''Le Bal de Sceaux'' (''The Ball at Sceaux'') is the fifth work of
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...
, one of the oldest texts of ''
la Comédie Humaine
(; English: ''The Human Comedy'') is Honoré de Balzac's 1829–48 multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration (1815–30) and the July Monarchy (1830–48).
''La Comà ...
''.
The first edition of this
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...
was published in 1830 by Mame and Delaunay-Vallée in the ''Scènes de la vie privée'' (''Scenes of Private Life''). It was republished in 1835 by Madame Charles-Béchet, in 1839 in the Charpentier edition, and then in 1842 in the first volume of the Furne edition of ''
la Comédie Humaine
(; English: ''The Human Comedy'') is Honoré de Balzac's 1829–48 multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration (1815–30) and the July Monarchy (1830–48).
''La Comà ...
''.
Analysis
In writing this novella Balzac seems to have been inspired by the fables of
La Fontaine, especially ''La fille'' ("The Girl") and ''Héron'' ("The
Heron
Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...
"). There is also an allusion to La Fontaine in the choice of Émilie's surname. The plot is similar to that of another of Balzac's works, ''La Vieille Fille'' (''The Old Maid''), the subject of which hesitates between several suitors and finishes by making do with the only one left.
Plot
After having haughtily refused a number of suitors, under the pretext that they are not peers of France, Émilie de Fontaine falls in love with a mysterious young man who quietly appeared at the village dance at
Sceaux. Despite his refined appearance and aristocratic bearing, the unknown (Maximilien Longueville) never tells his identity and seems interested in nobody but his sister, a sickly young girl. But he is not insensible to the attention Émilie gives him and he accepts the invitation of Émilie's father, the Comte de Fontaine. Émilie and Maximilien soon fall in love. The Comte de Fontaine, concerned for his daughter, decides to investigate this mysterious young man, and he discovers him on the Rue du Sentier, a simple cloth merchant, which horrifies Émilie. Later, she learns why he secretly tended a store: he did it in order to support his family, sacrificing himself for his sick sister and for his brother, who had departed the country.
Piqued, she marries a 72-year-old uncle for his title of Vice Admiral, the Comte de Kergarouët.
Several years after her marriage, Émilie discovers that Maximilien is no longer working as a clothier but has become the Vicomte de Longueville, a Peer of France.
See also
*
Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine
External links
''The Ball at Sceaux'' at Project Gutenberg*
*
Original French text of ''Le Bal de Sceaux''
1830 French novels
Books of La Comédie humaine
Novels set in Paris
Novellas by Honoré de Balzac
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