![BalzacOldGoriot01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/BalzacOldGoriot01.jpg)
''Le Père Goriot'' (, ''"Old Goriot"'' or ''"Father Goriot"'') is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
(1799–1850), included in the ''Scènes de la vie privée'' section of his
novel sequence
A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their pub ...
''
La Comédie humaine
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
''. Set in Paris in 1819, it follows the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot, a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named
Vautrin
Vautrin is a character from the novels of French writer Honoré de Balzac in the ''La Comédie humaine'' series. His real name is Jacques Collin . He appears in the novels '' Le Père Goriot'' (Father Goriot, 1834/35) under the name Vautrin, a ...
and a naive law student named
Eugène de Rastignac
Eugène de Rastignac () is a fictional character from , a series of novels by Honoré de Balzac. He appears as a main character in (1835), and his social advancement in the post-revolutionary French world depicted by Balzac can be followed throu ...
.
Originally published in
serial form during the winter of 1834–35, ''Le Père Goriot'' is widely considered Balzac's most important novel.
[Hunt, p. 95; Brooks (1998), p. ix; Kanes, p. 9.] 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
Subtext is any content of a creative work, which is not announced explicitly (by characters or author), but is implicit, or becomes something understood by the audience. Subtext has been used historically to imply controversial subjects without ...
.
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.
Background
Historical background
The novel draws on several historical events that shook the French social order in short succession: the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, which led to the
First Republic; Napoleon's rise, the fall and the return of the House of Bourbon. ''Le Père Goriot'' begins in June 1819, four years after
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's defeat at
Waterloo and the
Bourbon Restoration. It depicts the mounting tension between the
aristocracy
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At t ...
, which had returned with
King Louis XVIII, and the
bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
produced by the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
. In this period, France saw a tightening of social structures, with a lower class burdened with overwhelming poverty. By one estimate, almost three-quarters of Parisians did not make the 500–600
franc
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (Style of the French sovereign, King of the Franks) used on early France, ...
s a year necessary for a minimal standard of living.
[Kanes, p. 38.] At the same time, this upheaval made possible a social mobility unthinkable during the
Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
{{disambig ...
. Individuals willing to adapt 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.
Literary background
When Balzac began writing ''Le Père Goriot'' in 1834, he had written several dozen books, including a stream of pseudonymously published
potboiler
A potboiler or pot-boiler is a novel, play, opera, film, or other creative work of dubious literary or artistic merit, whose main purpose was to pay for the creator's daily expenses—thus the imagery of "boil the pot", which means "to provide one ...
novels. In 1829 he published ''
Les Chouans
''Les Chouans'' (, ''The Chouans'') is an 1829 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) and included in the ''Scènes de la vie militaire'' section of his novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine''. Set in the French ...
'', the first novel to which he signed his own name; this was followed by ''
Louis Lambert
Louis Lambert is a politician, lawyer, and teacher from Prairieville, Louisiana. He is best known for his campaign for the 1979 Louisiana gubernatorial election, which he lost to David Treen in one of the closest elections in recent memory. By ...
'' (1832), ''
Le Colonel Chabert'' (1832), and ''
La Peau de chagrin
''La Peau de chagrin'' (, ''The Skin of Shagreen''), known in English as ''The Magic Skin and The Wild Ass's Skin'', is an 1831 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850). Set in early 19th-century Paris, it tells t ...
'' (1831). Around this time, Balzac began organizing his work into a
sequence of novels that he eventually called ''
La Comédie humaine
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
'', divided into sections representing various aspects of life in France during the early 19th century.
![Vidocq](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Vidocq.jpg)
One of these aspects which fascinated Balzac was the life of crime. In the winter of 1828–29, a French
grifter
A grifter may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Grifters (band), a 1990s American indie rock band
* ''The Grifters'' (novel), a 1963 American novel by Jim Thompson
* ''The Grifters'' (film), a 1990 American adaptation of the novel
* Grifter (ch ...
-turned-policeman named
Eugène François Vidocq
Eugène-François Vidocq (; 24 July 1775 – 11 May 1857) was a French criminal turned criminalist, whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe and Honoré de Balzac. The former criminal became the founder a ...
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
Vautrin is a character from the novels of French writer Honoré de Balzac in the ''La Comédie humaine'' series. His real name is Jacques Collin . He appears in the novels '' Le Père Goriot'' (Father Goriot, 1834/35) under the name Vautrin, a ...
he was planning for an upcoming novel.
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." He wrote the first draft of ''Le Père Goriot'' in forty autumn days; it was published as a
serial in the ''
Revue de Paris
''Revue de Paris'' was a French literary magazine founded in 1829 by Louis-Désiré Véron. After two years Veron left the magazine to head the Paris Opera
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded ...
'' between December and February. It was released as a stand-alone volume in March 1835 by
Edmond Werdet
Edmond Werdet (6 November 1793 - 1870) was a French author and book publisher.
Life
He was married in June 1845 and had one son whose name was Oscar. He went bankrupt in 1837 and again in 1845, dying in poverty.
Author
The following books ...
, who also published the second edition in May. A revised third edition was published in 1839 by Charpentier. 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 passages.
In the first book
edition
Edition may refer to:
* Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies
* Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run
* Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text
* Edition Recor ...
, the novel was divided into seven
chapters:
*In the first volume:
**''Une Pension bourgeoise'' (''A
Bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
Boarding House'');
**''Les Deux Visites'' (''The Two Visits'');
**''L'Entrée dans le Monde'' (''The Entrance into the World'');
*In the second volume:
**''L'Entrée dans le Monde (Suite)''
'The Entrance into the World (Continuation)''
**''
Trompe-la-Mort'' (''Cheat-the-Death'', ''Death-Dodger'', or ''Dare-Devil'');
**''Les Deux Filles'' (''The Two Daughters'');
**''La Mort du Père'' (''The Father's Death'').
The character
Eugène de Rastignac
Eugène de Rastignac () is a fictional character from , a series of novels by Honoré de Balzac. He appears as a main character in (1835), and his social advancement in the post-revolutionary French world depicted by Balzac can be followed throu ...
had appeared as an old man in Balzac's earlier philosophical fantasy novel ''
La Peau de chagrin
''La Peau de chagrin'' (, ''The Skin of Shagreen''), known in English as ''The Magic Skin and The Wild Ass's Skin'', is an 1831 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850). Set in early 19th-century Paris, it tells t ...
''. 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.
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"). 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".
[Balzac (1842).] 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.
Plot summary
![Father Goriot by H](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Father_Goriot_by_H._Daumier_%281842%29.JPG)
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
Vermicelli (; , , also , ) is a traditional type of pasta round in section similar to spaghetti. In English-speaking regions it is usually thinner than spaghetti, while in Italy it is typically thicker.
The term ''vermicelli'' is also used to ...
-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
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules.
During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...
.
Rastignac refuses to go along with the plot, balking at the idea of having someone killed to acquire his 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'' (''Daredevil'', literally ''Cheat-the-Death'' or ''Death-Dodger''). 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.
Delphine does not visit Goriot as he lies on his deathbed, and Anastasie arrives too late, only once he has lost consciousness. Before dying, Goriot 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, and declares to the city: "À nous deux, maintenant !" ("It's between you and me now!")
Style
Balzac's style in ''Le Père Goriot'' is influenced by the American novelist
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...
and Scottish writer
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
. In Cooper's representations of Native Americans, Balzac saw a human barbarism that survived through attempts at civilization. In a preface to the second edition in 1835, Balzac wrote that the title character Goriot – who made his fortune selling
vermicelli
Vermicelli (; , , also , ) is a traditional type of pasta round in section similar to spaghetti. In English-speaking regions it is usually thinner than spaghetti, while in Italy it is typically thicker.
The term ''vermicelli'' is also used to ...
during a time of widespread hunger – was an "
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
of the flour trade" and a "
Huron
Huron may refer to:
People
* Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America
* Wyandot language, spoken by them
* Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec
* Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...
of the grain market".
[Kanes, pp. 4–5.] Vautrin refers to Paris as "a forest of the New World where twenty varieties of savage tribes clash" – another sign of Cooper's influence.
Scott was also a profound influence on Balzac, particularly in his use of real historical events as the backdrop for his novels. Although history is not central to ''Le Père Goriot'', the post-Napoleonic era serves as an important setting, and Balzac's use of meticulous detail reflects the influence of Scott.
In his 1842 introduction to ''La Comédie humaine'', Balzac praises Scott as a "modern troubadour" who "vivified
iteraturewith the spirit of the past".
At the same time, Balzac accused the Scottish writer of romanticizing history, and tried to distinguish his own work with a more balanced view of human nature.
![Balzac1901](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Balzac1901.jpg)
Although the novel is often referred to as "a mystery", it is not an example of
whodunit
A ''whodunit'' or ''whodunnit'' (a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with the cl ...
or
detective fiction
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...
. Instead, the central puzzles are the origins of suffering and the motivations of unusual behavior. Characters appear in fragments, with brief scenes providing small clues about their identity. Vautrin, for example, slips in and out of the story – offering advice to Rastignac, ridiculing Goriot, bribing the housekeeper Christophe to let him in after hours – before he is revealed as a master criminal. This pattern of people moving in and out of view mirrors Balzac's use of characters throughout ''La Comédie humaine''.
''Le Père Goriot'' is also recognized as a ''
bildungsroman
In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age), in which character change is impo ...
'', wherein a naive young person matures while learning the ways of the world. Rastignac is tutored by Vautrin, Madame de Beauséant, Goriot, and others about the truth of Parisian society and the coldly dispassionate and brutally realistic strategies required for social success. As an
everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
, he is initially repulsed by the gruesome realities beneath society's gilded surfaces; eventually, however, he embraces them. Setting aside his original goal of mastering the law, he pursues money and women as instruments for social climbing. In some ways this mirrors Balzac's own social education, reflecting the distaste he acquired for the law after studying it for three years.
Recurring characters
''Le Père Goriot'', especially in its revised form, marks an important early instance of Balzac's trademark use of recurring characters: persons from earlier novels appear in later works, usually during significantly different times of life. Pleased with the effect he achieved with the return of Rastignac, Balzac included 23 characters in the first edition of ''Le Père Goriot'' that would recur in later works; during his revisions for later editions the number increased to 48. Although Balzac had used this technique before, the characters had always reappeared in minor roles, as nearly identical versions of the same people. Rastignac's appearance shows, for the first time in Balzac's fiction, a novel-length
backstory
A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of p ...
that illuminates and develops a returning character.
Balzac experimented with this method throughout the thirty years he worked on ''La Comédie humaine''. It enabled a depth of
characterization
Characterization or characterisation is the representation of persons (or other beings or creatures) in narrative and dramatic works. The term character development is sometimes used as a synonym. This representation may include direct methods ...
that went beyond simple narration or dialogue. "When the characters reappear", notes the critic
Samuel Rogers
Samuel Rogers (30 July 1763 – 18 December 1855) was an English poet, during his lifetime one of the most celebrated, although his fame has long since been eclipsed by his Romantic colleagues and friends Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron. His ...
, "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." Although the complexity of these characters' lives inevitably led Balzac to make errors of chronology and consistency, the mistakes are considered minor in the overall scope of the project. Readers are more often troubled by the sheer number of people in Balzac's world, and feel deprived of important context for the characters. Detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
said that he never tried to read Balzac, because he "did not know where to begin".
This pattern of character reuse had repercussions for the plot of ''Le Père Goriot''. Baron de Nucingen's reappearance in ''
La Maison Nucingen'' (1837) reveals that his wife's love affair with Rastignac was planned and coordinated by the baron himself. This new detail sheds considerable light on the actions of all three characters within the pages of ''Le Père Goriot'', complementing the evolution of their stories in the later novel.
Realism
Balzac uses meticulous, abundant detail to describe the Maison Vauquer, its inhabitants, and the world around them; this technique gave rise to his title as the father of the
realist novel. The details focus mostly on the penury of the residents of the Maison Vauquer. Much less intricate are the descriptions of wealthier homes; Madame de Beauséant's rooms are given scant attention, and the Nucingen family lives in a house sketched in the briefest detail.
At the start of the novel, Balzac declares (in English): "All is true". Although the characters and situations are fictions, the details employed – and their reflection of the realities of life in Paris at the time – faithfully render the world of the Maison Vauquer. The rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève (where the house is located) presents "a grim look about the houses, a suggestion of a jail about those high garden walls". The interiors of the house are painstakingly described, from the shabby sitting room ("Nothing can be more depressing") to the coverings on the walls depicting a feast ("papers that a little suburban tavern would have disdained") – an ironic decoration in a house known for its wretched food. Balzac owed the former detail to the expertise of his friend Hyacinthe de Latouche, who was trained in the practice of hanging wallpaper. The house is even defined by its repulsive smell, unique to the poor boardinghouse.
Themes
Social stratification
One of the main themes in ''Le Père Goriot'' is the quest to understand and ascend
society's strata. The
Charter of 1814
The French Charter of 1814 was a constitutional text granted by King Louis XVIII of France shortly after the Bourbon Restoration, in form of royal charter. The Congress of Vienna demanded that Louis bring in a constitution of some form before he ...
granted by King
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
had established a "legal country" which allowed only a small group of the nation's most wealthy men to vote. Thus, Rastignac's drive to achieve social status is evidence not only of his personal ambition but also of his desire to participate in the
body politic
The body politic is a polity—such as a city, realm, or state—considered metaphorically as a physical body. Historically, the sovereign is typically portrayed as the body's head, and the analogy may also be extended to other anatomical par ...
. As with Scott's characters, Rastignac epitomizes, in his words and actions, the ''
Zeitgeist
In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history.
Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...
'' in which he lives.
Through his characters and narration, Balzac lays bare the
social Darwinism
Social Darwinism refers to various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in We ...
of this society. In one particularly blunt speech, Madame de Beauséant tells Rastignac:
This attitude is further explored by Vautrin, who tells Rastignac: "The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been discovered, because it was properly executed." This sentence has been frequently – and somewhat inaccurately – paraphrased as: "Behind every great fortune is a great crime."
Influence of Paris
The novel's representations of social stratification are specific to Paris, perhaps the most densely populated city in Europe at the time. Traveling only a few blocks – as Rastignac does continually – takes the reader into vastly different worlds, distinguished by their architecture and reflecting the class of their inhabitants. Paris in the
post-Napoleonic era was split into distinct neighborhoods. Three of these are featured prominently in ''Le Père Goriot'': the aristocratic area of the
Faubourg Saint-Germain
''Faubourg Saint-Germain'' () is a historic district of Paris, France. The ''Faubourg'' has long been known as the favourite home of the French nobility, French high nobility and hosts many aristocratic ''hôtels particuliers''. It is currently pa ...
, the newly upscale quarter of the
rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin
This "quartier" of Paris got its name from the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It runs north-northwest from the Boulevard des Italiens to the Église de la Sainte-Trinité.
In the 17th century the ''chemin des Po ...
, and the run-down area on the eastern slope of the
Montagne Sainte-Geneviève
The Montagne Sainte-Geneviève is a hill overlooking the left bank of the Seine in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. It was known to the ancient Romans as .Hilaire Belloc, ''Paris (Methuen & Company, 1900)'' Retrieved June 14, 2016 Atop the Mont ...
.
These ''quartiers'' of the city serve as microcosms which Rastignac seeks to master; Vautrin, meanwhile, operates in stealth, moving among them undetected. Rastignac, as the naive young man from the country, seeks in these worlds a new home. Paris offers him a chance to abandon his far-away family and remake himself in the city's ruthless image. His urban exodus is like that of many people who moved into the French capital, doubling its population between 1800 and 1830. The texture of the novel is thus inextricably linked to the city in which it is set; "Paris", explains critic
Peter Brooks, "is the looming presence that gives the novel its particular tone".
It is said that in ''Le Père Goriot,'' Paris becomes a character in the same way the city did in ''
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story o ...
'' and London becomes in
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
' works.
This is evident in Balzac's portrayal of the Parisian society as mercilessly stratified, corrupt, amoral, and money-obsessed.
In addition, the protagonists living in its quarters were presented in perfect harmony with their environment.
Corruption
Rastignac, Vautrin, and Goriot represent individuals corrupted by their desires. In his thirst for advancement, Rastignac has been compared to
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...
, with Vautrin as
Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles (, ), also known as Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore. He originally appeared in literature as the demon in the Faust legend, and he has since appeared in other works as a stock character (see: Mephistopheles in t ...
. Critic Pierre Barbéris calls Vautrin's lecture to Rastignac "one of the great moments of the ''Comédie humaine'', and no doubt of all world literature". France's social upheaval provides Vautrin with a playground for an ideology based solely on personal advancement; he encourages Rastignac to follow suit.
Still, it is the larger social structure that finally overwhelms Rastignac's soul – Vautrin merely explains the methods and causes. Although he rejects Vautrin's offer of murder, Rastignac succumbs to the principles of brutality upon which high society is built. By the end of the novel, he tells Bianchon: "I'm in Hell, and I have no choice but to stay there."
While Rastignac desires wealth and social status, Goriot longs only for the love of his daughters: a longing that borders on
idolatry
Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the A ...
. Because he represents bourgeois wealth acquired through trade – and not aristocratic
primitive accumulation
In Marxian economics and preceding theories,Perelman, p. 25 (ch. 2) the problem of primitive accumulation (also called previous accumulation, original accumulation) of capital concerns the origin of capital, and therefore of how class distinct ...
– his daughters are happy to take his money, but will see him only in private. Even as he is dying in extreme poverty, at the end of the book, he sells his few remaining possessions to provide for his daughters so that they might look splendid at a ball.
Family relations
The relations between family members follow two patterns: the bonds of marriage serve mostly as Machiavellian means to financial ends, while the obligations of the older generation to the young take the form of sacrifice and deprivation. Delphine is trapped in a loveless marriage to Baron de Nucingen, a money-savvy banker. He is aware of her extramarital affairs, and uses them as a means to extort money from her. Anastasie, meanwhile, is married to the comte de Restaud, who cares less about the illegitimate children she has than the jewels she sells to provide for her lover – who is conning her in a scheme that Rastignac has heard was popular in Paris. This depiction of marriage as a tool of power reflects the harsh reality of the unstable social structures of the time.
![Goneril and Regan from King Lear](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Goneril_and_Regan_from_King_Lear.jpg)
Parents, meanwhile, give endlessly to their children; Goriot sacrifices everything for his daughters. Balzac refers to him in the novel as the "Christ of paternity" for his constant suffering on behalf of his children. That they abandon him, lost in their pursuit of social status, only adds to his misery. The end of the book contrasts Goriot's deathbed moments with a festive ball hosted by Madame de Beauséant – attended by his daughters, as well as Rastignac – suggesting a fundamental schism between society and the family.
The betrayal of Goriot's daughters is often compared to that of the characters in Shakespeare's ''
King Lear
''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...
''; Balzac was even accused of plagiarism when the novel was first published.
Discussing these similarities, critic
George Saintsbury
George Edward Bateman Saintsbury, FBA (23 October 1845 – 28 January 1933), was an English critic, literary historian, editor, teacher, and wine connoisseur. He is regarded as a highly influential critic of the late 19th and early 20th centu ...
claims that Goriot's daughters are "as surely murderesses of their father as
ear's daughtersGoneril and Regan". As Herbert J. Hunt points out in ''Balzac's Comédie humaine'', however, Goriot's tale is in some ways more tragic, since "he has a Regan and a Goneril, but no Cordelia".
The narrative of Goriot's painful relations with his children has also been interpreted as a tragicomic parable of Louis XVI's decline. At a crucial moment of filial sentiment in Balzac's novel, Vautrin breaks in singing "O Richard, O mon roi"—the royalist anthem that precipitated the October Days of 1789 and the eventual downfall of Louis XVI—a connection that would have been powerful to Balzac's readers in the 1830s. An ill-founded faith in paternal legitimacy follows both Goriot and Louis XVI into the grave.
Rastignac's family, off-stage, also sacrifices extensively for him. Convinced that he cannot achieve a decent status in Paris without a considerable display of wealth, he writes to his family and asks them to send him money: "Sell some of your old jewelry, my kind mother; I will give you other jewels very soon." They do send him the money he requests, and – although it is not described directly in the novel – endure significant hardship for themselves as a result. His family, absent while he is in Paris, becomes even more distant despite this sacrifice. Although Goriot and Vautrin offer themselves as father figures to him, by the end of the novel they are gone and he is alone.
Reception and legacy
''Le Père Goriot'' is widely considered Balzac's essential novel.
Its influence on
French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...
has been considerable, as shown by novelist
Félicien Marceau
Félicien Marceau (16 September 1913 – 7 March 2012) was a French novelist, playwright and essayist originally from Belgium. His real name was Louis Carette. He was close to the Hussards right-wing literary movement, which in turn was close t ...
's remark: "We are all children of ''Le Père Goriot''." Brooks refers to its "perfection of form, its economy of means and ends".
[Brooks (1998), p. ix.] Martin Kanes, meanwhile, in his book ''Le Pére Goriot: Anatomy of a Troubled World'', calls it "the keystone of the ''Comédie humaine''". It is the central text of Anthony Pugh's voluminous study ''Balzac's Recurring Characters'', and entire chapters have been written about the detail of the Maison Vauquer. Because it has become such an important novel for the study of French literature, ''Le Père Goriot'' has been translated many times into many languages. Thus, says Balzac biographer
Graham Robb
Graham Macdonald Robb FRSL (born 2 June 1958, Manchester) is a British author and critic specialising in French literature.
Biography
Born at Manchester, Robb attended the Royal Grammar School, Worcester, before going up to Exeter College, ...
, "''Goriot'' is one of the novels of ''La Comédie humaine'' that can safely be read in English for what it is."
Initial reviews of the book were mixed. Some reviewers accused Balzac of
plagiarism
Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...
or of overwhelming the reader with detail and painting a simplistic picture of Parisian high society.
[Kanes, p. 13.] Others attacked the questionable morals of the characters, implying that Balzac was guilty of legitimizing their opinions. He was condemned for not including more individuals of honorable intent in the book. Balzac responded with disdain; in the second preface of 1835, he wrote with regard to Goriot: "Poor man! His daughters refused to recognize him because he had lost his fortune; now the critics have rejected him with the excuse that he was immoral."
Many critics of the time, though, were positive: a review in ''Le Journal des femmes'' proclaimed that Balzac's eye "penetrates everywhere, like a cunning serpent, to probe women's most intimate secrets".
[Quoted in Kanes, p. 15.] Another review, in ''La Revue du théâtre'', praised his "admirable technique of details".
The many reviews, positive and negative, were evidence of the book's popularity and success. One publisher's critique dismissed Balzac as a " writer", although it predicted for him "a brief career, but a glorious and enviable one".
Balzac himself was extremely proud of the work, declaring even before the final installment was published: "''Le Père Goriot'' is a raging success; my fiercest enemies have had to bend the knee. I have triumphed over everything, over friends as well as the envious." As was his custom, he revised the novel between editions; compared to other novels, however, ''Le Père Goriot'' remained largely unchanged from its initial version.
According to the editor of the Norton Critical Edition, Peter Brooks, the book is now seen as "the most endurably popular of Balzac's myriad works" and a "classic of the
century European novel">8thcentury European novel", yet one ironically now considered such, in light of the reviews of it and reputation of Balzac from his own time.
In the years following its release, the novel was often adapted for the stage. Two theatrical productions in 1835 – several months after the book's publication – sustained its popularity and increased the public's regard for Balzac. In the 20th century, a number of film versions were produced, including adaptations directed by
Travers Vale
Travers Vale (31 January 1865 – 10 January 1927) was an English-born silent film film director, director. He directed more than 70 films between 1910 and 1926. He was born in Liverpool and died in Hollywood, California from cancer. Trave ...
(1915),
Jacques de Baroncelli
Jacques de Baroncelli (25 June 1881 – 12 January 1951) was a French film director best known for his silent films from 1915 to the late 1930s. He came from a Florence, Florentine family who had settled in Provence in the 15th century, occupying ...
(1922), and
Paddy Russell
Patricia "Paddy" Russell (4 July 1928 – 2 November 2017) was a British television director. She was among the earliest female directors at the BBC.
Early life and career
Born in Highgate, to Bertie Russell, a P&O clerk, and his wife, Alici ...
(1968). The name of Rastignac, meanwhile, has become an iconic
sobriquet
A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...
in the French language; a "
Rastignac" is synonymous with a person willing to climb the social ladder at any cost.
Another well known line of this book by Balzac is when
Vautrin
Vautrin is a character from the novels of French writer Honoré de Balzac in the ''La Comédie humaine'' series. His real name is Jacques Collin . He appears in the novels '' Le Père Goriot'' (Father Goriot, 1834/35) under the name Vautrin, a ...
tells Eugene, "In that case I will make you an offer that no one would decline."
[http://www.literaturepage.com/read/balzac-father-goriot-104.html (Father Goriot, page 104 in Chapter 1); "Dans ces conjonctures, je vais vous faire une proposition que personne ne refuserait. Honoré de Balzac, Œuvres complètes de H. de Balzac (1834), Calmann-Lévy, 1910 (Le Père Goriot, II. L'entrée dans le monde, pp. 110–196); viewed 9-2-2014.] This has been reworked by
Mario Puzo
Mario Francis Puzo (; ; October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author, screenwriter, and journalist. He is known for his crime novels about the Italian-American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, most notably ''The Godfather'' (1969), which ...
in the novel ''
The Godfather
''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...
'' (1969) and
its film adaptation (1972); "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse". It was ranked as the second most significant cinematic quote in
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes (2005) by the
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
.
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
Adamson, Donald: ''Old Goriot'' presented in
Everyman Books, 1991.
* Auerbach, Erich. ''Père Goriot''. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1998. . pp. 279–289.
*
Balzac, Honoré de. "Author's Introduction". ''La Comédie humaine''.
The Human Comedy: Introductions and Appendix'. 1842. Online at
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
. Retrieved on 19 January 2008.
* Balzac, Honoré de. ''Father Goriot''. ''The Works of Honoré de Balzac.'' Vol. XIII. Philadelphia: Avil Publishing Company, 1901.
* Balzac, Honoré de. ''Père Goriot''. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1998. .
* Baran, J. H. "Predators and parasites in Le Père Goriot". ''Symposium''. 47.1 (1993): 3–15. .
* Barbéris, Pierre. "The Discovery of Solitude". ''Père Goriot''. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1998. . pp. 304–314.
*
Bellos, David. ''Honoré de Balzac: Old Goriot (Landmarks of World Literature)''. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, 1987. .
*
Brooks, Peter. "Editor's Introduction". ''Père Goriot''. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1998. . pp. vii–xiii.
* Brooks, Peter. ''Realist Vision''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005. .
* Crawford, Marion Ayton. "Translator's Introduction". ''Old Goriot''. Harmondsworth:
Penguin Classics
Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the Western ...
, 1951. .
* Dedinsky, Brucia L. "Development of the Scheme of the Comédie humaine: Distribution of the Stories". ''The Evolution of Balzac's Comédie humaine''. Ed. E. Preston Dargan and Bernard Weinberg. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
, 1942. .
* Douthwaite, Julia V. "The Once and Only Pitiful King," chapter 3 o
The Frankenstein of 1790 and other Lost Chapters from Revolutionary France Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.
* Ginsberg, Michal Peled, ed. ''Approaches to Teaching Balzac's Old Goriot''. New York:
The Modern Language Association of America, 2000. .
* Hunt, Herbert J. ''Balzac's Comédie Humaine''. London:
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
Athlone Press, 1959. .
* Kanes, Martin. ''Père Goriot: Anatomy of a Troubled World''. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993. .
* McCarthy, Mary Susan. ''Balzac and His Reader: A Study in the Creation of Meaning in La Comédie humaine''. Columbia:
University of Missouri Press
The University of Missouri Press is a university press operated by the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri and London, England; it was founded in 1958 primarily through the efforts of English professor William Peden. Many publications a ...
, 1982. .
* Mozet, Nicole. "Description and Deciphering: The Maison Vauquer". ''Père Goriot''. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1998. . pp. 338–353.
* Oliver, E. J. ''Balzac the European''. London: Sheed and Ward, 1959.
* Petrey, Sandy. "The Father Loses a Name: Constative Identity in ''Le Père Goriot''". ''Père Goriot''. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1998. . pp. 328–338.
* Pugh, Anthony R. ''Balzac's Recurring Characters''. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press
The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911.
The press originally printed only examination books and the university calen ...
, 1974. .
*
Robb, Graham. ''Balzac: A Biography''. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1994. .
* Rogers, Samuel (1953). ''Balzac & The Novel''. New York: Octagon Books. .
*
* Stowe, William W. ''Balzac, James, and the Realistic Novel''. Princeton:
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
, 1983. .
External links
*
*
* (plain text)
''Father Goriot''at
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
(scanned books original editions color illustrated)
*
''Le Père Goriot'', audio version
''Le Père Goriot''(original version) with approx. 1000 English annotations at Tailored Texts
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pere Goriot, Le
1835 French novels
Books of La Comédie humaine
Novels set in Paris
Fiction set in 1819
Novels first published in serial form
Works originally published in Revue de Paris
Novels by Honoré de Balzac
French novels adapted into films
French novels adapted into plays
Novels involved in plagiarism controversies