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Old Goriot
by Honore de Balzac, France, (1799-1850)
Le Père Goriot
(French pronunciation:
[lə pɛʁ ɡɔʁjo]
,
Old Goriot
or
Father Goriot
) is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright
Honoré de Balzac
(1799–1850), included in the
Scènes de la vie Parisienne
section of his
novel sequence
La Comédie humaine
. Set in Paris in 1819, it follows the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot; a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named
Vautrin
; and a naive law student named
Eugène de Rastignac
.
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 profound changes to French society; the struggle by individuals to secure a higher social status is a major theme 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.
Historical background
Le Père Goriot
begins in June 1819, following
Napoleon
's defeat at
Waterloo
, after the
House of Bourbon
had been
restored
to the throne of France. Tension was mounting between the
aristocracy
, which had returned with
King Louis XVIII
, and the
bourgeoisie
produced by the
Industrial Revolution
.
[2]
During this era, France saw a tightening of social structures, with a lower class steeped in overwhelming poverty. By one estimate, almost three-quarters of Parisians did not make the 500–600
francs
a year required for a minimal standard of living.
[3]
At the same time, this upheaval made possible a social mobility unthinkable during the
Ancien Régime
of previous centuries. Individuals willing to adapt themselves to the rules of this new society could sometimes ascend into its upper echelons from modest backgrounds, much to the distaste of the established wealthy class.
[4]
Literary background
When Balzac began writing
Le Père Goriot
in 1834, he had written several dozen books, including a stream of
pseudonymously
published
potboiler
novels. In 1829 he published
Les Chouans
, the first novel to which he signed his own name; this was followed by
Louis Lambert
(1832),
Le Colonel Chabert
(1832), and
La Peau de chagrin
(1831).
[5]
Around this time, Balzac began organizing his work into a
sequence of novels
that he eventually called
La Comédie humaine
, divided into sections representing various aspects of life in France during the early 19th century.
[6]
One of these aspects which fascinated Balzac was the life of crime. In the winter of 1828–29, a French
grifter
-turned-policeman named
Eugène François Vidocq
published a pair of sensationalized memoirs recounting his criminal exploits. Balzac met Vidocq in April 1834, and used him as a model for a character named
Vautrin
he was planning for an upcoming novel.
[7]
Writing and publication
In the summer of 1834 Balzac began to work on a tragic story about a father who is rejected by his daughters. His journal records several undated lines about the plot: "Subject of Old Goriot – A good man – middle-class lodging-house – 600 fr. income – having stripped himself bare for his daughters who both have 50,000 fr. income – dying like a dog."
[8]
He wrote the first draft of
Le Père Goriot
in forty autumn days; it was published as a
serial
in the
Revue de Paris
between December and February. It was released as a novel in March 1835 by the publishing house of Werdet, who also published the second edition in May. A much-revised third edition was published in 1839 by Charpentier.
[9]
As was his custom, Balzac made copious notes and changes on proofs he received from publishers, so that the later editions of his novels were often significantly different from the earliest. In the case of
Le Père Goriot
, he changed a number of the characters into persons from other novels he had written, and added new paragraphs filled with detail.
[10]
The character
Eugène de Rastignac
had appeared as an old man in Balzac's earlier philosophical fantasy novel
La Peau de chagrin
. While writing the first draft of
Le Père Goriot
, Balzac named the character "Massiac", but he decided to use the same character from
La Peau de chagrin
. Other characters were changed in a similar fashion. It was his first structured use of recurring characters, a practice whose depth and rigor came to characterize his novels.
[11]
In 1843 Balzac placed
Le Père Goriot
in the section of
La Comédie humaine
entitled "Scènes de la vie parisienne" ("Scenes of life in Paris"). Quickly thereafter, he reclassified it – due to its intense focus on the private lives of its characters – as one of the "Scènes de la vie privée" ("Scenes of private life").
[12]
These categories and the novels in them were his attempt to create a body of work "depicting all society, sketching it in the immensity of its turmoil".
[13]
Although he had prepared only a small predecessor for
La Comédie humaine
, entitled
Études de Mœurs
, at this time, Balzac carefully considered each work's place in the project and frequently rearranged its structure.
[14]
Plot summary
The novel opens with an extended description of the Maison Vauquer, a
boarding house
in Paris'
rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève
covered with vines, owned by the widow Madame Vauquer. The residents include the law student Eugène de Rastignac, a mysterious agitator named Vautrin, and an elderly retired
vermicelli
-maker named Jean-Joachim Goriot. The old man is ridiculed frequently by the other boarders, who soon learn that he has bankrupted himself to support his two well-married daughters.
Rastignac, who moved to Paris from the south of France, becomes attracted to the upper class. He has difficulty fitting in, but is tutored by his cousin, Madame de Beauséant, in the ways of high society. Rastignac endears himself to one of Goriot's daughters, Delphine, after extracting money from his own already-poor family. Vautrin, meanwhile, tries to convince Rastignac to pursue an unmarried woman named Victorine, whose family fortune is blocked only by her brother. He offers to clear the way for Rastignac by having the brother killed in a
duel
.
Rastignac refuses to go along with the plot, balking at the idea of having someone killed to acquire their wealth, but he takes note of Vautrin's machinations. This is a lesson in the harsh realities of high society. Before long, the boarders learn that police are seeking Vautrin, revealed to be a master criminal nicknamed
Trompe-la-Mort
("Cheater of Death"). Vautrin arranges for a friend to kill Victorine's brother, in the meantime, and is captured by the police.
Goriot, supportive of Rastignac's interest in his daughter and furious with her husband's tyrannical control over her, finds himself unable to help. When his other daughter, Anastasie, informs him that she has been selling off her husband's family jewelry to pay her lover's debts, the old man is overcome with grief at his own impotence and suffers a
stroke
.
Neither Delphine nor Anastasie will visit Goriot as he lies on his deathbed, and before dying he rages about their disrespect toward him. His funeral is attended only by Rastignac, a servant named Christophe, and two
paid mourners
. Goriot's daughters, rather than being present at the funeral, send their empty coaches, each bearing their families' respective coat of arms. After the short ceremony, Rastignac turns to face Paris as the lights of evening begin to appear. He sets out to dine with Delphine de Nucingen and declares to the city: "À nous deux, maintenant!" ("It's between the two of us now!")
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