The Hated Son, Honoré de Balzac

Image via WikipediaBalzac has become a sort of new favourite to me. The previous books of his that I read were really brilliant. His character sketches are quite brilliant. It is fortunate for me, and for those who love his work, that he was such a prolific writer. This story, The Hated Son, is the next object of my study. It is a book of short length or perhaps a novella. It is available freely on Gutenberg.org.

What is quickly becoming 'a long time ago,' when I was in Concordia University, one of the pieces of literature which was required reading was Sir Robert Browning's poem, "My Last Duchess." This poem bears a striking resemblance to Balzac's The Hated Son. After a bit of research, I discovered that if there is any influence at all, it would have been Browning having been influenced by Balzac. "My Last Duchess" is a short poem which illustrates the ferocious jealousy which a Duke has over his late Duchess. The girl is described as beautiful and free loving, in the innocent way of thinking of it. The Duke does not like the way the girl handles herself, and it's assumed that he has her killed for it.

Balzac's short novel paints an even more brutal picture for the antagonist. The story starts off with a young girl, nineteen years of age, sneaking about her fifty year's old husband for fear of waking him. She wants to escape, but cannot. She is terrified that her husband will end up killing her and her unborn child, or her and her child when it will be born.

When she does have the baby, it is premature. It, or rather he, is born small and weak. This makes him hateful for the count. However, his true love is for neither the woman nor the child: it is for the rich dowry that he got through his marriage to her. This same dowry is what saves both her and her child from annihilation, as the Comte d'Herouville would have to return that fortune to whomsoever would inherit it upon her death.

When she is about to give birth to the premature boy, the count goes off to pretty much kidnap a 'bonesetter' to deliver the baby. The bonesetter himself is described as selfish and brutal. But, somehow there is something noble about him. For example, the majestic lion which is a horribly brutal creature, somehow inspires feels of admiration. Yet, he has those moments of softness, when he wonders why it is that the soft and warming emotion of love cannot be felt for him by his wife. But, he does not waste much time thinking on that.

Etienne, the son of the count become duke, is banished to an ocean side cottage. He is described as being incredibly delicate. A child of the ocean and poetry. He is so weak that a stern word is said to be potentially fatal to him. Later, the duke fathers a second son, who is robust and strong. He takes to tyrannizing those who are under him as a kind of past time. He, like his father, is a man of war. But, as he lives by the sword, he also dies by the sword. The duke believes his name to be doomed with that death, having long forgotten his first son, Etienne. But, Etienne is so weak, that he cannot handle his father's vital energy.

Etienne is referred to as poesy, poetry, and that sort of thing. But also, of being so delicate, like that of a woman. I don't know why poetry and poets need to be associated with weakness. It's hard for me to respect a man who is so weak. While I did not relish the cruelty of the father or the son, there was a certain animal association with it that still gives them a certain amount of respect. But a weakness or being so fragile like a tiny flower grown sheltered from the wind is a little harder to appreciate.

In any case, Etienne finds a lover, but one as fragile as himself, and much lower in rank. Hence, the romance is doomed to failure due to the Duke's heavy hand. The duke's greed knows no bounds. I cannot help but think, at this point in the book, that their affair is doomed to failure. Balzac is unpredictable, somewhat, in how he concludes his tales. In general, however, the rule is that they fail to achieve a happy ending.

Sure to my instinct, the old Duke is so furious at his son to obey his order to marry the woman, he lifts his sword to kill his son, who dies before the blade descends along with the girl, Gabrielle.

I really loved some of the character portraits which Balzac so often paints so well. The honeyed romantic portraits, I am not so fond of. However, to dig a little more deeply, I cannot help but wonder if Balzac was praising love or denouncing it. How easily love, in this case, was destroyed by the father. Is love, therefore, also to be considered weak? Is it weaker than anger? It seems that this is the conclusion of Balzac in this tale.

A Prince of Bohemia, Honore de Balzac

Image via WikipediaI am not really sure what I thought when I chose to download this title. Well, I do know that I had been pleased with my previous readings of Balzac's work. Thus, I went and plucked a smattering more of titles from Gutenberg.org. Among them was the title, A Prince of Bohemia.

Plot wise, I can't say that I would really want to read this story again. It is a kind of inverted story of the traditional unrequited love story between a man and woman. In this instance, a woman of wealth and distinction, who is also married, falls head-over-heels in love with a Bohemian of questionable value.

This man does not really love her, and seems to wish only to torture her. Perhaps, it is because of a kind of hatred for all the wealth that she has, versus the poverty and lack-of-wealth that he has. It does not explicitly say. However, in his efforts to torture her, he constantly pushes her to become more of the bourgeois than she already was. This, consequently, turns her into the kind of wife who hounds her husband. Where he would have been 'one vaudevillist among five hundred; whereas he is in the House of Peers.' So, his demand that she become a far greater bourgeois is successful.

But, despite his demands being met by her, he still demands more. He demands that she become a part of the king's court. He is aware that he is being, as Balzac puts it, 'pitiless,' and dresses his eyes in tears. Then he takes pity on her and says that he will put her in his will.

Image via WikipediaThen, inexplicably, the tale ends. I am utterly lost as to its conclusion. Why did he put her in his will? As a young man, younger than she is, is he contemplating something such as suicide? Is her ruin destroying him? Is he perhaps caught between trying to get rid of her because he does not love her and not being able to cast her aside at all? Is there some guilt that is robbing his conscience?

Beyond my own inability to penetrate the finale, and despite the fact that the plot is not overly to my liking, Balzac's writing is absolutely gorgeous. The way he paints the canvas that is a page, to illustrate such gorgeous figures of the imagination, is absolutely genius. For all the stuff I don't like about what he writes, his style is magnificent. If for no other reason, I highly recommend this work of fiction.

The Magic Skin, Honoré de Balzac

Image via WikipediaAfter reading my latest Tarzan book, I thought I'd go into another one. However, as I got into it, I found it wanting. That is to say, the nearly empty calories of a Tarzan book are great after a substantial read, a rest or respite after a heavier book, it is quite delightful: like a bit of dessert.

Thus, I wandered throughout my now substantial collection of some 135 books on my Kindle before coming to rest on a Honoré de Balzac's book, The Magic Skin. Wikipedia's article on Balzac says, "He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters, which are complex, morally ambiguous and fully human." Burroughs' characters are often roughly two dimensional: the antagonists are so shallow that it can actually be a bit difficult to digest. Balzac and Burroughs are definitely diametrically opposite to each other.

We are first acquainted with the protagonist as he enters a gambling hall. In fact, in the version on my Kindle writes 'gambling hell,' which seems like it might be a typo. In any case, the man goes in with a single golden coin. When he deposits it on the roulette table, on black, it is almost as if he is saying, 'heads I live, tails I die.' When it lands on 'tails, I die,' he makes his way out of the casino.

He makes a conscious decision to wait until the anonymity of night before he casts his life away in the Louvre. Coincidentally, as he looks for something to distract his attention, he finds an antique shop with all manner of historical interest and wealth, art and weapon, so many noted piece-by-piece. Until at last he comes to a piece he cannot see, whereupon curiosity sends the guide to his master.

The master reveals a skin that allegedly grants its owner a series of wishes. Unbelieving, our protagonist rattles off a dozen wishes before the proprietor cuts him off. He promises that these wishes shall all come true, including his wish to die. It is an ominous beginning. One must wonder if the protagonist would have been better off dead, floating anonymously down the Louvre than to follow this new path which we're about to explore.

After an interesting set-up, Balzac takes us to the story that led Raphael to the decision of trying to end his life. He becomes obsessed with winning the affection of a woman who thinks very little of him. Though not rich, he does everything he can to conceal this fact. His utter failure results in his wanting death.

However, now with the magic skin in his possession, his wishes for wealth and recognition quickly come true. Everything he wanted comes to him. Every wish he makes shrinks the skin. As such, he believes in the power of the skin. He tries to shelter himself from the world, but is ultimately dragged back out into it when the new girl he loves, Pauline, comes back into his life. They love each other truly, but his fear of the side-effect of the skin once it has diminished entirely destroys their relationship.

One very interesting passage that I ran into that was very interesting was when he brought the magical skin to a scientist. His words, a criticism of science, was quite interesting. He said that too often scientists rely on the words and vocabulary invented by men as a substitute for knowledge and power.

Regardless of the degree or type of scientist, there is nothing that Raphael can do to stretch out the magical skin. His fate, he ultimately realizes, is sealed. But before he does that, he makes an effort at healing himself in a health spa. Ironically, the same people who would have rejected him for his poverty, in this case, reject him for his wealth. One becomes so brash as to duel with him. Raphael fills his gun with the musket ball first, and the powder second. Despite this, and the fact that he does not aim the gun, his wish is granted to him and his opponent is shot through the heart.

This book was really great. Balzac is a true master of literature. I highly recommend this book.

The Atheist's Mass by Honoré de Balzac

Image via WikipediaFor a long time I've been eyeing Balzac as someone with whom I should be well acquainted - to his literature at least. Though I would like to read it in French, I simply haven't got the patience for it. These days, I'm taxing myself enough with my Korean language lessons. In any case, "The Atheist's Mass" was the first story I've read on My Magic Book.

Balzac's "The Atheist's Mass" intrigued me because of the seeming conflict between the concepts of atheist and mass. An atheist wouldn't normally have a mass. So I wondered if it related to a cult of atheists, or if he was going to make devils out of atheists. However, this was not the case.

The story really read more like a character study than anything. It was somewhat dry. It was simply that a successful man, Desplein, had been befriended by another who was deeply religious. As his friend died, he'd sworn to hold a mass for him in his remembrance. True to his word, he purchased a mass from a church which was conducted four times every year.

I fully expected a lot of jabs about atheists and such throughout the story. For, atheists have been and still are maligned around the world. Right up until the end I was surprised to see none of this. However, near the end of the story, Desplein declares, "That, my dear fellow, is as much as a man who holds my opinions can allow himself. But God must be a good fellow; He cannot owe me any grudge. I swear to you, I would give my whole fortune if faith such as Bourgeat's could enter my brain." It definitely suggests that he sees greater value in the religious faith than all his temporal trappings. It should be noted that "The Atheist's Mass" is just one part of a much larger work The Human Comedy (La Comédie humaine). For a much better study of the story, Michael Cummings has written a rather complete analysis of the tale at Cumming's Study Guides. The story itself can be found at Gutenberg.org.