Ursule Mirouët
by Honoré de Balzac
Scenes from Provincial Life (1), The Human Comedy (Études de Moeurs - Scènes de la vie de province I | 25), Studies of Manners (28)
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This novel is one of the pillars of the Scenes of Provincial Life section of Honore de Balzac's story cycle The Human Comedy. Through a series of tragedies and coincidences, a kind and pious teenager named Ursula has been taken in by an octogenarian doctor, Denis Minoret. Inspired by Ursula's goodness, Minoret decides to make her his chief heir. This incites the ire of his other relatives, and a ruthless war for Minoret's estate breaks out..
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'a remarkable tour de force', 31 Dec. 2011
Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: Ursule Mirouet (Classics) (Paperback)
When elderly Dr Minoret settles in his family home town along with a young female ward, Ursule, his vulture-like relatives are ever in the wings waiting to inherit. They grow to hate Ursule, convinced she is scheming to get 'their' money. Without giving too much away, there is a crime, a touch of the supernatural and a pair of starcrossed lovers.
It had me enthralled from page 1; I can see why Balzac considered it 'a remarkable tour de force'. The characterisations of the horrible relatives are brilliantly done eg 'his face was one of those in which it is hard for the thoughtful observer to see any trace of show more a soul beneath the florid tints of gross coarsening flesh'. Recommended. show less
Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: Ursule Mirouet (Classics) (Paperback)
When elderly Dr Minoret settles in his family home town along with a young female ward, Ursule, his vulture-like relatives are ever in the wings waiting to inherit. They grow to hate Ursule, convinced she is scheming to get 'their' money. Without giving too much away, there is a crime, a touch of the supernatural and a pair of starcrossed lovers.
It had me enthralled from page 1; I can see why Balzac considered it 'a remarkable tour de force'. The characterisations of the horrible relatives are brilliantly done eg 'his face was one of those in which it is hard for the thoughtful observer to see any trace of show more a soul beneath the florid tints of gross coarsening flesh'. Recommended. show less
This novel is also known under its French title of "Ursule Mirouët"; it is the first of Balzac's "Scenes from Provincial Life" section of his Human Comedy. Although I didn't realize it when I started, it is good that I read this book before "Another Study of Woman" (next up for me in "Scenes from Private Life") as Ursula appears in that one as a married woman which the Project Gutenberg addendum (listing which characters appear in which other books) alerted me to!
Ursula, orphaned as a toddler & taken under the protection of her godfather Dr. Denis Minoret, is reviled by Dr. Minoret's relatives as much as she is loved by the doctor & his few friends. Balzac does a wonderful depiction of avarice and the way people judge others by their show more own character. To his greedy relatives, the girl must be always scheming to get hold of the doctor's money & it is their responsibility to put a stop to that to protect their inheritance.
I delighted in this novel with one exception -the supernatural aspects. The episode of the Swedenborgian in Paris & then later Ursula's dreams were necessary for the plot but were for me unconvincing & unrealistic. That doesn't mean they weren't fun to read though!
Read in my Project Gutenberg Kindle edition "The Works of Balzac" show less
Ursula, orphaned as a toddler & taken under the protection of her godfather Dr. Denis Minoret, is reviled by Dr. Minoret's relatives as much as she is loved by the doctor & his few friends. Balzac does a wonderful depiction of avarice and the way people judge others by their show more own character. To his greedy relatives, the girl must be always scheming to get hold of the doctor's money & it is their responsibility to put a stop to that to protect their inheritance.
I delighted in this novel with one exception -
Read in my Project Gutenberg Kindle edition "The Works of Balzac" show less
This novel is also known under its French title of "Ursule Mirouët"; it is the first of Balzac's "Scenes from Provincial Life" section of his Human Comedy. Although I didn't realize it when I started, it is good that I read this book before "Another Study of Woman" (next up for me in "Scenes from Private Life") as Ursula appears in that one as a married woman which the Project Gutenberg addendum (listing which characters appear in which other books) alerted me to!
Ursula, orphaned as a toddler & taken under the protection of her godfather Dr. Denis Minoret, is reviled by Dr. Minoret's relatives as much as she is loved by the doctor & his few friends. Balzac does a wonderful depiction of avarice and the way people judge others by their show more own character. To his greedy relatives, the girl must be always scheming to get hold of the doctor's money & it is their responsibility to put a stop to that to protect their inheritance.
I delighted in this novel with one exception -the supernatural aspects. The episode of the Swedenborgian in Paris & then later Ursula's dreams were necessary for the plot but were for me unconvincing & unrealistic. That doesn't mean they weren't fun to read though!
Read in my Project Gutenberg Kindle edition "The Works of Balzac" show less
Ursula, orphaned as a toddler & taken under the protection of her godfather Dr. Denis Minoret, is reviled by Dr. Minoret's relatives as much as she is loved by the doctor & his few friends. Balzac does a wonderful depiction of avarice and the way people judge others by their show more own character. To his greedy relatives, the girl must be always scheming to get hold of the doctor's money & it is their responsibility to put a stop to that to protect their inheritance.
I delighted in this novel with one exception -
Read in my Project Gutenberg Kindle edition "The Works of Balzac" show less
My first Balzac, and although I hear it's not his absolute best, it was a wild carriage-ride straight through 'til the surprise ending. Definitely more Balzac in my future.
Ursule Mirouët eponymous heroine of Balzac's novel is a saintly orphan of the first order. A orphan with a complicated history-the legitimate daughter of her godfather's illegitimate brother-in-law, Ursule becomes the ward and goddaughter of her uncle, Dr. Mirouët, a wealthy widower who offers the infant Ursule a home, promptly names her after his saintly dead wife and retires to Nemours, a small provincial town outside Paris where a host of his relatives live-relatives who are neither saintly nor virtuous. Ursule's arrival upsets their great expectations of inheriting beaucoup d'argent, a fact that makes them gnash what teeth they have and begin plotting.
In the meantime, the good Dr. Mirouët raises Ursule in virtuous and innocent show more isolation from the evils of the world. In this task, he is aided by his good friend the Abbé Chaperon, so saintly that his breeches are mostly on the verge of falling down because he has sold the buckles keeping them in place to aid the poor. “A beautiful naïveté,” the narrator informs us. Monsieur Jordy, “a Voltairean nobleman and an old bachelor,” joins the good doctor and the abbé in bringing up baby. All these benevolent gentlemen function as Ursule “three mothers.”
Read the complete review at Dark Tea Times. show less
In the meantime, the good Dr. Mirouët raises Ursule in virtuous and innocent show more isolation from the evils of the world. In this task, he is aided by his good friend the Abbé Chaperon, so saintly that his breeches are mostly on the verge of falling down because he has sold the buckles keeping them in place to aid the poor. “A beautiful naïveté,” the narrator informs us. Monsieur Jordy, “a Voltairean nobleman and an old bachelor,” joins the good doctor and the abbé in bringing up baby. All these benevolent gentlemen function as Ursule “three mothers.”
Read the complete review at Dark Tea Times. show less
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Author Information
Born on May 20, 1799, Honore de Balzac is considered one of the greatest French writers of all time. Balzac studied in Paris and worked as a law clerk while pursuing an unsuccessful career as an author. He soon accumulated enormous debts that haunted him most of his life. A prolific writer, Balzac would often write for 14 to-16 hours at a time. show more His writing is marked by realistic portrayals of ordinary, but exaggerated characters and intricate detail. In 1834, Balzac began organizing his works into a collection called The Human Comedy, an attempt to group his novels to present a complete social history of France. Characters in this project reappeared throughout various volumes, which ultimately consisted of approximately 90 works. Some of his works include Cesar Birotteau, Le Cousin Pons, Seraphita, and Le Cousine Bette. Balzac wed his lifelong love, Eveline Hanska in March 1850 although he was gravely ill at the time. Balzac died in August of that year. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Series
Scenes from Provincial Life
8 works (1)
The Human Comedy
86 works (Études de Moeurs - Scènes de la vie de province I | 25)
Studies of Manners
60 works (28)
Belongs to Publisher Series
detebe-Klassiker (22422)
Everyman's Library (733)
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Ursule Mirouët
- Original title
- Ursule Mirouët
- Original publication date
- 1841
- People/Characters
- Ursule Mirouët; Dr Minoret
- Important places
- Nemours
- Dedication
- To Mademoiselle Sophie Surville
It is a real pleasure, my dear niece, to dedicate to you a book whose subject and details have had the approval (so difficult to win) of a young girl to whom the world is as yet unknown,... (show all) and who does not compromise any of the noble principles of a religious education. You girls are a formidable section of the reading public; you must only be allowed to read books that are as pure as your heart is pure, and you are forbidden certain kinds of reading matter just as you are prevented from seeing Society as it really is. So does it not fill an author's heart with pride when he has pleased you? May God grant that love has not deceived you! Who can tell? Only the future, which I hope you will live to see, and which perhaps will be denied to
Your uncle
BALZAC - First words
- Entering Nemours from the direction of Paris, you pass along the Canal du Loing whose banks form both countrified ramparts and picturesque walks in this pretty little town.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'Nemours is fortunate because that holy man's successor is the venerable priest from Saint-Lange.'
- Original language
- French
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- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.86)
- Languages
- 7 — English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
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- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 56
- ASINs
- 13
