What do you think?
La Comédie Humaine #48
Gaudissart II
Gaudissart II
ebook
First published January 1, 1844
About the author
Honoré de Balzac
10.2k books4,556 followersFrench writer Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac), a founder of the realist school of fiction, portrayed the panorama of society in a body of works, known collectively as
La comédie humaine
.
Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.
Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.
An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.
Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.
Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.
Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.
An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.
Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 8, 2025
Excellente petite nouvelle sur le monde de la vente
December 16, 2025
Si el ilustre Gaudissard era un viajante de negocios con la capacidad de vender hielo a un esquimal, este Gaudissart II es un nuevo tendero que se aprovecha de una clientela crédula para vender lo que sea, sobre todo si se trata de hacerlo a una inglesa con poco gusto, que se escurre entre los dedos como anguila y que convierte el regateo en una ocupación y un placer.
Así, en esta escena cuadragésimo cuarta, Balzac rinde un homenaje a los comerciantes parisinos a los que considera unos hombre maravillosos, que están más allá de otros mortales, sobre todo si se encuentran en sus tiendas, detrás de un mostrador. Ahí no tienen rivales, ni siquiera frente a los políticos más avezados de la época.
Vemos como esos comerciantes aprovechan las técnicas de merchandising de la época, como exhibir por la calle unos retales sin valor, pero vendidos como puro oropel, para hacer un buen negocio que se repite hasta el infinito mientras exista el reclamo de vender lo barato al mayor precio posible. Porque ya se sabe que los ricos prefieren pagar mucho por lo que sea, aunque no lo valga, siempre que se les diga que sí lo vale y que pasó incluso por las manos de Napoleón.
Así, en esta escena cuadragésimo cuarta, Balzac rinde un homenaje a los comerciantes parisinos a los que considera unos hombre maravillosos, que están más allá de otros mortales, sobre todo si se encuentran en sus tiendas, detrás de un mostrador. Ahí no tienen rivales, ni siquiera frente a los políticos más avezados de la época.
Vemos como esos comerciantes aprovechan las técnicas de merchandising de la época, como exhibir por la calle unos retales sin valor, pero vendidos como puro oropel, para hacer un buen negocio que se repite hasta el infinito mientras exista el reclamo de vender lo barato al mayor precio posible. Porque ya se sabe que los ricos prefieren pagar mucho por lo que sea, aunque no lo valga, siempre que se les diga que sí lo vale y que pasó incluso por las manos de Napoleón.
May 30, 2021
This second “Gaudissart” short story is less personalized, the first tells of the character Gaudissart and this one if the clever Parisian “Gaudissart” type that sells about anything to a discriminating customer.
I did not read this edition but from a Delphi collection of his works which included the below.
“This short story was first published as Un Gaudissart de la rue Richelieu in 1846. Written two years previously, the tale offers a sardonic portrait of Parisian salesmen. Unlike the travelling salesman in the previous The Illustrious Gaudissart, the salesmen in the city have a much more prosperous fate.“
I did not read this edition but from a Delphi collection of his works which included the below.
“This short story was first published as Un Gaudissart de la rue Richelieu in 1846. Written two years previously, the tale offers a sardonic portrait of Parisian salesmen. Unlike the travelling salesman in the previous The Illustrious Gaudissart, the salesmen in the city have a much more prosperous fate.“
October 9, 2020
Krude Mixtur zwischen soziologischem Essay und Engländerwitz als Pointe.
Want to Read
April 13, 2023Read next round two
Read
May 29, 2023Commis voyageur hâbleur
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2012
Written in 1844, this very short story of less than 4000 words is a sardonic portrait of Parisian salesmen. Where the travelling salesman in Balzac’s tale of The Illustrious Gaudissart got his comeuppance at the hands of the wily Tourangian peasants, in Paris – a citadel of commerce with shops to rival Versailles – things are different…
‘To know how to sell, to be able to sell, and to sell’ – these are the attributes that really make Paris stately. The cafés, shop windows and vast Babylonian galleries are as brilliant as the salons were before the Revolution of 1789, and the staff within them are highly skilled at parting the customer from her purse, ‘much as myriads of Seine whitebait fall upon a chance crust floating down the river’.
Balzac has coined the label Gaudissart to evoke the cunning masters of the art of salesmanship who inhabit these establishments in which architecture and the decorative arts conspire to bewitch the customer.
‘A French shopman is better educated than his fellows in other European countries; he can at need talk asphalt, Bal Mabille, polkas, literature, illustrated books, railways, politics, parliament, and revolution; transplant him, take away his stage, his yardstick, his artificial graces; he is foolish beyond belief; but on his own boards, on the tight-rope of the counter, as he displays a shawl with a speech at his tongue’s end, and his eye on his customer, he puts the great Talleyrand into the shade; he is a match for a Monrose and a Moliere to boot. Talleyrand in his own house would have outwitted Gaudissart, but in the shop the parts would have been reversed’.
Balzac provides two examples of the salesman at work, one where he is outwitted, and the other where he succeeds:
To read the rest of this summary please visit http://balzacbooks.wordpress.com/2011...
‘To know how to sell, to be able to sell, and to sell’ – these are the attributes that really make Paris stately. The cafés, shop windows and vast Babylonian galleries are as brilliant as the salons were before the Revolution of 1789, and the staff within them are highly skilled at parting the customer from her purse, ‘much as myriads of Seine whitebait fall upon a chance crust floating down the river’.
Balzac has coined the label Gaudissart to evoke the cunning masters of the art of salesmanship who inhabit these establishments in which architecture and the decorative arts conspire to bewitch the customer.
‘A French shopman is better educated than his fellows in other European countries; he can at need talk asphalt, Bal Mabille, polkas, literature, illustrated books, railways, politics, parliament, and revolution; transplant him, take away his stage, his yardstick, his artificial graces; he is foolish beyond belief; but on his own boards, on the tight-rope of the counter, as he displays a shawl with a speech at his tongue’s end, and his eye on his customer, he puts the great Talleyrand into the shade; he is a match for a Monrose and a Moliere to boot. Talleyrand in his own house would have outwitted Gaudissart, but in the shop the parts would have been reversed’.
Balzac provides two examples of the salesman at work, one where he is outwitted, and the other where he succeeds:
To read the rest of this summary please visit http://balzacbooks.wordpress.com/2011...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2014
Très amusant!
April 24, 2017
Gaudissart es un reflejo de la sociedad consumista y de los trucos que pueden existir detrás de una relación comercial.
April 2, 2018
Conto publicado em 1845 traz o esperto caixeiro-viajante que já nos havia sido apresentado em "O Ilustre Gaudissart".
Se na primeira obra ele havia sido engambelado aqui ele mostra toda sua astúcia de bom vendedor, capaz de vender até aquecedor em Teresina. A aposta aqui é que ele consiga vender qualquer peça ao mais difícil comprador: a mulher inglesa, que o ilustre compara "à nossa batalha de Waterloo".
Conto divertido que como sempre nos revela um pouco dos hábitos da sociedade parisiense da época. E aqui podemos perceber várias alfinetadas do autor ao povo inglês.
Histórico de leitura
02/04/2018
"- Agora vamos escolher entre os nossos velhos xales aquele que possa desempenhar o papel do xale-Selim."
"As inglesas tem um desgosto particular (pois não se pode chamar de gosto), não sabem o que querem, e se resolvem comprar uma coisa, mais por uma circunstância fortuita que por vontade."
"Saber vender, poder vender, e vender! O público não imagina quantas grandezas Paris deve a essas três faces do mesmo problema."
Se na primeira obra ele havia sido engambelado aqui ele mostra toda sua astúcia de bom vendedor, capaz de vender até aquecedor em Teresina. A aposta aqui é que ele consiga vender qualquer peça ao mais difícil comprador: a mulher inglesa, que o ilustre compara "à nossa batalha de Waterloo".
Conto divertido que como sempre nos revela um pouco dos hábitos da sociedade parisiense da época. E aqui podemos perceber várias alfinetadas do autor ao povo inglês.
Histórico de leitura
02/04/2018
"- Agora vamos escolher entre os nossos velhos xales aquele que possa desempenhar o papel do xale-Selim."
"As inglesas tem um desgosto particular (pois não se pode chamar de gosto), não sabem o que querem, e se resolvem comprar uma coisa, mais por uma circunstância fortuita que por vontade."
"Saber vender, poder vender, e vender! O público não imagina quantas grandezas Paris deve a essas três faces do mesmo problema."
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews