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3.0étoiles sur 5
A touching tragedy, Nov. 20 2003
After some difficult literary debuts, Balzac (1799-1850) finally obtains his first success in 1829. At the age of 20 years he already published more than a hundred books all describing very human characters, portrayed in a prose with an unseen force. Because the same characters appeared often in more than one book, Balzac created a universe of his own, which he himself called "La Comédie Humaine".In Eugénie Grandet, a novel dating from 1833, one gets acquainted with father Grandet, an extremely wealthy and greedy aristocrat living together with his wife and daughter in Saumur, France. His daughter Eugénie has grown to maturity and her father has no other goal than to see her getting married. But who is suitable enough for his precious daughter? Surely not her adopted nephew Charles Grandet, not? Eugénie has to fight against the tyrannical power of her father, but gets help from their faithful servent, Nanon. Through this tragedy Balzac reveals one of the most destructive vices of man: greed. Although the author does not recoil from an ever-growing list of moralizing statements, the story stays authentic enough to pull the reader into the story. The comparison with a masterpiece as Wuthering Heights is easily made and not only because it dates from the same period. But to make from Eugénie Grandet a true classic it certainly misses depth.
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4.0étoiles sur 5
Short concise character study with a twist, Aoû 29 2003
Balzac's style and economy of words indeed does seem "modern" as so many literary critics have pointed out, despite the fact that many of his short pieces were small studies in 19th Century French life. This short tale is of a family totally controlled and dominated by a father's greed. The father actually weighs out eggs, butter, flour, and sugar for the family servant to use every day. His wife, daughter, and family servant all have adjusted their views of reality to accomodate his greed. The equilibrium is upset when Cousin Charles Grandet comes to visit. The women in the household cater to the needs of this handsome young man but the father is unsympathetic upon hearing that his brother has become bankrupt and a suicide and the young man is penniless. By the time the young man leaves, the daughter of the house is totally in love with him. She writes to Charles but after a few letters he fails to respond further to her letters. As the miserly father withers and dies, so too does the expectations and soul of his daughter, Eugenie. Balzac did a really fine job of showing how self defeating the miser's greed was to his family and his relationship with his wife and child. After the death of the father, Eugenie inherits a fortune. Cousin Charles meanwhile has become rich through the slave trade between African and the Caribbean. His soul has shrunk and he is about to marry a 19 year old socialite for her family connections. He writes a letter telling Eugenie that he has never stopped loving her but that he must look out for his interests with this advantageous marriage. He receives a letter back that is polite yet biting, gracious yet revengeful, compassionate and understanding yet reminding of the lost opportunity. Charles then finds out that his cousin, whom he loves, is extremely wealthy and he has made a decision that he thought was advantageous which turned out to be less than optimal. Balzac has the faithful maid as the only winner in the story. Eugenie rewards her for her years of hard work and service. The story resonates with Henry James' Washington Square. They both involve a triangle between a rich father, an innocent daughter, and a suitor. The difference is that James' father is cruel to his daughter thinking that since she is plain and shy that men will court her only for money. Eugenie's father's obsession was wealth, the effects on his family were a consequence of his greed, not due to his conscious demeaning sarcasm. Both heroines seek revenge on the suitor, James' with a trick and Balzac's with a superbly written letter that left the revenge to his own immagination and judgement. James' suitor was indeed a crook, whereas Charles Grandet was lead into opportunism and missed chances. Finally, the Aunt in Washington Square was a silly gossip who was not supportive of the daughter/niece whereas the mother and servant in Eugenie Grandet were supportive of Eugenie. I would strongly recommend reading Eugenie Grandet, a concise,short, book. Balzac was just to his characters and this realistic justice made for a fine short novel.
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5.0étoiles sur 5
One of the Balzac's best novels, Oct. 3 2002
I'm a Balzac's french fan.
All the "Human Comedy" is to read. Especially "Eugenie Grandet" is the third in my own classement(After "Le Pere Goriot" and "Le Cousin Pons"). So, I want to convince you : Read, at least these 3 Balzac's novels. After, you will be taken by Balzac and you will read the rest of his novels.
If I have to summarize Balzac in one word it's : "passion".
All the Balzac's novels speak about some aspects of passion : passion in love, passion in paternity or maternity, passion of money, passion of power, passion of science, ...
"Eugenie Grandet" describes particularly passion of money (Eugenie's father), and passion for love (Eugenie).
What is marvelous with Balzac it is his ability to make some of his characters sympathetic even if they are bad (for example Eugenie's father is really a bad man but his passion for money has some emotionnal aspects and the reader can't hate him definitively).
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