Lost illusions

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Lucien Chardon in Finot's office
Madame de Bargeton's boudoir
Lucien Chardon and Daniel d'Arthez

Lost Illusions (French: Illusions perdues ) by Honoré de Balzac was written between 1837 and 1843 as a contemporary social criticism in a three-part novel. The novel is part of his monumental cycle The Human Comedy , in which it is one of the scenes from provincial life ( Scènes de la vie de province ). Using the rise and fall of Lucien Chardon, Balzac describes the mechanisms that he found in the France of the Restoration , especially in the literary world, in journalism and in high society. As such, Lost Illusions is not just a novel , but a document of the times.

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The two poets

The novel begins (1821) in the town of Angoulême , which Balzac describes as follows: Between [the suburb] l'Houmeau and Angoulême there is a strange tension caused by social conditions, yes, one can safely say: enmity. L'Houmeau got rich from its thriving trade, especially its paper mills. It is in the flat land. Everything that brings money, the freight traffic, the post office, the inns, the breweries, the factories are concentrated below Angoulêmes on the banks of the Charente . Above the nobility and power, below trade and money. Two social spheres that are in constant opposition. Commerce is rich, the nobility in general poor, and each avenges the other with contempt.

The strikingly beautiful and talented Lucien Chardon is the son of a petty bourgeois pharmacist and a midwife who comes from the venerable family of the de Rubempré and is only saved from the scaffold by false testimony by the pharmacist, whom she then marries. Lucien becomes a favorite of Naïs de Bargeton, the first lady in Angoulême, and falls in love with the much older woman. Lucien's sister Eva and his friend - later brother-in-law - David Séchard, who inherited a small, indebted printing company, try to finance Lucien's ascent as best they can with their limited means. When in Angoulême's public opinion the protegation threatens to become a scandal, Lucien and Mme de Bargeton flee to Paris. Mme de Bargeton wants to ensure that Lucien not only makes a career as a poet in high society, but that he can also - through relationships - take his mother's name by royal decree: Lucien de Rubempré. But the high society is small, the scandal follows them to Paris.

A great man from the provinces in Paris

At the first opportunity Mme de Bargeton tries to introduce Lucien to the relational Marquise d'Éspard by taking him to the opera . Everyone of high standing meets there, but Lucien cuts a bad figure, so that Mme de Bargeton drops him on the advice of Marquise d'Éspa. To make matters worse, the equipment for the first appearance cost too much. With impending ruin in front of his eyes, he disappears into the poorest of circumstances, where he meets new friends: the “cénacle” circle around the philosopher and writer d'Arthez, initiates of the literary business. They preach to him that even if it takes years, a real talent will eventually come to fame. The journalist Etienne Lousteau, on the other hand, knows the rules of the game in newspapers , especially those of literary criticism , theater criticism and the rainbow press . In order to earn money, Lucien embarks on journalism in the naive belief that he can remain true to himself. But with his talent and under the detailed direction of Etienne Lousteau, he experiences the true power of the media and cannot suppress the desire to take revenge on Mme de Bargeton and Marquise d'Éspard - their revenge will be his downfall. His success makes money, but makes him careless. Because the small, fine society is able to forge a plot in which everyone plays their part properly. Lucien is told that the long-awaited royal decree is within reach if he decides to write for a new royalist newspaper instead of writing for the liberals as before. Gripped by his vanity, Lucien leaves the liberal camp and his protection , only to be dropped in the royalist camp. Because of his lavish life, completely in debt, with no prospect of corresponding income, he falls into the dregs of society. In order to pay off his debts, he forged bills of exchange from his brother-in-law David, thereby dragging him and his sister Eva into misery. Finally he returns to Angoulême.

The inventor's sufferings

Meanwhile, David succeeded in developing the improved paper-making process that was lost with his father. But the Cointet brothers, David's competitors, have now succeeded in ruining David's ideas, in particular by exploring and exploiting David's ideas with the help of a spy in his print shop. David goes bankrupt and is jailed. Lucien is complicit in this recent catastrophe and decides to commit suicide. But while he is about to drown himself, a Spanish abbot , Carlos Herrera, appears, who prevents him. He offers him money and promises success on the condition that he will blindly obey him. Lucien accepts this pact. He then sends David the necessary sum to get him out of prison and goes to Paris with the strange priest. David reaches a deal with the Cointets who use his invention so that he and Eva can make a living from it. The subsequent events in Lucien's life are told in the novel Splendor and Misery of the Courtesans .

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Audio

literature

  • Dominique Massonnaud: Illusions perdues, “l'œuvre capitale dans l'œuvre”. In: Romance Studies. Vol. 3, 2016, online .

Web links

Wikisource: Illusions perdues  - sources and full texts (French)