Une Double Famille
A Second Home
Also translated as A Double Family
Also translated as A Double Life
This is one of Balzac’s best stories, about a man who keeps two households.
A Second Home by Honoré de Balzac
About Catherine de’ Medici: The Two Dreams by Honoré de Balzac
Sur Catherine de Médicis: Les Deux Rêves
About Catherine de’ Medici: The Two Dreams
We’ve come to the end of Balzac’s Catherine de’ Medici with this intriguing short section.
Two hundred years have passed. It is 1786, during the last years of the reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. There is a soiree at the home of Bodard de Saint-James, treasurer of the French Navy. (more…)
The Executioner by Honoré de Balzac
El Verdugo
The Executioner
The story is set during the time of the French army’s occupation of Spain under Napoleon and begins with an idyllic moonlit scene in the castle gardens of the coastal town of Menda. Here the local French commandant, Victor Marchand, stands lost in thought, meditating on the beautiful Clara, the daughter of the local grandee. However, thoughts of romance are dissipated as he becomes uneasily aware that something is not quite right in the town and that, indeed, a fleet of ships is bearing down on the coast through the gloom! (more…)
The Elixir of Life by Honoré de Balzac
L’Élixir de longue Vie
The Elixir of Life
This is one of Balzac’s strange little stories dated Paris, October, 1830. In ‘To the Reader’ he tells us he heard the subject of the story, or the Study as he calls it, from a friend, and later thinks the story was from a collection of Hoffmann (E. T. A. Hoffman, a famous musician, dramatist and horror story writer of Balzac’s time). Balzac urges us to believe he did not deliberately plagiarize the story. He also discourses on the natural human trait of waiting to profit by someone’s death and perhaps hurrying that process along. (more…)
A Study of Woman by Honoré de Balzac
Étude de femme
A Study of Woman
This is another amusing little bagatelle of a story. On one hand, there is the ultra-responsible ultraist the Marquise de Listomere, who goes to confession and communion regularly as she waits for her dullard of a husband to move up in the ranks under Louis XVIII.
On the other, there is our old friend, Eugene de Rastignac, who toys with the idea of toying with the upright Marquise when he meets her at a party. (more…)
Domestic Peace by Honoré de Balzac
La Paix du Ménage
Domestic Peace
Also translated as The Peace of the Home
Balzac dedicated this short story to his sister’s daughter, Valentine Surville. Valentine was quite attractive, and Balzac was concerned she not let her attractiveness ruin her outlook on life. This story takes place in 1809 at the height of Napoleon’s glory – in Balzac’s words, at the apogee of its splendor. (more…)
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket by Honoré de Balzac
La Maison du Chat-qui-Pelote
Also translated as The House of the Tennis-playing Cat
Also translated as Fame and Sorrow
The story begins in a Paris street, where a young man is standing outside an old house, on which is painted a picture of a cat playing tennis. He is elegantly dressed, in contrast to the dilapidated appearance of the house. Ignoring the teasing of three apprentices, he waits, though rather impatiently, until a beautiful girl comes to the window. (more…)
The Ball at Sceaux by Honoré de Balzac
Le Bal de Sceaux
The Ball at Sceaux
Balzac begins by describing the career of the Comte de Fontaine, a renowned Vendéean who has sacrificed much of his wealth by resisting the French Revolution and refusing a commission from Napoleon. When Louis XVIII is restored, he at first is repulsed, but after Napoleon breaks loose from Elba, he decides to accompany Louis and wins the gratitude of the monarch. Louis provides for the Comte’s sons and also finds husbands for his two eldest daughters.
Alas, the youngest daughter Emilie is a bit of a problem. She is spoiled, impetuous, and headstrong. (more…)
Gobseck by Honoré de Balzac
Gobseck
Here we have perhaps Balzac’s best short work, named simply (after the title character) Gobseck. The story begins as a flashback, in which the family lawyer Derville explains to the daughter of the Vicomtesse de Grandlieu why she should not disdain the advances of the young Comte de Restaud. (more…)
