The Vendetta

La Comédie Humaine #8

by Honoré de Balzac, Howard Curtis (Translator)

A foreigner—along with his wife and their young daughter—stands before the Tuileries, waiting for an audience with Napoleon. Only the great leader, he reasons, will understand his wretched plight and the vendetta that has driven him here. When Ginevra Piombo falls in love 15 years later with a young Corsican officer hiding from the authorities in the aftermath of Waterloo, she does not realize that this one moment from her past will force her to make the greatest decision of her life: a choice between two loves, and between life or death.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, French Literature, France, Literature, Romance, 19th Century

106 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1830

About the author

French 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.

Reviews

[Το Άθχημο γατί του θενιόρ Γκουαναμίρου · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1830, when this work was first published, Balzac became increasingly involved with journalism in order to make his living, and wrote some interesting articles on the miserable conditions of the publishing world of his times, and the instability of the artistic profession. So, too, the heroine, a young painter, must work hard, but that does not guarantee her daily bread. Ginevra is presented through an idealized perspective, but there are nonetheless realistic elements that give her character a charm immersed in the relentless reality.

Above all it is a story built around the polar opposites of love/hate. The heavy shadow of an ominous sentiment (the reader from the first pages can guess how the story ends) is based on the notion that every joy that comes into a person's life must be fataly and irreversibly counterbalanced by a misfortune.

Παρ' όλο που η Satiat χαρακτηρίζει τη νουβέλα με τίτλο "Η Βεντέτα" (La Vendetta) ως μελοδραματικό και ανούσιο κείμενο (Μπαλζάκ ή μανία της γραφής σελ. 168) η ιστορία παρουσιάζει ενδιαφέρον. Είναι μια ιστορία αγάπης στον απόηχο μιας κορσικάνικης βεντέτας, στο Παρίσι των αρχών του 19ου αιώνα την εποχή μετά την πτώση του Ναπολέοντα Βοναπάρτη. Πέρα από το προφανές δραματικό στοιχείο στα χνάρια του Σαιξπηρικού Ρωμαίου και Ιουλιέτας, υπάρχει το άχθος της επιβίωσης που γίνεται αβάσταχτο, η κατάβαση ως την απόλυτη ένδεια, εκείνο το είδος της φτώχειας και της εξαθλίωσης που είναι ικανό να εξοντώσει τους ανθρώπους.

Στα 1830, την εποχή όπου πρωτοδημοσιεύεται το έργο αυτό, ο Balzac καταπιάνεται ολοένα και περισσότερο με τη δημοσιογραφία προκειμένου να επιβιώσει, και γράφει κάποια ενδιαφέροντα άρθρα σχετικά με την άθλια κατάσταση που επικρατεί στον εκδοτικό κόσμο της εποχής του και την αστάθεια των καλλιτεχνικών επαγγελμάτων. Έτσι και η ηρωίδα, μια νεαρή ζωγράφος, μπορεί να εργάζεται σκληρά, αλλά αυτό δεν της εξασφαλίζει το καθημερινό της ψωμί. Η Ginevra παρουσιάζεται μέσα από ένα σαφώς ωραιοποιημένο πρίσμα, εξιδανικευμένη και ευγενική, αλλά υπάρχουν μέσα της, ωστόσο, στοιχεία ρεαλιστικά που προσδίνουν στον χαρακτήρα της μια γοητεία βουτηγμένη στην αμείλικτη πραγματικότητα.

Πάνω από όλα είναι μια ιστορία που χτίζεται γύρω από το δίπολο "αγάπης - μίσους" και ως τέτοια έχει έναν χαρακτήρα διαχρονικό. Θα την χαρακτήριζα ως ένα πρώιμο διαμαντάκι. Μέσα στο έργο επικρατεί η βαριά σκιά ενός δυσοίωνου προαισθήματος (ο αναγνώστης από τις πρώτες σελίδες μπορεί να μαντέψει την εξέλιξη και το τέλος) κι αυτό, γιατί ο συγγραφέας εκφράζει την πεποίθηση πως η κάθε χαρά που έρχεται στη ζωή ενός ανθρώπου πρέπει μοιραία και αναπόδραστα να εξισορροπηθεί με μια δυστυχία. Αυτό το είδος του τρόμου, σχεδόν μεταφυσικού, απέναντι στις αντιξοότητες της ζωής, απηχεί την απαισιοδοξία μιας εποχής όπου οι λιγότερο προνομιούχοι αστοί, ζώντας χωρίς καμία κοινωνική πρόνοια, ήταν υποχρεωμένοι να μοχθούν χωρίς την παραμικρή δικλείδα ασφαλείας.

Δυο νέοι άνθρωποι που έχουν πίσω τους ένα σκοτεινό παρελθόν και ένα αβέβαιο μέλλον και μόνο το παρόν της αγάπης τους για να στηριχθούν μέσα σε μια κοινωνία εχθρική ή αδιάφορη. Μια θλιβερή ιστορία με καλοσχηματισμένους χαρακτήρες μέσα στην οποία, εκτός των άλλων, κάνει ένα μικρό πέρασμα ο συμβολαιογράφος Roguin τον οποίο ο Balzac θα χρησιμοποιήσει και σε άλλα μεταγενέστερα έργα του.

Διάβασα πως, καθώς στα 1930, ο συγγραφέας, δεν είχε συλλάβει ακόμα το μεγαλεπήβολο σχέδιο της ανθρώπινης κωμωδίας του, όλες αυτές οι σύντομες ιστορίες του, είναι κομμάτια των σκηνών της ιδιωτικής ζωής (Scènes de la vie privée). Αν αυτό ισχύει, πρόκειται πράγματι, παρά τις όποιες αδυναμίες του, για ένα αυθεντικό δράμα με σκηνές από την καθημερινότητα της εποχής στην οποία γράφτηκε.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can sum up this novella for myself (for future reference) as a combination of 'Romeo & Juliet' with O. Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi'.

The novella is melodrama and as such doesn't compare to Balzac's greater novels but I thought it deserved more than 3.5*. Maybe 3.7 but such hair-splitting has little value; I only mention it because I don't want others to take my 4* to mean I felt it was equal to most of my other 4* books. If you don't like melodrama, you won't like this.

Balzac once again demonstrates his belief that marrying against parental and/or societal wishes is doomed to failure. Yet the portrait of Corsican ideas of vengence and the look at how life changed from 1800 under Napoleon to 1815 under the second restoration was fascinating. This background to the story raised it in my estimation.

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading Balzac's "The Human Comedy" in 2020 and after a little less than 2 1/2 years, I finished and I am revisiting the story that attracted me to Balzac! He is indeed a wonderful story teller and I love this story so much more, though I absolutely loved it the first time! My heart goes out to Ginerva and Luigi! Such a sad tale but I have found out not all his tales so sorrowful but always so full of LIFE! Enjoy this story especially for the romantic soul!



My old review below.
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I read this in 2017 after hearing an old time radio version and I am updating my review because in 2020, I am reading the whole "The Human Comedy" & will re read this after I am finished with the whole.

This story is classic Balzac with parents unable to condone a marriage of their daughter which leads to tragedy. This one assured me of living Balzac from the get go.

I did not read this edition but from a collection of his works which had this overview which I include and warn of it being a spoiler!


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June 2022 comment- Though at the end Piombo finally request to see his daughter it is too late she and her baby are dead. He still sees the "vendetta" though soften towards the daughter, Luigi gives the news and dies before the father says it will save him the need to shoot his son in law. Could Luigi gone into service early instead of thinking of it too late, I suppose he was not thinking clearly and after his beloved died, there is no way he could have survived! Truly sad!



"La Vendetta was first published in 1830 by Mame et Delaunay-Vallée. It is believed by many that Balzac was inspired to write La Vendetta by Prosper Merimée’s novel Mateo Falcone, which was serialised by the Revue de Paris in 1829 and also deals with the subject of Corsican vengeance and family honour. The novella concerns the tragic fate of Ginevra Piombo, the daughter of proud Corsican immigrants, who has the misfortune of falling in love with another Corsican, Luigi Porta. When it becomes known that Luigi is the sole survivor of a massacre in which the rest of his family were the victims of a vendetta with Ginevra’s family, Ginevra’s father Bartolomeo is determined to complete the act of vengeance by having him killed. "

Having heard the Old Time Radio show "The Weird Circle"portrayal of Balzac's story and being affected by it, I had to read the original. Balzac is supposedly written this with Prosper Merimee's Mateo Falcone in mind, on my to read list too. There is a pretty big difference in the radio shows story and the real but even though the director takes license, I still loved the radio portrayal, which had many difference. First the mother is dead and the father finds out about her daughter's marriage to a Porta and does what he plans. The story is more detailed and an inside to the characters. It is such a great read that it's effect on me as the radio shows version did when I heard it years ago as well as recently.
The weird circle September 12, 1943
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com...

Bartolomelo di Piombo is such a cruel character, not only to his daughter who ends up starving in the end when he could have helped the couple. Also tying young Luigi to the bed where he would have died in the fire. Vendetta/fueds seem to be senseless to both parties. To feel that extreme love as Ginevra and Luigi felt is something so desired and yearned for. I can't relate to newer books and times, these romantic older novels brings out my soul to the characters and I rather have lived in early times, then this irreligious lack of moral days. The mother would have welcomed her son in law and it was too bad that she could not help more. Poor Luigi must have been extreme grief, his comment on the vendetta says all. I was hoping that things worked out but knew someone died but sadly all three did. In the OTR they were married 4 hours, the mother was killed in Corscia by a Porta. Also Ginevra is older in the book but younger and the schoolmate girl told the father about the soldier and his daughter. The daughter knew right away about Luigi being a Porta but she found out when Luigi told them. He told of his guardian telling him he had enemies but remembers nothing about being tied up. In the book they are married about 3 years and have a son. In OTR, the father drugs his daughter to die and he kills himself. Luigi comes to see his bride dead and stabs himself but Ginevra hearing his voice is awaken too late. She does not die and lives a sad life. The Portas set fire to Piombo's home killing his son but his daughter and wife were not home...Piombo takes revenge on the Portas family with seven dead wand uncertain if a young boy Luigi escaped. Napoleon helps his fellow Corscian but warns him of no Vendetta, it will not be tolerated. Ginevra is painting the young soldiers painting after seeing him while adjusting the blinds. Amelie after not being able to provoke Ginevra by moving her easel, sees that something is of interest to Ginevra. After pretending to leave comes back to find Ginevra looking at something which she finds out is a man but not seeing the uniform is unaware of his being a soldier. Sevrin's wife is anxious and the next day movements of the man are covered with noise by either Ginevra or Sevrin. She conveys to Sevrin he must change the man's clothes and he must stay a little longer than send away and she will help. He tells her he does not know the man but his father in law brought him here. The soldier was a friend of a general and came here to help. Ginevra and Luigi have fallen in love. The students at Servin's school are leaving because of one of the girls making all of them aware of the lovers whose parents found out about this. Ginevra told by her young friend and of the parents talking to Servin. Servin proposes they should get married and an appointment made for the soldiers by Ginevra's father's connections. She has learned her lover is a fellow Corsican and he is 19, & she is 25 but he has seen a lot since he enlisted at a young age. Piombo is waiting for his daughter who has been late and never had a need but for one another. Luigi has come to see her parents but on questioning by her father, he is known to be a Porta and was tied as a youth to his bed by Piombo. He is enraged and for many days the father and daughter are at ends, both determined. Finally the notaries have come to try to convince Ginevra is of age but the father runs to his sword but can not kill his daughter. He tells her she can not a Piombo if she is a Porta. She leaves her parents and goes to her lover. I knew the mother was not severe but was looking for her daughter's happiness. Their wedding is not like the others filled with family and festivity but theirs is in their hearts. The absence of her parents is noted by others but the couple being married by the clerk go to the church, where again the contrast is visible. The witnesses are fellow friends of Luigi. Ginevra's mother sends before her marriage gifts and note that where a trouble for her and out of her own savings but she is unable to help in the future. They go to their new home where Luigi has given extra attention to all her needs. The are happy and find work. Ginevra is saddened at times but that is whisked away when she sees her husband. Years pass. The married couple where doing well at first but the work was diminished and poverty set in. A boy was born but died and Ginevra followed him. Before this was known, Luigi had decided to become a soldier and brought gold home to a dying wife who did not regret her decision on loving him. He then went to the parents who the father finally decided to help but his son in law told him their fate and killed himself.

"PIOMBO (Baron Bartolomeo di), born in 1738, a fellow-countryman and friend of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose mother he had protected during the Corsican troubles. After a terrible vendetta, carried out in Corsica against all the Portas except one, he had to leave his country, and went in great poverty to Paris with his family. Through the intercession of Lucien Bonaparte, he saw the First Consul (October, 1800) and obtained property, titles and employment. Piombo was not without gratitude; the friend of Daru, Drouot, and Carnot, he gave evidence of devotion to his benefactor until the latter’s death. The return of the Bourbons did not deprive him entirely of the resources that he had acquired. For his Corsican property Bartolomeo received of Madame Letitia Bonaparte a sum which allowed him to purchase and occupy the Portenduere mansion. The marriage of his adored daughter, Ginevra, who, against her father’s will, became the wife of the last of the Portas, was a source of vexation and grief to Piombo, that nothing could diminish. The Vendetta. PIOMBO (Baronne Elisa di), born in 1745, wife of the preceding and mother of Madame Porta, was unable to obtain from Bartolomeo the pardon of Ginevra, whom he would not see after her marriage. The Vendetta"


"PORTA (Luigi), born in 1793, strikingly like his sister Nina. He was the last member that remained, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, of the Corsican family of Porta, by reason of a bloody vendetta between his kinspeople and the Piombos. Luigi Porta alone was saved, by Elisa Vanni, according to Giacomo; he lived at Genoa, where he enlisted, and found himself, when quite young, in the affair of the Beresina. Under the Restoration he was already an officer of high rank; he put an end to his military career and was hunted by the authorities at the same time as Labedoyere. Luiga Porta found Paris a safe place of refuge. Servin, the Bonapartist painter, who had opened a studio of drawing, where he taught his art to young ladies, concealed the officer. One of his pupils, Ginevra di Piombo, discovered the outlaw’s hiding-place, aided him, fell in love with him, made him fall in love with her, and married him, despite the opposition of her father, Bartolomeo di Piombo. Luigi Porta chose as a witness, when he was married, his former comrade, Louis Vergniaud, also known to Hyacinthe Chabert. He lived from hand to mouth by doing secretary’s work, lost his wife, and, crushed by poverty, went to tell the Piombos of her death. He died almost immediately after her (1820). The Vendetta."

"PORTA (Madame Luigi), wife of the preceding, born Ginevra di Piombo about 1790; shared, in Corsica as in Paris, the stormy life of her father and mother, whose adored child she was. In Servin’s, the painter’s studio, where with her talent she shone above the whole class, Ginevra knew Mesdames Tiphaine and Camusot de Marville, at that time Mesdemoiselles Roguin and Thirion. Defended by Laure alone, she endured the cruelly planned persecution of Amelie Thirion, a Royalist, and an envious woman, especially when the favorite drawing pupil discovered and aided Luigi Porta, whom she married shortly afterwards, against the will of Bartolomeo di Piombo. Madame Porta lived most wretchedly; she resorted to Magus to dispose of copies of paintings at a meagre price; brought a son into the world, Barthelemy; could not nurse him, lost him, and died of grief and exhaustion in the year 1820. The Vendetta."

[Katerina Koltsida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Μια αξιοσημείωτη νουβέλα από την ανθρώπινη κωμωδία (La Comédie humaine) του Μπαλζάκ. Ο τίτλος παραπέμπει φυσικά τον αναγνώστη στο γνωστό έθος της Κορσικής αλλά και άλλων περιοχών της Μεσογείου: τη βεντέτα μεταξύ οικογενειών, αλλά το βιβιλίο είναι πολύ περισσότερα από αυτό καθώς κινείται παράλληλα σε δύο επίπεδα.

Στο πρώτο επίπεδο διαβάζουμε μια ιστορία αγάπης και εκδίκησης. Αγάπης ανάμεσα στους  γονείς και το παιδί τους (που η τραγικότητα της άτεγκτης στάσης του πατέρα θυμίζει αρχαία δράματα) αλλά και μεταξύ ενός ερωτευμένου ζευγαριού που δεν υποχωρεί παρά τις αντιξοότητες. Η ηρωίδα μας, όμως, δεν διολισθαίνει στη δυστυχία διχως να προλάβει να γευτεί την ευτυχία με τον άντρα που αγαπάει: αυτή ακριβώς είναι, εξάλλου, και η ουσία της ανθρώπινης κατάστασης όπου ευτυχία και δυστυχία οδεύουν χέρι με χέρι, κι αυτό απογυμνώνει ο Μπαλζάκ με τη ρεαλιστική αλλά και βαθεία ανθρώπινη πένα του.

Από άλλη όμως παρακολουθούμε τον απόηχο της αποκατάστασης των Βουρβόνων μετά την πτώση του Ναπολέοντα το 1815, όταν έλαβαν χώρα μεγάλης κλίμακας εκκαθαρίσεις οπαδών του βοναπάρτη από την κυβέρνηση και τον στρατό, μια περίοδος που ονομάστηκε «Λευκός Τρόμος». Τούτες οι ανατροπές στην δύναμη και την εξουσία παρουσιάζονται εμμεσα από τον Μπαλζάκ, μέσα από τις σχέσεις των μαθητριών στο εργαστήριο του Σερβίν, όπου ακόμα κι εδώ η αντιπάθεια καταλήγει σε μίσος, που παύει να είναι μια Κορσικανική ιδιατερότητα και γίνεται κυρίαχο αίσθημα. Κι αυτό είναι το μεγαλείο του Μπαλζάκ που συνθέτει και πάλι ένα μικρό αλλά πραγματικιά «μεγάλο» έργο ! 

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opening lines:
En 1800, vers la fin du mois d'octobre, un étranger, suivi d'une femme et d'une petite fille, arriva devant les Tuileries à Paris, et se tint assez longtemps auprès des décombres d'une maison récemment démolie, à l'endroit où s'élève aujourd'hui l'aile commencée qui devait unir le château de Catherine de Médicis au Louvre des Valois.

Location 2967:
— Faites savoir à Bonaparte que Bartholoméo di Piombo voudrait lui parler, dit l'Italien au capitaine de service.

Location 3125:
Le second retour des Bourbons venait de troubler bien des amitiés qui avaient résisté au mouvement de la première restauration. En ce moment les familles étaient presque toutes divisées d'opinion, et le fanatisme politique renouvelait plusieurs de ces déplorables scènes qui, aux époques de guerre civile ou religieuse, souillent l'histoire de tous les pays. Les enfants, les jeunes filles, les vieillards partageaient la fièvre monarchique à laquelle le gouvernement était en proie. La discorde se glissait sous tous les toits, et la défiance teignait de ses sombres couleurs les actions et les discours les plus intimes.

From Wikipedia
La Vendetta (The Vendetta) is a novel by the French writer Honoré de Balzac. It is the eighth of the Scènes de la vie privée (Scenes of Private Life) in La Comédie humaine. The novel was first published in 1830 by Mame et Delaunay-Vallée. In 1842 it appeared in the first Furne edition of La Comédie humaine. La Vendetta was the fourth work in Volume 1, making it the fourth of the Scènes de la vie privée.[1]
Balzac may have been inspired to write La Vendetta by Prosper Merimée, whose novel Mateo Falcone, which was serialized by the Revue de Paris in 1829, also deals with the subject of Corsican vengeance and family honour.



The English version can be found at Gutenberg Project

The original French text at La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec.


3* La maison du Chat-qui-pelote (1830)
3* Le bal de Sceaux (1830)
3* La Bourse (1830)
4* La Vendetta (1830)

[Ionuț Anastasiu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am constatat cu surprindere că Moș Goriot nu este nici singurul roman al a lui Balzac care a fost influențat de opera lui Shakespeare și nici măcar primul din punct de vedere cronologic; astfel, La Vendetta, publicat în 1830, are ca model explicit Romeo și Julieta. Bineînțeles, acțiunea romanului nu se desfășoară la Verona sau la Mantua, precum în piesa lui Shakespeare, ci în Paris, mai întâi în anul 1800, iar, ulterior, în intervalul 1815-1819.
Există o rivalitate criminală între două familii de corsicani: Piombo și Porta. Și, ce să vezi: tânăra fată, de o frumusețe răvășitoare și foarte talentată la pictură, Ginevra Piombo se îndrăgostește de nimeni altul decât de Luigi Porta. În condițiile în care tatăl Ginevrei este un om cu concepții absolut cretine despre viață și despre relația părinte-copil ("Credeam, continuă tatăl ei, că Ginevra mea îmi va rămâne credincioasă până la moarte, că gândul la mine şi la mama ei va fi singura ei grijă, că dragostea noastră nu se va lovi în sufletul ei de o altă dragoste...Nu vrei să ne laşi singuri, zise Piombo; dar căsătorindu-te, înseamnă să ne părăseşti! Las’ că ştiu eu, n-o să te mai gândeşti la noi, fetiţo!...Elisa, adăugă el întorcându-se spre soţia lui care stătea nemişcată, aproape năucă, nu mai avem fată, gata! Dumneaei vrea să se mărite!"), drama cuplului este garantată, din păcate.
În final, trebuie să-l lăsăm pe Balzac să dea frâu liber viziunii sale cinice despre condiția umană. Iată ce reprezintă pentru scriitorul francez ceremonia căsătoriei, căreia oamenii îi acordă o atât de mare importanță: "Ca toate întâmplările din viaţa omenească, atunci când sunt despuiate de dichisurile lor exterioare, şi acest eveniment n-a fost decât un simplu fapt divers prin el însuşi, dar pe care sufletul îl învăluie într-o aureolă extraordinară". Poate că are dreptate. Lectură plăcută!

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is among Balzac's earliest works, making its first appearance in 1830. It's always an adjustment reading him after a steadier diet of relatively recent works. In this case, the beginning was a bit clunkier than usual and I don't know if that is because he had not yet hit his stride as an author, if the translation might have been better, or if I just needed to adjust. I did become accustomed to the style - and in short order, fortunately.

The main characters are Corsicans. The story has a Prologue which explains how they left Corsica after a Vendetta and came to Paris 15 years earlier. The story takes place in 1815 just after the Hundred Days when Napoleon came back from Elba. The introduction in my Complete Works edition says

It is believed by many that Balzac was inspired to write La Vendetta by Prosper Mérimée's novel Mateo Falcone, which was serialised by the Revue de Paris in 1829 and also deals with the subject of Corsican vengeance and family honor.

Balzac is better known for his novels. I'm moving to the position that his stories are just as good and don't require the same time investment. I can expect Balzac's endings to be filled with irony and/or pathos. While I tend to cry easily, Balzac doesn't often touch me so, and I did not expect it with this one. I was unexpectedly touched.

Although it took this slow reader a bit longer, most could finish this in an hour or two at most. It does not reach the quality of my favorite Eugénie Grandet, or even the popular Père Goriot which I did not like as much. Still, it is very good. I may be putting my thumb on the scale when I give it 4 stars, but today I think it falls easily in the mid-point of my 4-star ratings.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first Balzac novel. I enjoyed it. This Romeo and Juliet set in Paris around Napoleons time is well written. The Corsican family arriving after a revenge killing in Paris with the scene set well. Then how the daughter falls in and love with a man who is a sworn enemy of her father. She chooses her man over her family and then the remainder of the novella tracks there descent from happiness to poverty and ultimately death.

[Catherine Vamianaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A melodramatic story of a couple who loved each other much. But there was a Corsican vendetta involved in this story. All in all, a worthwhile read.

[Bethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gently lyrical novella. At first it seemed melodramatic and as if it could be unbelievable but as the introduction to this edition illustrates, there were events in Balzac's family that it could have been based on, so it does not actually seem unbelievable then and makes for good food for thought, for it seems to be a cautionary story about parental pride and obstinacy in rejecting their daughter's choice of spouse. Most people know of people who do not like their offspring's choice of partner, whether due to a personal dislike, they are not of a good enough family background, are of the same sex, a different race, etc., so it seems relevant to me.

Since the young lovers were still in their honeymoon period, it is conceivable that they were as angelic as Balzac seems to portray them as, the simplicity of which, along with the portrayal of the parents that felt a little stock at times, means that I cannot give it more than three stars. Nevertheless, I found myself carried by a sense of quiet horror at the way that the young couple drifted along an unravelling train to the end.

[ناني ماكفي]

ياااااه عل بؤس الفرنسي

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

La Vendetta by Honore de Balzac – this and thousands of other great classics are available at https://librivox.org/
10 out of 10


In the first place, let me thank Bernard, the volunteer with excellent skills that has been reading the first few parts of The Human Comedy with great talent – unlike the bizarre figure for instance, who is supposed to allow the public to engage with The Home and The World by Rabindranath Tagore, but his reading is so terrible and awful that the listener is actually tested for resilience and inclination towards masochism instead…

After reading La Vendetta, one may think that La Comedie Humaine could have been called La Folie Humaine just as well, considering the madness of the families that clash with each other in this exquisite novel – just as Montagues and Capulets fight in the much more famous Romeo and Juliet, causing the death of the most popular lovers in the world…that is before Instagram and influencers, the age of Kardashian and trash culture – for those who know only about modern day stars, a few words about the classic romance here http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/r...
If in La Bal de Sceaux - http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/05/l... - the main characters were royalists, in La Vendetta they are loyal to Napoleon Bonaparte and they originate from La Corse aka Corsica – given its history and the time when the story takes place, Ginevra Piombo, the heroine of the narrative, is called The Italian by other students of painting with whom she shares a class, attempting to learn about the arts, once her family would have been settled in Paris…

It is the first part of the nineteenth century and Bartolomeo Piombo arrives in the French capital, after walking all the way from Fontainebleau, suffering humiliation and misery, but all with a dignified attitude, a straight back – just as we can learn we must act from the Twelve rules proposed by an influential professor and thinker that I have just discovered, Jordan Peterson – while he insists he must see the First Consul.
He wants aids and soldiers to tell Napoleon that Bartolomeo di Piombo wants to talk with him, without much success, given his ragged appearance, but his farouche, proud manner would finally convince them to send the message to Bonaparte, though they had insisted that an audience with the august figure should have been asked much in advance, and the illustrious man will want to talk with the one coming from the same island.

Indeed, the two know each other very well and di Piombo asks for protection and support, which prompts Napoleon to ask what happened, for his interlocutor was the richest man in Corsica and he is so unfortunate now!

This is when we learn the first part of the vicious hate, that would cause the Complete Vendetta, a curse which is hanging over this opus in such a terrible way, making the vicissitude from La Bourse - http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/05/l... -and La Maison du Chat Qui Pelote - http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/05/l... - pale when compared to what happens to the poor Ginevra or Ginevretta as her father would caress her in the days when the two were still close…albeit, Augustine from La Maison du Chat had a rather tragic fate as well, in spite of the fact that she is a victim of what we may call inappropriate love, a feeling that takes over and burns down the heroine, married to a man she loves and who used to love her, but only until he got bored and the huge gap in education, preoccupations, abilities would destroy the woman and place the man in pursuit of another, an aristocrat that would reject him and his precious painting…
Bartolomeo tells Napoleon how he has had an arrangement with the Porta family in Corsica, but while he was away, the others burned down his property, killed his son and all the others there, except for Ginevra and her mother, who are with the head of the family in Paris, after exacting La Vendetta, which seems to have exterminated all the members of the other family…Napoleon says that the ‘rule of Law’ must reign, ‘people do not take the law into their own hands…this sounds extraordinary, if we consider that two centuries later, in the supposedly most advanced democracy of this age, they have had an impeachment, but not a removal, for one of the most vicious scoundrels in the world, who looks like he is above the rule of law, which dies if that is the case, as fiercely argued by idiots and fools.

Bartolomeo di Piombo becomes a baron, benefits from the high office in which he is promoted by his friend and emperor, to whom he remains loyal, hiding his Legion D’Honneur once the Restoration is in place, the monarchy has returned and Napoleon Bonaparte is exiled, and fifteen years later, his beautiful, intelligent, resilient, brave, rebellious, fierce as a Corsican daughter would study painting with one of the best professors.
She would meet a wounded, courageous, handsome, noble young ma, Luigi, who has been fighting with the sovereign in his campaigns, in Berezina and elsewhere, but he is an outcast now, when the regime has changed and he has the label of quasi fugitive…the two nevertheless fall in love and decide to marry.

Alas, when the young would be husband encounters baron Bartolomeo di Piombo, the result is catastrophic since the name of Luigi, Porta, is anathema for the one who seeks Absolute, final Vendetta in the annihilation of the camp, the family of the adversary and there is no way – indeed, he tells his daughter he would rather see her in a coffin than married with the enemy – for him to allow this marriage to happen.
We must observe again that even at that time, there were some elements of modernity – if we compare Napoleon to Trump what age do you think would come ahead – two hundred years ago, for in spite of the opposition of the father, once the grill is of age, she can marry without his consent…as for the happiness of the union, let us just say that they know bliss for some time, which is more than most people experience…

You can find this on the lists of best books - https://www.theguardian.com/books/200... - and if you want to read and not listen to an audio version, you find it here: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

[Romain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cette nouvelle de 1830 marque le début des "Scènes de la vie privée" de la Comédie humaine et est à la fois tragique et admirablement écrite. Un incontournable pour les amateurs de Balzac.

"L'amour n'est-il pas comme la mer qui, vue superficiellement ou à la hâte, est accusée de monotonie par les âmes vulgaires, tandis que certains êtres privilégiés peuvent passer leur vie à l'admirer en y trouvant sans cesse de changeants phénomènes qui les ravissent ?"

[myriam kisfaludi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnifique! Quelle splendeur dans l’écriture et la sobriété dans la description des sentiments

[Alix]

Roméo et Juliette. Nouvelle très sombre.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't a review; it's from my reading journal notes and it contains spoilers throughout.

I read this short story by Balzac straight after reading a very challenging post-modern book called The Plains by Gerald Murnane, (http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/200...) and it came as a stark contrast which was much easier to read! Vendetta is a kind of Romeo and Juliet story set in the aftermath of the French Revolution...

The Piombos of Corsica killed a bunch of their rivals in revenge for the Portas killing their son, and then came to live in Paris under Napoleon's protection. All went well till the defeat at Waterloo and then they were in trouble. Ginevra, a beautiful and talented artist, is ostracised by the aristocratic girls in her painting class, but she doesn't notice the insult they paid her by moving her easel to a less favoured part of the studio - because from her new spot she notices a man hidden in a crevice. He turns out to be a supporter of Napoleon, and of course he's handsome and she falls in love with him. Tres romantic, n'est-ce pas?

Even before Ginevra's father meets Luiga, he's opposed to the marriage. He and his wife live a simple life, wholly bound up in each other and he doesn't want Ginevra to leave him. (Quite why he was willing for her to marry suitors sent by Napoleon in the days when he had patronage and power isn't clear). When Papa and Ginevra do meet and he discovers that Luiga is the last-remaining Portas who'd somehow escaped the massacre in Corsica, he is resolute that they will never marry. So Ginevra, as proud and stubborn as her father is, has to marry without his blessing.

At first all goes well. They live comfortably though in debt, by selling Ginevra's copies of pictures and Luiga's handwriting. However fashions change, and their income dried up. Their baby starved to death, and so did Ginevra. As fate (or Balzac) would have it, the old couple have a change of heart and decide to receive Luiga at last. He brings them a lock of Ginevra's hair, and then dies too.

It seems pretty clear that Balzac thought that this type of intergenerational vendetta was stupid and self-defeating!

[Paresh Khatri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was wandering about Boston about 4 years ago when I came across a book store called Brattles. As is my habit, I ventured in to see what I could pick up. I am always drawn by the elegant covers of the Penguin Black classics and the book that my eyes fell on was Lost Illusions by Balzac. In my ignorance, I had never heard of Balzac till then but decided to take a punt on this book. I was completely mesmerised by the book which I almost read cover-to-cover on my long flight back to Melbourne. I felt that I had discovered the French Dickens ! In the ensuing period I did not read any more of his works but was always determined to read the complete Human Comedy. I started to realise that dream about a month ago.

Now, to the review ;-). The Vendetta is a great piece of work and Balzac employs his imagery to great effect here. It starts off intriguingly enough but does not let up as the story develops. Balzac's amazing descriptive language (albeit translated) makes one feel completely a part of the story. His description of Servin's attic is a wonderful example of this, from the furnishings in the room to the rays of light highlighting motes of dust in the air; the effect is outstanding. I was so completely engrossed as I read this that I almost missed my train stop ! No spoilers but this is a sublime piece of work from Balzac that should be essential reading for all his fans.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short novel is a story of love and revenge, dealing with the vendetta between two families of Corsican origin, set in early 19th century Paris just after the fall of Napoleon. The plot itself is a slight one, a kind of Romeo and Juliet romance, but the characterisation of proud Ginevra and her stubborn unforgiving father is superb. The most memorable scene for me was the young couple's wedding, a poignant scene that is beautifully and sparingly described.

This is an early piece of Balzac's writing, experimenting with the realistic approach that he used in later works from the Comedie Humaine but is a skilfully crafted little gem all the same.

[Jeffrey Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a HUGE fan of Balzac, but this book is pretty trivial. The good thing about Balzac is that he doesn't offer a happy end, where all the right couples get married, and the villains get their due. On the positive side, if you can read French, he'll never completely disappoint you. His writing is phenomenal. I plan to continue working my way through La Comedie Humaine, though I doubt that I'll live long enough to read the whole thing.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the early works from De Balzac which began his 'Human Comedy' series of publications. 'The Vendetta' was first published in 1830. A short novella that runs for just over eighty pages. I enjoyed this little read which is well written with interesting characters and a dark undercurrent of plot.

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A melodramatic tale of how a vendetta between two Corsican families affects the love between the young couple whose parents started it. Very obviously inspired by Romeo and Juliet, it has lots of delightful little passages, where Balzac adds charming scenes that make the story worth reading.

[Will Bashor · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you would like a glimpse of Balzac's world, this is a great place to start!

[Scott Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read much of the Human Comedy and this is my favorite short story. It won't take long to read, and you will enjoy it.

[Joana Marinho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Balzac writes wonderfully about the society and its miseries.However this is not one of his best novels.

[Steve Schoenbeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romeo and Juliet without the sublime poetry.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful love story, one I really thought I would like this much! A rewriting of Romeo & Juliet with Balzac's powerful writing style. Genuine, passionate, but stereotyped. A great read!

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1800, Bartolomeo di Piombo, with his wife and daughter Ginevra, visits Napoleon at the Tuileries. The Piombos and the Portas, two Corsican families, have a vendetta against each other, and Piombo, has just killed all the Portas, who had killed his son. He seeks refuge from his fellow Corsican Napoleon. Napoleon protects the family, and fifteen years later the small Piombo family is thriving, while Napoleon has recently gone to exile. Ginevra is the best student in a painting studio of young rich girls. Loyal to Napoleon, she faces ostracism from the aristocratic girls who are loyal to the king. But she coolly unconscious of their scorn, for she has just discovered that her painting teacher, Servin, is hiding a soldier, with whom she falls in love. When she tells her parents, Bartolomeo is jealous and distraught, but he eventually agrees to meet the man. Then they discover that the man is Luigi Porta, the sole remaining member of the Porta family. Neither Ginevra nor Luigi were aware of the family feud, but Bartolomeo first refuses to accept their relationship, then disowns her when the couple elope. The couple fall into poverty, joyful in their love but suffering in their hunger. Ginevra eventually dies of her hunger shortly after her baby dies. Bartolomeo decides to forgive, but he is too late, and Luigi dies at Bartolomeo's doorstep.

I read the version translated by Howard Curtis, and it comes with a helpful introduction detailing Balzac's inspiration for the story. In fact, it's the only source of background to this story that I've managed to find. He tells us that Bartolomeo was based on the character of André Campi, the lover of Balzac's first mistress Antoinette de Berny, the secretary and close friend of Napoleon's brother Lucien, and a confidante of the Bonapartes' mother, Laetitia. The romance was inspired by Théodore Lassalle and Adolphe Midy, acquaintances of Balzac's, who fell in love but were not allowed to wed until Adolphe made a declaration (acte respectueux, the same declaration Ginevra makes) at the age of twenty-five. Balzac was inspired by Romeo and Juliet, which was popular in France at the time of writing, and is named in the book. This explains why Vendetta is so similar to Romeo and Juliet, which also has similarities to The Chouans, a book that Balzac wrote the year before.

It's a melodramatic story about the relationship between a father and daughter that is torn asunder by their stubborn personalities. Bartolomeo is a patriarchal father who loves his daughter possessively, jealous when her love for him is shared with another man, yet so staunchly adherent to a vendetta that no longer exists that he disowns his beloved daughter, causing her downfall and death. Ginevra is talented and beautiful, but more than that, she is independent, headstrong and staunchly loyal. The two are similar, but when their values diverge, they refuse to give in to each other.

Balzac plays up Corsican versus Parisian traits. As I gather, Corsica was inhabited partly by Italians, and it was very different in culture from the rest of France. Early on, Napoleon says that the law of France can never rule in Corsica where vendettas still prevailed. The Corsicans are depicted as noble, proud and unpretentious, in contrast to the petty and self-centered Parisian girls. When the girls try to scorn Ginevra by moving her easel away from the main group's, Ginevra, unknown to herself, wins by not even realising what the girls have done and using it to her own advantage. She falls in love with Luigi because she senses the Corsican nature in him. Ginevra and Luigi fall in love because they are more similar to each other than they are to the rest of the Parisians - yet a silly family feud curses their romance.

Near the close, Luigi says "Our two families were destined to exterminate one another". The two families of the Piombos and the Portas are doomed to kill each other, initially by their hatred, and finally, in Ginevra and Luigi, by their love for each other.

Three stars for an over-the-top melodramatic story, but I enjoyed it more than my star rating suggests.

[Jeanne-Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cette nouvelle réaliste aborde le thème de l'amour sous le prisme de l'art.

L'artiste Servin a créé un atelier pour les jeunes filles. Ginevra, d'origine italienne, est la plus talentueuse et créer sans le vouloir la jalousie des bourgeoises et des aristocrates. Un jour, elle découvre que son professeur cache un proscrit, soldat blessé de Napoléon. Une belle histoire d'amour nait entre les deux héros. Mais Ginevra a promis à ses parents, les di Piombo, de se consacrer uniquement à l'art et de s'occuper d'eux. Ainsi le père, apprenant son amour pour Louis, jalouse son futur beau fils et s'oppose à leur union. Plus encore, lorsqu'il apprend le nom de Louis, il se rend compte qu'il est en Vendetta contre sa famille.
Cette union interdite force les époux à se marier seuls, n'ayant pour seule fortune que leur amour.

Cette nouvelle aborde plein de thèmes différents. L'art, la question de l'artiste, sa valeur en tant qu'homme. L'amour interdit, tel Roméo et Juliette.
On observe aussi le réalisme balzacien au regard des classes sociales de l'atelier, et surtout les perfidies dont peuvent faire preuve les jeunes filles entre elles.
Le syndrome d'Electre (de la part du père) est également présent, on observe la psychologie malsaine de l'amour d'un père pour sa fille.
La pauvreté financière s'oppose à la richesse de l'amour, la dévotion et le respect allient les deux amants maudits.
J'ai beaucoup aimé !

[Christian Molenaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those Balzacs (tee hee) situated on the borderline between his early Walter Scott riffs and the philosophical realism for which he’d come to be known. Unfortunately it hews much closer to the former, and the digressions on the value of art so characteristic of the latter only appear in the early chapter set at the atelier. The plot is almost identical to Mérimée’s “Mateo Falcone” which appeared a year earlier and is easily the superior post-Napoleonic Corsican revenge romance, but man there’s something to be said for Balzac rambling about painting and (to my knowledge) the fact this is the only story in La Comédie humaine to open with the protagonist explaining to Napoleon how he tied his enemy’s six-year old son to his bed before setting the house on fire…

[Jaime Fernández Garrido · Rating 4 out of 5]

La tercera de las novelas de "La comedia humana" nos transporta a una Francia en la que Napoleón ha sido exiliado por última vez y donde el honor y la venganza se viven de manera atormentada.

Al más puro estilo de Romeo y Julieta, Balzac nos presenta una historia de amor imposible entre dos familias enemigas a muerte (aunque no sabemos de dónde procede originalmente ese odio) y que no han hecho más que aniquilarse unos a otros.

En ese viaje, el autor nos lleva a lugares poco frecuentados, como un taller de pintura de señoritas bien, o casas humildes donde la miseria y el hambre van devorando a sus habitantes. Un paseo corto, tan terrible como fascinante.