Ursule Mirouët
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''Ursule Mirouët'', a novel, belongs to
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 ...
’s series of 94 novels and short stories ''
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 Com ...
''. First published in 1841, it forms part of his ''Scènes de la vie de province''. The action of the novel takes place in
Nemours Nemours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. Geography Nemours is located on the Loing and its canal, c. south of M ...
, though with flashbacks to Paris. It is set in the years 1829–1837.


Plot summary

Ursule is the legitimate daughter of the widower Dr Denis Minoret’s deceased ''illegitimate'' brother-in-law by marriage, Joseph Mirouët; not only is she the doctor’s niece, she is also his goddaughter and ward. Fifteen years old when the novel begins, she has been brought up by the doctor. Dr Minoret, an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
rather than an
agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
, and a devoted student of the ''
Encyclopédie , better known as ''Encyclopédie'' (), was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes. It was edited by Denis ...
'', has persisted in his rationalistic atheism for most of his eighty-three years. At the beginning of the novel he is, however, converted to Christianity – emotionally by the example of Ursule’s piety, and intellectually by his experience of
animal magnetism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a theory invented by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all living things, including humans ...
, or the
paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
, and by his longstanding friendship with Abbé Chaperon. Dr Minoret is determined that Ursule shall inherit all the savings he has accumulated during his lifetime. He intends, on the other hand, to bequeath the remainder (approximately half) of his total fortune of about 1,500,000 francs to his “héritiers”, nephews and cousins of his own bloodline who are members of the Minoret, Crémière and Massin families. Discontented with their inheritance prospects, the “heirs” seek to grab the whole of their wealthy relative's fortune, enlisting the help of the notary's clerk Goupil. The doctor conceals a letter of testamentary intention in a legal volume in his library. This, together with three bearer bonds, is stolen by one of the doctor's nephews, the postmaster François Minoret-Levrault, who, in the era before railways, owns and manages the carriage and postchaise services in and out of
Nemours Nemours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. Geography Nemours is located on the Loing and its canal, c. south of M ...
. The doctor dies, leaving Ursule much poorer than he had intended, for her inheritance would have become her
dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...
. Despite their best efforts – ransacking all the books in his library – the “heirs” (or “family”) cannot find the clue to the money. But remorse strikes Minoret-Levrault, and the doctor, appearing to him in a vision, instructs him to make good his theft. By an act of
poetic justice Poetic justice, also called poetic irony, is a literary device with which ultimately virtue is rewarded and misdeeds are punished. In modern literature, it is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own action, h ...
the postmaster's dandyish son Désiré Minoret-Levrault is killed in a stagecoach accident. Ursule marries the man of her dreams, the young Army officer Viscount Savinien de Portenduère.


Fundamental themes of the work


Virtue

Ursule is conspicuously virtuous, and Balzac was acutely aware of the difficulty of presenting a virtuous heroine in a novel. “Goodness has just one form, evil has a thousand”, he believed: “to be able to portray many virgins, you need to be like
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
” He hoped that ''Ursule Mirouët'' would win the annual Prix Montyon for the book which had rendered the greatest service to mankind; but in this he was disappointed. According to Balzac in his ''Avant-propos'' (Foreword) to ''
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 Com ...
'', it is in capital cities that “the extremes of good and evil are to be found”. However, the extreme polarization of good and evil in this novel is to be found in the provinces.


Inheritance and the Law

''Ursule Mirouët'' is the second of Balzac's four inheritance novels (i.e., ''
Eugénie Grandet ''Eugénie Grandet'' () is a novel first serialised from 1833 to 1834, and published in book form in 1834 by French author Honoré de Balzac. While he was writing it he conceived his ambitious project, ''La Comédie humaine'', and almost immediat ...
'', ''Ursule Mirouët'', ''
La Rabouilleuse ''La Rabouilleuse'' (, ''The Black Sheep'', or ''The Two Brothers'') is an 1842 novel by Honoré de Balzac, and is one of ''La Comédie humaine#The Celibates (Les Célibataires), The Celibates'' in the series ''La Comédie humaine''. ''The Black ...
'' and '' Le Cousin Pons''). As in all of the first three of these novels, the struggle for the inheritance is played out in a provincial town. In no other inheritance novel 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 Com ...
'' are the complexities of French inheritance law so coolly and analytically explored, and never more so than when the notary's clerk Goupil explains the inheritance situation to the “heirs”. Legally speaking, Ursule Mirouët is no relation whatever of Dr Minoret: this is in stark contrast to the emotional situation, where she is everything to him! There is therefore no possibility that Ursule could obtain the whole of Dr Minoret's wealth – unless, at nineteen years of age, she were to marry the eighty-seven-year-old doctor, which, as he is neither a blood relation of hers nor any sort of relation in law, he could legally do: and this is what the “heirs” fear. Dr Minoret is moved by a profound sense of
natural justice In English law, natural justice is technical terminology for the rule against bias (''nemo iudex in causa sua'') and the right to a fair hearing (''audi alteram partem''). While the term ''natural justice'' is often retained as a general conc ...
. For this reason he rules out any thought of a marriage of convenience with Ursule. And it is implied by Balzac that this sense of natural justice was just as strong within him in the days when he was an atheist. Furthermore, though the law can be manipulated by calculating people for their own self-advancement, it does roughly approximate to justice. Désiré Minoret-Levrault, a lawyer himself, realizes this. Balzac, in ''Ursule Mirouët'', seems to be of the opinion that justice “has a power of omniscience, a collective memory and a capacity for eventual action which far transcend the law’s imperfect machinery” – though allowance should be made for free indirect discourse. Nowhere else in ''
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 Com ...
'' is this opinion so categorically stated.


The Supernatural

''Ursule Mirouët'' embodies important philosophical statements of Balzac's view of life, in particular his belief in
Mesmer Franz Anton Mesmer ( ; ; 23 May 1734 – 5 March 1815) was a German physician with an interest in astronomy. He theorized the existence of a process of natural energy transference occurring between all animate and inanimate objects; this he cal ...
’s theory of
animal magnetism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a theory invented by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all living things, including humans ...
. Through Dr Minoret's experience of the
occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...
, his séance with the mysterious hypnotist and the elderly female medium, he becomes a Christian believer: here in ''
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 Com ...
'' the finite is seen as being embedded within the infinite;
animal magnetism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a theory invented by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all living things, including humans ...
underpins a belief in God. Balzac views Dr Minoret's rejection of religious indifference as the necessary accompaniment of his rejection of his earlier denial of
animal magnetism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a theory invented by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all living things, including humans ...
. Not only is Dr Minoret converted to Christianity by a séance, he also makes five dream-like appearances from the dead; and the supernatural also seems to intervene in the fatal accident that befalls Désiré Minoret-Levrault. It is because of this supernatural, cosmic dimension that – very unusually for Balzac's novels – ''Ursule Mirouët'' has a happy ending. It is one of the most joyful of his novels.


Narrative strategies

(1) The novel is notable for its use of the ''
in medias res A narrative work beginning ''in medias res'' (, "into the middle of things") opens in the chronological middle of the plot, rather than at the beginning (cf. '' ab ovo'', '' ab initio''). Often, exposition is initially bypassed, instead filled i ...
'' technique. Opening with François Minoret-Levrault anxiously awaiting his son Désiré's return home, it then turns to the circumstances leading up to that moment. (2) There is in fact a double employment of this flashback technique as shortly afterwards, to the town's amazement, Dr Minoret is shown walking to church with Ursule. The novel then proceeds to outline Dr Minoret's life up to that point. (3) The influence of the roman-feuilleton (
serial (literature) In literature, a serial is a printing or publishing format by which a single larger Creative work, work, often a work of Narrative, narrative fiction, is published in smaller, sequential instalments. The instalments are also known as ''numbers ...
) is very noticeable. Leading ''feuilletonistes'' were
Eugène Sue Marie-Joseph "Eugène" Sue (; 26 January 18043 August 1857) was a French novelist. He was one of several authors who popularized the genre of the serial novel in France with his very popular and widely imitated '' The Mysteries of Paris'', whi ...
,
Alexandre Dumas, père Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
,
Paul Féval, père Paul Henri Corentin Féval, ''père'' (29 September 1816 - 8 March 1887) was a French novelist and dramatist. He was the author of popular swashbuckler novels such as '' Le Loup blanc'' (1843) and the perennial best-seller '' Le Bossu'' (1857). ...
, Frédéric Soulié and
Eugène Scribe Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of man ...
. Balzac became increasingly preoccupied by their popularity in the 1840s and tried to emulate them. This involved incorporating many features of
melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...
; thus, for example, the séance is high melodrama. Serialization also encouraged the ending of each serialized extract on a note of high suspense. (4) There is a strong ludic element in ''Ursule Mirouët''. For Goupil the law is nothing but a game the aim of which is to outwit and defeat one's opponents.
Melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...
also has a ludic dimension as Balzac conjures into and out of existence the visionary beings who assist the progress of the plot. He thus juggles with the different levels of reality – the normal and the
paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
– as if he were playing with a kaleidoscope. At the level of language this juggling is mirrored in Goupil's puns and Mme Crémière's slips of the tongue. (5) The narrative of ''Ursule Mirouët'' is essentially simple in conception. It is, according to
Donald Adamson Donald Adamson, (30 March 1939 – 18 January 2024), was a British literary scholar and historian. Books which he wrote include ''Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God'' and '' Balzac and the Tradition of the European ...
, “a story in which no violent collision between the characters rises. Flashbacks apart, ''Ursule Mirouët'' has a straightforward storyline, with no sub-plots. Nevertheless, because of the flashbacks, it is a work of great narrative intricacy. Thus, with its stagecoach element, Désiré Minoret-Levrault's death strikingly parallels the opening scene of the novel.


Conclusion

Although
André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...
regarded ''Ursule Mirouët'' as a fairly minor work by Balzac's standards, Balzac himself described it as the masterpiece of all the studies of human society he had written up to that date. There is an air of serenity about this novel which ''
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 Com ...
'' seldom achieves; and this despite the elements of
melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...
and class conflict. The skirmishings to obtain the inheritance are admirably represented, as in a tableau, by the scene at the auction of Dr Minoret's belongings, where the “heirs” tip upside down and shake every volume in his library in their efforts to find the missing fortune. This turmoil is in a sense the Romantic dimension of the novel. Yet the dominant tone of ''Ursule Mirouët'' is projected at the very outset of the work, when Balzac compares its
Nemours Nemours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. Geography Nemours is located on the Loing and its canal, c. south of M ...
setting to the beauty and simplicity of a seventeenth-century Dutch landscape painting. ''Ursule Mirouët'' has that “noble simplicity, and ... tranquil greatness”
Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann ( ; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenism (neoclassicism), Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Ancient Greek art, Greek, Helleni ...
, ''Gedanken über die Nachahmung der griechischen Werke in der Malerei und Bildhauerkunst'', Friedrichstadt: 1755, p. 24.
which, in Winckelmann’s words, were the defining characteristics of
Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...
.


Bibliography

*Honoré de Balzac, ''Ursule Mirouet'', 2 vols, Paris: Souverain, 1842 *Honoré de Balzac, ''
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 Com ...
'', vol. V, Paris: Furne, 1843 (''Scènes de la vie de province'', vol. I) *''Ursule Mirouët'', translated by
Donald Adamson Donald Adamson, (30 March 1939 – 18 January 2024), was a British literary scholar and historian. Books which he wrote include ''Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God'' and '' Balzac and the Tradition of the European ...
,
Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English language, English, Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, and Korean language, Korean amon ...
(Harmondsworth: 1976) *
Donald Adamson Donald Adamson, (30 March 1939 – 18 January 2024), was a British literary scholar and historian. Books which he wrote include ''Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God'' and '' Balzac and the Tradition of the European ...
, translator's introduction, ''Ursule Mirouët'',
Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English language, English, Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, and Korean language, Korean amon ...
(Harmondsworth: 1976), pp. 5–19 *Claudine Bernard, “La Dynamique familiale dans ''Ursule Mirouët'' de Balzac”, ''French Forum'', May 1999, pp. 179–202 *
André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...
, ''Journal, 1889–1939'', Paris: Gallimard, 1951 *René Guise, “Balzac et le roman-feuilleton”, ''Année balzacienne'', 1964, pp. 283–338 *Jean Homayoun Mazahéri, “La Conversion du Dr Minoret dans ''Ursule Mirouët'' de Balzac”, ''Lettres romanes'', February–May 2001, pp. 53–66 *Armine Kotin Mortimer, “Balzac’s ''Ursule Mirouët'': Genealogy and Inheritance”, ''Modern Language Review'', October 1997, pp. 851–63 *Michel Nathan, “Religion et roman: À Propos de ''Ursule Mirouët''”, in ''Balzac: l’Invention du roman'' (Paris: Belfond, 1982), pp. 85–98 *Michael Tilby, “Balzac’s Magnetic Saints: A Note on ''Ursule Mirouët''”, ''French Studies Bulletin'', summer 2005, pp. 12–15


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ursule Mirouet 1842 French novels Books of La Comédie humaine Novels set in the 1830s Novels by Honoré de Balzac French novels adapted into films