedily surrounds himself with wealth, only to find himself miserable and decrepit at the story's end.
La Peau de chagrin firmly established Balzac as a writer of significance in France. His social circle widened significantly, and he was sought eagerly by publishers for future projects. The book served as the catalyst for a series of letters he exchanged with a Polish baroness named Ewelina Hańska, who later became his wife. It also inspired Giselher Klebe's opera Die tödlichen Wünsche.
《 高老頭》發表於1834年，是巴爾紮剋最優秀的作品之一。這部作品在展示社會生活的廣度和深度方面，在反映作傢世界觀的進步性和局限性方面，在表現《人間喜劇》的藝術成就和不足之處方面，都具有代表意義。其藝術風格最能代表巴爾紮剋的特點。在這篇小說中，作者第一次使用他創造的“人物再現法”—讓一個人物不僅在一部作品中出現，而且在以後的作品中連續不斷地出現，它不僅使我們看到人物性格形成的不同階段，而且使一係列作品構成一個整體，成為《人間喜劇》的有機部分。在此，一些主要人物如拉斯蒂涅、鮑賽昂子爵夫人、伏特冷紛紛登場亮相，《人間喜劇》拉開了序幕。
■著名譯本
傅雷先生在1963年首譯的《高老頭》版本，人民文學出版社在1978年又重新出版，至今無人企及。
■有關於《人間喜劇》
巴爾紮剋用總標題為《人間喜劇》的一係列小說，反映了急劇變革時期的法國生活。《人間喜劇》分為三大部分：風俗研究、哲理研究和分析研究；其中風俗研究內容最為豐富，又分為六個“場景”。其基本內容表現為：首先，反映了上升的資産階級取代貴族階級的罪惡發傢史；同時也寫出了貴族階級的沒落衰亡史，至為重要的內容是對金錢勢力的批判，巴爾紮剋描寫了一幕幕圍繞着金錢而展開的人間慘劇，從而使我們對資本主義社會的罪惡與骯髒有一個形象的認識。
高老頭-【作者簡介】
巴爾紮剋是19世紀法國偉大的批判現實主義作傢，歐洲批判現實主義文學的奠基人和傑出代表，是一位具有濃厚浪漫情調的偉大作傢，一邊因奢華的生活而負債纍纍，一邊以崇高深刻的思想創作出博大精深的文學巨著。他
的生活趣事層出不窮，而作品更被譽為“法國社會的一面鏡子”。在他逝世時，文學大師雨果曾站在法國巴黎的蒙蒙細雨中，面對成千上萬哀悼者慷慨激昂地評價道：“在最偉大的人物中間，巴爾紮剋是名列前茅者；在最優秀的人物中間，巴爾紮剋是佼佼者。”
一生創作96部長、中、短篇小說和隨筆，總名為《人間喜劇》。其中代表作為《歐也妮•葛朗臺》、《高老頭》。100多年來，他的作品傳遍了全世界，對世界文學的發展和人類進步産生了巨大的影響。馬剋思、恩格斯稱贊他“是超群的小說傢”、“現實主義大師”。 巴爾紮剋出生於一個法國大革命後致富的資産階級家庭，法科學校畢業後，拒絶家庭為他選擇的受人尊敬的法律職業，而立志當文學家。為了獲得獨立生活和從事創作的物質保障，他曾試筆並插足商業，從事出版印刷業，但都以破産告終。這一切都為他認識社會、描寫社會提供了極為珍貴的第一手材料。他不斷追求和探索，對哲學、經濟學、歷史、自然科學、神學等領域進行了深入研究，積纍了極為廣博的知識。 1829年，巴爾紮剋完成長篇小說《朱安黨人》，這部取材於現實生活的作品為他帶來巨大聲譽，也為法國批判現實主義文學放下第一塊基石，巴爾紮剋將《朱安黨人》和計劃要寫的136部小說總命名為《人間喜劇》，並為之寫了《前言》，闡述了他的現實主義創作方法和基本原則，從理論上為法國批判現實主義文學奠定了堅固的基礎。 巴爾紮剋在藝術上取得巨大成就，他在小說結構方面匠心獨運，小說結構多種多樣，不拘一格、並善於將集中概括與精確描摹相結合，以外形反映內心本質等手法來塑造人物，他還善於以精細人微、生動逼真的環境描寫再現時代風貌。恩格斯稱贊巴爾紮剋的《人間喜劇》寫出了貴族階級的沒落衰敗和資産階級的上升發展，提供了社會各個領域無比豐富的生動細節和形象化的歷史材料，“甚至在經濟的細節方面（如革命以後動産和不動産的重新分配），我學到的東西也要比從當時所有職業歷史學家、經濟學院和統計學家那裏學到的全部東西還要多”。（恩格斯：《恩格斯緻瑪•哈剋奈斯》） 巴爾紮剋以自己的創作在世界文學史上樹立起不朽的豐碑。
高老頭-【作品目錄】
共有六章，分別是：
第一章 伏蓋公寓
第二章 兩處訪問
第三章 初見世面
第四章 鬼上當
第五章 兩個女兒
第六章 父親的死
高老頭-【內容梗概】
1891年鼕，在巴黎拉丁區有一個叫伏蓋公寓包飯客房，是一個叫伏蓋的美國老婦人開的。這裏住着各種各樣的人：有窮大學生拉斯蒂涅；歇業的面粉商人高裏奧；外號叫“鬼上當”的伏脫冷；被大銀行傢趕出傢門的泰伊番小姐；骨瘦如材的老處女米旭諾等。每逢開飯的時候，客店的飯廳就特別熱鬧，因為大傢可以在一起取笑高老頭。
69歲的高老頭，6 年前結束了他的買賣後，住到了伏蓋公寓。當時，分住在二樓一間最好的房間，每年交一千二百法朗的膳宿費，他衣着講究，每天還請理發師來給他梳頭髮，連鼻煙匣都是金的，他算得上這所公寓裏最體面的房客，人們都叫他高裏奧先生。寡婦老闆娘還嚮他搔首弄姿，想改嫁於他當一名本地區的闊太太。
高老頭把他全部的愛都放在兩個出嫁的女兒身上，不受伏蓋太太的誘惑。第二年年末，高老頭就要求換次等房間，並且整個鼕天屋子裏沒有生火取暖，膳宿費也減為九百法郎。大傢把他當作“惡癖、無恥、低能所産生的最神秘的人物”。常有兩個貴夫妻來找他，以為他有豔遇，高老頭告訴大傢，那是他的女兒：雷斯多伯爵夫人和銀行傢紐沁根太太。第三年，高老頭又要求換到最低等的房間每月房錢降為四十五法郎，他戒了鼻煙，批發了理發匠，金剛鑽、金煙匣、金鏈條等飾物也不見了，人也越來越瘦，看上去活像一個可憐蟲。伏蓋太太也認為：要是高老頭真有那麽有錢的女兒，他决不會住在四樓最低等的房間。
可是，高老頭這個謎終於被拉斯蒂涅揭開了。拉斯蒂涅是從外地來巴黎讀大學的青年，出身破落貴族家庭，白皮膚、黑頭髮、藍眼睛，熱情而有才氣，想做一個清廉正直的法官。但巴黎的豪華生活的刺激加強了他“對權位的欲望與出人頭地的志願”。他認為靠自己的勤奮學習求上進的路太艱苦，也太遙遠，還不一定行得通，而現實社會依靠幾個有錢的女人作進身的階梯則容易得多，於是他想“去徵服幾個可以做他的後臺的婦女”。由於姑母的引薦，他結識了遠房表姐，巴黎社交界地位顯赫的鮑賽昂子爵夫人。拉斯蒂涅很得意地嚮伏蓋公寓的房客們講了在舞會認識了伯爵夫人的事。高老頭興奮地問：“昨晚雷斯多太太很漂亮嗎？” 公寓老闆娘便認定高老頭定是給那些婆娘弄窮的。拉斯蒂涅想弄清高老頭和伯爵夫人的關係，决定去雷斯多伯爵夫人傢。在伯爵夫人傢他的寒酸相引起僕人輕衊；接着他莽撞地衝進了一間浴室，大出洋相；後又到提到和高老頭住在一起，卻引起伯爵夫婦的不快，把他趕了出來。拉斯蒂涅十分懊惱，衹好趕去嚮表姐求教。鮑賽昂夫人告訴他，雷斯多太太便是高裏奧的女兒。
高老頭是法國大革命時期起傢的面粉商人，中年喪妻，他把自己所有的愛都傾註在兩個女兒身上。為了讓她們擠進上流社會，從小給她們良好的教育，出嫁時，給了她們每人80萬法郎的陪嫁，讓大女兒嫁給了雷斯多伯爵，做了貴婦人；小女兒嫁給銀行傢紐沁根，當了金融資産階級闊太太。他以為女兒嫁了體面人傢，自己便可以受到尊重、奉承。那知不到兩年，女婿竟把他當作要不得的下流東西，把他趕出傢門。高老頭為了獲得他們的好感，忍痛出賣了店鋪，將錢一分為二給了兩個女兒，自己便搬進了伏蓋公寓。兩個女兒衹要爸爸的錢，可現在高老頭已沒錢了。
鮑賽昂夫人教導拉斯蒂涅社會又卑鄙又殘忍，要他以牙還牙去對付這個社會。她說：“你越沒有心肝，就越高升得快。你毫不留情的打擊人傢，人傢就怕你。”“沒有一個女人關切，他在這兒便一文不值，這女人還得年輕、有錢、漂亮。”按照表姐的指點，拉斯蒂涅决心去勾引高老頭的二女兒妞沁根太太。
伏脫冷是個目光敏銳的人，看出拉斯蒂涅想往上爬的心思。他對拉斯蒂涅說：“在這個互相吞筮的社會裏，清白老實一無用處，如果不像炮彈一樣轟進去，就得像瘟疫一般鑽進去，清白誠實是一無用處的。”他指點拉斯蒂涅去追求維多利小姐，他可以叫人殺死泰伊番小姐的哥哥，讓她當上繼承人，這樣銀行傢的遺産就會落到拉斯蒂涅手中，衹要給他二十萬法郎作報酬。拉斯蒂涅雖然被伏脫冷的赤裸裸的言辭所打動，但又沒敢答應下來。
拉斯蒂涅通過鮑賽昂夫人結識了紐沁根太太，而紐沁根太太並不是他想要追求的對象。她的丈夫在經濟上對她控製很嚴，甚至要求拉斯蒂涅拿自己僅有的100 法郎去賭場替她贏6000法郎回來。於是拉斯蒂涅便轉嚮
對泰伊番小姐的進攻。
這時伏脫冷已讓同黨尋釁跟泰伊番小姐的哥哥决頭，並殺死了他。拉斯蒂涅矛盾重重，是愛維多利小姐呢，還是愛紐沁根太太呢？最後，他選擇了後者，他想 “這樣的結合既沒有罪過，也沒有什麽能教最嚴格的道學家皺一皺眉頭的地方。”
房客米旭諾老小姐，她接受了警察局暗探險的差使，刺探伏脫冷的身份。她在伏脫冷的飲料中下麻藥，伏脫冷被醉倒不省人事。米旭諾脫下伏脫冷的外衣，在肩上打了一巴掌，鮮紅的皮膚上立刻現出“苦役犯”的字樣。當伏脫冷醒來時，警察已經包圍了伏蓋公寓。特務長打落了他的假發，伏脫冷全身的血立刻涌上了臉，眼睛像野貓一樣發亮，他使出一股蠻勁，大吼一聲，把所有的房客嚇得大叫起來。暗探們一齊掏出手槍，伏脫冷一見亮晶晶的火門，突然變了面孔，鎮靜下來，主動把兩衹手伸上去。他承認自己叫雅剋·柯冷，諢名“鬼上當”，被判過20年苦役，他被逮捕了。
高老頭得知拉斯蒂涅愛自己的二女兒，想為拉斯蒂涅與女兒牽綫搭橋，購買了一幢小樓，供他們幽會。一天，紐沁根太太急忙來找高老頭，說明她丈夫同意讓她和拉斯蒂涅來往，但她不能嚮他要回陪嫁錢，高老頭要女兒不要接受這條件，“錢是性命，有了錢就有了一切。”這時，雷斯多夫人也來了。她哭着告訴父親：她的丈夫用她賣掉了項鏈的錢去為情人還債，現在她的財産已差不多全部被奪走，她要父親給她一萬二千法郎去救她的情夫。兩個女兒吵起嘴來，高老頭愛莫能助，他急得暈過去，患了初期腦溢血癥。
在他患病期間，兩姐妹都沒來看他一次，大女兒關心的是即將參加盼望已久的鮑賽昂夫人的舞會；二女兒來過一次，但不是來看父親的病的，而是要父親給她支付欠裁縫一千法郎的定錢。高老頭被逼得付出了最後1 文錢，致使中風癥猛發作。
鮑賽昂夫人舉行盛大的舞會，場面非常壯觀，公主、爵爺、名門閨秀都前來參加。500 多輛車上的燈燭照得屋內處處通明透亮。子爵夫人裝束素雅，臉上沒有表情，仿佛還保持着貴婦人的面目，而在她心目中，這座燦爛的宮殿已經變成一片沙漠，一回到內室，便禁不住淚水長流，周身發抖。舞會結束後，拉斯蒂涅目送表姐鮑賽昂夫人坐上轎車，同她作了最後一次告別。他感到“他的教育已經受完了”他認為自己 “入了地獄，而且還得呆下去”。
可憐的高老頭快斷氣了，他還盼望着兩個女兒能來見他一面。拉斯蒂涅差人去請他的兩個女兒，兩個女兒都推三阻四不來。老人每衹眼中冒出一顆眼淚，滾在鮮紅的眼皮邊上，他長嘆一聲，說：“唉，愛了一輩子的女兒，到頭來反給女兒遺棄！”
衹有拉斯蒂涅張羅着高老頭的喪事，兩個女兒女婿衹派了兩駕空車跟在靈柩後面。棺木是由一個大學生嚮醫院廉價買來的，送葬費由拉斯蒂涅賣掉金表支付的。他目睹這一幕幕悲劇，隨着高老頭的埋葬也埋葬了自己最後一滴同情的眼淚，他决心嚮社會挑戰，“現在咱們倆來拼一拼吧！”
高老頭-【思想感情】
《高老頭》着重揭露批判的是資本主義世界中人與人之間赤裸裸的金錢關係。小說以1819年底到1820年初的巴黎為背景，主要寫兩個平行而又交叉的故事：退休麵條商高裏奧老頭被兩個女兒冷落，悲慘地死在伏蓋公寓的閣樓上；青年拉斯蒂涅在巴黎社會的腐蝕下走上墮落之路。同時還穿插了鮑賽昂夫人和伏脫冷的故事。通過寒酸的
公寓和豪華的貴族沙竜這兩個不斷交替的主要舞臺，作傢描繪了一幅幅巴黎社會人欲橫流、極端醜惡的圖畫，暴露了在金錢勢力支配下資産階級的道德淪喪和人與人之間的冷酷無情，揭示了在資産階級的進攻下貴族階級的必然滅亡，真實地反映了波旁王朝復闢時期的特徵。
高老頭-【寫作背景】
19世紀上半葉是法國資本主義建立的初期，拿破侖在1815年的滑鐵盧戰役中徹底敗北，由此波旁王朝復闢，統治一直延續到1830年。由於查理十世的反動政策激怒了人民，七月革命僅僅三天便推倒了復闢王朝，開始了長達18年的七月王朝的統治，由金融資産階級掌握了政權。《歐也妮·葛朗臺》發表於1833年，也即七月王朝初期。剛過去的復闢王朝在人們的頭腦中還記憶猶新。復闢時期，貴族雖然從國外返回了法國，耀武揚威，不可一世，可是他們的實際地位與法國大革命以前不可同日而語，因為資産階級已經強大起來。剛上臺的路易十八不得不頒布新憲法，實行君主立憲，嚮資産階級做出讓步，以維護搖搖欲墜的政權。資産階級雖然失去了政治權力，卻憑藉經濟上的實力與貴族相抗衡。到了復闢王朝後期，資産階級不僅在城市，而且在貴族保持廣泛影響的農村，都把貴族打得落花流水。復闢王朝實際上大勢已去。巴爾紮剋比同時代作傢更敏銳，獨具慧眼地觀察到這個重大社會現象。
高老頭-【相關評論】
“《高老頭》還成功地塑造了青年野心傢拉斯蒂涅和沒落貴夫人鮑賽昂的形象。前者原為一個外省貴族青年，想來巴黎進大學重振傢業，但目睹上流社會的揮金如土、燈紅酒緑，他往上爬的欲望倍增，
他在鮑賽昂子爵夫人和逃犯伏特冷的唆使下，日益喪失正直的良心，開始為金錢而出賣正直，特別見證了高老頭的兩個女兒對待父親象榨幹的檸檬一般以後，更堅定了嚮資産階級的道路走去的决心。《高老頭》中主要描寫了他野心傢性格形成的過程，在以後的一係列作品中他更一發不可收拾，靠出賣道德和良心竟當上了副國務秘書和貴族院議員，而一切的取得都依賴於極端利己主義原則。鮑賽昂子爵夫人是巴爾紮剋為貴族階級唱的一麯無盡的輓歌，她出身名門貴族，是巴黎社交界的皇后，衹因缺乏金錢而被情人拋棄，被迫退出巴黎上流社會，高貴的門第再也敵不過金錢的勢力，她在後來的小說中因為同樣的原因又一次被金錢出賣。她的遭遇告訴人們，貴族階級除了失敗之外不可能有更好的命運，金錢纔是這個世界的主宰。
《高老頭》在藝術上很嚴謹，作者設置了典型環境，讓典型人物活動於其中，使人與人的金錢關係與環境相契合，書中安排了四條情節綫索，以拉斯蒂涅的墮落為主綫，其它幾條起輔助作用，縱橫交錯又脈絡分明；典型人物的刻劃是巴爾紮剋的最大特色，不論是外貌描寫還是心理刻劃，甚至一個細節，如高老頭每吃一塊面包都要放在鼻下嗅一嗅，都使人物更鮮明生動；人物語言的個性化也是作者一大功力，貴族沙竜中的語言與逃犯的語言絶不一樣。”
高老頭-【精彩片段】
高老頭臨死前想見女兒一面,讓人去叫他的女兒,可兩個女兒誰也沒來。
高裏奧不出聲了，仿佛集中全身的精力熬着痛苦。“她們在這兒，我不會叫苦了，幹麽還要叫苦呢？”他迷迷糊糊昏沉了好久。剋利斯朵夫回來，拉斯蒂涅以為高老頭睡熟了，讓傭人高聲回報他出差的情形。
“先生，我先上伯爵夫人傢，可沒法跟她說話，她和丈夫有要緊事兒。我再三央求，雷斯多先生親自出來對我說：高裏奧先生快死了是不是？哎，再好沒有。我有事，要太太待在傢裏。事情完了，她會去的。——
他似乎很生氣，這位先生。我正要出來，太太從一扇我看不見的門裏走到穿堂，告訴我，你對我父親說，我同丈夫正在商量事情，不能來。那是有關我孩子們生死的問題。但等事情一完，我就去看他。——說到男爵夫人吧，又是另外一樁事兒！我沒有見到她，不能跟她說話。老媽子說她今兒早上五點一刻纔從舞會回來，中午以前叫醒她，一定要挨駡的。等會她打鈴明我，我會告訴她，說她父親的病更重了。報告一件壞消息，不會嫌太晚的。我再三央求也沒用。哎，是呀，我也要求見男爵，他不在傢。”
“一個也不來”拉斯蒂捏嚷道，“讓我寫信給她們。”“一個也不來，”老人坐起來接着說，“她們有事，她們在睡覺，她們不會來的。我早知道了。直要臨死纔知道女兒是什麽東西！朋友，你別結婚，別生孩子！你給他們生命，他們給你死。你帶他們到世界上來，他們把你從世界上趕出去。她們不會來的！我已經知道了十年。有時我心裏這麽想，衹是不敢相信。”
高老頭死了，兩個女兒誰也沒有來，他的錢都給女兒花光了，到死連入殮的衣服都沒有，是拉斯蒂涅賣了自己的表纔給他入殮的。
拉斯蒂涅奔下樓梯，到雷斯多太太傢去了。剛纔那幕可怕的景象使他動了感情，一路義憤填胸。他走進穿堂求見雷斯多太太，人傢回報說她不能見容。
他對當差說：“我是為了她馬上要死的父親來的。”“先生，伯爵再三吩咐我們……”“既然伯爵在傢，那麽告訴他，說他嶽父快死了，我要立刻和他說話。”歐也納等了好久。“說不定他就在這個時候死了，”他心裏想。
當差帶他走進第一窖室，雷斯多先生站在壁爐前面，見了客人也不請坐。“伯爵，”拉斯蒂涅說，“令嶽在破爛的閣樓上就要斷氣了，連買木柴的錢也沒有；他馬上要死了，但等見一面女兒……”“先生，”伯爵冷冷的回答，“你大概可以看出，我對高裏奧先生沒有什麽好感。他教壞了我太太，造成我家庭的不幸。我把他當做擾亂我安寧的敵人。他死也好，活也好，我全不在意。你瞧，這是我對他的情分。社會盡可以責備我，我纔不在乎呢。我現在要處理的事，比顧慮那些傻瓜的闊言閑語緊要得多。至於我太太，她現在那個模樣沒法出門，我也不讓她出門。請你告訴她父親，衹消她對我，對我的孩子，盡完了她的責任，她會去看他的。要是她愛她的父親，幾分鐘內她就可以自由……”
“伯爵，我沒有權利批評你的行為，你是你太太的主人。至少我能相信你是講信義的吧？請
你答應我一件事，就是告訴她，說她父親沒有一天好活了，因為她不去送終，已經在咒她了！”雷斯多註意到歐也納憤憤不平的語氣，回答道：“你自己去說吧。”
拉斯蒂涅跟着伯爵走進伯爵夫人平時起坐的客廳。她淚人兒似的埋在沙發裏，那副痛不欲生的模樣叫他看了可憐。她不敢望拉斯蒂涅，先怯生生的瞧了瞧丈夫，眼睛的神氣表示她精神肉體都被專橫的丈夫壓倒了。伯爵側了側腦袋，她纔敢開口：“先生，我都聽到了。告訴我父親，他要知道我現在的處境，一定會原諒我。想不到要受這種刑罰簡直受不了。可是我要反抗到底，”她對地的丈夫說。“我也有兒女。請你對父親說，不管表面上怎麽樣，在父親面前我並沒有錯，”她無可奈何的對歐也納說。
那女的經歷的苦難，歐也納不難想象，便呆呆的走了出來。聽到特·雷斯多先生的口吻，他知道自己白跑了一趟，阿娜斯大齊已經失去自由。
接着他趕到特·紐沁根太太傢，發覺她還在床上。“我不舒服呀，朋友，”她說。“從跳舞會出來受了涼，我怕要害肺炎呢，我等醫生來……”歐也納打斷了她的話，說道：“哪怕死神已經到了你身邊，爬也得爬到你父親跟前去。他在叫你！你要聽到他一聲，馬上不覺得你自己害病了。”
“歐也納，父親的病也許不象你說的那麽嚴重；可是我要在你眼裏有什麽不是，我纔難過死呢；所以我一定聽你的吩咐。我知道，倘若我這一回出去鬧出一場大病來，父親要傷心死的。我等醫生來過了就走。”她一眼看不見歐也納身上的表鏈，便叫道：“喲！怎麽你的表沒有啦？”歐也納臉上紅了一塊。“歐也納！歐也納！倘使你已經把它賣了，丟了，……哦！那太豈有此理了。”
大學生伏在但斐納床上，湊着她耳朵說：“你要知道麽？哼！好，告訴你吧！你父親一個錢沒有了，今晚上要把他入礆的屍衣都沒法買。你送我的表在當鋪裏，我錢都光了。”
但斐納猛的從床上跳下，奔嚮書櫃，抓起錢袋遞給拉斯蒂捏，打着鈴嚷道：“我去我去，歐也納。讓我穿衣服，我簡直是禽獸了！去吧，我會趕在你前面！” 她回頭叫老媽子：“丹蘭士，請老爺立刻上來跟我說話。”
高老頭-【藝術成就】
《高老頭》集中表現了巴爾紮剋現實主義創作藝術的主要特色。
■精細而富有特徵的典型環境
巴爾紮剋非常重視詳細而逼真的環境描繪，一方面是為了再現生活，更重要的是為了刻畫人物性格。作品圍繞拉斯蒂涅的活動，描寫了巴黎不同等級、不同階層的人們的生活環境；拉丁區的伏蓋公寓，形似牢獄的黃色屋
子，到處散發着“閉塞的、黴爛的、酸腐的氣味”，塞滿了骯髒油膩、殘破醜陋的器皿和傢具，這是下層人物的寄居之地。唐打區內高老頭的兩個女兒傢裏，雖有金碧輝煌的房子、貴重的器物，但“毫無氣派的回廊”，挂滿意大利油畫的客廳卻“裝飾得像咖啡館”，這顯示了作為新貴的資産階級暴發戶們俗不可耐的排場。聖日爾曼區古老的鮑賽昂府則顯示出完全不同的氣派，院中套着精壯馬匹的華麗馬車，穿着金鑲邊大紅製服的門丁，兩邊供滿鮮花的大樓梯以及衹有灰和粉紅色的小巧玲瓏的客室，這些精雅絶倫的陳設、別出心裁的佈置都襯托出上流社會貴族“領袖”的風雅超群。這些精細而富有特徵的環境描寫，有利於展示其對人間性格形成的影響。當拉斯蒂涅從雷斯多夫人和鮑賽昂夫人兩處訪問後回到棲身的伏蓋公寓時，作品寫道：“走入氣味難聞的飯廳，十八個食客好似馬槽前的牲口一般正在吃飯。他覺得這副窮酸相跟飯廳的景象醜惡已極。環境轉變太突兀了，對比太強烈了，格外刺激他的野心……”已經享受過上流社會生活的拉斯蒂涅再也不肯自甘貧賤，最後，他决心弄髒雙手，抹黑良心，不顧一切地嚮上撲。拉斯蒂涅的墮落是這種特定的典型環境所决定的。
■人物性格的典型化
巴爾紮剋不僅塑造了高裏奧、拉斯蒂涅、鮑賽昂夫人、伏脫冷等典型形象，而且在其他人物形象的塑造中也做到了共性與個性的統一。雷斯多伯爵夫婦和紐沁根男爵夫婦雖然有貴族的頭銜，實際上都是資産者。他們既有追求個人私利的共同特性，又都是獨具個性的典型。銀行傢紐沁根心目中衹有金錢，他對待妻子尋求外遇的態度很明朗：“我允許你鬍攪，你也得讓我犯罪，教那些可憐蟲傾傢蕩産。”雷斯多伯爵對妻子的美着了迷，雖聽憑她和瑪剋勾搭，卻有一定限度，這和他的貴族門第觀念有關。他知道妻子偷賣祖傳鑽石後，想方設法贖回，讓她戴着參加舞會，以維護門第的尊嚴。
阿娜斯塔齊和但斐那都是高老頭的女兒，但兩姊妹各有自己的個性。前者身材高大、結實、黑發，眼睛炯炯有神，進宮謁見過皇上，不把妹妹放在眼裏。後者嬌小、金發，極有風韻，自知社會地位不高，陪嫁被丈夫侵占，又遭情夫遺棄，性格憂鬱善感，經常懷念童年時代的幸福生活。但她們倆都是虛榮心極強的利己主義者，為了滿足欲望，不惜榨幹父親的積蓄。阿娜斯塔齊嚮父親要錢，往往用勒索的方法，但斐那則用撒嬌哄騙的辦法。
■精緻的結構
小說以高老頭和拉斯蒂涅的故事為兩條主要綫索，又穿插了伏脫冷、鮑賽昂夫人的故事。幾條綫索錯綜交織，頭緒看似紛繁而實際主次分明、脈絡清楚、有條不紊。作品以敘述高老頭被女兒榨幹
錢財遭拋棄為中心情節，以拉斯蒂涅為中心人物，通過他的活動穿針引綫，將上層社會與下層社會聯繫起來，將貴族沙竜與資産者客廳連結起來。隨着高老頭之謎在拉斯蒂涅眼前展現、解開，情節步步推嚮高潮。伏脫冷被捕、鮑賽昂夫人被棄、高老頭慘死，拉斯蒂涅都是目睹者、見證人。社會的醜惡證實了他接受的反面教育，高老頭埋葬之日，也是拉斯蒂涅的青年時代結束之時。幾條綫索緊密交織、環環相扣、步步深入，起着互相深化、互為補充的作用，從而深刻地表現了作品的主題。
■對比手法的廣泛運用
藝術上的對比手法在《高老頭》中運用得十分廣泛。伏蓋公寓與鮑賽昂府的強烈對比，不僅促使拉斯蒂涅個人野心的猛烈膨脹，而且表明不管是赫赫聲威的豪門大戶還是窮酸暗淡的陋室客棧，一樣充斥着拜金主義，一樣存在着卑劣無恥。高貴莊重的鮑賽昂夫人與粗俗強悍的伏脫冷形成鮮明對比，一個文質彬彬，一個直言不諱，但不同的語言卻又揭示了同樣的道理，而他們兩人看透社會的理論又與自己生活中的慘敗成為反襯，更加深了悲劇的意味。此外，還有高老頭女兒的窮奢極欲與高老頭的貧苦窘睏的對比，鮑賽昂夫人退隱時熱鬧的場面與凄涼心情的對比等等。這種鮮明對比的手法，使作品的主題更加鮮明突出。
高老頭-巴爾紮剋—文學上的拿破侖
巴爾紮剋（ Honore de Balzac 1799 ～ 1850 ） 19 世紀法國偉大的批判現實主義作傢，歐洲批判現實主義文學的奠基人和傑出代表。一生創作 96 部長、中、短篇小說和隨筆，總名為《人間喜劇》。其中代表作為《歐也妮·葛朗臺》、《高老頭》。100 多年來，他的作品傳遍了全世界，對世界文學的發展和人類進步産生了巨大的影響。馬剋思、恩格斯稱贊他“是超群的小說傢”、“現實主義大師”。
巴爾紮剋 1799 年 5 月 20 日出生於一個法國大革命後致富的資産階級家庭，法科學校畢業後，拒絶家庭為他選擇的受人尊敬的法律職業，而立志當文學家。為了獲得獨立生活和從事創作的物質保障，他曾試筆並插足商業，從事出版印刷業，但都以破産告終。這一切都為他認識社會、描寫社會提供了極為珍貴的第一手材料。他不斷追求和探索，對哲學、經濟學、歷史、自然科學、神學等領域進行了深入研究，積纍了極為廣博的知識。
1829 年，巴爾紮剋完成長篇小說《舒昂黨人》，這部取材於現實生活的作品為他帶來巨大聲譽，也為法國批判現實主義文學放下第一塊基石，巴爾紮剋將《舒昂黨人》和計劃要寫的一百四五十部小說總命名為《人間喜劇》，並為之寫了《前言》，闡述了他的現實主義創作方法和基本原則，從理論上為法國批判現實主義文學奠定了基礎。
長期的辛勞嚴重損害了巴爾紮剋的健康，剛過50歲，他就重病纏身了。在巴爾紮剋生命垂危時刻，他仍然沉浸在自己製造的世界裏，他懇求醫生延長他的生命，他就能再寫出一部作品。 1850 年 8 月 18 日 晚上 11 點半 ，巴爾紮剋永遠閉上了他的那雙洞察一切的眼睛，結束了他辛勤勞累的一生。
巴爾紮剋在藝術上取得巨大成就，他在小說結構方面匠心獨運，小說結構多種多樣，不拘一格、並善於將集中概括與精確描摹相結合，以外形反映內心本質等手法來塑造人物，他還善於以精細人微、生動逼真的環境描寫再現時代風貌。恩格斯稱贊巴爾紮剋的《人間喜劇》寫出了貴族階級的沒落衰敗和資産階級的上升發展，提供了社會各個領域無比豐富的生動細節和形象化的歷史材料，“甚至在經濟的細節方面（如革命以後動産和不動産的重新分配），我學到的東西也要比從當時所有職業歷史學家、經濟學院和統計學家那裏學到的全部東西還要多”。（恩格斯：《恩格斯緻瑪·哈剋奈斯》）
巴爾紮剋以自己的創作在世界文學史上樹立起不朽的豐碑。他以對文學的熱愛成就了一道美麗的文學風景！
Originally published in serial form during the winter of 1834–35, Le Père Goriot is widely considered Balzac's most important novel.[1] It marks the first serious use by the author of characters who had appeared in other books, a technique that distinguishes Balzac's fiction. The novel is also noted as an example of his realist style, using minute details to create character and subtext.
The novel takes place during the Bourbon Restoration, which brought about profound changes in French society; the struggle of individuals to secure upper-class status is ubiquitous in the book. The city of Paris also impresses itself on the characters – especially young Rastignac, who grew up in the provinces of southern France. Balzac analyzes, through Goriot and others, the nature of family and marriage, providing a pessimistic view of these institutions.
The novel was released to mixed reviews. Some critics praised the author for his complex characters and attention to detail; others condemned him for his many depictions of corruption and greed. A favorite of Balzac's, the book quickly won widespread popularity and has often been adapted for film and the stage. It gave rise to the French expression "Rastignac", a social climber willing to use any means to better his situation.
■著名譯本
傅雷先生在1963年首譯的《高老頭》版本，人民文學出版社在1978年又重新出版，至今無人企及。
■有關於《人間喜劇》
巴爾紮剋用總標題為《人間喜劇》的一係列小說，反映了急劇變革時期的法國生活。《人間喜劇》分為三大部分：風俗研究、哲理研究和分析研究；其中風俗研究內容最為豐富，又分為六個“場景”。其基本內容表現為：首先，反映了上升的資産階級取代貴族階級的罪惡發傢史；同時也寫出了貴族階級的沒落衰亡史，至為重要的內容是對金錢勢力的批判，巴爾紮剋描寫了一幕幕圍繞着金錢而展開的人間慘劇，從而使我們對資本主義社會的罪惡與骯髒有一個形象的認識。
高老頭-【作者簡介】
巴爾紮剋是19世紀法國偉大的批判現實主義作傢，歐洲批判現實主義文學的奠基人和傑出代表，是一位具有濃厚浪漫情調的偉大作傢，一邊因奢華的生活而負債纍纍，一邊以崇高深刻的思想創作出博大精深的文學巨著。他
的生活趣事層出不窮，而作品更被譽為“法國社會的一面鏡子”。在他逝世時，文學大師雨果曾站在法國巴黎的蒙蒙細雨中，面對成千上萬哀悼者慷慨激昂地評價道：“在最偉大的人物中間，巴爾紮剋是名列前茅者；在最優秀的人物中間，巴爾紮剋是佼佼者。”
一生創作96部長、中、短篇小說和隨筆，總名為《人間喜劇》。其中代表作為《歐也妮•葛朗臺》、《高老頭》。100多年來，他的作品傳遍了全世界，對世界文學的發展和人類進步産生了巨大的影響。馬剋思、恩格斯稱贊他“是超群的小說傢”、“現實主義大師”。 巴爾紮剋出生於一個法國大革命後致富的資産階級家庭，法科學校畢業後，拒絶家庭為他選擇的受人尊敬的法律職業，而立志當文學家。為了獲得獨立生活和從事創作的物質保障，他曾試筆並插足商業，從事出版印刷業，但都以破産告終。這一切都為他認識社會、描寫社會提供了極為珍貴的第一手材料。他不斷追求和探索，對哲學、經濟學、歷史、自然科學、神學等領域進行了深入研究，積纍了極為廣博的知識。 1829年，巴爾紮剋完成長篇小說《朱安黨人》，這部取材於現實生活的作品為他帶來巨大聲譽，也為法國批判現實主義文學放下第一塊基石，巴爾紮剋將《朱安黨人》和計劃要寫的136部小說總命名為《人間喜劇》，並為之寫了《前言》，闡述了他的現實主義創作方法和基本原則，從理論上為法國批判現實主義文學奠定了堅固的基礎。 巴爾紮剋在藝術上取得巨大成就，他在小說結構方面匠心獨運，小說結構多種多樣，不拘一格、並善於將集中概括與精確描摹相結合，以外形反映內心本質等手法來塑造人物，他還善於以精細人微、生動逼真的環境描寫再現時代風貌。恩格斯稱贊巴爾紮剋的《人間喜劇》寫出了貴族階級的沒落衰敗和資産階級的上升發展，提供了社會各個領域無比豐富的生動細節和形象化的歷史材料，“甚至在經濟的細節方面（如革命以後動産和不動産的重新分配），我學到的東西也要比從當時所有職業歷史學家、經濟學院和統計學家那裏學到的全部東西還要多”。（恩格斯：《恩格斯緻瑪•哈剋奈斯》） 巴爾紮剋以自己的創作在世界文學史上樹立起不朽的豐碑。
高老頭-【作品目錄】
共有六章，分別是：
第一章 伏蓋公寓
第二章 兩處訪問
第三章 初見世面
第四章 鬼上當
第五章 兩個女兒
第六章 父親的死
高老頭-【內容梗概】
1891年鼕，在巴黎拉丁區有一個叫伏蓋公寓包飯客房，是一個叫伏蓋的美國老婦人開的。這裏住着各種各樣的人：有窮大學生拉斯蒂涅；歇業的面粉商人高裏奧；外號叫“鬼上當”的伏脫冷；被大銀行傢趕出傢門的泰伊番小姐；骨瘦如材的老處女米旭諾等。每逢開飯的時候，客店的飯廳就特別熱鬧，因為大傢可以在一起取笑高老頭。
69歲的高老頭，6 年前結束了他的買賣後，住到了伏蓋公寓。當時，分住在二樓一間最好的房間，每年交一千二百法朗的膳宿費，他衣着講究，每天還請理發師來給他梳頭髮，連鼻煙匣都是金的，他算得上這所公寓裏最體面的房客，人們都叫他高裏奧先生。寡婦老闆娘還嚮他搔首弄姿，想改嫁於他當一名本地區的闊太太。
高老頭把他全部的愛都放在兩個出嫁的女兒身上，不受伏蓋太太的誘惑。第二年年末，高老頭就要求換次等房間，並且整個鼕天屋子裏沒有生火取暖，膳宿費也減為九百法郎。大傢把他當作“惡癖、無恥、低能所産生的最神秘的人物”。常有兩個貴夫妻來找他，以為他有豔遇，高老頭告訴大傢，那是他的女兒：雷斯多伯爵夫人和銀行傢紐沁根太太。第三年，高老頭又要求換到最低等的房間每月房錢降為四十五法郎，他戒了鼻煙，批發了理發匠，金剛鑽、金煙匣、金鏈條等飾物也不見了，人也越來越瘦，看上去活像一個可憐蟲。伏蓋太太也認為：要是高老頭真有那麽有錢的女兒，他决不會住在四樓最低等的房間。
可是，高老頭這個謎終於被拉斯蒂涅揭開了。拉斯蒂涅是從外地來巴黎讀大學的青年，出身破落貴族家庭，白皮膚、黑頭髮、藍眼睛，熱情而有才氣，想做一個清廉正直的法官。但巴黎的豪華生活的刺激加強了他“對權位的欲望與出人頭地的志願”。他認為靠自己的勤奮學習求上進的路太艱苦，也太遙遠，還不一定行得通，而現實社會依靠幾個有錢的女人作進身的階梯則容易得多，於是他想“去徵服幾個可以做他的後臺的婦女”。由於姑母的引薦，他結識了遠房表姐，巴黎社交界地位顯赫的鮑賽昂子爵夫人。拉斯蒂涅很得意地嚮伏蓋公寓的房客們講了在舞會認識了伯爵夫人的事。高老頭興奮地問：“昨晚雷斯多太太很漂亮嗎？” 公寓老闆娘便認定高老頭定是給那些婆娘弄窮的。拉斯蒂涅想弄清高老頭和伯爵夫人的關係，决定去雷斯多伯爵夫人傢。在伯爵夫人傢他的寒酸相引起僕人輕衊；接着他莽撞地衝進了一間浴室，大出洋相；後又到提到和高老頭住在一起，卻引起伯爵夫婦的不快，把他趕了出來。拉斯蒂涅十分懊惱，衹好趕去嚮表姐求教。鮑賽昂夫人告訴他，雷斯多太太便是高裏奧的女兒。
高老頭是法國大革命時期起傢的面粉商人，中年喪妻，他把自己所有的愛都傾註在兩個女兒身上。為了讓她們擠進上流社會，從小給她們良好的教育，出嫁時，給了她們每人80萬法郎的陪嫁，讓大女兒嫁給了雷斯多伯爵，做了貴婦人；小女兒嫁給銀行傢紐沁根，當了金融資産階級闊太太。他以為女兒嫁了體面人傢，自己便可以受到尊重、奉承。那知不到兩年，女婿竟把他當作要不得的下流東西，把他趕出傢門。高老頭為了獲得他們的好感，忍痛出賣了店鋪，將錢一分為二給了兩個女兒，自己便搬進了伏蓋公寓。兩個女兒衹要爸爸的錢，可現在高老頭已沒錢了。
鮑賽昂夫人教導拉斯蒂涅社會又卑鄙又殘忍，要他以牙還牙去對付這個社會。她說：“你越沒有心肝，就越高升得快。你毫不留情的打擊人傢，人傢就怕你。”“沒有一個女人關切，他在這兒便一文不值，這女人還得年輕、有錢、漂亮。”按照表姐的指點，拉斯蒂涅决心去勾引高老頭的二女兒妞沁根太太。
伏脫冷是個目光敏銳的人，看出拉斯蒂涅想往上爬的心思。他對拉斯蒂涅說：“在這個互相吞筮的社會裏，清白老實一無用處，如果不像炮彈一樣轟進去，就得像瘟疫一般鑽進去，清白誠實是一無用處的。”他指點拉斯蒂涅去追求維多利小姐，他可以叫人殺死泰伊番小姐的哥哥，讓她當上繼承人，這樣銀行傢的遺産就會落到拉斯蒂涅手中，衹要給他二十萬法郎作報酬。拉斯蒂涅雖然被伏脫冷的赤裸裸的言辭所打動，但又沒敢答應下來。
拉斯蒂涅通過鮑賽昂夫人結識了紐沁根太太，而紐沁根太太並不是他想要追求的對象。她的丈夫在經濟上對她控製很嚴，甚至要求拉斯蒂涅拿自己僅有的100 法郎去賭場替她贏6000法郎回來。於是拉斯蒂涅便轉嚮
對泰伊番小姐的進攻。
這時伏脫冷已讓同黨尋釁跟泰伊番小姐的哥哥决頭，並殺死了他。拉斯蒂涅矛盾重重，是愛維多利小姐呢，還是愛紐沁根太太呢？最後，他選擇了後者，他想 “這樣的結合既沒有罪過，也沒有什麽能教最嚴格的道學家皺一皺眉頭的地方。”
房客米旭諾老小姐，她接受了警察局暗探險的差使，刺探伏脫冷的身份。她在伏脫冷的飲料中下麻藥，伏脫冷被醉倒不省人事。米旭諾脫下伏脫冷的外衣，在肩上打了一巴掌，鮮紅的皮膚上立刻現出“苦役犯”的字樣。當伏脫冷醒來時，警察已經包圍了伏蓋公寓。特務長打落了他的假發，伏脫冷全身的血立刻涌上了臉，眼睛像野貓一樣發亮，他使出一股蠻勁，大吼一聲，把所有的房客嚇得大叫起來。暗探們一齊掏出手槍，伏脫冷一見亮晶晶的火門，突然變了面孔，鎮靜下來，主動把兩衹手伸上去。他承認自己叫雅剋·柯冷，諢名“鬼上當”，被判過20年苦役，他被逮捕了。
高老頭得知拉斯蒂涅愛自己的二女兒，想為拉斯蒂涅與女兒牽綫搭橋，購買了一幢小樓，供他們幽會。一天，紐沁根太太急忙來找高老頭，說明她丈夫同意讓她和拉斯蒂涅來往，但她不能嚮他要回陪嫁錢，高老頭要女兒不要接受這條件，“錢是性命，有了錢就有了一切。”這時，雷斯多夫人也來了。她哭着告訴父親：她的丈夫用她賣掉了項鏈的錢去為情人還債，現在她的財産已差不多全部被奪走，她要父親給她一萬二千法郎去救她的情夫。兩個女兒吵起嘴來，高老頭愛莫能助，他急得暈過去，患了初期腦溢血癥。
在他患病期間，兩姐妹都沒來看他一次，大女兒關心的是即將參加盼望已久的鮑賽昂夫人的舞會；二女兒來過一次，但不是來看父親的病的，而是要父親給她支付欠裁縫一千法郎的定錢。高老頭被逼得付出了最後1 文錢，致使中風癥猛發作。
鮑賽昂夫人舉行盛大的舞會，場面非常壯觀，公主、爵爺、名門閨秀都前來參加。500 多輛車上的燈燭照得屋內處處通明透亮。子爵夫人裝束素雅，臉上沒有表情，仿佛還保持着貴婦人的面目，而在她心目中，這座燦爛的宮殿已經變成一片沙漠，一回到內室，便禁不住淚水長流，周身發抖。舞會結束後，拉斯蒂涅目送表姐鮑賽昂夫人坐上轎車，同她作了最後一次告別。他感到“他的教育已經受完了”他認為自己 “入了地獄，而且還得呆下去”。
可憐的高老頭快斷氣了，他還盼望着兩個女兒能來見他一面。拉斯蒂涅差人去請他的兩個女兒，兩個女兒都推三阻四不來。老人每衹眼中冒出一顆眼淚，滾在鮮紅的眼皮邊上，他長嘆一聲，說：“唉，愛了一輩子的女兒，到頭來反給女兒遺棄！”
衹有拉斯蒂涅張羅着高老頭的喪事，兩個女兒女婿衹派了兩駕空車跟在靈柩後面。棺木是由一個大學生嚮醫院廉價買來的，送葬費由拉斯蒂涅賣掉金表支付的。他目睹這一幕幕悲劇，隨着高老頭的埋葬也埋葬了自己最後一滴同情的眼淚，他决心嚮社會挑戰，“現在咱們倆來拼一拼吧！”
高老頭-【思想感情】
《高老頭》着重揭露批判的是資本主義世界中人與人之間赤裸裸的金錢關係。小說以1819年底到1820年初的巴黎為背景，主要寫兩個平行而又交叉的故事：退休麵條商高裏奧老頭被兩個女兒冷落，悲慘地死在伏蓋公寓的閣樓上；青年拉斯蒂涅在巴黎社會的腐蝕下走上墮落之路。同時還穿插了鮑賽昂夫人和伏脫冷的故事。通過寒酸的
公寓和豪華的貴族沙竜這兩個不斷交替的主要舞臺，作傢描繪了一幅幅巴黎社會人欲橫流、極端醜惡的圖畫，暴露了在金錢勢力支配下資産階級的道德淪喪和人與人之間的冷酷無情，揭示了在資産階級的進攻下貴族階級的必然滅亡，真實地反映了波旁王朝復闢時期的特徵。
高老頭-【寫作背景】
19世紀上半葉是法國資本主義建立的初期，拿破侖在1815年的滑鐵盧戰役中徹底敗北，由此波旁王朝復闢，統治一直延續到1830年。由於查理十世的反動政策激怒了人民，七月革命僅僅三天便推倒了復闢王朝，開始了長達18年的七月王朝的統治，由金融資産階級掌握了政權。《歐也妮·葛朗臺》發表於1833年，也即七月王朝初期。剛過去的復闢王朝在人們的頭腦中還記憶猶新。復闢時期，貴族雖然從國外返回了法國，耀武揚威，不可一世，可是他們的實際地位與法國大革命以前不可同日而語，因為資産階級已經強大起來。剛上臺的路易十八不得不頒布新憲法，實行君主立憲，嚮資産階級做出讓步，以維護搖搖欲墜的政權。資産階級雖然失去了政治權力，卻憑藉經濟上的實力與貴族相抗衡。到了復闢王朝後期，資産階級不僅在城市，而且在貴族保持廣泛影響的農村，都把貴族打得落花流水。復闢王朝實際上大勢已去。巴爾紮剋比同時代作傢更敏銳，獨具慧眼地觀察到這個重大社會現象。
高老頭-【相關評論】
“《高老頭》還成功地塑造了青年野心傢拉斯蒂涅和沒落貴夫人鮑賽昂的形象。前者原為一個外省貴族青年，想來巴黎進大學重振傢業，但目睹上流社會的揮金如土、燈紅酒緑，他往上爬的欲望倍增，
他在鮑賽昂子爵夫人和逃犯伏特冷的唆使下，日益喪失正直的良心，開始為金錢而出賣正直，特別見證了高老頭的兩個女兒對待父親象榨幹的檸檬一般以後，更堅定了嚮資産階級的道路走去的决心。《高老頭》中主要描寫了他野心傢性格形成的過程，在以後的一係列作品中他更一發不可收拾，靠出賣道德和良心竟當上了副國務秘書和貴族院議員，而一切的取得都依賴於極端利己主義原則。鮑賽昂子爵夫人是巴爾紮剋為貴族階級唱的一麯無盡的輓歌，她出身名門貴族，是巴黎社交界的皇后，衹因缺乏金錢而被情人拋棄，被迫退出巴黎上流社會，高貴的門第再也敵不過金錢的勢力，她在後來的小說中因為同樣的原因又一次被金錢出賣。她的遭遇告訴人們，貴族階級除了失敗之外不可能有更好的命運，金錢纔是這個世界的主宰。
《高老頭》在藝術上很嚴謹，作者設置了典型環境，讓典型人物活動於其中，使人與人的金錢關係與環境相契合，書中安排了四條情節綫索，以拉斯蒂涅的墮落為主綫，其它幾條起輔助作用，縱橫交錯又脈絡分明；典型人物的刻劃是巴爾紮剋的最大特色，不論是外貌描寫還是心理刻劃，甚至一個細節，如高老頭每吃一塊面包都要放在鼻下嗅一嗅，都使人物更鮮明生動；人物語言的個性化也是作者一大功力，貴族沙竜中的語言與逃犯的語言絶不一樣。”
高老頭-【精彩片段】
高老頭臨死前想見女兒一面,讓人去叫他的女兒,可兩個女兒誰也沒來。
高裏奧不出聲了，仿佛集中全身的精力熬着痛苦。“她們在這兒，我不會叫苦了，幹麽還要叫苦呢？”他迷迷糊糊昏沉了好久。剋利斯朵夫回來，拉斯蒂涅以為高老頭睡熟了，讓傭人高聲回報他出差的情形。
“先生，我先上伯爵夫人傢，可沒法跟她說話，她和丈夫有要緊事兒。我再三央求，雷斯多先生親自出來對我說：高裏奧先生快死了是不是？哎，再好沒有。我有事，要太太待在傢裏。事情完了，她會去的。——
他似乎很生氣，這位先生。我正要出來，太太從一扇我看不見的門裏走到穿堂，告訴我，你對我父親說，我同丈夫正在商量事情，不能來。那是有關我孩子們生死的問題。但等事情一完，我就去看他。——說到男爵夫人吧，又是另外一樁事兒！我沒有見到她，不能跟她說話。老媽子說她今兒早上五點一刻纔從舞會回來，中午以前叫醒她，一定要挨駡的。等會她打鈴明我，我會告訴她，說她父親的病更重了。報告一件壞消息，不會嫌太晚的。我再三央求也沒用。哎，是呀，我也要求見男爵，他不在傢。”
“一個也不來”拉斯蒂捏嚷道，“讓我寫信給她們。”“一個也不來，”老人坐起來接着說，“她們有事，她們在睡覺，她們不會來的。我早知道了。直要臨死纔知道女兒是什麽東西！朋友，你別結婚，別生孩子！你給他們生命，他們給你死。你帶他們到世界上來，他們把你從世界上趕出去。她們不會來的！我已經知道了十年。有時我心裏這麽想，衹是不敢相信。”
高老頭死了，兩個女兒誰也沒有來，他的錢都給女兒花光了，到死連入殮的衣服都沒有，是拉斯蒂涅賣了自己的表纔給他入殮的。
拉斯蒂涅奔下樓梯，到雷斯多太太傢去了。剛纔那幕可怕的景象使他動了感情，一路義憤填胸。他走進穿堂求見雷斯多太太，人傢回報說她不能見容。
他對當差說：“我是為了她馬上要死的父親來的。”“先生，伯爵再三吩咐我們……”“既然伯爵在傢，那麽告訴他，說他嶽父快死了，我要立刻和他說話。”歐也納等了好久。“說不定他就在這個時候死了，”他心裏想。
當差帶他走進第一窖室，雷斯多先生站在壁爐前面，見了客人也不請坐。“伯爵，”拉斯蒂涅說，“令嶽在破爛的閣樓上就要斷氣了，連買木柴的錢也沒有；他馬上要死了，但等見一面女兒……”“先生，”伯爵冷冷的回答，“你大概可以看出，我對高裏奧先生沒有什麽好感。他教壞了我太太，造成我家庭的不幸。我把他當做擾亂我安寧的敵人。他死也好，活也好，我全不在意。你瞧，這是我對他的情分。社會盡可以責備我，我纔不在乎呢。我現在要處理的事，比顧慮那些傻瓜的闊言閑語緊要得多。至於我太太，她現在那個模樣沒法出門，我也不讓她出門。請你告訴她父親，衹消她對我，對我的孩子，盡完了她的責任，她會去看他的。要是她愛她的父親，幾分鐘內她就可以自由……”
“伯爵，我沒有權利批評你的行為，你是你太太的主人。至少我能相信你是講信義的吧？請
你答應我一件事，就是告訴她，說她父親沒有一天好活了，因為她不去送終，已經在咒她了！”雷斯多註意到歐也納憤憤不平的語氣，回答道：“你自己去說吧。”
拉斯蒂涅跟着伯爵走進伯爵夫人平時起坐的客廳。她淚人兒似的埋在沙發裏，那副痛不欲生的模樣叫他看了可憐。她不敢望拉斯蒂涅，先怯生生的瞧了瞧丈夫，眼睛的神氣表示她精神肉體都被專橫的丈夫壓倒了。伯爵側了側腦袋，她纔敢開口：“先生，我都聽到了。告訴我父親，他要知道我現在的處境，一定會原諒我。想不到要受這種刑罰簡直受不了。可是我要反抗到底，”她對地的丈夫說。“我也有兒女。請你對父親說，不管表面上怎麽樣，在父親面前我並沒有錯，”她無可奈何的對歐也納說。
那女的經歷的苦難，歐也納不難想象，便呆呆的走了出來。聽到特·雷斯多先生的口吻，他知道自己白跑了一趟，阿娜斯大齊已經失去自由。
接着他趕到特·紐沁根太太傢，發覺她還在床上。“我不舒服呀，朋友，”她說。“從跳舞會出來受了涼，我怕要害肺炎呢，我等醫生來……”歐也納打斷了她的話，說道：“哪怕死神已經到了你身邊，爬也得爬到你父親跟前去。他在叫你！你要聽到他一聲，馬上不覺得你自己害病了。”
“歐也納，父親的病也許不象你說的那麽嚴重；可是我要在你眼裏有什麽不是，我纔難過死呢；所以我一定聽你的吩咐。我知道，倘若我這一回出去鬧出一場大病來，父親要傷心死的。我等醫生來過了就走。”她一眼看不見歐也納身上的表鏈，便叫道：“喲！怎麽你的表沒有啦？”歐也納臉上紅了一塊。“歐也納！歐也納！倘使你已經把它賣了，丟了，……哦！那太豈有此理了。”
大學生伏在但斐納床上，湊着她耳朵說：“你要知道麽？哼！好，告訴你吧！你父親一個錢沒有了，今晚上要把他入礆的屍衣都沒法買。你送我的表在當鋪裏，我錢都光了。”
但斐納猛的從床上跳下，奔嚮書櫃，抓起錢袋遞給拉斯蒂捏，打着鈴嚷道：“我去我去，歐也納。讓我穿衣服，我簡直是禽獸了！去吧，我會趕在你前面！” 她回頭叫老媽子：“丹蘭士，請老爺立刻上來跟我說話。”
高老頭-【藝術成就】
《高老頭》集中表現了巴爾紮剋現實主義創作藝術的主要特色。
■精細而富有特徵的典型環境
巴爾紮剋非常重視詳細而逼真的環境描繪，一方面是為了再現生活，更重要的是為了刻畫人物性格。作品圍繞拉斯蒂涅的活動，描寫了巴黎不同等級、不同階層的人們的生活環境；拉丁區的伏蓋公寓，形似牢獄的黃色屋
子，到處散發着“閉塞的、黴爛的、酸腐的氣味”，塞滿了骯髒油膩、殘破醜陋的器皿和傢具，這是下層人物的寄居之地。唐打區內高老頭的兩個女兒傢裏，雖有金碧輝煌的房子、貴重的器物，但“毫無氣派的回廊”，挂滿意大利油畫的客廳卻“裝飾得像咖啡館”，這顯示了作為新貴的資産階級暴發戶們俗不可耐的排場。聖日爾曼區古老的鮑賽昂府則顯示出完全不同的氣派，院中套着精壯馬匹的華麗馬車，穿着金鑲邊大紅製服的門丁，兩邊供滿鮮花的大樓梯以及衹有灰和粉紅色的小巧玲瓏的客室，這些精雅絶倫的陳設、別出心裁的佈置都襯托出上流社會貴族“領袖”的風雅超群。這些精細而富有特徵的環境描寫，有利於展示其對人間性格形成的影響。當拉斯蒂涅從雷斯多夫人和鮑賽昂夫人兩處訪問後回到棲身的伏蓋公寓時，作品寫道：“走入氣味難聞的飯廳，十八個食客好似馬槽前的牲口一般正在吃飯。他覺得這副窮酸相跟飯廳的景象醜惡已極。環境轉變太突兀了，對比太強烈了，格外刺激他的野心……”已經享受過上流社會生活的拉斯蒂涅再也不肯自甘貧賤，最後，他决心弄髒雙手，抹黑良心，不顧一切地嚮上撲。拉斯蒂涅的墮落是這種特定的典型環境所决定的。
■人物性格的典型化
巴爾紮剋不僅塑造了高裏奧、拉斯蒂涅、鮑賽昂夫人、伏脫冷等典型形象，而且在其他人物形象的塑造中也做到了共性與個性的統一。雷斯多伯爵夫婦和紐沁根男爵夫婦雖然有貴族的頭銜，實際上都是資産者。他們既有追求個人私利的共同特性，又都是獨具個性的典型。銀行傢紐沁根心目中衹有金錢，他對待妻子尋求外遇的態度很明朗：“我允許你鬍攪，你也得讓我犯罪，教那些可憐蟲傾傢蕩産。”雷斯多伯爵對妻子的美着了迷，雖聽憑她和瑪剋勾搭，卻有一定限度，這和他的貴族門第觀念有關。他知道妻子偷賣祖傳鑽石後，想方設法贖回，讓她戴着參加舞會，以維護門第的尊嚴。
阿娜斯塔齊和但斐那都是高老頭的女兒，但兩姊妹各有自己的個性。前者身材高大、結實、黑發，眼睛炯炯有神，進宮謁見過皇上，不把妹妹放在眼裏。後者嬌小、金發，極有風韻，自知社會地位不高，陪嫁被丈夫侵占，又遭情夫遺棄，性格憂鬱善感，經常懷念童年時代的幸福生活。但她們倆都是虛榮心極強的利己主義者，為了滿足欲望，不惜榨幹父親的積蓄。阿娜斯塔齊嚮父親要錢，往往用勒索的方法，但斐那則用撒嬌哄騙的辦法。
■精緻的結構
小說以高老頭和拉斯蒂涅的故事為兩條主要綫索，又穿插了伏脫冷、鮑賽昂夫人的故事。幾條綫索錯綜交織，頭緒看似紛繁而實際主次分明、脈絡清楚、有條不紊。作品以敘述高老頭被女兒榨幹
錢財遭拋棄為中心情節，以拉斯蒂涅為中心人物，通過他的活動穿針引綫，將上層社會與下層社會聯繫起來，將貴族沙竜與資産者客廳連結起來。隨着高老頭之謎在拉斯蒂涅眼前展現、解開，情節步步推嚮高潮。伏脫冷被捕、鮑賽昂夫人被棄、高老頭慘死，拉斯蒂涅都是目睹者、見證人。社會的醜惡證實了他接受的反面教育，高老頭埋葬之日，也是拉斯蒂涅的青年時代結束之時。幾條綫索緊密交織、環環相扣、步步深入，起着互相深化、互為補充的作用，從而深刻地表現了作品的主題。
■對比手法的廣泛運用
藝術上的對比手法在《高老頭》中運用得十分廣泛。伏蓋公寓與鮑賽昂府的強烈對比，不僅促使拉斯蒂涅個人野心的猛烈膨脹，而且表明不管是赫赫聲威的豪門大戶還是窮酸暗淡的陋室客棧，一樣充斥着拜金主義，一樣存在着卑劣無恥。高貴莊重的鮑賽昂夫人與粗俗強悍的伏脫冷形成鮮明對比，一個文質彬彬，一個直言不諱，但不同的語言卻又揭示了同樣的道理，而他們兩人看透社會的理論又與自己生活中的慘敗成為反襯，更加深了悲劇的意味。此外，還有高老頭女兒的窮奢極欲與高老頭的貧苦窘睏的對比，鮑賽昂夫人退隱時熱鬧的場面與凄涼心情的對比等等。這種鮮明對比的手法，使作品的主題更加鮮明突出。
高老頭-巴爾紮剋—文學上的拿破侖
巴爾紮剋（ Honore de Balzac 1799 ～ 1850 ） 19 世紀法國偉大的批判現實主義作傢，歐洲批判現實主義文學的奠基人和傑出代表。一生創作 96 部長、中、短篇小說和隨筆，總名為《人間喜劇》。其中代表作為《歐也妮·葛朗臺》、《高老頭》。100 多年來，他的作品傳遍了全世界，對世界文學的發展和人類進步産生了巨大的影響。馬剋思、恩格斯稱贊他“是超群的小說傢”、“現實主義大師”。
巴爾紮剋 1799 年 5 月 20 日出生於一個法國大革命後致富的資産階級家庭，法科學校畢業後，拒絶家庭為他選擇的受人尊敬的法律職業，而立志當文學家。為了獲得獨立生活和從事創作的物質保障，他曾試筆並插足商業，從事出版印刷業，但都以破産告終。這一切都為他認識社會、描寫社會提供了極為珍貴的第一手材料。他不斷追求和探索，對哲學、經濟學、歷史、自然科學、神學等領域進行了深入研究，積纍了極為廣博的知識。
1829 年，巴爾紮剋完成長篇小說《舒昂黨人》，這部取材於現實生活的作品為他帶來巨大聲譽，也為法國批判現實主義文學放下第一塊基石，巴爾紮剋將《舒昂黨人》和計劃要寫的一百四五十部小說總命名為《人間喜劇》，並為之寫了《前言》，闡述了他的現實主義創作方法和基本原則，從理論上為法國批判現實主義文學奠定了基礎。
長期的辛勞嚴重損害了巴爾紮剋的健康，剛過50歲，他就重病纏身了。在巴爾紮剋生命垂危時刻，他仍然沉浸在自己製造的世界裏，他懇求醫生延長他的生命，他就能再寫出一部作品。 1850 年 8 月 18 日 晚上 11 點半 ，巴爾紮剋永遠閉上了他的那雙洞察一切的眼睛，結束了他辛勤勞累的一生。
巴爾紮剋在藝術上取得巨大成就，他在小說結構方面匠心獨運，小說結構多種多樣，不拘一格、並善於將集中概括與精確描摹相結合，以外形反映內心本質等手法來塑造人物，他還善於以精細人微、生動逼真的環境描寫再現時代風貌。恩格斯稱贊巴爾紮剋的《人間喜劇》寫出了貴族階級的沒落衰敗和資産階級的上升發展，提供了社會各個領域無比豐富的生動細節和形象化的歷史材料，“甚至在經濟的細節方面（如革命以後動産和不動産的重新分配），我學到的東西也要比從當時所有職業歷史學家、經濟學院和統計學家那裏學到的全部東西還要多”。（恩格斯：《恩格斯緻瑪·哈剋奈斯》）
巴爾紮剋以自己的創作在世界文學史上樹立起不朽的豐碑。他以對文學的熱愛成就了一道美麗的文學風景！
Originally published in serial form during the winter of 1834–35, Le Père Goriot is widely considered Balzac's most important novel.[1] It marks the first serious use by the author of characters who had appeared in other books, a technique that distinguishes Balzac's fiction. The novel is also noted as an example of his realist style, using minute details to create character and subtext.
The novel takes place during the Bourbon Restoration, which brought about profound changes in French society; the struggle of individuals to secure upper-class status is ubiquitous in the book. The city of Paris also impresses itself on the characters – especially young Rastignac, who grew up in the provinces of southern France. Balzac analyzes, through Goriot and others, the nature of family and marriage, providing a pessimistic view of these institutions.
The novel was released to mixed reviews. Some critics praised the author for his complex characters and attention to detail; others condemned him for his many depictions of corruption and greed. A favorite of Balzac's, the book quickly won widespread popularity and has often been adapted for film and the stage. It gave rise to the French expression "Rastignac", a social climber willing to use any means to better his situation.