The Ball Of Seals
| Le Bal de Sceaux | |||||
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| Author | Honore de Balzac | ||||
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| Genre | Study habits | ||||
| Country of origin |  France | ||||
| Place of Publication | Paris | ||||
| Editor | Mame and Delaunay-Valle | ||||
| Collection | The Human Comedy | ||||
| Publication date | 1830 | ||||
| Series | Scenes of privacy | ||||
| Chronology | |||||
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Le Bal de Sceaux is the fifth work of Honore de Balzac , the oldest text of .
The first edition of this novel appeared in 1830 in Mame and Delaunay-Valle in the Scenes of privacy. Then 1835 Madame Charles Bechet, then in 1839 published by Charpentier and then 1842 in the first volume of the edition of Furne The Human Comedy.
Summary |
Analysis
Compared to the fable of La Fontaine , The Girl, whose subject is close to the "Hero" with the fabulist about the Old Girl who, hesitating between several contenders eventually fall back on the only one left.
Theme
After refusing haughtily number of contenders on the pretext that they are not peers of France, Emilie de Fontaine falls for a mysterious young man quietly appeared at the Garden Ballroom Seals. Although sophisticated look of aristocratic turn, the unknown (Maximilien Longueville) never sets his identity and seemed interested only his sister, a young fragile girl. But it is not insensitive to the attention that it is Emily and he ended by accepting the invitations of Comte de Fontaine. Through hard to meet, Emily and the unknown eventually include at least gesture. Here they are very fond of each other and the proud Emilia finally melted. But the Comte de Fontaine really wants to investigate this Maximilien Longueville which nothing is known:
"This word (from the old Earl of Kergarouet ) frightened of Mr. and Mrs. Fontaine. The old Vendeen ceased to be as indifferent to the marriage of his daughter (Emily) that he had promised to be. He went to Paris looking for information and found none. anxious about this mystery (...) he had requested a director of Paris to investigate the family Longueville . "
. But the old Earl of Kergarouet protested against this method:
"I do not know from Adam or Eve. Trusting the touch of that little crazy, I brought him his Saint-Preux by any means known to me. I know that this guy pulls gun admirably, hunting very much, plays wonderfully billiards, chess , and backgammon. He makes weapons and rides like the late Knight St. George. He has a scholarship to our relatively full-bodied wine. It calculates as Barrme , draws, dances and sings well (...) If this is just the perfect gentleman, show me a citizen who knows it all ! "
And he discovers that his address, street number 5 Trail Street Trail is one of the merchants of cloth. Emily decides to check herself and discovers indeed, Maximilian, behind a desk, single seller of cloth, which horrified the girl.
Annoyed, Emily married a very old uncle who is 73 years for his title of vice-admiral, Count Kergarouet.
A few years after her marriage, Emily discovers that Maximilian was actually Vicomte de Longueville, who became a peer of France. The young man explained why he finally ran a shop in secret: it was for him to keep the family interests at the expense of his own life by sacrificing himself for his sick sister and her brother went abroad.
References
- Anne Marie Baron. Preface to The Ball at Sceaux in the collection also contains The House Cat and Racket , The Vendetta , The Exchange , GF Flammarion, 1985.
- The paperback book, Hatchet.
- Honore de Balzac, Le Bal de Sceaux GF Flammarion edition, also including: The House Cat and Racket, The Bourse, La Vendetta, Paris, 1985, p. 138
- Honore de Balzac, Le Bal de Sceaux GF Flammarion edition, also including: The House Cat and Racket, The Bourse, La Vendetta, Paris, 1985, p. 144
Bibliography
- Jacques-David Ebguy, "For a new romance: the problem of aesthetic Bal de Sceaux," The Year Balzac , December 1999, No. 20 (2), p. 541-66.
- (In) Andrea Goulet, "" Falling into the phenomenon "in Afterimages Nucingen House and Le Bal de Sceaux, "Optics: The Science of the Eye & the Birth of Modern French Fiction, Philadelphia, U of Pennsylvania P, 2006. ( ISBN 9780812239317 )
- Sarah Juliette Sasson, "From mantle to drape the Peerage of the commonalty: the aristocratic prejudices in Le Bal de Sceaux," Romanic Review, May 2002, No. 93 (3), p. 295-305.
External link
- Notice on The Ball at Sceaux by Roger Pierrot on the website of the Maison de Balzac.
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