''Béatrix'' is an 1839 novel by

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

author

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...

(1799–1850) and 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 publ ...

La Comédie humaine (; English: ''The Human Comedy'') is Honoré de Balzac's 1829–48 multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration (1815–30) and the July Monarchy (1830–48). ''La Com� ...

''. It first appeared in the periodical ''

Le Siècle ("''The Age''") was a daily newspaper that was published from 1836 to 1932 in France. History In 1836, was founded as a paper that supported constitutional monarchism. However, when the July Monarchy came to an end in 1848, the paper soon ch ...

'' in August 1839, and appeared in volume form the same year. Balzac based the characters in this novel on real figures: Félicité des Touches, a celebrated musician and writer, is based on

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...

. Béatrix de Rochefide is based on

Marie d'Agoult Marie Catherine Sophie, Comtesse d'Agoult (born de Flavigny; 31 December 18055 March 1876), was a French romanticism, romantic author and historian, known also by her pen name, Daniel Stern. Life Marie was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, w ...

(who wrote under the pen name of ''Daniel Stern''); Gennaro Conti is based on

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

; Claude Vignon is based on

Gustave Planche Jean Baptiste Gustave Planche (16 February 1808 – 18 September 1857) was a French art and literary critic. Life and career Already in his time as a medical student, Planche frequented artistic circles. This did nothing to promote the success of ...

.Samuel R. Crocker, Edward Abbott, Nicholas Paine Gilman, Madeline Vaughan Abbott Bushnell ("Mrs. C. E. Bushnell, "), Bliss Carman, Herbert Copeland, ''The literary world'' (S.R. Crocker, 1897), 177.

Plot

A handsome young man named Calyste du Guénic is in love with the older woman, Félicité des Touches, a famous writer who uses the pen name of Camille Maupin. Félicité at first does not reciprocate Calyste's feelings, and Calyste falls in love with the blonde marchioness Béatrix de Rochefide.Carol de Dobay Rifelj, ''Coiffures: hair in nineteenth-century French literature and culture'' (University of Delaware Press, 2010), 143-4. Béatrix is a beautiful but selfish woman; one critic remarked in 1897 in regards to Béatrix that “for cold-blooded cruelty and vulgarity she is unexampled, and her efforts to keep her youth and her hold over men are drawn in Balzac’s heaviest and most pitiless manner.” Béatrix had already had an affair with Gennaro Conti, and Calyste has an additional rival in the form of Claude Vignon. Félicité des Touches (Camille Maupin) tries to help Calyste win Béatrix's heart, thus sacrificing her own. Calyste's efforts are ultimately a failure, and Béatrix is taken away by Gennaro Conti. Calyste is devastated by his failure, but promises his dying father to get married. Félicité des Touches enters a convent, but before she does, she uses her fortune to arrange a marriage for Calyste with a woman named Sabine de Grandlieu. When Calyste encounters Béatrix again in Paris, his wife Sabine struggles to win back her husband's affections after Calyste falls for Béatrix again. Subsequently, through the intercession of Count Maxime de Trailles, Béatrix falls for another young man, and Calyste comes to his senses. Balzac describes Béatrix as follows:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beatrix Books of La Comédie humaine Novels set in 19th-century France 1839 French novels Novels about writers Novels by Honoré de Balzac