หญิงรักร้าง

La Comédie Humaine #18

by Honoré de Balzac, วัลยา วิวัฒน์ศร (Translator)

Ce livre est parfaitement mis en page pour une lecture sur Kindle,

La Femme abandonnée (Edition Intégrale - Version Entièrement Illustrée) *Inclus une courte biographie d'Honoré De Balzac

Descriptif : À elle seule, la vicomtesse de Beauséant incarne l'élégance, la beauté et le goût parisien. Pourtant, par amour pour un marquis qui l'a abandonnée, elle sacrifie son confort et sa vie brillante, car, humiliée, elle est contrainte de se retirer à la campagne. Elle va y faire la rencontre du jeune Gaston de Nueil, qui tombe immédiatement sous son charme ...

Extrait : Monsieur de Nueil se sentait une violente envie de tomber aux pieds de cette femme alors sublime de raison et de folie, il craignit de lui paraître ridicule ; il réprima donc et son exaltation et ses pensées : il éprouvait à la fois et la crainte de ne point réussir à les bien exprimer, et la peur de quelque terrible refus ou d’une moquerie dont l’appréhension glace les âmes les plus ardentes. La réaction des sentiments qu’il refoulait au moment où ils s’élançaient de son cœur lui causa cette douleur profonde que connaissent les gens timides et les ambitieux, souvent forcés de dévorer leurs désirs. Cependant il ne put s’empêcher de rompre le silence pour dire d’une voix tremblante : – Permettez-moi, madame, de me livrer à une des plus grandes émotions de ma vie, en vous avouant ce que vous me faites éprouver. Vous m’agrandissez le cœur ! je sens en moi le désir d’occuper ma vie à vous faire oublier vos chagrins, à vous aimer pour tous ceux qui vous ont haïe ou blessée. Mais c’est une effusion de cœur bien soudaine, qu’aujourd’hui rien ne justifie et que je devrais …(Edition Intégrale - Version Entièrement Illustrée)

Genres: Classics, French Literature, France, Fiction, Romance, Tragedy, Short Stories

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1832

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

[Ariya · Rating 3 out of 5]

สำนวนเจ็บแสบ และปากกัดอย่างเลวร้ายแต่ไพเราะของบัลซัคเข้ากันดีกับการเล่าประเด็นความหน้าบาง และกลวงเปล่าของสังคมชนชั้นสูง และชนชั้นกลางของฝรั่งเศส โดยเฉพาะการเสียดสีประเด็นเรื่องความรักและการแต่งงานที่มีกลิ่นน้ำเน่านิดๆ ฟุ้งๆ หน่อย ๆ ใจหนึ่งก็รู้สึกเวทนาตัวละครพวกนี้ และอีกใจหนึ่งก็กลัวว่าเรื่องชวนหัวพวกนี้จะเกิดขึ้นกับตัวเอง ความเป็นสากลของงานคลาสสิกชอบจะหลอกให้ระแวงกับเรื่องพวกนี้เสมอ

[Etienne Mahieux · Rating 5 out of 5]

"La Femme abandonnée" est l'un des premiers piliers sur lesquels Balzac a bâti le retour des personnages dans la "Comédie humaine", puisque "Le Père Goriot" en constitue une sorte de "prequel" qui conte comment la belle Claire de Beauséant fut abandonnée par son amant le marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto.
Elle est bel et bien abandonnée au début de cette nouvelle, où sa renommée attire la curiosité du jeune Gaston de Nueil, curiosité qui se transforme bientôt en passion. C'est dire que Balzac reconnaît la dimension fantasmatique de ce genre de sentiment, dans un texte qui, quoique mince, exhibe la volonté de proposer une réflexion sur l'amour. Aussi bien, après un prologue consacré aux charmes douteux de la vie aristocratique en basse Normandie, Balzac concentre-t-il son récit sur quelques tête-à-têtes de Mme de Beauséant et de M. de Nueil, et notamment le tout premier, et sur la correspondance échangée par les amants. Comme souvent chez lui, la nouvelle contient potentiellement tout un roman d'aventures qu'il choisit de ne pas développer pour mieux se concentrer sur la situation centrale. Balzac suggère en la traitant "cette foule de motifs impossibles à dire, et que le mot de fatalité sert souvent à exprimer." Il y a notamment une sorte de fatalité de l'abandon qui poursuit Mme de Beauséant, et qu'elle semble nourrir dans une sorte de masochisme moral inhérent à la passion (un mot qui signifie "souffrance", n'est-ce pas ?) L'auteur évoque explicitement les mathématiques : cette fatalité revêt ici le caractère d'un théorème que le récit démontre, dans son implacable brièveté.

[Ionuț Anastasiu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mai întâi, o observație despre un amănunt privitor la traducerile acestei nuvele în limba română: prima îi aparține scriitorului Petru Dumitriu și a fost publicată în anul 1956 în Balzac, Opere, volumul al doilea, iar cea de-a doua lui Marcel Gafton, fiind publicată în 1975 și reeditată în Balzac, Comedia Umană, volumul al treilea în 1984 și în 2002 de editura Polirom. Petru Dumitriu era în 1956 o adevărată vedetă literară națională, fusese numit director al celebrei edituri ESPLA, cu siguranță cea mai importantă editură din epocă (în care a apărut, de altfel, și traducerea sa din Balzac, precum și cea mai importantă scriere a lui Dumitriu, romanul-fluviu Cronica de familie). Însă, în 1960, Dumitriu reușește să fugă în Germania Federală, așa că autoritățile comuniste au cenzurat întreaga sa operă, inclusiv traducerile din Balzac, ce nu au fost niciodată reeditate. Mai mult decât atât, în volumul Balzac, Comedia Umană, volumul al treilea, la care am făcut referire mai sus, în Nota introductivă, Angela Ion menționează traducerea din 1956, dar fără să amintească numele celui care a tradus Femeia părăsită, de parcă ar fi fost o traducere anonimă. Trist dar totuși de înțeles, dat fiind contextul istoric.

Pe de altă parte, elementele cu adevărat relevante, din punctul meu de vedere, ale Femeii părăsite, sunt, mai întâi, eroina, Claire de Bourgogne, doamnă de Beauséant, iar, în al doilea rând, deznodământul, la care mărturisesc că nu mă așteptam absolut deloc.
Intriga se desfășoară pe parcursul a nouă ani, începând cu 1822, când "tânărul parizian, care se numea domnul baron Gaston de Nueil", de douăzeci și trei de ani, primește recomandarea medicilor de a părăsi Parisul pentru a se stabili în frumosul oraș din Normandia, Bayeux. Iar aici va afla despre o femeie pe care toți locuitorii orașului o evită, deoarece a îndrăznit să-și înșele soțul și acum locuiește despărțită de acesta, dar fără să poată divorța de cel care i-a fost impus drept soț. Dar, lui Gaston povestea de viață a femeii i se pare fascinantă. Să o lăsăm pe Claire să ne spună această poveste: "Am sfărâmat, în ciuda legilor, legăturile căsătoriei; era o greşeală, o crimă, tot ce vrei, dar pentru mine, starea aceea era la fel cu moartea. Am vrut să trăiesc. Dacă aş fi fost mamă, poate că aş fi găsit puterea să îndur chinul unei căsătorii impuse de convenienţe. La optsprezece ani, biete fete, nu ştim mai nimic din ce ni se porunceşte să facem. Am nesocotit legile lumii, lumea m-a pedepsit; amândouă am avut dreptate. Am căutat fericirea. A fi fericit nu e oare o cerinţă a firii noastre? Eram tânără, frumoasă… Mi s-a părut că întâlnesc o fiinţă tot atât de iubitoare pe cât arăta de pătimaşă. Şi am fost iubită cu patimă o vreme…Credeam, spuse ea mai departe, că un bărbat nu trebuie să părăsească o femeie în situaţia în care mă găseam. Am fost părăsită. Se vede că am încetat de a-i mai place. Da, am călcat, fără îndoială, vreo lege a firii; poate că voi fi fost prea îndrăgostită, prea devotată, sau poate că-i ceream prea mult, ştiu şi eu? Nenorocirea m-a luminat. După ce, vreme îndelungată, am fost eu aceea care învinuiam, am răbdat ca eu să fiu singura vinovată. L-am iertat astfel, în dauna mea, pe acela de care credeam că trebuie să mă plâng. Nu am fost destul de dibace ca să-l păstrez; soarta m-a pedepsit rău de tot pentru stângăcia mea. Nu ştiu decât să iubesc; cum poţi să te mai gândeşti la tine când iubeşti? Am fost aşadar o roabă, când ar fi trebuit să fiu tiran. Acei care mă vor cunoaşte mă pot osândi, dar mă vor stima. Suferinţele mele m-au făcut să nu mă mai expun să fiu părăsită. Nu înţeleg cum de mai trăiesc, după ce am îndurat durerea din primele opt zile care au urmat crizei, cea mai cumplită din viaţa unei femei". Ce poți să mai zici, după această pledoarie impresionantă? Cititorului nu îi rămâne altceva decât să tacă și să citească mai departe, iar lui Gaston să se îndrăgostească de femeia cu opt ani mai mare decât el: "Sunt atras către dumneavoastră de o putere căreia nu-i pot rezista şi de plăcerea fără margini pe care o încerc în preajma dumneavoastră şi mă gândesc la dumneavoastră cu tot egoismul care ne îndreaptă acolo unde este pentru noi căldura dătătoare de viaţă. Nu mă cred vrednic de dumneavoastră...Sunteţi pentru mine singura femeie de pe lume". Multe tabuuri sociale sunt pe cale să fie distruse de această poveste de iubire. Dar, întrebarea care se pune este dacă ea va rezista o lungă perioadă de timp sau nu. Lectură plăcută!

Notă: citatele sunt din ediția din 1956, traducerea Petru Dumitriu.

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this romantic read and the ending so tragic, Balzac has both sad and happy endings throughout this series, "The Deserted Woman" had a bittersweet ending, a la Balzac! Did I tell you I loved his stories? I adore his writing and I am happily enjoying my 2020 reading schedule.💕😘

I did not read this edition but a Delphi Collection of his work with the brief synopsis below.

"This short story was published in 1832 and relates the story of Baron Gaston de Nueil, a young man sent to rural Normandy to recover his health. The Baron fits into the aristocratic scene easily, when he hears that the notorious Madame de Beauseant, who has been thrown over by the Marquis d’Ajuda-Pinto, has arrived. The young Baron is intrigued and manages to bring about an introduction from one of her kinsmen. "

I was thinking that Claire was Louis and Marie Gaston's mother but that is not so but they had similar happenings and as I read on, I will learn more. Once again my edition has a glossary of characters which helped clarify for me this distinction.

Story in short- Gaston is staying in the country and finds an woman abandoned by a lover living nearby, which he longs to see.


💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢SPOILER ALERT 💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢


I was heart broken when Gaston left Claire after 10 years to marry into a loveless marriage. Why? Claire foresaw this but took a chance at love. His death after he tried to regain her very tragic, if his mother would have known the ending of her son, would she have pushed his marriage?


"BEAUSEANT (Vicomtesse de), born Clair de Bourgogne, in 1792. Wife of the preceding and cousin of Eugene de Rastignac. Of a family almost royal. Deceived by her lover, Miguel d’Ajuda-Pinto, who, while continuing his intimacy with her, asked and obtained the hand of Berthe de Rochefide, the vicomtesse left Paris secretly before this wedding and on the morning following a grand ball which was given at her home where she shone in all her pride and splendor. In 1822 this “deserted woman” had lived for three years in the most rigid seclusion at Courcelles near Bayeux. Gaston de Nueil, a young man of three and twenty, who had been sent to Normandy for his health, succeeded in making her acquaintance, was immediately smitten with her and, after a long seige, became her lover. This was at Geneva, whither she had fled. Their intimacy lasted for nine years, being broken by the marriage of the young man. "

I loved this sad story. I was amazed that he left her for marrying money. She saw it coming and he sees his wife knowing the love with her was not to be and the love for Claire was something special never to happen again. Until I re read about story of Louis and Marie Gaston, I thought that this was their mother but it was not after looking at the glossary of names it is apparent that they are different. Claire and Gaston has no children or they would have talked about them. I yield. Gaston de Nueil, is the younger son and is quite young and going to school but his health and working too hard has him staying with his cousin in the country and the insipid life has almost sunken him in until he heard about Claire Beauseant and how she lives in solitude because of a rash decision she made in going with another man, being married and unhappy so young, but to be abandoned by a lover because she had no art to keep him. Gaston loves her before meeting her and feels for her, he writes a letter that will be used against him 10 years later when he is 30 and his mother wants him to marry a woman with money and he succumbs. So at first he wins Claire's love and they live out of country but come back after his father and older brother die, his mother works on him and is an enemy of Claire. She writes a letter telling him she understands his wanting to start a new life but he will never love like they loved and she had him as a lover that his wife will never. She refuses to see him again and he is married and his wife is pregnant. Claire lives nearby on her property and he hunts their and begins to try to see his love again seeing his mistake in leaving her. When he comes to see her she tells she will jump out the window if he steps closer and sends him a letter with what he had said to her long ago and she was right in seeing him in the future instead of him saying he would die without her. He writes another letter but it returns not opened and he is overcome with his life of a loveless marriage and without love that he shots himself. Claire did not expect this but being a mistress again after he married was too much.

[Armin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kein großer Wurf aber eine treffsichere Gesellschaftskritik

It is the opinion of many of Balzac's admirers, and it was the general verdict of his day, that in all this the greatest triumphs are the characters of women. Every frech critic tells us that the immense success came him through women - that they constituted his first, his last, his fondest public. „Who rendered more deliciously than he“, asks Sainte-Beuve, „the duchesses and viscountesess of the end of the Restoration - those women of thirty who, already on the stage, awaited their painter with a vague anxiety, so that when he and they stood face to face there was a sort of electric movement of recognition?“ (...) It may be said, indeed that woman are the keystone of the Comédie humaine. If the men were taken out, there would be some gaps and fissures, if the women were taken out, the whole fabric would collapse. Henry James*

La femme abandonnée ist ein Titel mit doppelter Bedeutung, denn die Heldin wurde schon bei Beginn der Erzählung verlassen und weiß, dass ihr dieses Schicksal wieder droht, wenn sie sich auf ihren nächsten Bewerber einlässt. Eine Erfahrung, deren Wiederholung sich die Heldin unbedingt ersparen will.

In Pere Goriot fungiert Madame de Beauséant (Claire de Bourgogne) als einzige Verwandte mit Verbindungen zum Hochadel als Türöffner zur feinen Gesellschaft für Rastignac, ehe der sich als Notstopfen, Liebhaber und Zeitvertreib bei Delphine de Rastignac unentbehrlich machen kann. Aus dieser, vom offiziellen Gatten durchaus geschätzten und geschützten, Position heraus, kann er sein eigenes Netz knüpfen und dabei auch mit seinem, in jeder Hinsicht unabhängigeren, Vorgänger eine enge Freundschaft schließen. Rastignac wird vom dicken Geldmann in mehr als einer Hinsicht ausgenutzt, denn der Baron muss hinter den Kulissen nicht mehr Zeit als nötig auf seine Vorzeigefrau und ihre Bedürfnisse ver(sch)wenden, ehe die Rache des Herzens knüppeldick über den legalen Betrüger herein bricht (Glanz und Elend).

Vorgeschichte in Vater Goriot (Achtung unvermeidliche Spoilergefahr)

Claire de Bourgogne ist eine dieser Frauen, die so früh wie möglich standesgemäß verheiratet wurden, aber so wenig für ihren Gatten übrig haben wie dieser für das junge Mädel. Im Élegant Ajuda-Pinto findet die Claire (https://balzacbooks.wordpress.com/201...) den Mann fürs Herz, doch der Schönling und Spieler ist, wie seine Kumpels Marsay, de Trailles oder später auch Rastignac, maximal verschuldet, der Glanz auf Pump kann nur auf eine Art saniert werden: eine reiche Heirat. In Vater Goriot erfährt die Vicomtesse als letzte vom Ergebnis dieser nur allzu vorhersehbaren Entwicklung. Das Ergebnis ist die maximale Demütigung für die sensible Natur, die sich aus der Gesellschaft zurück zieht. Die nächsten drei Jahre lebt sie zurück gezogen in der Normandie.

Die Erzählung (ganz akute Spoilergefahr)

Wie es das Schicksal so will, muss der junge Baron Gaston de Neuil aus gesundheitlichen Gründen das Klima der Hauptstadt meiden und ist nahe dran zu verbauern, als die Nachricht von der schönen Sünderin seine Lebensgeister weckt. Unter falschem Vorwand erschleicht er sich einen Besuchstermin, ist überwältigt und hinterlässt seinerseits einen so starken Eindruck, dass die Vicomtesse in die Schweiz entflieht. Er versteht sofort, dass der Korb kein Thema mehr ist, wenn die gesellschaftlichen Rücksichten weg fallen und reist seiner Angebeteten hinterher und wird erhört.
Das Hauptargument der Vicomtesse war der Altersunterschied (sie 30 er 23), der ist kein Thema bis die Verpflichtungen Gaston doch noch einholen. Nachdem Vater und älterer Bruder gestorben sind, ist er Familienoberhaupt und zu einer Heirat verpflichtet, die auch das Vermögen vermehrt und die Erbfolge sichert. Da Claires Gatte einfach nicht sterben will, macht Gastons Mutter Druck und präsentiert ein junges Ding mit einem doppelt so hohen jährlichem Einkommen wie das der de Neuils als Bonus.
Danach wiederholt sich der Teufelskreislauf: Die Vicomtesse sieht sämtliche Befürchtungen bestätigt, gibt Gaston die Freiheit zurück, es sei denn, er eilt sofort zu ihr (sie wohnt auf dem Nachbargut) und schwört ewige Liebe. Da er eine Nacht drüber schlafen will, schickt ihm Claire seinen ersten Liebesbrief zurück und entbindet ihn von sämtlichen Versprechen. Er heiratet das junge Ding mit dem vielen Geld, langweilt sich mit einer Frau zu Tode, mit der es keine Gemeinsamkeiten gibt. Tatsächlich treibt Stéphanie mit ihrem Herumgestümpere auf den Tasten ihren Mann aus dem Haus und auf die Jagd. Da die Vicomtesse jeden weiteren persönlichen Kontakt verweigert, sind Pulver und Blei der einzige Ausweg aus der Misere.
Fazit: Kein großer Wurf aber eine treffsichere Gesellschaftskritik
Den Teufelskreislauf der Geldheiraten und die immensen Nebenkosten thematisiert Balzac in dieser kurzen Erzählung sehr gründlich. Das Liebesglück des Paares außerhalb der Gesellschaft nimmt schon ein wenig Dumas Kameliendame vorweg. Zumal die Familienrücksichten auch im weiteren Verlauf zur Katastrophe beitragen, auch wenn der Mann nicht mit dem Ergebnis weiter leben will oder kann. Claire ist als Frau gezeichnet, die nach dem Trauma des Verlusts ihres ersten Geliebten, der mit maximaler Schadenfreude durch ihr komplettes Umfeld einher ging, davor zurück schreckt, noch einmal verlassen zu werden. Zumal die Biologie und die gesellschaftliche Norm eine sich selbst bestätigende Prophezeiung daraus machen. In Die Entmündigung https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... liefert ihr ehemaliger Protegée Rastignac das beste Beispiel dafür: Er will seine mittlerweile 36jährige Geliebte Delphine kicken, um sich durch eine reiche Heirat zu sanieren. Letztendlich führen aber Claires Ängste und ihre unversöhnliche Einsicht in den Lauf der Welt zur Katastrophe.
Bei der Charakterzeichnung bestätigt La femme abandonnée aber auf jeden Fall das Verdikt von Henry James, obwohl Madame de Beauseant keine der schäbigen Schurkinnen mit der glänzenden Fassade darstellt, sondern in ihrer Verletzlichkeit absolut authentisch wirkt. Dass ihre junge Nachfolgerin letztendlich in dieselbe Falle gehen muss, macht die Geschichte nur noch tragischer. Gaston bleibt, trotz großer Worte und der Erfüllung seines frühen Versprechens mit Pulver und Blei, vergleichsweise blass.

* Unbedingt lesen, falls zur Hand, James Essay ist noch besser als Hofmannsthal, der schon Stefan Zweigs Drei Meister deutlich in den Schatten stellt.

[Iris ☾ (iriis.dreamer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“La comedia humana” es la extensa y popular saga de la que forman parte todos los escritos del célebre escritor francés, Honoré de Balzac. «La femme abandonnée» (La mujer abandonada), forma parte de la subsaga “Escenas de la vida privada” y fue publicada en 1833. La historia cuenta con una precuela que se publicó posteriormente, en 1835, titulada “Le père Goriot”, una de las novelas más aclamadas del autor.

Abandonada por su primer amor y marido, Claire de Beauséant, vive recluida en su castillo de Normandia hasta que recibe la visita de Gaston de Nueil, un joven acomodado y curioso que conoce su situación y termina ofreciéndole su amor eterno. Por la situación en la que se halla la vizcondesa, la diferencia de edad entre ambos y a sabiendas de que no puede ofrecerle un futuro aceptado socialmente, lo rechazará en más de una ocasión hasta que le haga ceder la pasión.

Estamos ante una nouvelle de menos de cien páginas en la que Balzac nos ofrece una cruda y pesimista lección: el amor verdadero a veces no vence ante las terribles leyes que dominan el convencionalismo. En la trama veremos cómo se enfrenta el amor pasional al confort y la tranquila y monótona vida burguesa. Una obra tierna y cruel a la vez, donde el arrepentimiento llega demasiado tarde, donde todo es más difícil de lo que parece y donde tenemos a una protagonista maravillosa.

Este ha sido mi primer encuentro literario con Honoré y mientras lo leía fue inevitable acordarme en varias ocasiones y hallar similitudes con la escritura de Madame de Lafayette. Sus historias, plagadas de aventuras palaciegas, romances con finales dramáticos y su delicada sensibilidad al narrar y transmitir, me resultó electrizante y he sentido lo mismo con este.

Para finalizar y sin querer dar fin a esta reseña, simplemente me queda añadir que quedo totalmente satisfecha y enamorada de este autor. Además como siempre, tras finalizar la lectura me he documentado y he descubierto que el escritor vivió una serie de situaciones similares que le inspiraron a escribir la novela y es más, esta está dedicada a una de sus amantes. Deseosa de poder seguir con otra de sus obras y poder disfrutar de la maravillosa experiencia lectora que este ofrece con sus escritos.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has everyone seen these de Balzac memes and just late for the punchlines? OMG! I randomly came across one on Pinterest and proceeded to waste so much time looking at them. PRICELESS

[Felipe Oquendo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uma história interessante, com bom final, estragado pela mania de explicações do Balzac.

Aqui há o retrabalho de certos temas caros a Balzac: todos os laços entre mulheres mais velhas e homens mais novos estão fadados ao fracasso; amor x casamento; leis naturais x leis sociais.

Os diálogos e as cartas são o ponto alto, caracterizando perfeitamente o par de amantes. Especial é a caracterização que Balzac faz da mãe de Gastão e da moça que viria a ser sua esposa: rápida, ligeira e suficiente para pintar todo um quadro. Quando Balzac se restringe a ser narrador-relator (ao invés de impor ao leitor suas opiniões e adjetivos subjetivos) a história fica realmente boa. Contudo, alguns pontos ele deixa de desenvolver, e essa omissão me soube mais a preguiça do que a escolha artística e estrutural.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excerpt my summary from the Balzac group on Yahoo:

Frankly, I expected "The Deserted Woman" to be another mere anecdote, like some of the earlier shorter works we have read. A young man who, of all things, is sent to rural Normandy near Bayeux to recover his health (the last place I would have picked!) fits into the aristocratic scene easily. He is the Baron Gaston de Nueil, and he has good teeth and some prospects in life.

While in Normandy, he hears that the notorious Madame de Beauseant, who has been thrown over by the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto, has moved into town. The Baron is intrigued and manages to wrangle an introduction from one of her kinsmen. The Baron is a very young and inexperienced 23; Mme de Beauseant, 30 -- and married, but not to excess, and not living with her husband.

He manages to get into her chateau with his letter, but it quickly becomes apparent to the Vicomtesse (for such she is) that he is practicing his wiles on her. At first, she instruct her servant to show him out; but he comes back and worms his way into her heart.

When Mme de B suddenly decamps and moves to Switzerland, the Baron follows her and sets up living with her -- for nine years. When his father dies, the Baron and his noble mistress move south into France and continue living together.

In the meantime, the Baron's widowed mother takes a dim view of the Vicomtesse and, in fact, refuses to acknowledge her: Instead, she dangles a much younger woman in front of the Baron, a Mlle Stephanie de Rodiere, "a somewhat insignificant, pink-and-white young person, as straight as a poplar."

The Vicomtesse intuitively feels that she is becoming something of a burden to the Baron. By now he is 30, and she is 40. (Those numbers don't add up right, do they? The Victomtesse has aged ten years to Gaston's seven.) When her lover sends her a temporizing letter, she merely returns one of the letters he wrote nine years ago with the comment, "Monsieur, you are free."

Gaston wastes no time in marrying Stepahnie, but then: "The Comte [I guess he now has his father's title:] de Nueil sank a few days after his marriage into something like conjugal apathy, which might be interpreted to mean happiness or unhappiness equally easily." The Vicomtesse, in the meantime, does not move from the neighborhood.

Typically Promethean Balzacian hero that he is, Gaston can't quite let go of his old love and bursts in to visit her. She seems to have aged and become like a nun in her cell; and she threatens to throw herself out of the window if Gaston comes any closer. Upon which, Gaston returns home, where his new wife is still "butchering" the same piece on the piano an hour later, goes into a drawing room and shoots himself to death with his rifle.

At the end, Balzac reads us a lesson on the nature of love:

"A woman does not bend and form herself in a day to the caprices of passion. The pleasure of loving, like some rare flower, needs the most careful ingenuity of culture." What Balzac does not come out and say explicitly is that neither can this particular man, Gaston de Nueil bend and form himself to the caprices of a new passion and merely abandon the old passion just like that.

[Fazackerly Toast · Rating 3 out of 5]

yet another pair of idiotic overwrought lovers with more money and leisure than sense.

[Maria Thomarey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ένα μικρό αριστούργημα

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opening lines:
En 1822, au commencement du printemps, les médecins de Paris envoyèrent en Basse-Normandie un jeune homme qui relevait alors d'une maladie inflammatoire causée par quelque excès d'étude, ou de vie peut-être. Sa convalescence exigeait un repos complet, une nourriture douce, un air froid et l'absence totale de sensations extrêmes.

Quotation:

N'étant ni mère ni épouse, repoussée par le monde, privée du seul coeur qui pût faire battre le sien sans honte, ne tirant d'aucun sentiment les secours nécessaires à son âme chancelante, elle devait prendre sa force sur elle-même, vivre de sa propre vie, et n'avoir d'autre espérance que celle de la femme abandonnée : attendre la mort, en hâter la lenteur malgré les beaux jours qui lui restaient encore. Se sentir destinée au bonheur, et périr sans le recevoir, sans le donner ?

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)
3* Madame Firmiani (1832)
3* Une Double Famille (1830)
4* La paix du ménage (1830)
3* La Fausse Maîtresse (1842)
3* Étude de femme (1830)
4* Albert Savarus (1842)
4* Mémoires de Deux Jeunes Mariées (1841)
3* Le Colonel Chabert (1844, first published as La transaction, 1832)
4* Une fille d'Eve (1839)
3* La Femme Abandonee (1833)

[diane.rgm · Rating 5 out of 5]

68 pages

Simple, rapide, efficace…. Je dis OUI !

Une plume très fluide et accessible mais qui reste très jolie. Un récit court mais qui pour autant ne nécessite pas plus. Une belle histoire sur le fond comme la forme.

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Written in 1832, and rehearsing the exile of Mme. de Beauseant (whose earlier story will later be told in 1835, in Père Goriot), the short tale (50 pages) is sorely in need of a new translation.

[Kristian Andreev · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Изоставената жена" е разказ на Балзак, който ни среща с така познатата виконтеса Дьо Босеан от прочутия роман "Дядо Горио". Тук тя е отхвърлена от обществото, а за онова време си е голяма драма това. Но Гастон вижда в нея... нещо любопитно. И така, след една-две срещи, няколко писма и типичното отблъскване и драматизъм от страна на виконтесата, се появява любовта, която, за съжаление, е немного дълга. 💔

Нещо интересно в произведенията на Балзак – последните изречения на този разказ са сякаш кулминацията му, така е и в "Дядо Горио", факт е, че се случват много неща, но моментите, в които си отваряш устата или се разчувстваш, са винаги близо до края при писателите реалисти! 🙂

Със сигурност исках още, свикнал съм да чета Балзак в не такива кратки произведения и ми остави недовършеност накрая, но е чудесно за първа среща с монументалното му творчество, което е над 90 романа, прочутият цикъл – "Човешка комедия". Само дето не е комедия, а трагедия... и не, не в онова време, сега е по-зле. ✌️

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une histoire d'amour entre une Comtesse et un Baron.
Une courte nouvelle facile à lire.

[Asaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ciekawy portret relacji starszej kobiety z młodszym mężczyzną, pełny egzaltacji uczuć, tak typowej dla epoki na tle społeczeństwa paryskiego.

Miała być fantastyka słowiańska, a wpadam w ciąg realizmu Balzaca. Może to i dobrze? Przekład tradycyjnie Boya-Żeleńskiego, więc nie mam zastrzeżeń :)

Od strony realizacji dźwiękowej, wolne lektury chyba trafiły na naprawdę dobrą narratorkę, bo Domańską słucha mi się bardzo dobrze.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

La Femme Abandonnée, from the Chef D’Oeuvre La Comédie Humaine by Honoré de Balzac, included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list

https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

10 out of 10





The about five thousand pages of The Human Comedy have opened with At the Sign of the Cat and Racket http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/05/l... wherein we have yet another Abandoned Woman, who is in the first place wooed by a young painter, only to have her replaced, once The Honeymoon Effect will have set in, or perhaps The Coolidge Effect – which is similar and has its basis on an anecdote with the American president of one hundred years ago, who went to visit a farm, where a very active rooster attracts the attention of the first lady, who asks how many times per say does he jump on the hen and she is told that it is one hundred times (I am just making this up, but it is a big number) and she says that the president must know about this and when he finds it, he asks if it is always the same hen and when told it is a different one all the time, she wants his wife to know about it…ergo the Coolidge Effect and the painter’s abandonment of his spouse…



A variation of the theme we find in La Paix du Menage, where I am thinking that we can include a mistaken Thin Slicing Effect, for the main character is wrong in her interpretations, when she is attracted to a handsome man, presentable and yet unknown to the public, and when she meets him in a shop, helping a woman, she assumes that this is just an assistant and therefore way beneath her class and status (indeed, we are told in a documentary based on the very influential Capital in the 21st by Thomas Piketty that there was no way in centuries past for someone from the rich class to have anything to do with anybody from a different social stratum) and decides to marry an old, but rich and aristocrat man, only to find some time later that the one she had rejected is in fact a…peer of France, ergo nec plus ultra…

In The Abandoned Woman, we are in 1822, in Bayeux to begin with and we meet the baron Gaston de Nueil and Madame de Sainte –Severe, we learn about the old aristocracy, those who have new money and the others who have lost their fortunes, or much of that…Gaston de Nueil has eighteen thousand livres of rent and expects to inherit from his father the castle of Manerville with its dependences…as it happens with works that are not covered by copyright anymore, you can find this at https://beq.ebooksgratuits.com/balzac... and in other places where you can read it for free, or download it



You can also find this at https://librivox.org/ and listen to Bernard reading it and exult, he is phenomenal and reads it seems all the Human Comedy…another novel included in La Comedie is A Double Family, where we see from a different angle the effects of wealth, which is not the secret of happiness http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/06/u... indeed, we now know from positive psychology research that it is so…one case is that of lottery winners, who get one million dollars and more overnight, become happier for some months and then return to the base level of happiness, proving that accumulating fortunes does not make us jollier…



True, the opposite does not work better, in that homeless people are not generally merry and blissful, we should look for the Aristotelian Golden Mean, and avoid the extremes and excesses in everything, an income that offers comfort is fine, and it is better to be time affluent than otherwise and if we spend, to ensure we do on experiences, such as travelling, not material things, for which we have the Hedonic Adaptation that will get us used with anything, cars, jewelry, clothes and then we stop taking pleasure in them…

‘there is a prestige in all sorts of celebrity’ and we can assume that the fame of Madame de Beauseant is part of the reason why the baron Gaston de Nueil is interested in her, curios to find more and come close to someone so different from what he had known so far, women of society with ‘usual’ behavior…she had had a well-known relationship with a man ‘la gloire d’un crime en efface la honte’



The way the story evolves, we can think of yet another narrative in La Comedie Humaine, La Vendetta, where forbidden relationships have a high price http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/05/l... when a man and woman bond against the history of hatred between the two families (much like in the better known Romeo and Juliet, with their Montague and Capulet clans) they suffer from the ostracism, banishment and then the poverty and exclusion bring death with them…

Love is at the center of The Abandoned Woman, as well as it is the uniting theme of The Human Comedy – one of our celebrated, local authors, perhaps the one with greatest appeal towards the end of communism (which given that we have been governed by the Red Plague until recently we could say we have not yet fully escaped) said at the ned of his most read work that ‘if there is no love, there is nothing’- but it is such an elusive notion…the under signed has been an adept of the Thomas Mann ‘doctrine’ ,as proposed in a short story, where one character is appalled by the frequency with which people say…’I love you so much, there are no words to describe what I feel and will always admire you so much’



Words to that effect are heard often, but the personage is right in saying that it is not true, indeed, he insists that words like ‘love and friendship’ have correspondence, exist only in art, literature, for in real life, when it comes to actions, demonstrating that our love is true, we are friends for those who need us, we in fact prove that we do not love forever – which means in that strict sense we never did – and when friends need us, we have something else to do, even when it is something easy, we do not have the resources and prefer to gossip behind their back, envy those we call friends…in a way, the love in this story is not real…

When there has been a period of some years, the woman is forty and the man is thirty, the same difference is there between them, but things have changed and it is not that she is getting older, but the Honeymoon Effect is showing, perhaps coupled with the Coolidge Effect…in the words of Professor Tal Ben-Shahar, we could be married with one of the beauties, say Kristen Stewart or Lily James, and still, after about two years, prefer somebody ‘new’…

[Jeffrey Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

I doubt that I'll live to read all of La comedie humaine, and, if I do, by the time I get to the end, I'll probably have forgotten the first novels. Nevertheless...
La Femme Abandonnee has a very surprising ending, which is worth getting to.
Today's reader gets tired of Balzac's characters with aristocratic names and pedigrees, but I guess that's what his readers wanted from him.
The centerpiece of this book is a long-lasting love affair between a young nobleman, Gaston de Nueil (a name that I find very difficult to pronounce) and an older woman who has disgraced herself by leaving her husband for a lover, who then abandoned her. She still has plenty of money, as does Gaston, with servants, and estates. They live together happily for year and then...
If Balzac and French novels in general were regarded as immoral, this extramarital love affair, which Balzac admires, is one of the reasons for that.
There's a lot of heavy philosophizing in this book about the nature of men and women, love, and so on, very little of which is not terrifically dated. This book would make a fantastic source for a monograph on gender in Restoration French society.
I don't think Balzac had quite found himself as a novelist yet, but his writing still has the intensity that Baudelaire admired so much.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh dear, this is rather melodramatic, but it's probably a fair representation of the social consequences of desertion on a woman in the 19th century, and of the impossibility of divorce.

[Emmanuel Wallart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une superbe nouvelle balzacienne sur la supposée vie de province. Une femme fautive, une jeune homme ingénu... Tendre et cruelle à la fois.

[Lina · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75/3

Un style étonnamment proche de Mme de La Fayette!

[Sonia MM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relato sobre una mujer aislada socialmente por haberse separado de su marido y sus amores con un joven que le promete amor eterno, pero que se dejará llevar por los convencionalismos.

[Piotr Nowak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Side story pani debizą - kuzynki zięcia Ojca Goriota.

[Luis Rodrigues · Rating 5 out of 5]

Na Femme abandonnée, Balzac narra os amores de Madame de Beauséant com Gaston de Nueil. A pequena novela contém dois temas caros ao autor: dois amantes com diferença de idades que leva ao rompimento, e a contradição entre amor e casamento como instituição social.

A Madame, que nunca é referida pelo seu nome próprio (Claire), vive em solidão na sua residência de Courcelles, depois de o seu amante português ter rompido para se casar. E é uma reprise desta história que vai viver com Gaston, desta vez com o enquadramento homem jovem - mulher mais velha como ameaça em pano de fundo. No início, Gaston tem 22 anos e ela está a atingir os 30. Depois de alguma resistência ao ímpeto conquistador do rapaz, a cedência de Madame dá lugar a um período de intensa felicidade, cerca de nove anos de vida a dois em Genebra. Os problemas surgem quando Gaston passa os 30 e Madame (cujo marido, de que há muito se separou, continua vivo e de perfeita saúde) chega aos 40. Vence a pressão da mãe para casar o rapaz: é tempo de fazer a sua vida de homem.

As cartas têm um papel de relevo na exposição de sentimentos das personagens, que frequentemente comunicam entre si por longas mensagens escritas. Na que envia a Gaston, quando pressente que o fim da relação está iminente, Madame revela conhecer e compreender a separação que aí vem; serve-lhe de consolo que mais nenhuma mulher o terá como ela o conheceu - no fulgor da juventude e sem as inquietações que a "vida de homem" lhe irá trazer no rolar dos dias. A senhora que se segue não irá encontrar o Gaston que ela amou, nem no corpo nem na alma.

Gaston abandona Madame e casa, como previsto, com uma rapariga nova e rica. Certo dia, a saudade de Madame torna-se-lhe insuportável e vai de improviso visitá-la. Madame repele-o, ameaçando que se atira da janela. De regresso a casa, Gaston escreve uma carta a Madame, declarando que se trata de um caso de vida ou de morte para ele. Senta-se à lareira, em frente da esposa, enquanto aguarda que o mensageiro traga a resposta. Quando esta lhe é entregue, Gaston pega na espingarda de caça e mata-se.

O narrador termina explicando que a Madame não deve ter previsto onde poderia levar o desespero de Gaston. Possivelmente pensava que só ela estaria a sofrer. Mas estava no seu direito de recusar a mais humilhante das partilhas, "que uma esposa pode sofrer por razões sociais, mas que deve repugnar a uma amante, já que é na pureza do seu amor que reside a própria justificação".

[La Cucaracha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balzac po raz kolejny przedstawia relację damsko-męską: sposób jej wzrastania, rozwijania i umierania. Konwenanse, kobiece sztuczki, instynkty, popędy, uczucia, które kierują mężczyznami i kobietami... to wszystko Balzac opisuje w wyrafinowany sposób. Każdy gest, spojrzenie są tu istotne. Cenię tego autora głównie za niezwykłą spostrzegawczość, umiejętność dotykania niedotykalnego, niezmiennie zachwycający i uwodzący język. W tym ostatnim to zapewne też wielka zasługa i kunszt tłumacza: Boya-Żeleńskiego. Nie wyobrażam sobie, by współczesne tłumaczenie mogło okazać się doskonalsze.
I choć pod koniec wielość wzniosłych słów zaczyna już męczyć, to całość była naprawdę przyjemną lekturą.

"Gaston chciwie pochwycił krzesło. Oczy jego rozszerzone szczęściem, tryskały blaskiem tak żywym, że wicehrabina nie mogła wytrzymać tego spojrzenia, spuściła oczy na książkę i syciła się tą wciąż nową rozkoszą, iż jest dla mężczyzny źródłem jego szczęścia: uczucie niezniszczalne u kobiety. Gaston odgadł panią de Beauséant. Kobieta jest tak wdzięczna, gdy spotka człowieka zestrojonego z tak logicznymi kaprysami jej serca, człowieka, który pojmuje sprzeczne na pozór odruchy jej myśli, ulotne zawstydzenia jej wrażeń, to trwożnych, to zuchwałych, zdumiewającą mieszaninę kokieterii i naiwności!"

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baron Gaston de Nueil verliebt sich in eine Madame de Beauséant. Das sieht nicht gut aus, denn sie hat kein Interesse an eine Liebschaft, mit allem Weltlichen abgeschlossen. Denn sie ist eine Verlassene, und zwar von einem früheren Geliebten, während sie noch verheiratet war. Unser Baron aber ist wild entschlossen. Sie flieht nach Genf, er hinterher. Und endlich gibt sie auf. Und sie verbringen ein paar glückliche Jahre, in wilder Ehe liegend. Das allerdings gefällt der Frau Mama so gar nicht. Und schließlich bringt sie den Sohn dazu, eine standesgemäße, finanziell auch lukrative Ehe einzugehen. Die Verlassene wird wieder verlassen. Der Verlasser aber ist unglücklich, hatte sie auch nur halbherzig verlassen, und nun will er die Geliebte zurück. Nun aber will sie nicht mehr, was man ja auch irgendwie verstehen kann. Er nimmt sich sein Jagdgewehr und erschießt sich. - Ein ganz ungewöhnlich befriedigendes Ende einer sonst nicht ganz so großartigen Geschichte. (7/10)

[Jaime Fernández Garrido · Rating 3 out of 5]

La decimotercera historia del ciclo "La comedia humana", de Honoré de Balzac nos saca del París de sus amores y nos lleva a Normandía. Allí Gaston de Nueil, que ha sido enviado por motivos de salud, descubre pronto que todo es demasiado provinciano para él y no puede más que odiar su exilio sanitario. Por suerte para él, escondida en una casa de las afueras, vive la señora de Beauséant, que vive recluida tras ser abandonada por su marido. El romance se presenta inevitable.

Y al igual que se presenta el romance, también llega el drama, cuando aparece una jovencita con la que los padres del barón de Nueil querrán que se case y abandone a su amante. Aunque eso sí, aquí el final no será el esperado.

El libro incluye la descripción detallada de ese mundo alejado de París, donde lo que allí consideran elegante sería una paletada en la capital, así como algunos diálogos escritos con la sabiduría de Balzac y la inclusión de varias cartas largas que se envían los dos protagonistas de la historia y en las que los personajes hablan de manera totalmente diferente a como lo hacen en su vida cotidiana, lo que refleja muy bien la realidad de dos lenguajes distintos en contextos diferentes.

[szymek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zawsze jestem zachwycony Balzakiem. W pełni relable - oto probka" (a to tylko część podkreślonych):

"Ci, którzy umieją zasztyletować kochankę, są bardzo miłosierni, kiedy ją zabijają w chwili, gdy jest szczęśliwa, niewinna, w pełni złudzeń…"


"Umiem tylko kochać: jak myśleć o sobie, kiedy się kocha? Byłam niewolnicą, kiedy powinnam była stać się tyranem."

"Jeszcze dość młody, aby odczuwać ów bolesny urok, jaki idealna kobieta rzuca na świeże i namiętne dusze, przeżył burzliwą noc, jedną z tych, w których młodzi ludzie przebiegają drogę od szczęścia do samobójstwa, od samobójstwa do szczęścia, chłoną całe życie upojeń i zasypiają wyczerpani. Nieszczęsne noce, w których największym nieszczęściem, jakie się może trafić, jest to, że się człowiek budzi filozofem. Zbyt szczerze zakochany, aby zasnąć."

[Alex-Mot-à-Mots · Rating 3 out of 5]

LA FEMME ABANDONNEE

Le Comte Gaston de Nueil tombe amoureux de Mme de Beauséant sans même l’avoir vu.

Elle n’a pu divorcé et vit seule chez elle, recevant peu.

Elle a 30 ans, et lui 22. Pour pouvoir vivre leur passion, ils s’exilent en Suisse mais, suite à la mort du père de Gaston, ils reviennent en France.

La mère de Gaston réussie à lui faire épouser une jeune fille fade, ce qui sera sa perte.

J’ai aimé que le livre de Mme de Beauséant fasse tomber son livre chaque fois que Gaston entre dans la pièce.

Mais je n’ai pas aimé retrouver « les femmes sont comme ça ; réagissent comme ça… ».