La Paix du ménage
Author | Honoré de Balzac |
---|---|
Original title | La Paix du ménage |
Cover artist | David Murray Smith |
Country | France |
Language | French |
Series | La Comédie humaine |
Genre | Scènes de la vie privée |
Publisher | Mame et Delaunay-Vallée |
Publication date | 1830 |
Preceded by | Une double famille |
Followed by | Madame Firmiani |
La Paix du ménage (Domestic Bliss) is a French short story by Honoré de Balzac, which was first published by Mame et Delaunay-Vallée in 1830 as one of the author's Scènes de la vie privée (Scenes from Private Life). It was republished in 1842 as part of Furne's edition of Balzac's La Comédie humaine.
Dedicated to the author's dear niece, Valentine Surville, this vivid and incisive novella is constructed like a classical French play, observing the three unities of time (an hour), place (a ball) and subject (the seduction of a young woman). Contrary to what the title might lead one to expect, the work is not concerned with the married life of the French bourgeoisie; it is, rather, a scintillating depiction of high society under the First Empire.
Plot
The Comte de Gondreville hosts an ostentatious ball in his stately mansion. Among the guests is an unknown woman in a blue dress. She is discreet and bashful, and clearly at odds with the arrogance and excitability of the other guests; it is as though she does not belong in these opulent surroundings. Intrigued by this pretty young woman, the Comte de Montcornet and Baron de la Roche-Hugon make a wager to see which of them can seduce this heavenly figure, who is, in fact, the wife of the Comte de Soulanges. A tangled web of amorous intrigues ensues.
Theme
The dense structure of this novella resembles the stagecraft of a play. The masked ball also conjures up the theatre, where no one is quite what he or she seems.
See also
- Repertory of the Comedie Humaine
External links
- Domestic Peace translation (by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell) at Project Gutenberg
- Original French text of Domestic Peace
- (in French) La Paix du ménage, audio version
- v
- t
- e
- La Maison du chat-qui-pelote
- Le Bal de Sceaux
- La Bourse
- La Vendetta
- Madame Firmiani
- Une double famille
- La Paix du ménage
- La Fausse Maîtresse
- Étude de femme
- Autre étude de femme
- La Grande Bretèche
- Albert Savarus
- Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées
- Une fille d'Eve
- La Femme de trente ans
- La Femme abandonnée
- La Grenadière
- Le Message
- Gobseck
- Le Contrat de mariage
- Un début dans la vie
- Modeste Mignon
- Béatrix
- Honorine
- Le Colonel Chabert
- La Messe de l'athée
- L'Interdiction
- Pierre Grassou
- Ursule Mirouët
- Eugénie Grandet
- Pierrette
- Le Curé de Tours
- La Rabouilleuse
- L'illustre Gaudissart
- La Muse du département
- La Vieille Fille
- Le Cabinet des Antiques
- Le Lys dans la vallée
- Illusions perdues
- Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes
- Un prince de la bohème
- Un homme d’affaires
- Gaudissart II
- Les Comédiens sans le savoir
- Ferragus
- La Duchesse de Langeais
- La Fille aux yeux d'or
- Le Père Goriot
- César Birotteau
- La Maison Nucingen
- Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan
- Les Employés
- Sarrasine
- Facino Cane
- La Cousine Bette
- Le Cousin Pons
- Les Petits Bourgeois
- Une ténébreuse affaire
- Un épisode sous la Terreur
- Madame de la Chanterie
- L'Initié
- Z. Marcas
- Le Député d'Arcis
- Le Médecin de campagne
- Le Curé de village
- Les Paysans
- La Peau de chagrin
- La Recherche de l'absolu
- Jésus-Christ en Flandre
- Melmoth réconcilié
- Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu
- L'Enfant maudit
- Gambara
- Massimilla Doni
- Les Marana
- Adieu
- Le Réquisitionnaire
- El Verdugo
- Un drame au bord de la mer
- L'Auberge rouge
- L'Elixir de longue vie
- Maître Cornélius
- Sur Catherine de Médicis
- Louis Lambert
- Les Proscrits
- Séraphîta
- La Physiologie du mariage
- Petites misères de la vie conjugale
- Fernand Lotte: Armorial de la Comédie Humaine
This article about an 1830s novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |
- v
- t
- e