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Le Curé de Tours : suivi de Pierrette
Le Curé de Tours
Le Curé de Tours met en présence les deux catégories d'êtres dans lesquels les poisons du célibat se développent de la manière la plus redoutable : la vieille fille et le prêtre. Remarquable document politique sur la puissance de l'Église sous la Restauration, Le Curé de Tours illustre en même temps le postulat balzacien selon lequel les existences les plus obscures recèlent autant de violence que les tragédies de l'histoire : le terrible abbé Troubert qui conduit à la mort l'innocent abbé Birotteau, c'est «Sixte Quint réduit aux proportions d'un évêché».
Pierrette
L’action se situe durant le règne de Charles X (1824-1830) et se déroule entièrement dans la ville, dite médiévale, de Provins, dans le département de Seine-et-Marne. Pierrette Lorrain est une jeune orpheline, confiée par ses grands-parents ruinés à ses cousins Rogron, deux célibataires imbéciles.
Par ce roman, Balzac veut montrer les ravages et sottises du célibat. Il montre également du doigt « les vieilles filles et les vieux garçons, ces bourdons de la ruche », nuls et improductifs.
Le Curé de Tours met en présence les deux catégories d'êtres dans lesquels les poisons du célibat se développent de la manière la plus redoutable : la vieille fille et le prêtre. Remarquable document politique sur la puissance de l'Église sous la Restauration, Le Curé de Tours illustre en même temps le postulat balzacien selon lequel les existences les plus obscures recèlent autant de violence que les tragédies de l'histoire : le terrible abbé Troubert qui conduit à la mort l'innocent abbé Birotteau, c'est «Sixte Quint réduit aux proportions d'un évêché».
Pierrette
L’action se situe durant le règne de Charles X (1824-1830) et se déroule entièrement dans la ville, dite médiévale, de Provins, dans le département de Seine-et-Marne. Pierrette Lorrain est une jeune orpheline, confiée par ses grands-parents ruinés à ses cousins Rogron, deux célibataires imbéciles.
Par ce roman, Balzac veut montrer les ravages et sottises du célibat. Il montre également du doigt « les vieilles filles et les vieux garçons, ces bourdons de la ruche », nuls et improductifs.
371 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1840
About the author
Honoré de Balzac
10.2k books4,570 followersFrench writer Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac), a founder of the realist school of fiction, portrayed the panorama of society in a body of works, known collectively as
La comédie humaine
.
Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.
Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.
An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.
Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.
Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.
Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.
An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.
Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 31, 2017
These two short novels are also re-reads; I read them decades ago for my French survey course in college. Together with the next novel I am reading by Balzac, La Rabouilleuse, they make up a subgroup of the Scènes de la Vie de province, Les Célibataires, which deals unsympathetically with unmarried people. Both appeared under various earlier titles before being published under their present titles in the complete collection of La Comédie humaine. They are among the best known of his shorter books, perhaps because they are better constructed than many of his novels are. Although I'm counting them separately I read them bound together in the Classiques Garnier edition with notes and variants, etc.
Pierette [1839] is dedicated to Anna de Hanska, the fourteen-year-old daughter of Balzac's mistress Mme. de Hanska (whom he later married), and he describes it essentially as (to use the modern phrase) his first Young Adult novel. I doubt very much that anyone today would consider it as written (or even suitable) for young readers. The main plot is very simple; Pierrette Lorraine, a poor Breton girl, eleven years old and an orphan, is taken in by her rich cousins, the Rogons. Retired merchants from Paris who have returned to their native city of Provins, M. Rogon (Jérome-Denis, but the name is only mentioned once) is an incurably stupid old bachelor, and his sister, Sylvie, is an ugly old maid with a bitter, spiteful personality. Pierette is mistreated and used as a domestic servant, and becomes very ill. Her boyfriend, Joseph Brigaut, an apprentice joiner (the first actual working-class character I've met with in Balzac) follows her from Brittany and attempts to rescue her (the novel begins with him singing under her window, and is told mainly as one long flashback until it reaches this point again near the end.) Two chapters give the family history of the Lorraines and the Rogons -- as often in Balzac, there has been chicanery with regard to inheritances -- and then most of the book deals with the mounting mental and physical abuse of Pierrette. This is combined with a satire of the liberal opposition in Provins, in the persons of the lawyer Vinet and the retired Colonel Gouraud, who manipulate the vanity of the Rogons to establish a liberal "power base" in the city. Balzac attacks them from the wrong side as usual, but the portrait is probably not much exaggerated -- the liberals of the time were not even republicans, but constitutional monarchists, the people who came to power in 1830 (the novel is set in 1827) under the "bourgeois-king" Louis Philippe and whose corruption led to the Revolution of 1848. The book ends with a lawsuit and a cynical description of the successful later careers of all the villains of the novel.
Le Curé de Tours [1832] is one of Balzac's most cynical works; it makes a good complement to Pierrette, since that novel shows the corruption of the more or less anticlerical liberals, and this novel shows the corruption of the church and aristocratic party. The basic situation is trivial; a priest (l'abbé Troubert) intrigues with his landlady (Mlle. Gamard) to evict another priest (l'abbé Birotteau) from his appartment and steal his furniture. As in Pierrette, there is a lawsuit and the book ends with the villains triumphant.
Pierette [1839] is dedicated to Anna de Hanska, the fourteen-year-old daughter of Balzac's mistress Mme. de Hanska (whom he later married), and he describes it essentially as (to use the modern phrase) his first Young Adult novel. I doubt very much that anyone today would consider it as written (or even suitable) for young readers. The main plot is very simple; Pierrette Lorraine, a poor Breton girl, eleven years old and an orphan, is taken in by her rich cousins, the Rogons. Retired merchants from Paris who have returned to their native city of Provins, M. Rogon (Jérome-Denis, but the name is only mentioned once) is an incurably stupid old bachelor, and his sister, Sylvie, is an ugly old maid with a bitter, spiteful personality. Pierette is mistreated and used as a domestic servant, and becomes very ill. Her boyfriend, Joseph Brigaut, an apprentice joiner (the first actual working-class character I've met with in Balzac) follows her from Brittany and attempts to rescue her (the novel begins with him singing under her window, and is told mainly as one long flashback until it reaches this point again near the end.) Two chapters give the family history of the Lorraines and the Rogons -- as often in Balzac, there has been chicanery with regard to inheritances -- and then most of the book deals with the mounting mental and physical abuse of Pierrette. This is combined with a satire of the liberal opposition in Provins, in the persons of the lawyer Vinet and the retired Colonel Gouraud, who manipulate the vanity of the Rogons to establish a liberal "power base" in the city. Balzac attacks them from the wrong side as usual, but the portrait is probably not much exaggerated -- the liberals of the time were not even republicans, but constitutional monarchists, the people who came to power in 1830 (the novel is set in 1827) under the "bourgeois-king" Louis Philippe and whose corruption led to the Revolution of 1848. The book ends with a lawsuit and a cynical description of the successful later careers of all the villains of the novel.
Le Curé de Tours [1832] is one of Balzac's most cynical works; it makes a good complement to Pierrette, since that novel shows the corruption of the more or less anticlerical liberals, and this novel shows the corruption of the church and aristocratic party. The basic situation is trivial; a priest (l'abbé Troubert) intrigues with his landlady (Mlle. Gamard) to evict another priest (l'abbé Birotteau) from his appartment and steal his furniture. As in Pierrette, there is a lawsuit and the book ends with the villains triumphant.
December 9, 2023
UN ENFER
j'ai rien compris
j'ai rien compris
May 7, 2025
décidément faut arrêter de nous forcer à lire du balzac ON S'ENNUIE PURÉE
July 31, 2020
Une conception très négative du célibat d’autant plus lorsqu’il est féminin. Une histoire de vengeance très bien menée
March 26, 2026
peut-être ça me dit pas pq je connais pas assez bien le catholicisme ou peut-être le sujet d’être célibataires me dit pas trop. en vrai j’ai même pas compris la moite des mots utilisés lol et j’étais trop lazy pour les search up #deso
okay je revisite:
cet histoire de balzac me fait penser à ma propre histoire et à comment il y a toujours plusieurs points de vue qui correspondent à la réalité d’une situation. c’était un peu bizarre de lire et de relire à quel point birotteau était si pauvre et si maltraité alors même que j’éprouvais encore une certaine sympathie pour mme gamard. elle n’était pas assez respectée par la personne qu’elle a du accueillir. bien elle pourrait communiquer ça mais c’est sont souvent ces problèmes de communication qui font l’un à l’autre dit « un ennemi » (je connais pas un mot qui fonctionne mieux que celui). bref. est-ce donc la faute de mme gamard de n’avoir pas exigée la traitement qu’elle voulait ou la faute de birotteau de ne pas être efforcé davantage de comprendre la vielle femme? la vérité est que on n’est pas capable de vivre entre les autres sans des contradictions entre l’intention et l’interprétation de nos actes et de nos pensées.
okay je revisite:
cet histoire de balzac me fait penser à ma propre histoire et à comment il y a toujours plusieurs points de vue qui correspondent à la réalité d’une situation. c’était un peu bizarre de lire et de relire à quel point birotteau était si pauvre et si maltraité alors même que j’éprouvais encore une certaine sympathie pour mme gamard. elle n’était pas assez respectée par la personne qu’elle a du accueillir. bien elle pourrait communiquer ça mais c’est sont souvent ces problèmes de communication qui font l’un à l’autre dit « un ennemi » (je connais pas un mot qui fonctionne mieux que celui). bref. est-ce donc la faute de mme gamard de n’avoir pas exigée la traitement qu’elle voulait ou la faute de birotteau de ne pas être efforcé davantage de comprendre la vielle femme? la vérité est que on n’est pas capable de vivre entre les autres sans des contradictions entre l’intention et l’interprétation de nos actes et de nos pensées.
June 6, 2022
Balzac creates characters so real you feel like you know them. In this tragi-comedy a small minded priest gets everything he wants from life (a nice comfortable room), only to have it snatched away from him by a conniving landlord and a fellow priest lodger. Balzac lays bare base human emotions and motivations like no one else.
April 13, 2025
4⭐️
pierrette : 4.5⭐️ ah mais c’est trop triste je vais me tuer?????
le curé de tours : 3.75⭐️ la manière dont balzac peut créer le personnage le plus terrifiant et méchant en seulement 70 pages
pierrette : 4.5⭐️ ah mais c’est trop triste je vais me tuer?????
le curé de tours : 3.75⭐️ la manière dont balzac peut créer le personnage le plus terrifiant et méchant en seulement 70 pages
April 17, 2018
hồi bé ghét balzac. bh đoc vui vãi
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June 25, 2020ağladığım bir günün sonunda eski sevgilim mutlu edeceğini düşünerek bu kitabı hediye etmişti
January 31, 2023
this is a long short story but i'm counting it because i read it all IN FRENCH (for class but still) i deserve this.
June 21, 2023
Le curé de tours m'a attristé pour son abbé Birotteau. Ce qui témoigne de la réalité des personnages de Balzac auxquelles on s'attache
April 29, 2026
3,5⭐️
September 2, 2026
Le dernier Balzac lu est toujours le meilleur !
July 1, 2019
Pierrette ist ein junges Mädchen, Waise, das "nur lieb gehabt" werden will. Leider lebt sie bei einer Cousine, für die sie eher Aschenbrödel ist. Ein merkwürdiges Buch. Bevor wir überhaupt zu Pierette kommen, wird sehr umständlich und langatmig die Vorgeschichte erzählt. Vater hat spät noch einmal geheiratet und Kind gezeugt, stirbt, Mutter hinterher. Und dann wird noch länger die Geschichte der Tochter von sehr viel älterer Schwester erzählt. Wenn ich das nicht schon durcheinander bringe.
Die und Bruder kommen spät zu einigem Wohlstand, aber da ist der Charakter schon vollständig vermurkst. Es gibt dann einen Verehrer von Pierette, aber der kann auch nicht helfen, und am Schluß stirbt das arme Kind, und leider will sich wirkliches Mitleid nicht einstellen. Tatsächlich ist das Beste an dem kleinen Büchlein die Beschreibung der Wohnungseinrichtung. Ganz ernsthaft, und das ist das Geniale an Balzac, man findet immer etwas, das einen bei der Stange hält.
Auch der Pfarrer kann nicht wirklich überzeugen. Der ist Mieter in einer Wohnung, die er von einem Freund "geerbt" hat, mitsamt der geliebten Einrichtung. Die Vermieterin allerdings hat eine Abneigung gegen den Mann, und es beginnt ein Balzacsches juristisches Scharmüzel, das so ausgehnt, dass am Schluß der arme Pfarrer ins Elend an die andere Seite des Flusses ziehen muss.
Die und Bruder kommen spät zu einigem Wohlstand, aber da ist der Charakter schon vollständig vermurkst. Es gibt dann einen Verehrer von Pierette, aber der kann auch nicht helfen, und am Schluß stirbt das arme Kind, und leider will sich wirkliches Mitleid nicht einstellen. Tatsächlich ist das Beste an dem kleinen Büchlein die Beschreibung der Wohnungseinrichtung. Ganz ernsthaft, und das ist das Geniale an Balzac, man findet immer etwas, das einen bei der Stange hält.
Auch der Pfarrer kann nicht wirklich überzeugen. Der ist Mieter in einer Wohnung, die er von einem Freund "geerbt" hat, mitsamt der geliebten Einrichtung. Die Vermieterin allerdings hat eine Abneigung gegen den Mann, und es beginnt ein Balzacsches juristisches Scharmüzel, das so ausgehnt, dass am Schluß der arme Pfarrer ins Elend an die andere Seite des Flusses ziehen muss.
October 19, 2016
Novela publicada em 1832, faz parte de Os Celibatários juntamente com Pierrette.
Traz como personagens o padre Birotteau e o abade Troubert, ambos pensionistas da residência da srta Gamard e a trama gira em torno de uma ninharia que aos poucos assume proporções de grande conflito: a disputa pela ocupação do melhor cômodo da casa, juntamente com seus bens móveis, livros, quadros, etc, deixado pelo morador anterior. A briga chega a envolver grandes interesses políticos e é interessante observar a desproporção entre o valor do objeto desejado e a satisfação de consegui-lo.
Ponto positivo na evolução do personagem Troubert, tão apagado e inofensivo no início, chega à proporções de um gigante monstro egoísta. Ponto negativo na caracterização da srta. Gamard, o protótipo da solteirona estigmatizada.
Histórico de leitura
30/08/2016
29% (112 de 384)
"Há para as moças, uma idade em que a sociedade as condena pelo desdém de que são vítimas. Feias, deviam fazer esquecer, pela bondade do caráter, as imperfeições da natureza; belas, seu infortúnio deve ser motivado por causas graves."
3% (11 de 384)
"Numa noite do começo do outono de 1826, o padre Birotteau, principal personagem desta história, foi surpreendido por um aguaceiro ao voltar duma reunião familiar."
Traz como personagens o padre Birotteau e o abade Troubert, ambos pensionistas da residência da srta Gamard e a trama gira em torno de uma ninharia que aos poucos assume proporções de grande conflito: a disputa pela ocupação do melhor cômodo da casa, juntamente com seus bens móveis, livros, quadros, etc, deixado pelo morador anterior. A briga chega a envolver grandes interesses políticos e é interessante observar a desproporção entre o valor do objeto desejado e a satisfação de consegui-lo.
Ponto positivo na evolução do personagem Troubert, tão apagado e inofensivo no início, chega à proporções de um gigante monstro egoísta. Ponto negativo na caracterização da srta. Gamard, o protótipo da solteirona estigmatizada.
Histórico de leitura
30/08/2016
29% (112 de 384)
"Há para as moças, uma idade em que a sociedade as condena pelo desdém de que são vítimas. Feias, deviam fazer esquecer, pela bondade do caráter, as imperfeições da natureza; belas, seu infortúnio deve ser motivado por causas graves."
3% (11 de 384)
"Numa noite do começo do outono de 1826, o padre Birotteau, principal personagem desta história, foi surpreendido por um aguaceiro ao voltar duma reunião familiar."
July 24, 2013
Le destin tragique de Pierrette Lorrain, jeune orpheline, confi��e �� ses cousins de Provins (les Rogron - deux c��libataires imb��ciles) par ses grands-parents ruin��s. Elle sera la victime innocente des manipulations de sinistres personnages voulant r��cup��rer la fortune des Rogron. Par cette histoire tragique, Balzac voulait montrer les ravages du c��libat. Il y a toujours un fripon non loin d'une dupe, et [...] la sottise attire toujours un homme d'esprit de l'esp��ce des Renards.(Balzac).
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews