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La Comédie Humaine #40
The Firm Of Nucingen
By the French author, who, along with Flaubert, is generally regarded as a founding-father of realism in European fiction. His large output of works, collectively entitled The Human Comedy (La Comédie Humaine), consists of 95 finished works (stories, novels and essays) and 48 unfinished works. His stories are an attempt to comprehend and depict the realities of life in contemporary bourgeois France. They are placed in a variety of settings, with characters reappearing in multiple stories.
80 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1838
About the author
Honoré de Balzac
9,912 books4,506 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.
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January 10, 2022
Ο Μπαλζάκ ήταν ο πρώτος συγγραφέας που έγραψε για όλα τα κοινωνικά επίπεδα στα θεατρικά σανίδια της σκηνής στη Γαλλία.
Ο συγγραφέας του πάθους και του λάθους, υποστηρίζει πως η η Κοινωνία μοιάζει με τη φύση.
Όπως η φύση υπαρξιακά ποικίλει στη ζωολογία,
έτσι και η κοινωνία φτιάχνεται και φτιάχνει απο τον άνθρωπο, σύμφωνα με το περιβάλλον μέσα στη οποίο αναπτύσσεται η δράση του, διαφορετικούς ανθρώπους του ίδιου είδους.
Τα κοινωνικά είδη υπήρξαν και θα υπάρχουν μέσα στους αιώνες, όπως υπάρχουν και τα ζωολογικά είδη.
Η διαφορά έγκειται στο γεγονός της ύπαρξης του τυχαίου μέσα στο Κοινωνικό Καθεστώς, το τυχαίο είναι κάτι που δεν επιτρέπεται στη φύση, διότι είναι η Φύση συν η Κοινωνία.
Σε γενικές γραμμές τα πράγματα είναι πολύ πιο απλά και απέριττα στο ζωικό βασίλειο, στο οποίο τα δράματα και η σύγχιση είναι απο ελάχιστα εως ανύπαρκτα.
Τα ζώα έχουν λίγα υπάρχοντα και καθόλου τέχνες και επιστήμες.
Αντιθέτως ο άνθρωπος, βάσει ενός νόμου που θα πρέπει να αποτελέσει αντικείμενο έρευνας, τείνει να αναπαριστά, τα ήθη του, τις σκέψεις του, τις ιδέες του, την συναισθηματική και πνευματική του νοημοσύνη μα και την ίδια τη ζωή του σε όλα όσα κατακτά και οικειοποιείται για να ικανοποιήσει τις ανάγκες του και να κάνει τις επιλογές του, σύμφωνα πάντα με τα προτερήματα και τα μειονεκτήματα που κληρονόμησε ή απέκτησε μετά τη γέννηση του.
Πρέπει να δαμάζει τις γενετήσιες ορμές του και τις φυσικές του κλίσεις αναλόγως με τις επιταγές του Κοινωνικού γίγνεσθαι.
Όταν συλλάβει κανείς το νόημα αυτής της σύνθεσης θα αναγνωρίσει πως ο Μπαλζάκ αποδίδει στα σταθερά φαινόμενα, τα καθημερινά, τα κρυφά,ή έκδηλα, στις πράξεις της προσωπικής ζωής, στις αιτίες τους και στης αρχές του, την ίδια σημασία που οι ιστορικοί αποδίδουν στα γεγονότα της δημόσιας ζωής των εθνών.
Το «πακέτο» της Ανθρώπινης Κωμωδίας γράφτηκε μεταξύ 1799 και 1850.
Αυτή η συλλογή περιέχει 95 μυθιστορήματα, ιστορίες και δοκίμια.
«Ο οίκος Νυσενζέν» είναι μέρος του τμήματος σκηνές της Παρισινής ζωής μέσα στο κάδρο της Ανθρώπινης Κωμωδίας.
Το έργο αυτό ασχολείται κυρίως με την οικονομία και την διαχείριση της εξουσίας που δίνει το χρήμα, η θεοποίηση του κέρδους πέρα απο κάθε δισταγμό είναι ρεαλιστικά πραγματική.
Στον ναό του Χρηματιστηρίου οι συνάξεις είναι πάντα πολυπληθείς διότι όλοι ανεξαιρέτως κοινωνικής θέσης και οικογενειακής κατάστασης, χωρίς αναστολές και με σημαία τη ατομικό συμφέρον πάνω απο όλα, επιθυμούν διακαώς να λατρέψουν και να προσκυνήσουν τον παντοκράτορα τους, τον μεγαλοδύναμο, τον πανίσχυρο Θεό που σε λυτρώνει απο όλα τα δεινά και τις αγωνίες της σκληρής πραγματικότητας.
Είναι ο κερδισμένος, ο πουλημένος, ο αδίστακτος,
ο κομπιναδόρος, ο επιτήδειος, ο θύτης, ο εκβιαστής,
ο νεοφώτιστος Θεός του χρήματος και του κέρδους.
Μητέρα του η ( άγια) τράπεζα και πατέρας του το πνεύμα του κατακτητή τραπεζίτη, αδέλφια του ο διακαής πόθος και το εμμονικό πάθος της « μετοχής» που θα αποδώσει περιουσίες, δόξα, δύναμη και χίμαιρες, επιτακτικές, τυραννικές και σίγουρες πως στο τέλος θα υποχρεωθείς να παραδοθείς, δίχως να ξέρεις ή δίχως να σε ενδιαφέρει πλέον το κόστος.
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς και σεμνούς ασπασμούς.
Ο συγγραφέας του πάθους και του λάθους, υποστηρίζει πως η η Κοινωνία μοιάζει με τη φύση.
Όπως η φύση υπαρξιακά ποικίλει στη ζωολογία,
έτσι και η κοινωνία φτιάχνεται και φτιάχνει απο τον άνθρωπο, σύμφωνα με το περιβάλλον μέσα στη οποίο αναπτύσσεται η δράση του, διαφορετικούς ανθρώπους του ίδιου είδους.
Τα κοινωνικά είδη υπήρξαν και θα υπάρχουν μέσα στους αιώνες, όπως υπάρχουν και τα ζωολογικά είδη.
Η διαφορά έγκειται στο γεγονός της ύπαρξης του τυχαίου μέσα στο Κοινωνικό Καθεστώς, το τυχαίο είναι κάτι που δεν επιτρέπεται στη φύση, διότι είναι η Φύση συν η Κοινωνία.
Σε γενικές γραμμές τα πράγματα είναι πολύ πιο απλά και απέριττα στο ζωικό βασίλειο, στο οποίο τα δράματα και η σύγχιση είναι απο ελάχιστα εως ανύπαρκτα.
Τα ζώα έχουν λίγα υπάρχοντα και καθόλου τέχνες και επιστήμες.
Αντιθέτως ο άνθρωπος, βάσει ενός νόμου που θα πρέπει να αποτελέσει αντικείμενο έρευνας, τείνει να αναπαριστά, τα ήθη του, τις σκέψεις του, τις ιδέες του, την συναισθηματική και πνευματική του νοημοσύνη μα και την ίδια τη ζωή του σε όλα όσα κατακτά και οικειοποιείται για να ικανοποιήσει τις ανάγκες του και να κάνει τις επιλογές του, σύμφωνα πάντα με τα προτερήματα και τα μειονεκτήματα που κληρονόμησε ή απέκτησε μετά τη γέννηση του.
Πρέπει να δαμάζει τις γενετήσιες ορμές του και τις φυσικές του κλίσεις αναλόγως με τις επιταγές του Κοινωνικού γίγνεσθαι.
Όταν συλλάβει κανείς το νόημα αυτής της σύνθεσης θα αναγνωρίσει πως ο Μπαλζάκ αποδίδει στα σταθερά φαινόμενα, τα καθημερινά, τα κρυφά,ή έκδηλα, στις πράξεις της προσωπικής ζωής, στις αιτίες τους και στης αρχές του, την ίδια σημασία που οι ιστορικοί αποδίδουν στα γεγονότα της δημόσιας ζωής των εθνών.
Το «πακέτο» της Ανθρώπινης Κωμωδίας γράφτηκε μεταξύ 1799 και 1850.
Αυτή η συλλογή περιέχει 95 μυθιστορήματα, ιστορίες και δοκίμια.
«Ο οίκος Νυσενζέν» είναι μέρος του τμήματος σκηνές της Παρισινής ζωής μέσα στο κάδρο της Ανθρώπινης Κωμωδίας.
Το έργο αυτό ασχολείται κυρίως με την οικονομία και την διαχείριση της εξουσίας που δίνει το χρήμα, η θεοποίηση του κέρδους πέρα απο κάθε δισταγμό είναι ρεαλιστικά πραγματική.
Στον ναό του Χρηματιστηρίου οι συνάξεις είναι πάντα πολυπληθείς διότι όλοι ανεξαιρέτως κοινωνικής θέσης και οικογενειακής κατάστασης, χωρίς αναστολές και με σημαία τη ατομικό συμφέρον πάνω απο όλα, επιθυμούν διακαώς να λατρέψουν και να προσκυνήσουν τον παντοκράτορα τους, τον μεγαλοδύναμο, τον πανίσχυρο Θεό που σε λυτρώνει απο όλα τα δεινά και τις αγωνίες της σκληρής πραγματικότητας.
Είναι ο κερδισμένος, ο πουλημένος, ο αδίστακτος,
ο κομπιναδόρος, ο επιτήδειος, ο θύτης, ο εκβιαστής,
ο νεοφώτιστος Θεός του χρήματος και του κέρδους.
Μητέρα του η ( άγια) τράπεζα και πατέρας του το πνεύμα του κατακτητή τραπεζίτη, αδέλφια του ο διακαής πόθος και το εμμονικό πάθος της « μετοχής» που θα αποδώσει περιουσίες, δόξα, δύναμη και χίμαιρες, επιτακτικές, τυραννικές και σίγουρες πως στο τέλος θα υποχρεωθείς να παραδοθείς, δίχως να ξέρεις ή δίχως να σε ενδιαφέρει πλέον το κόστος.
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς και σεμνούς ασπασμούς.
September 17, 2021
Erfahrungsgemäß muss ich mir alle paar Jahre wieder erneut diese kurze, aber absolut faktensatte Erzählung vornehmen, da es immer wieder Details gibt, die im Licht der frisch gelesenen Romane erst an Bedeutung gewinnen. Auf den ersten Blick handelt es sich eher eine Ergänzung oder das Weiterspinnen bereits bekannter Motive aus der Comédie humaine in Form einer mitgehörten Kneipenunterhaltung zwischen vier Journalisten, allesamt Kumpels bzw. Kollegen von Lucien de Rubempré in Verlorene Illusionen. Das Haus Nucingen eignet sich, gemeinsam mit Gobseck, als Ergänzung bzw. Auflösung zu den Töchtern von Vater Goriot, da der weitere Verlauf der Affäre Eugene de Rastignacs mit Delphine de Nucingen beschrieben wird und auch die Art und Weise auf die der dicke Bankier zu seinem enormen Vermögen gekommen ist.
Als Seitenstrang des Schurkenstücks liefert Blondet, der nie besonders nett über Rastignac redet,
auch die Gründe wegen denen Nucingen, dessen Herz erst bei Glanz und Elend so weit Amok läuft, dass er ausgleichende Gerechtigkeit erfährt, den jungen Mann bei seiner Frau gewähren lässt.
Indem er allerlei Zeit raubende Verpflichtungen und andere Aufmerksamkeiten an den Neuankömmling auslagert, hat er ausreichend Spielraum für raffinierte finanzielle Transaktionen.
Eigene Herzensangelegenheiten kommen dem Betrüger im großen Stil erst in Glanz und Elend der Kurtisanen in die Quere, auch dabei kommen zahlreiche Unbeteiligte zu Schaden.
Der Großteil der Geschichte widmet der beliebte Literaturkritiker dem Elegant Beaudenord. Der war einst ein besonders stylisches Mitglied der Jeunesse d'orée um Marsay, des Trailles und Co, in die auch Rastignac aufgenommen wurde. Doch dann hat Beaudenord über seine Verhältnisse geheiratet, sprich, die hübsche, aber einfältige Tochter einer verarmten Familie zum Altar geführt und sich an Verpflichtungen für Mutti und Schwester übernommen, - dabei kam der Schönling schon vorher nicht wirklich mit seinem Geld aus.
Das Lesevergnügen steigt mit der Vertrautheit zum Gesamtkomplex der Comédie humaine, beim dritten Durchgang wurden aus zwei gar vier Sterne. Wer die Hauptromane und ihr Personal nicht kennt, verschwendet mit dieser komplexen Erzählung seine Zeit, auch wenn sich der erste Anlauf als Bonus zu Pére Goriot bzw. weiterer Entwicklungen durchaus lohnt. Da sich Balzac im von vier miteinander rivalisierenden Kollegen geführten Kneipengespräch als Meister der Abschweifungen profiliert und dabei keine Handlung in der Gegenwart wie bei A Start in Life etabliert, wird beim Erstkontakt mit wenig Hintergrundswissen aber gelegentlich eine Geduldsprobe aus der vergleichsweise kurzen Lektüre.
Als Seitenstrang des Schurkenstücks liefert Blondet, der nie besonders nett über Rastignac redet,
auch die Gründe wegen denen Nucingen, dessen Herz erst bei Glanz und Elend so weit Amok läuft, dass er ausgleichende Gerechtigkeit erfährt, den jungen Mann bei seiner Frau gewähren lässt.
Indem er allerlei Zeit raubende Verpflichtungen und andere Aufmerksamkeiten an den Neuankömmling auslagert, hat er ausreichend Spielraum für raffinierte finanzielle Transaktionen.
Eigene Herzensangelegenheiten kommen dem Betrüger im großen Stil erst in Glanz und Elend der Kurtisanen in die Quere, auch dabei kommen zahlreiche Unbeteiligte zu Schaden.
Der Großteil der Geschichte widmet der beliebte Literaturkritiker dem Elegant Beaudenord. Der war einst ein besonders stylisches Mitglied der Jeunesse d'orée um Marsay, des Trailles und Co, in die auch Rastignac aufgenommen wurde. Doch dann hat Beaudenord über seine Verhältnisse geheiratet, sprich, die hübsche, aber einfältige Tochter einer verarmten Familie zum Altar geführt und sich an Verpflichtungen für Mutti und Schwester übernommen, - dabei kam der Schönling schon vorher nicht wirklich mit seinem Geld aus.
Das Lesevergnügen steigt mit der Vertrautheit zum Gesamtkomplex der Comédie humaine, beim dritten Durchgang wurden aus zwei gar vier Sterne. Wer die Hauptromane und ihr Personal nicht kennt, verschwendet mit dieser komplexen Erzählung seine Zeit, auch wenn sich der erste Anlauf als Bonus zu Pére Goriot bzw. weiterer Entwicklungen durchaus lohnt. Da sich Balzac im von vier miteinander rivalisierenden Kollegen geführten Kneipengespräch als Meister der Abschweifungen profiliert und dabei keine Handlung in der Gegenwart wie bei A Start in Life etabliert, wird beim Erstkontakt mit wenig Hintergrundswissen aber gelegentlich eine Geduldsprobe aus der vergleichsweise kurzen Lektüre.
November 7, 2010
This little novelette is actually one of the keystones of the entire Comédie Humaine and, as such, acts as a kind of sequel to Père Goriot. Nothing brings Balzac to a higher pitch than the great financial conspiracies in which some unscrupulous individuals (such as the Alsatian-born banker Nucingen and his wife's lover, Eugène de Rastignac) are enriched and generations of whole families are beggared.
The entire story is told as a conversation between four "cormorants" (the metaphor is Balzac's) who sit and drink in a private room while their talk is overheard through the paper-thin partition and reported to us by Balzac himself (or a fictional representative of the writer).
As in all of Balzac's tales of financial trickery, the machinations are incredibly involved and complex -- such that I cannot pretend to be able to follow them with all their discounting of shares and floating of rumors -- yet their effects are devastating.
Better than any other writer, Balzac knows the weak point of those whose whole life is based on material concerns. If it is important to you to maintain a certain kind of carriage with fine horses and a picturesque "tiger" to help manage them, if you require thousands of francs per annum to refresh your wardrobe and furniture, if you want to marry into a noble and/or wealthy family, you are at risk unless you play your cards preternaturally well.
Himself a drifter in this material world, Balzac lived in a house in the rue Raynouard with two entrances, one in front and the other by way of an alley allowing him to escape his creditors.
The entire story is told as a conversation between four "cormorants" (the metaphor is Balzac's) who sit and drink in a private room while their talk is overheard through the paper-thin partition and reported to us by Balzac himself (or a fictional representative of the writer).
As in all of Balzac's tales of financial trickery, the machinations are incredibly involved and complex -- such that I cannot pretend to be able to follow them with all their discounting of shares and floating of rumors -- yet their effects are devastating.
Better than any other writer, Balzac knows the weak point of those whose whole life is based on material concerns. If it is important to you to maintain a certain kind of carriage with fine horses and a picturesque "tiger" to help manage them, if you require thousands of francs per annum to refresh your wardrobe and furniture, if you want to marry into a noble and/or wealthy family, you are at risk unless you play your cards preternaturally well.
Himself a drifter in this material world, Balzac lived in a house in the rue Raynouard with two entrances, one in front and the other by way of an alley allowing him to escape his creditors.
August 4, 2016
Μια παρέα από τέσσερα νεοπλουτάκια (σαν να λέμε ΒουΠουδάκια που ήρθαν από την επαρχία, χωρίς να έχουν το χρήμα από παλιά, αλλά να το απέκτησαν στην πορεία) έχουν θάψει το μισό Παρίσι στην καθισιά τους. Όχι απλά το έχουν θάψει, αλλά ξέρουν και την παραμικρή λεπτομέρεια για τις ζωές των πλουσίων. Σαν την κακιά κουτσομπόλα γειτόνισσα που ξέρει πότε έκλασε ο συγχωριανός της. Ο Μπαλζάκ αφιέρωσε ένα βιβλίο για να περιγράψει τι είπαν τα στόματά τους μέσα σε μια μόνο βραδιά. Γίνεται φανερή η κατάπτωση των ηθών και γενικότερα είναι προκλητικός ο τρόπος σκέψης των ηρώων γιατί δεν σκέφτονται με το μυαλό, ούτε με την καρδιά, αλλά με την τσέπη. Τέσσερις αντιπαθείς βουτυρομπεμπέδες που νομίζουν ότι έχουν πιάσει τον ταύρο από τα τέτοια, που δεν τους ενδιαφέρει τίποτα πέρα από τους εαυτούς τους και έχουν άποψη για όλα.
Υπάρχει ένας αξιόλογος πρόλογος του ίδιου του Μπαλζάκ που αναλύει την κοινωνία, αλλά και απαντάει σε όσους τον κατακρίνουν. Επίσης συγκρίνει τα καθεστώτα και εξηγεί τους λόγους για τους οποίους προτιμά το ένα έναντι του άλλου.
Μου φάνηκε λίγο βαρετό. Πρώτον γιατί σε πολλά σημεία περιγράφει πτωχεύσεις, μετοχές και αγοραπωλησίες. Και δεύτερον γιατί μου θύμισε την Κατινούλα που ξεκινάει να περιγράψει το χωρισμό της Καιτούλας από το Βρασίδα, αλλά στην πορεία θυμάται την κλαρωτή φούστα που φορούσε η Καιτούλα την Ανάσταση του '95 και αρχίζει να περιγράφει τη μπουτίκ με τα συνολάκια και συνειρμικά θυμάται την ξαδέρφη της κουμπάρας του τάδε και ξεφεύγει, καταλήγοντας να σχολιάζει το αμπαζούρ της συνυφάδας.
Πέρα από την πλάκα, ο Μπαλζάκ καταδικάζει αυτόν τον τρόπος σκέψης των σύγχρονών του, ταυτόχρονα όμως, έχω την εντύπωση ότι βρίσκει και σημεία σύγκλισης μαζί τους. Αξίζουν, κατά τη γνώμη μου, τα αποφθέγματα της τελευταίας παραγράφου, αλλά και γενικότερα οι τελευταίες παράγραφοι.
Υπάρχει ένας αξιόλογος πρόλογος του ίδιου του Μπαλζάκ που αναλύει την κοινωνία, αλλά και απαντάει σε όσους τον κατακρίνουν. Επίσης συγκρίνει τα καθεστώτα και εξηγεί τους λόγους για τους οποίους προτιμά το ένα έναντι του άλλου.
Μου φάνηκε λίγο βαρετό. Πρώτον γιατί σε πολλά σημεία περιγράφει πτωχεύσεις, μετοχές και αγοραπωλησίες. Και δεύτερον γιατί μου θύμισε την Κατινούλα που ξεκινάει να περιγράψει το χωρισμό της Καιτούλας από το Βρασίδα, αλλά στην πορεία θυμάται την κλαρωτή φούστα που φορούσε η Καιτούλα την Ανάσταση του '95 και αρχίζει να περιγράφει τη μπουτίκ με τα συνολάκια και συνειρμικά θυμάται την ξαδέρφη της κουμπάρας του τάδε και ξεφεύγει, καταλήγοντας να σχολιάζει το αμπαζούρ της συνυφάδας.
Πέρα από την πλάκα, ο Μπαλζάκ καταδικάζει αυτόν τον τρόπος σκέψης των σύγχρονών του, ταυτόχρονα όμως, έχω την εντύπωση ότι βρίσκει και σημεία σύγκλισης μαζί τους. Αξίζουν, κατά τη γνώμη μου, τα αποφθέγματα της τελευταίας παραγράφου, αλλά και γενικότερα οι τελευταίες παράγραφοι.
February 11, 2019
This novella is supplementary material. It is a conversation overheard at a Parisian restaurant. The conversation explores the origins of the fortune of Rastignac and it meanders across the world of Balzac's La Comédie Humaine. While being an oral history of sorts to the eavesdropping protagonist, this felt like it should been a footnotes in some grander tome, an appendix of overheard attribution. Balzac loves commenting on markets and speculation and this is certainly such: naked and sinuous.
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
June 7, 2024
Deși există unele legături tematice între Banca Nucingen și César Birotteau, totuși romanul publicat anterior este mult mai bun decât această povestire, ce nu reprezintă altceva decât o discuție întortocheată între patru interlocutori - caricaturistul Jean-Jacques Bixiou, ziaristul Emile Blondet, "parvenitul" Andoche Finot și Couture, un speculant la bursă - și care abundă în informații și observații dintre care unele și-au pierdut demult relevanța. Dar, așa cum vom vedea, nu chiar toate.
De fapt, deși este narată în primă instanță la persoana întâi, totuși naratorul se va transforma într-un simplu ascultător al unei povestiri ai căror pricipali povestitori sunt Bixiou și Blondet, ce are ca temă răspunsul la întrebarea privitoare la originea averii lui Eugene de Rastignac. "De unde atâta avere? întrebă Couture. Ca să ajungă la o avere atât de considerabilă, ca aceea de astăzi, trebuie să fi dat o lovitură, şi, pe câte ştiu, nimeni nu l-a învinuit vreodată de a fi pus la cale o afacere bănoasă".
Dar cine este Rastignac? Cititorii lui Balzac știu foarte bine că el este unul dintre personajele centrale ale Comediei Umane în general, fiind un personaj cheie în Moș Goriot, precum și în Iluzii pierdute, Strălucirea și suferințele curtezanelor etc. Ipostaza în care este surprins Rastignac aici este aceea în care a renunțat la rolul său de amant tolerat al soției baronului Nucingen, Delphine, fiica lui Goriot și se bucură de o situație materială excelentă. Baronul Nucingen pregătește o lovitură financiară la limita legii. Iar povestea lui Bixiou, căreia Blondet îi aduce numeroase completări, devine din ce în ce mai plictisitoare; din toată această vorbărie fără șir, merită totuși reținută teoria lui Rastignac asupra căsătoriei, ce "nu-i decât o asociaţie comercială, înjghebată pentru a face viaţa cât mai suportabilă": „Draga mea copilă, îi zise Rastignac Malvinei cu un ton binevoitor şi părintesc, atunci când rămaseră singuri. Să nu uiţi niciodată că un biet june, căruia i se lipeau ochii de somn, a băut un ceai după altul ca să se ţină treaz până la ora două noaptea, numai şi numai ca să-ţi spună cu toată seriozitatea: Mărită-te! Nu mai face nazuri, nu ţine seama de sentimentele dumitale, nu te gândi la calculul mârşav al bărbaţilor cu un picior aici şi cu un picior în casa lui Matifat, nu sta pe gânduri şi mărită-te! Pentru o fată măritişul înseamnă dreptul de a impune unui bărbat nu numai obligaţia de a-i asigura un trai mai mult sau mai puţin fericit, dar în primul rând datoria de a o pune la adăpost de orice griji materiale. Eu cunosc lumea noastră şi te rog să mă crezi că toate fetele tinere, ca şi mamele şi bunicele lor sunt făţarnice dacă îi dau zor cu dragostea când e vorba de căsătorie. De fapt, fiecare se gândeşte doar cum să se căpătuiască mai bine. Când o femeie are noroc în căsnicie, maică-sa spune că fiica ei a făcut o afacere strălucită". Dar și teoria politică plină de cinism a lui Blondet, ce pare să anunțe modul de a gândi și acționa al dictatorilor din secolul al XX-lea: "Dacă ucizi un om, te aşteaptă ghilotina, dacă ucizi însă cinci sute de oameni în numele unei anumite forme de guvernământ, toată lumea te va respecta pentru această crimă politică. Dacă cineva şterpeleşte cinci mii de franci din biroul meu, ajunge la ocnă. Dacă eşti însă destul de dibaci ca să aţâţi lăcomia a o mie de speculanţi de bursă, trecându-le pe la nas momeala unui câştig, vei izbuti să le vâri pe gât rente de stat ale nu ştiu cărei republici sau monarhii în pragul falimentului, emise, după cum bine zice Couture, numai pentru a se putea plăti dobânzile aceloraşi rente: nimeni nu va avea dreptul să se plângă. Iată adevăratele principii ale veacului de aur în care trăim." Din păcate, aceste reflecții ale lui Blondet nu au devenit desuete. Lectură plăcută!
De fapt, deși este narată în primă instanță la persoana întâi, totuși naratorul se va transforma într-un simplu ascultător al unei povestiri ai căror pricipali povestitori sunt Bixiou și Blondet, ce are ca temă răspunsul la întrebarea privitoare la originea averii lui Eugene de Rastignac. "De unde atâta avere? întrebă Couture. Ca să ajungă la o avere atât de considerabilă, ca aceea de astăzi, trebuie să fi dat o lovitură, şi, pe câte ştiu, nimeni nu l-a învinuit vreodată de a fi pus la cale o afacere bănoasă".
Dar cine este Rastignac? Cititorii lui Balzac știu foarte bine că el este unul dintre personajele centrale ale Comediei Umane în general, fiind un personaj cheie în Moș Goriot, precum și în Iluzii pierdute, Strălucirea și suferințele curtezanelor etc. Ipostaza în care este surprins Rastignac aici este aceea în care a renunțat la rolul său de amant tolerat al soției baronului Nucingen, Delphine, fiica lui Goriot și se bucură de o situație materială excelentă. Baronul Nucingen pregătește o lovitură financiară la limita legii. Iar povestea lui Bixiou, căreia Blondet îi aduce numeroase completări, devine din ce în ce mai plictisitoare; din toată această vorbărie fără șir, merită totuși reținută teoria lui Rastignac asupra căsătoriei, ce "nu-i decât o asociaţie comercială, înjghebată pentru a face viaţa cât mai suportabilă": „Draga mea copilă, îi zise Rastignac Malvinei cu un ton binevoitor şi părintesc, atunci când rămaseră singuri. Să nu uiţi niciodată că un biet june, căruia i se lipeau ochii de somn, a băut un ceai după altul ca să se ţină treaz până la ora două noaptea, numai şi numai ca să-ţi spună cu toată seriozitatea: Mărită-te! Nu mai face nazuri, nu ţine seama de sentimentele dumitale, nu te gândi la calculul mârşav al bărbaţilor cu un picior aici şi cu un picior în casa lui Matifat, nu sta pe gânduri şi mărită-te! Pentru o fată măritişul înseamnă dreptul de a impune unui bărbat nu numai obligaţia de a-i asigura un trai mai mult sau mai puţin fericit, dar în primul rând datoria de a o pune la adăpost de orice griji materiale. Eu cunosc lumea noastră şi te rog să mă crezi că toate fetele tinere, ca şi mamele şi bunicele lor sunt făţarnice dacă îi dau zor cu dragostea când e vorba de căsătorie. De fapt, fiecare se gândeşte doar cum să se căpătuiască mai bine. Când o femeie are noroc în căsnicie, maică-sa spune că fiica ei a făcut o afacere strălucită". Dar și teoria politică plină de cinism a lui Blondet, ce pare să anunțe modul de a gândi și acționa al dictatorilor din secolul al XX-lea: "Dacă ucizi un om, te aşteaptă ghilotina, dacă ucizi însă cinci sute de oameni în numele unei anumite forme de guvernământ, toată lumea te va respecta pentru această crimă politică. Dacă cineva şterpeleşte cinci mii de franci din biroul meu, ajunge la ocnă. Dacă eşti însă destul de dibaci ca să aţâţi lăcomia a o mie de speculanţi de bursă, trecându-le pe la nas momeala unui câştig, vei izbuti să le vâri pe gât rente de stat ale nu ştiu cărei republici sau monarhii în pragul falimentului, emise, după cum bine zice Couture, numai pentru a se putea plăti dobânzile aceloraşi rente: nimeni nu va avea dreptul să se plângă. Iată adevăratele principii ale veacului de aur în care trăim." Din păcate, aceste reflecții ale lui Blondet nu au devenit desuete. Lectură plăcută!
December 28, 2018
Balzac come di consueto si presenta irruento e disordinato, purtroppo in questo caso troppo tanto da inficiare il contenuto dell'opera che è interessante (racconta di 4 parigini al ristorante che diffamano un po'di conoscenti non presenti e spiegano come si è comportato un banchiere al fine di arricchirsi). Lo stile è inesistente e fa innervosire quanto sia e allora potrebbe essere anche rivalutato ma la distrazione complessiva nel costruire l'opera pesa troppo.
February 11, 2024
Ενα βιβλίο 140 σελιδων περιπου με θέμα το χρήμα και πώς θα πλουτίσουν κάποια άτομα και άλλα θα καταστραφούν ολοκληρωτικά. Μου άρεσε ο πρόλογος του βιβλίου από τον ίδιο τον Μπαλζακ καθώς και στο τέλος του βιβλίου. Θα δούμε οτι υπάρχουν πολλές ομοιοτητες με το σήμερα.
μου αρεσουν τα βιβλια του Μπαλζακ και επισκεφτηκα φέτος το σπιτι του που ειναι μουσείο σήμερα στην περιοχή Passy του Παρισιού.
μου αρεσουν τα βιβλια του Μπαλζακ και επισκεφτηκα φέτος το σπιτι του που ειναι μουσείο σήμερα στην περιοχή Passy του Παρισιού.
September 5, 2014
Beware: spoilers
Balzac begins this story by alerting the reader to the contrast between it and Cesar Birotteau, but I haven't read that one yet, and alas, there isn't yet a summary of it at BalzacBooks, the web presence of the Yahoo group which is reading the entire La Comedie Humaine by Balzac, http://balzacbooks.wordpress.com/index/. I'll try to find time to read it before long.
The narrator paints a most unflattering portrait of the four young men (the Cormorants) who noisily intrude upon his quiet dinner at a restaurant. All self-made men rather than heirs to a family fortune, they've made little progress so far in advancing themselves but are not constrained by this lack of success. . Andoche Finot (a newspaper editor) is happy to grovel to any man who might be useful and will be insolent once he no longer needs him. Emile Blondet, the journalist who featured in A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, A Daughter of Eve and in Another Study of Woman is reckless and indolent, 'treacherous or kind on impulse'. Couture is a speculator, and Bixiou is a 'misanthropic buffoon', who wastes his intellect and bemoans not having profited enough from the Revolution. Unknown to these four, the narrator and his companion overhear their conversation...
The subject of their conversation is malicious gossip about the people they know – notably Eugene Rastignac who featured in Father Goriot as the young student who helped the old man on his deathbed when his daughters had abandoned him. The Firm of Nucingen reveals that it was this event that was the catalyst for his corruption, and he is now determined to take advantage of the temptations of the Parisian lifestyle and make a name for himself – and perhaps a good marriage too. He becomes entangled with the Baron Nucingen through his relationship with his wife Delphine, a relationship which the Baron tacitly condones, for reasons of his own, as the narrator reveals.
In discussing Rastignac's new-found political prospects, the four young men sneer at those who fail to separate sentiment and self-interest. Men who fall in love are lunatics, and Rastignac is a fool for having scruples about taking Delphine's money once he was no longer in love with her. Blondet then goes on to talk about how Nucingen and his crony du Tillet came by their money. Nucingen is not just a banker, he's a war-profiteer and speculator on the stock-market, using other people's money to do it. Du Tillet is small fry by comparison. Sniping at decorum as 'English' they reveal how a wastrel like Godefroid de Beaudenord is lured into investing the remnants of his fortune with Nucingen, and how, when Beaudenord fell in love with Isaure d'Aldrigger, whose father had lost money with Nucingen too, Rastignac encouraged Isaure's sister Malvina to think that it would be a good match so that Nucingen can get his hands on the family's remaining money as well.
Balzac is keen to denounce the behaviour of these four Cormorants but their conversation is witty and urbane. They constantly rag each other, and apart from a few authorial lapses, their cynical and amusing gossip allows Balzac to write his expose without sounding polemical. What The Firm of Nucingen reveals is the activities of powerful banker-speculators who manipulate the stock market, capitalising (literally) on a time of rapid industrialisation and changes in society after the revolution.
Nucingen is able to convince investors to sell their stock cheaply because he uses Rastignac's respectable reputation to help induce panic selling. In this way he manages to improve his own unremarkable fortunes by acquiring shares in a German mining company called Worschin and other businesses. It's a bit complicated to follow but the results of his fraud was that he held in his hands the lives of Desroches, the Matifats, Beaudenord, the Aldriggers and d'Aiglemont and more because he had their investments at his command.
Young Rastignac thinking to outsmart Nucingen, is no match for this cunning man: he uses Eugene mercilessly, so that he becomes utterly compromised. The amazing aspect of all of this is that Nucingen was able to come out of the crash when it came with his hands apparently clean. (He was not however universally successful: he was outwitted by du Tillet - who still admires Nucingen's cunning).
One of the things I found interesting about this story from the man said to be first of the French realists, is the way the story is framed around the narrator and his companion. As we read the story, we forget all about them, sitting breathless and indignant as they listen to these cynical revelations – What we see instead is Balzac railing against government intervention to ban petty gambling while allowing the finance sector to gamble with the lives and money of others. At the end of the Balzac doesn't reveal who they are, finalising his story with the arrogant Bixiou dismissing their presence as of no consequence since 'he must have been drunk.' .
This little story shows whoever the real-life Bixiou was, that the eavesdropper was not!
Balzac begins this story by alerting the reader to the contrast between it and Cesar Birotteau, but I haven't read that one yet, and alas, there isn't yet a summary of it at BalzacBooks, the web presence of the Yahoo group which is reading the entire La Comedie Humaine by Balzac, http://balzacbooks.wordpress.com/index/. I'll try to find time to read it before long.
The narrator paints a most unflattering portrait of the four young men (the Cormorants) who noisily intrude upon his quiet dinner at a restaurant. All self-made men rather than heirs to a family fortune, they've made little progress so far in advancing themselves but are not constrained by this lack of success. . Andoche Finot (a newspaper editor) is happy to grovel to any man who might be useful and will be insolent once he no longer needs him. Emile Blondet, the journalist who featured in A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, A Daughter of Eve and in Another Study of Woman is reckless and indolent, 'treacherous or kind on impulse'. Couture is a speculator, and Bixiou is a 'misanthropic buffoon', who wastes his intellect and bemoans not having profited enough from the Revolution. Unknown to these four, the narrator and his companion overhear their conversation...
The subject of their conversation is malicious gossip about the people they know – notably Eugene Rastignac who featured in Father Goriot as the young student who helped the old man on his deathbed when his daughters had abandoned him. The Firm of Nucingen reveals that it was this event that was the catalyst for his corruption, and he is now determined to take advantage of the temptations of the Parisian lifestyle and make a name for himself – and perhaps a good marriage too. He becomes entangled with the Baron Nucingen through his relationship with his wife Delphine, a relationship which the Baron tacitly condones, for reasons of his own, as the narrator reveals.
In discussing Rastignac's new-found political prospects, the four young men sneer at those who fail to separate sentiment and self-interest. Men who fall in love are lunatics, and Rastignac is a fool for having scruples about taking Delphine's money once he was no longer in love with her. Blondet then goes on to talk about how Nucingen and his crony du Tillet came by their money. Nucingen is not just a banker, he's a war-profiteer and speculator on the stock-market, using other people's money to do it. Du Tillet is small fry by comparison. Sniping at decorum as 'English' they reveal how a wastrel like Godefroid de Beaudenord is lured into investing the remnants of his fortune with Nucingen, and how, when Beaudenord fell in love with Isaure d'Aldrigger, whose father had lost money with Nucingen too, Rastignac encouraged Isaure's sister Malvina to think that it would be a good match so that Nucingen can get his hands on the family's remaining money as well.
Balzac is keen to denounce the behaviour of these four Cormorants but their conversation is witty and urbane. They constantly rag each other, and apart from a few authorial lapses, their cynical and amusing gossip allows Balzac to write his expose without sounding polemical. What The Firm of Nucingen reveals is the activities of powerful banker-speculators who manipulate the stock market, capitalising (literally) on a time of rapid industrialisation and changes in society after the revolution.
Nucingen is able to convince investors to sell their stock cheaply because he uses Rastignac's respectable reputation to help induce panic selling. In this way he manages to improve his own unremarkable fortunes by acquiring shares in a German mining company called Worschin and other businesses. It's a bit complicated to follow but the results of his fraud was that he held in his hands the lives of Desroches, the Matifats, Beaudenord, the Aldriggers and d'Aiglemont and more because he had their investments at his command.
Young Rastignac thinking to outsmart Nucingen, is no match for this cunning man: he uses Eugene mercilessly, so that he becomes utterly compromised. The amazing aspect of all of this is that Nucingen was able to come out of the crash when it came with his hands apparently clean. (He was not however universally successful: he was outwitted by du Tillet - who still admires Nucingen's cunning).
One of the things I found interesting about this story from the man said to be first of the French realists, is the way the story is framed around the narrator and his companion. As we read the story, we forget all about them, sitting breathless and indignant as they listen to these cynical revelations – What we see instead is Balzac railing against government intervention to ban petty gambling while allowing the finance sector to gamble with the lives and money of others. At the end of the Balzac doesn't reveal who they are, finalising his story with the arrogant Bixiou dismissing their presence as of no consequence since 'he must have been drunk.' .
This little story shows whoever the real-life Bixiou was, that the eavesdropper was not!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2017
What Balzac had to say in this one was much more interesting than the way he said it. It takes place in the private dining area of a restaurant, where the room dividers are thin and what can be said is not so private. Thus, we are listening to this tale from an adjacent room. One fellow likes the sound of his own voice, and he takes the tale down many side paths. Even his fellow diners encourage him to get on with it!
The story itself is important to readers of La Comedie Humaine because Nucingen (banker, financier, capitalist) appears in many of the stories, both directly and indirectly. For me, and perhaps to many readers, is the story of how Eugene Rastinac came about his wealth. I first met Rastinac in Père Goriot where he has a prominent role. In that novel Rastinac is a poor man, but we see him carving out a future for himself. Rastinac appears in some 28 of the novels of the series.
I just wish Balzac had found a better storyteller to tell this story.
The story itself is important to readers of La Comedie Humaine because Nucingen (banker, financier, capitalist) appears in many of the stories, both directly and indirectly. For me, and perhaps to many readers, is the story of how Eugene Rastinac came about his wealth. I first met Rastinac in Père Goriot where he has a prominent role. In that novel Rastinac is a poor man, but we see him carving out a future for himself. Rastinac appears in some 28 of the novels of the series.
I just wish Balzac had found a better storyteller to tell this story.
December 17, 2023
„Wer da käme und behauptete, die Hochfinanz sei bisweilen pure Halsabschneiderei, würde sich einer empörenden Verleumdung schuldig machen.“
Wir sind Zeuge eines Gesprächs zwischen vier Männern, darunter, Blondet und Bixiou, die über den Aufstieg des Barons von Nucingen sprechen. Wie machte der Mann sein Vermögen? Irgendwie durch Liquidationen, was immer das genau ist. Richtig folgen konnte ich nicht. Jedenfalls raffiniert. Und dann gibt es noch einen jungen Mann, der irgendeine Dame zu ehelichen trachtet. Rastingac ist auch von der Partie.
Es gibt jede Menge Anspielungen. Der Zeitgenosse oder der wirkliche Kenner der Komödie werden aus dieser kurzen Erzählung viel Gewinn mitnehmen.
Wir sind Zeuge eines Gesprächs zwischen vier Männern, darunter, Blondet und Bixiou, die über den Aufstieg des Barons von Nucingen sprechen. Wie machte der Mann sein Vermögen? Irgendwie durch Liquidationen, was immer das genau ist. Richtig folgen konnte ich nicht. Jedenfalls raffiniert. Und dann gibt es noch einen jungen Mann, der irgendeine Dame zu ehelichen trachtet. Rastingac ist auch von der Partie.
Es gibt jede Menge Anspielungen. Der Zeitgenosse oder der wirkliche Kenner der Komödie werden aus dieser kurzen Erzählung viel Gewinn mitnehmen.
May 18, 2014
A short novella - fortunately so because I could only easily obtain on an e-reader which is not a pleasant reading experience.
As a stand-alone volume, I certainly wouldn't start here with Balzac, but it is, as Jim's review sets out so well, a wonderful companion piece to Pere Goriot as well as providing a wide range of vignettes on characters that feature throughout the rest of La Comédie Humaine (including in the version I read a useful appendix documenting them all and their earlier or subsequent appearances).
The book is told in the style of an oral narrator who never seems to quite get around to the point of the story - and indeed the various digressions are what enable such a wide range of characters to feature. Actually the style reminded me of Nikolai Leskov's stories, which I am also reading currently.
As a stand-alone volume, I certainly wouldn't start here with Balzac, but it is, as Jim's review sets out so well, a wonderful companion piece to Pere Goriot as well as providing a wide range of vignettes on characters that feature throughout the rest of La Comédie Humaine (including in the version I read a useful appendix documenting them all and their earlier or subsequent appearances).
The book is told in the style of an oral narrator who never seems to quite get around to the point of the story - and indeed the various digressions are what enable such a wide range of characters to feature. Actually the style reminded me of Nikolai Leskov's stories, which I am also reading currently.
January 8, 2025
La vie des boursicotages du XIXeme quand les plus malins se créent des fortunes colossales
February 15, 2021
Balzac's "The Firm of Nucingen" was rather tedious at times but I found many important items cleared up with regards to the characters of The Human Comedy which I am reading as a whole, the Rastignac, Delphine and Nucingen triangle makes more sense. Why would an evil smart man like Nucingen turn his eye to his wife's lovers? Why Rastignac changed from "Pere Goriot" days to other stories which have him quite mean spirited in his actions but liked nonetheless? All this and more characters are understood more in whole but if you are just reading this as one of several stories from the whole series, I think it would be more confusing, in my mind to understand the genius of Balzac is to read all.
This story takes places in 1836 or about then, Rastignac has left Delphine for about three years after many years her lover. Having heard about Nucingen ruining d'Aiglemonts in "A Woman of Thirty" we see how it was done to them and others with the help of Rastignac. The business of stocks and Balzac's dissertation are a bit boring but his points are so spot on, and a sad but true state where the ones too big get away with what the little can do barely anything compared, has the law thrown on him, so very true today too!
I did not read this edition but from a Delphi collection of his works.
"Originally appearing in 1838, La Maison Nucingen is a short story set in a private dining room in a restaurant, which is only divided by a flimsy partition. The diners in one partition can hear everything that is said in the other. Several characters appear from other novels in La Comédie humaine, most notably Eugene de Rastignac from Père Goriot, and their secrets are soon revealed to the other diners. "
"DEDICATION TO MADAME ZULMA CARRAUD To whom, madame, but to you should I inscribe this work; to you whose lofty and candid intellect is a treasury to your friends; to you that are to me not only a whole public, but the most indulgent of sisters as well? Will you deign to accept a token of the friendship of which I am proud? You, and some few souls as noble, will grasp the whole of the thought underlying The Firm of Nucingen, appended to Cesar Birotteau. Is there not a whole social lesson in the contrast between the two stories? DE BALZAC. "
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Rastignac after seeing how Delphine's father is treated learns to be different, when he came from the country he had more heart but he loses it and this explains why he changed, that still does not make me think he is not a scoundrel. Nucingen wants Rastignac to be Delphine's lover so he does not have to deal with her wants and Rastignac is controllable compared to her former lover, Henry de Marsey. Nucingen wanting to make more money, looks to ruin others by Rastignac helping him sway others into investing in the way that makes him money and others lose, like The Aldriggers and Baudenord.
"he admitted exceptions, he condemned the mass; he put no belief in any virtue — men did right or wrong, as circumstances decided. His worldly wisdom was the work of a moment; he learned his lesson at the summit of Pere Lachaise one day when he buried a poor, good man there; it was his Delphine’s father, who died deserted by his daughters and their husbands, a dupe of our society and of the truest affection. Rastignac then and there resolved to exploit this world, to wear full dress of virtue, honesty, and fine manners. He was empanoplied in selfishness."
"BLONDET (Emile), born at Alencon about 1800; legally the younger son of Judge Blondet, but really the son of a prefect of Orne. Tenderly loved by his mother, but hated by Judge Blondet, who sent him, in 1818, to study law in Paris. Emile Blondet knew the noble family of d’Esgrignon in Alencon, and for the youngest daughter of this illustrious house he felt an esteem that was really admiration. Jealousies of a Country Town. In 1821 Emile Blondet was a remarkably handsome young fellow. He made his first appearance in the “Debats” by a series of masterly articles which called forth from Lousteau the remark that he was “one of the princes of criticism.” A Distinguished Provincial at Paris."
"In 1836 he and Finot and Couture chimed in on the narrative of the rise of Nucingen, told with much zest by Bixiou in a private room of a famous restaurant. The Firm of Nucingen. "
"FINOT (Andoche), managing-editor of journals and reviews, times of the Restoration and Louis Philippe. Son of a hatter of rue du Coq (now rue Marengo). Finot was abandoned by his father, a hard trader, and made a poor beginning. He wrote a bombastic announcement for Popinot’s “Cephalic Oil.” His first work was attending to announcements and personals in the papers. He was invited to the Birotteau ball. Finot was acquainted with Felix Gaudissart, who introduced him to little Anselme, as a great promoter. He was previously on the editorial staff of the “Courrier des Spectacles,” and he had a piece performed at the Gaite. Cesar Birotteau."
"NUCINGEN (Baron Frederic de), born, probably at Strasbourg, about 1767. At that place he was formerly clerk to M. d’Aldrigger, an Alsatian banker. Of better judgment than his employer, he did not believe in the success of the Emperor in 1815 and speculated very skilfully on the battle of Waterloo. Nucingen now carried on business alone, and on his own account, in Paris and elsewhere; he thus prepared by degrees the famous house of the rue Saint-Lazare, and laid the foundation of a fortune, which, under Louis Philippe, reached almost eighteen million francs. At this period he married one of the two daughters of a rich vermicelli-maker, Mademoiselle Delphine Goriot, by whom he had a daughter, Augusta, eventually the wife of Eugene de Rastignac. "
"From the first years of the Restoration may be dated the real brilliancy of his career, the result of a combination with the Kellers, Ferdinand du Tillet, and Eugene de Rastignac in the successful manipulation of schemes in connection with the Wortschin mines, followed by opportune assignments and adroitly managed cases of bankruptcy. These various combinations ruined the Ragons, the Aiglemonts, the Aldriggers, and the Beaudenords. At this time, too, Nucingen, though clamorously declaring himself an out-and-out Bourbonist, turned a deaf ear to Cesar Birotteau’s appeals for credit, in spite of knowing of the latter’s consistent Royalism. "
"Forgetting her origin she dreamed of seeing her daughter Augusta become Duchesse d’Herouville; but the Herouvilles, knowing the muddy source of Nucingen’s millions, declined this alliance. Modeste Mignon. The Firm of Nucingen."
"BIXIOU (Jean-Jacques), famous artist; son of Colonel Bixiou who was killed at Dresden; grandson of Mme. Descoings, whose first husband was the grocer Bixiou. Born in 1797, he pursued a course of study at the Lyceum, to which he had obtained a scholarship. He had for friends Philippe and Joseph Bridau, and Master Desroches. Later he entered the painter Gros’s studio"
"ALDRIGGER (Malvina d’), elder daughter of the Baron and Baroness d’Aldrigger, born at Strasbourg in 1801, at the time when the family was most wealthy. Dignified, slender, swarthy, sensuous, she was a good type of the woman “you have seen at Barcelona.” Intelligent, haughty, whole-souled, sentimental and sympathetic, she was nevertheless smitten by the dry Ferdinand du Tillet, who sought her hand in marriage at one time, but forsook her when he learned of the bankruptcy of the Aldrigger family. The lawyer Desroches also considered asking the hand of Malvina, but he too gave up the idea. The young girl was counseled by Eugene de Rastignac, who took it upon himself to see that she got married. Nevertheless, she ended by being an old maid, withering day by day, giving piano lessons, living rather meagrely with her mother in a modest flat on the third floor, in the rue du Mont-Thabor. The Firm of Nucingen"
"In a private room of a well-known restaurant, in 1836, he wittily related to Finot, Blondet and Couture the source of Nucingen’s fortune. The Firm of Nucingen. "
"BAUDENORD (Godefroid de), born in 1800. In 1821 he was one of the kings of fashion, in company with Marsay, Vandenesse, Ajuda-Pinto, Maxime de Trailles, Rastignac, the Duc de Maufrigneuse and Manerville. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. His nobility and breeding were perhaps not very orthodox. According to Mlle. Emilie de Fontaine, he was of bad figure and stout, having but a single advantage — that of his brown locks. The Ball at Sceaux. A cousin, by marriage, of his guardian, the Marquis d’Aiglemont, he was, like him, ruined by the Baron de Nucingen in the Wortschin mine deal. At one time Beaudenord thought of paying court to his pretty cousin, the Marquise d’Aiglemont. In 1827 he wedded Isaure d’Aldrigger and, after having lived with her in a cosy little house on the rue de le Planche, he was obliged to solicit employment of the Minister of Finance, a position which he lost on account of the Revolution of 1830. However, he was reinstated through the influence of Nucingen, in 1836. He now lived modestly with his mother-in-law, his unmarried sister-in-law, Malvina, his wife and four children which she had given him, on the third floor, over the entresol, rue du Mont-Thabor. The Firm of Nucingen."
"BAUDENORD (Madame de), wife of the preceding. Born Isaure d’Aldrigger, in 1807, at Strasbourg. An indolent blonde, fond of dancing, but a nonentity from both the moral and the intellectual standpoints. The Firm of Nucingen."
"In 1836 Finot was dining with Blondet, his fellow-editor, and with Couture, a man about town, in a private room of a well-known restaurant, when he heard the story of the financial trickeries of Nucingen, wittily related by Bixiou. The Firm of Nucingen. "
This story takes places in 1836 or about then, Rastignac has left Delphine for about three years after many years her lover. Having heard about Nucingen ruining d'Aiglemonts in "A Woman of Thirty" we see how it was done to them and others with the help of Rastignac. The business of stocks and Balzac's dissertation are a bit boring but his points are so spot on, and a sad but true state where the ones too big get away with what the little can do barely anything compared, has the law thrown on him, so very true today too!
I did not read this edition but from a Delphi collection of his works.
"Originally appearing in 1838, La Maison Nucingen is a short story set in a private dining room in a restaurant, which is only divided by a flimsy partition. The diners in one partition can hear everything that is said in the other. Several characters appear from other novels in La Comédie humaine, most notably Eugene de Rastignac from Père Goriot, and their secrets are soon revealed to the other diners. "
"DEDICATION TO MADAME ZULMA CARRAUD To whom, madame, but to you should I inscribe this work; to you whose lofty and candid intellect is a treasury to your friends; to you that are to me not only a whole public, but the most indulgent of sisters as well? Will you deign to accept a token of the friendship of which I am proud? You, and some few souls as noble, will grasp the whole of the thought underlying The Firm of Nucingen, appended to Cesar Birotteau. Is there not a whole social lesson in the contrast between the two stories? DE BALZAC. "
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Rastignac after seeing how Delphine's father is treated learns to be different, when he came from the country he had more heart but he loses it and this explains why he changed, that still does not make me think he is not a scoundrel. Nucingen wants Rastignac to be Delphine's lover so he does not have to deal with her wants and Rastignac is controllable compared to her former lover, Henry de Marsey. Nucingen wanting to make more money, looks to ruin others by Rastignac helping him sway others into investing in the way that makes him money and others lose, like The Aldriggers and Baudenord.
"he admitted exceptions, he condemned the mass; he put no belief in any virtue — men did right or wrong, as circumstances decided. His worldly wisdom was the work of a moment; he learned his lesson at the summit of Pere Lachaise one day when he buried a poor, good man there; it was his Delphine’s father, who died deserted by his daughters and their husbands, a dupe of our society and of the truest affection. Rastignac then and there resolved to exploit this world, to wear full dress of virtue, honesty, and fine manners. He was empanoplied in selfishness."
"BLONDET (Emile), born at Alencon about 1800; legally the younger son of Judge Blondet, but really the son of a prefect of Orne. Tenderly loved by his mother, but hated by Judge Blondet, who sent him, in 1818, to study law in Paris. Emile Blondet knew the noble family of d’Esgrignon in Alencon, and for the youngest daughter of this illustrious house he felt an esteem that was really admiration. Jealousies of a Country Town. In 1821 Emile Blondet was a remarkably handsome young fellow. He made his first appearance in the “Debats” by a series of masterly articles which called forth from Lousteau the remark that he was “one of the princes of criticism.” A Distinguished Provincial at Paris."
"In 1836 he and Finot and Couture chimed in on the narrative of the rise of Nucingen, told with much zest by Bixiou in a private room of a famous restaurant. The Firm of Nucingen. "
"FINOT (Andoche), managing-editor of journals and reviews, times of the Restoration and Louis Philippe. Son of a hatter of rue du Coq (now rue Marengo). Finot was abandoned by his father, a hard trader, and made a poor beginning. He wrote a bombastic announcement for Popinot’s “Cephalic Oil.” His first work was attending to announcements and personals in the papers. He was invited to the Birotteau ball. Finot was acquainted with Felix Gaudissart, who introduced him to little Anselme, as a great promoter. He was previously on the editorial staff of the “Courrier des Spectacles,” and he had a piece performed at the Gaite. Cesar Birotteau."
"NUCINGEN (Baron Frederic de), born, probably at Strasbourg, about 1767. At that place he was formerly clerk to M. d’Aldrigger, an Alsatian banker. Of better judgment than his employer, he did not believe in the success of the Emperor in 1815 and speculated very skilfully on the battle of Waterloo. Nucingen now carried on business alone, and on his own account, in Paris and elsewhere; he thus prepared by degrees the famous house of the rue Saint-Lazare, and laid the foundation of a fortune, which, under Louis Philippe, reached almost eighteen million francs. At this period he married one of the two daughters of a rich vermicelli-maker, Mademoiselle Delphine Goriot, by whom he had a daughter, Augusta, eventually the wife of Eugene de Rastignac. "
"From the first years of the Restoration may be dated the real brilliancy of his career, the result of a combination with the Kellers, Ferdinand du Tillet, and Eugene de Rastignac in the successful manipulation of schemes in connection with the Wortschin mines, followed by opportune assignments and adroitly managed cases of bankruptcy. These various combinations ruined the Ragons, the Aiglemonts, the Aldriggers, and the Beaudenords. At this time, too, Nucingen, though clamorously declaring himself an out-and-out Bourbonist, turned a deaf ear to Cesar Birotteau’s appeals for credit, in spite of knowing of the latter’s consistent Royalism. "
"Forgetting her origin she dreamed of seeing her daughter Augusta become Duchesse d’Herouville; but the Herouvilles, knowing the muddy source of Nucingen’s millions, declined this alliance. Modeste Mignon. The Firm of Nucingen."
"BIXIOU (Jean-Jacques), famous artist; son of Colonel Bixiou who was killed at Dresden; grandson of Mme. Descoings, whose first husband was the grocer Bixiou. Born in 1797, he pursued a course of study at the Lyceum, to which he had obtained a scholarship. He had for friends Philippe and Joseph Bridau, and Master Desroches. Later he entered the painter Gros’s studio"
"ALDRIGGER (Malvina d’), elder daughter of the Baron and Baroness d’Aldrigger, born at Strasbourg in 1801, at the time when the family was most wealthy. Dignified, slender, swarthy, sensuous, she was a good type of the woman “you have seen at Barcelona.” Intelligent, haughty, whole-souled, sentimental and sympathetic, she was nevertheless smitten by the dry Ferdinand du Tillet, who sought her hand in marriage at one time, but forsook her when he learned of the bankruptcy of the Aldrigger family. The lawyer Desroches also considered asking the hand of Malvina, but he too gave up the idea. The young girl was counseled by Eugene de Rastignac, who took it upon himself to see that she got married. Nevertheless, she ended by being an old maid, withering day by day, giving piano lessons, living rather meagrely with her mother in a modest flat on the third floor, in the rue du Mont-Thabor. The Firm of Nucingen"
"In a private room of a well-known restaurant, in 1836, he wittily related to Finot, Blondet and Couture the source of Nucingen’s fortune. The Firm of Nucingen. "
"BAUDENORD (Godefroid de), born in 1800. In 1821 he was one of the kings of fashion, in company with Marsay, Vandenesse, Ajuda-Pinto, Maxime de Trailles, Rastignac, the Duc de Maufrigneuse and Manerville. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. His nobility and breeding were perhaps not very orthodox. According to Mlle. Emilie de Fontaine, he was of bad figure and stout, having but a single advantage — that of his brown locks. The Ball at Sceaux. A cousin, by marriage, of his guardian, the Marquis d’Aiglemont, he was, like him, ruined by the Baron de Nucingen in the Wortschin mine deal. At one time Beaudenord thought of paying court to his pretty cousin, the Marquise d’Aiglemont. In 1827 he wedded Isaure d’Aldrigger and, after having lived with her in a cosy little house on the rue de le Planche, he was obliged to solicit employment of the Minister of Finance, a position which he lost on account of the Revolution of 1830. However, he was reinstated through the influence of Nucingen, in 1836. He now lived modestly with his mother-in-law, his unmarried sister-in-law, Malvina, his wife and four children which she had given him, on the third floor, over the entresol, rue du Mont-Thabor. The Firm of Nucingen."
"BAUDENORD (Madame de), wife of the preceding. Born Isaure d’Aldrigger, in 1807, at Strasbourg. An indolent blonde, fond of dancing, but a nonentity from both the moral and the intellectual standpoints. The Firm of Nucingen."
"In 1836 Finot was dining with Blondet, his fellow-editor, and with Couture, a man about town, in a private room of a well-known restaurant, when he heard the story of the financial trickeries of Nucingen, wittily related by Bixiou. The Firm of Nucingen. "
June 2, 2017
Okay. Enjoyed glimpses of previous Balzac characters
January 4, 2026
Always amazing to me is how remarkably astute Balzac is when he is discussing the various aspects of money, earned or gained honestly or otherwise, how men scheme to deprive other families of money, even their own parents or children. Balzac was trained both in law and business, and knew what he was talking about. Yet, in spite of the success of his books in his own lifetime, and the wealth that flowed in, he died in debt and poverty.
Nowhere is the working of dodgy schemes better illustrated than in ‘The Firm of Nucingen,’ (1837) part of the Scenes from Parisian Life in the Comédie Humaine. Considering that the Paris Bourse had been established only in 1724, and keeping in mind too the upheavals, wars and general instability of political and financial institutions in France and elsewhere, one would have thought it hardly possible to understand economic markets, much less develop and profit by crooked schemes that involved intermediaries or straw men and shell companies at several removes. Yet that is exactly what Baron Nucingen does.
The frame story in which this is discussed by Andoche Finot, Émile Blondet, Couture, and Jean-Jacques Bixiou—all recurring characters in the Comédie Humaine — is that of an unnamed eavesdropper at the next table in the restaurant where the four friends are having dinner together. They wonder how another recurring character, Eugène de Rastignac, amassed his vast fortune. (We last saw Rastignac as the impoverished law student with social ambitions. Rastignac was the warm-hearted friend of Père Goriot, who was Goriot’s sole mourner in the Père Lachaise cemetery. Now he has become the lover of Nucingen’s wife, and a remarkably rich parasite. The reason? Nucingen puts up with sharing his wife Delphine with Rastignac, but avenges himself by using Rastignac as a dupe and a front man for several of his schemes.
Nucingen has another use for Rastignac, who is very well connected though poor. His cousin is the powerful Madame la Vicomtesse de Beauséant, who moves in the highest circles of Parisian society. Neither Nucingen, a Jew, nor his wife Delphine, the daughter of a vermicelli maker, have any hopes of access to those exalted circles, but Rastignac does, by birth and connections. Through him, Nucingen can make useful contacts, and Delphine be accepted by the great ladies of the Court.
‘The Firm of Nucingen’ is a savage satire on the insider trading and other ill regulated practices of the stock market, and also on the cupidity of well to do men and women wishing to get rich quick. While no individual is selected for examination under the microscope, so to speak, Nucingen’s own craftiness and utter unscrupulosity is a blinding revelation of his character, and although he is the absent protagonist here, he too is a recurring and occasionally sinister figure in the Human Comedy.
Nowhere is the working of dodgy schemes better illustrated than in ‘The Firm of Nucingen,’ (1837) part of the Scenes from Parisian Life in the Comédie Humaine. Considering that the Paris Bourse had been established only in 1724, and keeping in mind too the upheavals, wars and general instability of political and financial institutions in France and elsewhere, one would have thought it hardly possible to understand economic markets, much less develop and profit by crooked schemes that involved intermediaries or straw men and shell companies at several removes. Yet that is exactly what Baron Nucingen does.
The frame story in which this is discussed by Andoche Finot, Émile Blondet, Couture, and Jean-Jacques Bixiou—all recurring characters in the Comédie Humaine — is that of an unnamed eavesdropper at the next table in the restaurant where the four friends are having dinner together. They wonder how another recurring character, Eugène de Rastignac, amassed his vast fortune. (We last saw Rastignac as the impoverished law student with social ambitions. Rastignac was the warm-hearted friend of Père Goriot, who was Goriot’s sole mourner in the Père Lachaise cemetery. Now he has become the lover of Nucingen’s wife, and a remarkably rich parasite. The reason? Nucingen puts up with sharing his wife Delphine with Rastignac, but avenges himself by using Rastignac as a dupe and a front man for several of his schemes.
Nucingen has another use for Rastignac, who is very well connected though poor. His cousin is the powerful Madame la Vicomtesse de Beauséant, who moves in the highest circles of Parisian society. Neither Nucingen, a Jew, nor his wife Delphine, the daughter of a vermicelli maker, have any hopes of access to those exalted circles, but Rastignac does, by birth and connections. Through him, Nucingen can make useful contacts, and Delphine be accepted by the great ladies of the Court.
‘The Firm of Nucingen’ is a savage satire on the insider trading and other ill regulated practices of the stock market, and also on the cupidity of well to do men and women wishing to get rich quick. While no individual is selected for examination under the microscope, so to speak, Nucingen’s own craftiness and utter unscrupulosity is a blinding revelation of his character, and although he is the absent protagonist here, he too is a recurring and occasionally sinister figure in the Human Comedy.
May 2, 2026
"La casa Nucingen", Honoré de Balzac 1837, está junto a "Grandeza y decadencia de César Birotteau, perfumista", en la génesis de esa magna obra inacabada del autor: La Comedia Humana". Iba a estar formada por ciento treinta siete novelas de las que escribió ochenta y siete. Era posible seguir la vida de muchos personajes que tienen un recorrido y una evolución por las páginas de su ciclo novelesco. Como ya os dije el récord lo ostenta Eugéne de Rastignac que aparece en veintisiete novelas de un modo o de otro.
En "La casa Nucingen" se habla de la especulación bursátil a gran nivel. Podría extrapolarse a la situación actual. En la otra novela, César Birroteau cae en las redes de las estafas de Nucingen. Se trata de establecer señuelos entre "amigos fieles" de los que sabe que su amistad es ficticia haciendo alardes de confidencialidad con ellos sabiendo de antemano que ellos no la van a guardar. Confidencias basadas en falsas noticias de inversionesque van a causar la ruina del propio Nucingen, pero que son chollos por el precio de los títulos y que se van a revalorizar en breve. Ésto provoca movimientos de acciones entre unas empresas y otras de las que era él mismo el propietario. Esas sociedades estaban ahogadas y vendía sus acciones a un precio hipervalorado provocando la ruina de muchas familias. Más tarde se revalorizaba la empresa original y dejaba caer las empresas donde habían invertido "sus amigos" y sus familiares o allegados. Entre estos aparece Goriot, Grandet, Rastignac y muchos otros personajes de su obra.
Es una novela corta como siempre muy bien escrita. Transcurre en una tarde en un café donde en un reservado están contando esta historia mientras son escuchados por los clientes que se hallan en el reservado de la pared adyacente.
La forma de narrar no me ha enganchado demasiado. En todo momento esperaba que se acabara dicha narración y la acción saliera del café. A pesar de su calidad esperaba un vuelo más alto que no se ha producido. Como es una "nouvelle" he aguantado porque son poco más de ochenta páginas pero si llega a tener las grandes dimensiones de otras de sus obras, me hubiera costado seguir.
Como os he comentado en otros libros, Balzac casi siempre toma un capítulo piloto en que presenta todos los personajes que iran formando la trama. Ese capítulo es largo y difícil en muchas ocasiones pero después va entrelazando personajes y destinos, y todo parece un lienzo impresionista que se construye cuando es mirado con distancia. Aquí da la impresión de que toda esta novela corta es ese capítulo inicial y le ha faltado abrir las alas y desplegarse. Me ha faltado más historia.
En la creación de otros volúmenes de este ingente proyecto desarrollará la acción a partir de este hecho o narrará lo que les ocurrió antes a estos personajes.
Ha estado bien pero no me ha entusiasmado.
En "La casa Nucingen" se habla de la especulación bursátil a gran nivel. Podría extrapolarse a la situación actual. En la otra novela, César Birroteau cae en las redes de las estafas de Nucingen. Se trata de establecer señuelos entre "amigos fieles" de los que sabe que su amistad es ficticia haciendo alardes de confidencialidad con ellos sabiendo de antemano que ellos no la van a guardar. Confidencias basadas en falsas noticias de inversionesque van a causar la ruina del propio Nucingen, pero que son chollos por el precio de los títulos y que se van a revalorizar en breve. Ésto provoca movimientos de acciones entre unas empresas y otras de las que era él mismo el propietario. Esas sociedades estaban ahogadas y vendía sus acciones a un precio hipervalorado provocando la ruina de muchas familias. Más tarde se revalorizaba la empresa original y dejaba caer las empresas donde habían invertido "sus amigos" y sus familiares o allegados. Entre estos aparece Goriot, Grandet, Rastignac y muchos otros personajes de su obra.
Es una novela corta como siempre muy bien escrita. Transcurre en una tarde en un café donde en un reservado están contando esta historia mientras son escuchados por los clientes que se hallan en el reservado de la pared adyacente.
La forma de narrar no me ha enganchado demasiado. En todo momento esperaba que se acabara dicha narración y la acción saliera del café. A pesar de su calidad esperaba un vuelo más alto que no se ha producido. Como es una "nouvelle" he aguantado porque son poco más de ochenta páginas pero si llega a tener las grandes dimensiones de otras de sus obras, me hubiera costado seguir.
Como os he comentado en otros libros, Balzac casi siempre toma un capítulo piloto en que presenta todos los personajes que iran formando la trama. Ese capítulo es largo y difícil en muchas ocasiones pero después va entrelazando personajes y destinos, y todo parece un lienzo impresionista que se construye cuando es mirado con distancia. Aquí da la impresión de que toda esta novela corta es ese capítulo inicial y le ha faltado abrir las alas y desplegarse. Me ha faltado más historia.
En la creación de otros volúmenes de este ingente proyecto desarrollará la acción a partir de este hecho o narrará lo que les ocurrió antes a estos personajes.
Ha estado bien pero no me ha entusiasmado.
August 25, 2020
On spécule, on ruine et on s’enrichit !
Dissemblance est-elle marquée dans ce roman en rapport avec la nouvelle qui le précède « Melmoth Réconcilié », dans le sens où la fibre financière y est plus ample, et bien ancrée dans le récit.
Un court roman qui comporte une kyrielle de fraudes en Bourse, aussi variées et aux attributs si étonnants, où l’amour de l’argent règne en maître.
Ce récit est une oreille indiscrète dressée derrière un salon dans lequel longuement narraient et s’entretenaient quatre éminents journalistes -apparentés ou larrons- de la scène parisienne, autour de Nucingen et son génie en affaires.
Il s’agit plus exactement d’Eugène de Rastignac (héros du roman le Père de Goriot que j’aurais le plaisir de relire bien plus tard) qui s’enrichît par le biais des pratiques frauduleuses du baron de Nucingen, une montée en flèche parmi les fortunés de Paris de son époque.
Le jeu d’intérêts perfides et mutuels y est prévalant : La femme de Nucingen est prête à tout pour rendre heureux son amant qui est Rastignac et d'autre part, Nucingen, le mari, un banquier opportuniste trouve en Rastignac un beau joueur des chances avec qui il peut mettre en pratique ses projets faramineux de friponnerie bancaire.
Un roman tout en péripéties financières à s’y perdre, tellement les mécanismes liés à la dévaluation et réévaluation des bénéfices et des dettes sont multiples et rendent l’appréhension des histoires économiques et financières narrées dans ce récit, assez délicate.
L’incrédulité des personnages auxiliaires y est tellement flagrante qu’ils sont généralement pris pour des pis-aller !
Un jeu de confidences débouchant sur un cours d’économie et de gestion financière, truffée de perfidies, de fausses mondanités et d’intérêts divers en jeu !
« Le banquier est un conquérant qui sacrifie des masses pour arriver à des résultats cachés, ses soldats sont les intérêts des particuliers. Il a ses stratagèmes à combiner, ses embuscades à tendre, ses partisans à lancer, ses villes à prendre. La plupart de ces hommes sont si contigus à la Politique, qu’ils finissent par s’en mêler, et leurs fortunes y succombent. »
Rastignac alla trouver une grande fille qui causait dans un salon de jeu, et lui dit à l’oreille : « Malvina, votre sœur vient de ramener dans son filet un poisson qui pèse dix-huit mille livres de rentes, il a un nom, une certaine assiette dans le monde et de la tenue ; surveillez-les ; s’ils filent le parfait amour, ayez soin d’être la confidente d’Isaure pour ne pas lui laisser répondre un mot sans l’avoir corrigé. »
Dissemblance est-elle marquée dans ce roman en rapport avec la nouvelle qui le précède « Melmoth Réconcilié », dans le sens où la fibre financière y est plus ample, et bien ancrée dans le récit.
Un court roman qui comporte une kyrielle de fraudes en Bourse, aussi variées et aux attributs si étonnants, où l’amour de l’argent règne en maître.
Ce récit est une oreille indiscrète dressée derrière un salon dans lequel longuement narraient et s’entretenaient quatre éminents journalistes -apparentés ou larrons- de la scène parisienne, autour de Nucingen et son génie en affaires.
Il s’agit plus exactement d’Eugène de Rastignac (héros du roman le Père de Goriot que j’aurais le plaisir de relire bien plus tard) qui s’enrichît par le biais des pratiques frauduleuses du baron de Nucingen, une montée en flèche parmi les fortunés de Paris de son époque.
Le jeu d’intérêts perfides et mutuels y est prévalant : La femme de Nucingen est prête à tout pour rendre heureux son amant qui est Rastignac et d'autre part, Nucingen, le mari, un banquier opportuniste trouve en Rastignac un beau joueur des chances avec qui il peut mettre en pratique ses projets faramineux de friponnerie bancaire.
Un roman tout en péripéties financières à s’y perdre, tellement les mécanismes liés à la dévaluation et réévaluation des bénéfices et des dettes sont multiples et rendent l’appréhension des histoires économiques et financières narrées dans ce récit, assez délicate.
L’incrédulité des personnages auxiliaires y est tellement flagrante qu’ils sont généralement pris pour des pis-aller !
Un jeu de confidences débouchant sur un cours d’économie et de gestion financière, truffée de perfidies, de fausses mondanités et d’intérêts divers en jeu !
« Le banquier est un conquérant qui sacrifie des masses pour arriver à des résultats cachés, ses soldats sont les intérêts des particuliers. Il a ses stratagèmes à combiner, ses embuscades à tendre, ses partisans à lancer, ses villes à prendre. La plupart de ces hommes sont si contigus à la Politique, qu’ils finissent par s’en mêler, et leurs fortunes y succombent. »
Rastignac alla trouver une grande fille qui causait dans un salon de jeu, et lui dit à l’oreille : « Malvina, votre sœur vient de ramener dans son filet un poisson qui pèse dix-huit mille livres de rentes, il a un nom, une certaine assiette dans le monde et de la tenue ; surveillez-les ; s’ils filent le parfait amour, ayez soin d’être la confidente d’Isaure pour ne pas lui laisser répondre un mot sans l’avoir corrigé. »
March 2, 2022
Ştiţi prea bine cât de subţiri sunt pereţii de scânduri care despart salonaşele intime din cele mai elegante restaurante ale Parisului. La Véry, de pildă, sala cea mare e tăiată în două de un paravan de scânduri ce poate fi uşor scos ori pus la loc după dorinţă. Scena ce urmează nu s-a petrecut acolo, ci într-un alt local de petreceri pe care nu-mi vine la îndemână să-l numesc. Luam masa în doi, aşa că mă voi mulţumi să spun ca Prudhomme, personajul lui Henri Monnier3: „N-aş vrea s-o compromit”. Ciuguleam din bunătăţile ce alcătuiau cina noastră, delicioasă în toate privinţele, în timp ce stăteam de vorbă în şoaptă, fiindcă ne dădusem seama cât erau de subţiri pereţii micului salonaş în care ne găseam. Până în momentul când ajunsesem la friptură nu avusesem nici un vecin în încăperea alăturată, de unde nu se auzea decât pâlpâitul locului din sobă. Când orologiul bătu ora opt „se auziră paşi zgomotoşi, forfotă, cuvinte schimbate la repezeală, apoi chelnerii aducând sfeşnice cu lumânări aprinse. Era vădit că salonaşul vecin fusese ocupat. După voci am înţeles numaidecât cine se afla acolo. Erau patru din acei aprigi corbi de mare, ieşiţi din spuma ce încununează valurile mereu reînnoite ale generaţiei actuale; nişte băieţi de viaţă, ale căror mijloace de trai sunt o taină, deoarece nimeni n-a auzit să aibă rente sau moşii, dar, cu toate acestea, trăiesc bine. Aceşti spirituali condottieri ai finanţelor moderne4, pe tărâmul căreia se dă astăzi cel mai cumplit dintre războaie, lasă toate frământările în seama creditorilor, păstrând pentru ei numai plăcerile, singura lor preocupare fiind eleganţa vestimentară.
Destul de cutezători, de altfel, pentru a-şi fuma trabucul şezând pe un butoi cu praf de puşcă, ca Jean Bart5, poate numai pentru că şi acest lucru face parte din rolul pe care îl joacă; mai zeflemişti decât o gazetă-revolver, zeflemisindu-se chiar pe ei înşişi, ageri la minte şi bănuitori, veşnic în goană după afaceri, hrăpăreţi şi risipitori, invidioşi pe toată lumea, dar mulţumiţi de sine; deşi uneori de o dibăcie politică surprinzătoare, în stare să analizeze şi să ghicească totul, ei nu izbutiseră încă să-şi croiască drum în lumea în care ar fi vrut să-şi desfăşoare talentele.
Destul de cutezători, de altfel, pentru a-şi fuma trabucul şezând pe un butoi cu praf de puşcă, ca Jean Bart5, poate numai pentru că şi acest lucru face parte din rolul pe care îl joacă; mai zeflemişti decât o gazetă-revolver, zeflemisindu-se chiar pe ei înşişi, ageri la minte şi bănuitori, veşnic în goană după afaceri, hrăpăreţi şi risipitori, invidioşi pe toată lumea, dar mulţumiţi de sine; deşi uneori de o dibăcie politică surprinzătoare, în stare să analizeze şi să ghicească totul, ei nu izbutiseră încă să-şi croiască drum în lumea în care ar fi vrut să-şi desfăşoare talentele.
March 11, 2026
La casa Nucingen, o la banca Nucingen como la conoceríamos ahora, es una entidad que aparece de manera constante en el universo de “La comedia humana”. Esta quincuagésima escena pone en el centro a esta banca, pero no centrándose únicamente en ella misma, sino en casos de clientes que han tenido necesidad de usarla.
En esta ocasión, Balzac se introduce en la escena como un narrador cotilla, que escucha, a través de las finas paredes de un restaurante, la charla de cuatro conocidos también de otras escenas (Blondet, Finot, Bixiou y Couture) que charlan como colegas, y a los que se les va soltando la lengua según van bebiendo más.
Los cuatro amigos hablan de ese capitalismo salvaje del siglo XIX que, al igual que el posterior, sólo se preocupa por hacer ricos a unos pocos, utilizando la especulación y aprovechándose, y a veces llevando al extremo, la legalidad vigente. Aunque puede que haya algún atisbo de crítica, o incluso de fino sarcasmo, los tertulianos también muestran una abierta admiración por esa capacidad de los banqueros para dominar el mundo a su antojo.
Esta escena, aunque corta, reúne a muchos de los nombres ya conocidos por los lectores de Balzac, y uno se pregunta cuál sería su método de trabajo, si tendría una agenda con todos sus protagonistas o si utilizaría unos diagramas colgados en la pared, tipo película policiaca, para conseguir encajarlos a todos. El trabajo, desde luego, es encomiable.
En esta ocasión, Balzac se introduce en la escena como un narrador cotilla, que escucha, a través de las finas paredes de un restaurante, la charla de cuatro conocidos también de otras escenas (Blondet, Finot, Bixiou y Couture) que charlan como colegas, y a los que se les va soltando la lengua según van bebiendo más.
Los cuatro amigos hablan de ese capitalismo salvaje del siglo XIX que, al igual que el posterior, sólo se preocupa por hacer ricos a unos pocos, utilizando la especulación y aprovechándose, y a veces llevando al extremo, la legalidad vigente. Aunque puede que haya algún atisbo de crítica, o incluso de fino sarcasmo, los tertulianos también muestran una abierta admiración por esa capacidad de los banqueros para dominar el mundo a su antojo.
Esta escena, aunque corta, reúne a muchos de los nombres ya conocidos por los lectores de Balzac, y uno se pregunta cuál sería su método de trabajo, si tendría una agenda con todos sus protagonistas o si utilizaría unos diagramas colgados en la pared, tipo película policiaca, para conseguir encajarlos a todos. El trabajo, desde luego, es encomiable.
October 23, 2017
Sahip olduğuyla yetinmeyi bilemeyen bazı sermaye sahiplerinin, kendilerine nispetle daha büyük, ama kısa yoldan para kazanma konusunda aynı tıynette bir başkası tarafından, hisse senetleri piyasası üzerinden oyuna getirilerek, yutulup, iç edilmesini konu alan, ekonomi bilimine aşina olanların bile okurken anlamakta zorlanabileceklerini tahmin ettiğimden, yoğun bir konsantrasyonla okunması gerektiğini düşündüğüm, günümüz finans dünyasında yaşadıklarımıza dair dersler çıkarabileceğimiz, çok kısa ama çok şey anlatabilen bir eser olmuş.
July 14, 2020
როგორც თავად ბალზაკი ამბობდა, ეს წიგნი და "ცეზარ ბიროტო" ერთი მედლის ორ მხარეს წარმოადგენენ. თან "ადამიანური კომედიის" მკითხველები კარგად ვიცნობთ რასტინიაკს, მამა გორიოს, ნუსინგენებს... ამიტომ ორმაგად საინტერესოა შემთხვევით ყურმოკრული ამბავი იმაზე, თუ რამხელა "საქმე" წამოიწყო ნუსინგენმა თავის საბანკო სახლში და როგორ გაამდიდრა (მათ შორის რასტინიაკიც) და გააღატაკა ჩვენთვის ნაცნობი თუ უცნობი ადამიანები... რას ვიზამთ, ასეთია ფინანსური სამყარო - ერთ წამში ზოგი მწვერვალზე ადის, ზოგი კი უფსკრულში ეშვება...
June 4, 2018
I had to read this short story for my exam at university. I read Le Pére Goriot back in high school, and I really liked the story of Rastignac, then. Unfortunately, I forgot it and couldn't catch up again: if I had remembered Goriot, it could have been a better experience.
Anyway, I like Balzac's irony towards the society of Paris. I see a lot of similarities between those times and today.
Anyway, I like Balzac's irony towards the society of Paris. I see a lot of similarities between those times and today.
March 1, 2024
Je ne me souviens plus de ce livre, mais je sais qu’il raconte en quelque sorte la vie en société (parisienne?) et que j’avais l’impression de lire une télé-réalité, seulement, de l’ancien temps et bien plus intelligible.
Il me semble que j’avais aimé ce livre, en comparaison à ceux qu’on nous fait lire en classe car c’était son cas à lui aussi.
Il me semble que j’avais aimé ce livre, en comparaison à ceux qu’on nous fait lire en classe car c’était son cas à lui aussi.
July 27, 2020
Marriage, speculation, greed: how to rise in mid 19thc Paris. A conversational tour de force but basically illegible to the modern reader because the financial machinations are so arcane and opaque. You read it for the performance but don’t understand a thing. Except that some rise, and most fall.
October 26, 2025
Ein kürzerer Text, in dem Balzac mittels eines Gesprächs vierer Personen den Aufstieg des Bankhauses Nucingen nachzeichnet. Wie üblich interessiert sich Balzac bis ins technische Detail für die finanztechnischen und juristischen Details der Trickserein, mittels derer Nucingen sein Vermögen aufbaut. Diese sind hier so kompliziert, dass ich die Verwendung von ChatGPT empfehlen würde, um die einzelnen Schritte präzise nachzuvollziehen, denn es lohnt sich.
March 16, 2019
this feels like it could have been a great novel, yet I feel as if it looses its grip on the reader, do to it's short length
January 10, 2021
It's a very useful appendix to the characters of the rest of the Comedie Humaine, but would make little sense if read out of that context. Interesting rather than enthralling.
February 10, 2021
Market manipulation, pyramid schemes, the greed of the rich, too big to fail philosophy, this book had lots of relatable themes.
Read
February 13, 2024No nie jest to mój ulubiony Balzac
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