Albert Savarus
by Honoré de Balzac
Studies of Manners (7), Scenes from Private Life (7), The Human Comedy (Études de Moeurs - Scènes de la vie privée I | 10)
On This Page
Description
An extract from Honore de Balzac's vast story cycle The Human Comedy, the novel Albert Savarus details the dramatic twists and turns in a budding love affair between Albert, a young lawyer with literary ambitions, and a beautiful but conniving young woman named Rosalie. Though the story unfolds in a manner not unlike a typical romance, the surprise ending will leave readers reeling..
Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
"Of all secret crimes..., the most disgraceful is that of ...reading a letter surreptitiously", January 28, 2015
This review is from: Albert Savarus (Paperback)
Wonderful tale set in the provincial town of Besancon, and focussing on the de Watteville family - the fiercely religious and independently wealthy wife, the ineffectual husband, who absents himself, spending his days working his lathe...and 19-year-old daughter, Rosalie. A colourless and insignificant young person, carefully brought up by Mama, so that 'at seventeen Rosalie had never read anything but the Lettres Edifiantes and some works on heraldry', she nonetheless has an unbending mind of her own, most particularly in her resolve never to marry the man her mother intends her show more for.
When the intriguing Albert Savarus - a successful, but mysterious, lawyer and later newspaper editor - arrives in town, Rosalie hears of him at dinner parties and becomes obsessed with him. But her seemingly unimportant manoeuvres ('all the time she was pondering these machinations, the extraordinary girl was working slippers for her father with the most innocent air in the world') have a massive outcome...
This was a wonderful read, both for the little moments of humour and the plot development. show less
This review is from: Albert Savarus (Paperback)
Wonderful tale set in the provincial town of Besancon, and focussing on the de Watteville family - the fiercely religious and independently wealthy wife, the ineffectual husband, who absents himself, spending his days working his lathe...and 19-year-old daughter, Rosalie. A colourless and insignificant young person, carefully brought up by Mama, so that 'at seventeen Rosalie had never read anything but the Lettres Edifiantes and some works on heraldry', she nonetheless has an unbending mind of her own, most particularly in her resolve never to marry the man her mother intends her show more for.
When the intriguing Albert Savarus - a successful, but mysterious, lawyer and later newspaper editor - arrives in town, Rosalie hears of him at dinner parties and becomes obsessed with him. But her seemingly unimportant manoeuvres ('all the time she was pondering these machinations, the extraordinary girl was working slippers for her father with the most innocent air in the world') have a massive outcome...
This was a wonderful read, both for the little moments of humour and the plot development. show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
French Fiction of the 18th and 19th Centuries in English Translation
169 works; 3 members
la comédie humaine
47 works; 1 member
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
Series
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Albert Savarus
- Original title
- Albert Savarus
- Original publication date
- 1842-05
- People/Characters
- Rosalie de Watteville; Albert Savarus
- Important places
- Besançon, Doubs, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France
- Dedication
- To Madame Emile Girardin
- First words
- One of the few drawing-rooms where, under the Restoration, the Archbishop of Besancon was sometimes to be seen, was that of the Baronne de Watteville, to whom he was particularly attached on account of her religious sentiment... (show all)s.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 843.7 — Literature & rhetoric French & related literatures French fiction Constitutional monarchy 1815–48
- LCC
- PQ2163 .A5 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Modern literature 19th century
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 67
- Popularity
- 463,924
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.71)
- Languages
- 5 — English, French, German, Greek, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 45
- ASINs
- 6
