Vautrin
Vautrin is a character from Balzac's novel cycle The Human Comedy ( La Comédie humaine ).
background
Vautrin is one of the most important characters in Balzac's novel cycle "The Human Comedy", which was written between 1829 and 1850. The author was inspired by the life of the then well-known criminal Eugène François Vidocq (1775–1857) to create his figure. Vidocq, like Vautrin in the novel " Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes " ( Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes ) from 1847, becomes chief of the Paris security police after his career as a criminal.
history
Vautrin, his real name is Jacques Collin, appears for the first time in " Father Goriot ". The novel begins in 1819, Jacques Collin is an escaped convict who lives in the Vauquer house under the name Vautrin. For "bailing out" a friend and taking the blame on himself, he was sentenced to prison. He is very interested in his roommate, Eugène Rastignac, an ambitious young man who wants to get rich and powerful. Vautrin is exposed and arrested by the police and is returned to Rochefort prison.
Vautrin appears again in the novel "Lost Illusions". It has been a while since he is disguised as the Spanish abbot Carlos Herrera. He meets Lucien de Rubempré, a gifted but depressed poet whom he saves from suicide.
"Splendor and misery of the courtesans", the last novel of the "Vautrin Trilogy", tells of Lucien de Rubempré's rise to the Parisian aristocracy . Herrera's money and his cheating help the young man to succeed. However, in the end, Vautrin's violations of the law hurt him. Both are arrested and Lucien hangs himself in prison.
Lucien's death leads to an inner reversal for Vautrin, he changes fronts and becomes a policeman.
characterization
Curtius calls Vautrin a "criminal on a grand scale who goes his dangerous path in full consciousness, [...] carried by the superiority consciousness of the human being who has examined the earthly conditions and recognized that there are only two possible decisions: either a dull one Obedience or the revolt ". He is outraged against the "society" against which he fights unscrupulously in order to assert himself and his claims to power.
He is a tall and dominant man with a strong virile charisma, knows all technical-manual tricks, and has mastered all the arts of manipulation, but can also be guided by generosity and generosity. He is an enigmatic and colorful personality. Since he himself remains excluded from society, he tries to gain power and influence through young and ambitious men like Rastignac and Lucien de Rubempré.
It remains to be seen whether the relationship between Vautrin and his young protégés is based on pure friendship or is homoerotic .
swell
Vautrin appears in the following novels:
- Le Père Goriot ( Father Goriot , German) 1835.
- Illusions perdues (Lost Illusions, Ger.) 1836 to 1843
- Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes (splendor and misery of courtesans, German) 1838 to 1847
- Le Député d'Arcis . (The deputy from Arcis, German) 1847.
literature
- Ernst Robert Curtius : Homage to Balzac: Jacques Collin. [2]
Web links
- Le portrait de Vautrin; Le père Goriot; Honoré de Balzac; Preparatory text for the French Bac .