Part of Series
The Vicar Of Tours is a long short story (or, more properly, a novella) by Honoré de Balzac, written in 1832. Originally entitled Les Célibataires (The Celibates), it was published in that year in volume III of the 2nd edition of Scènes de la vie privée, then republished in 1833 and again in 1839, still with the same title but as one of the Scènes de la vie de province. Not until 1843 did it take on its present title of Le Curé de Tours when it appeared in volume II of Scènes de la vie de province (volume VI of his vast narrative series La Comédie humaine). Le Curé de Tours is one of the best known of all Balzac’s fictions. The action of the novella takes place in or near Tours, with a brief excursion to Paris, in the year 1826. At the beginning of the autumn of the year 1826, Abbé Birotteau, the main character of this story, was surprised by a downpour on his way back from the house where he had gone to spend the evening. He therefore crossed as quickly as his plumpness would allow him, the little deserted place called the cloister, which is behind the chevet of Saint-Gatien, at Tours. From this perky beginning, Balzac will produce a dramatic story. But what is surprising is the strength of the conclusion. We live in a time when the failure of governments is to have made society less for man than man for society. There is a perpetual fight between the individual against the system which wants to exploit and which he tries to exploit for his benefit; whereas formerly man, really freer, showed himself more generous for the public good. And the author continues: Couldn't this moral cosmopolitanism, the hope of Christian Rome, be a sublime error? It is so natural to believe in the realization of a noble dream, in the brotherhood of men. But unfortunately! The human machine has not such divine proportions....
Author
Honoré de Balzac was a nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of almost 100 novels and plays collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the fall of Napoléon Bonaparte in 1815. Due to his keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters; even his lesser characters are complex, morally ambiguous and fully human. Inanimate objects are imbued with character as well; the city of Paris, a backdrop for much of his writing, takes on many human qualities. His writing influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James and Jack Kerouac, as well as important philosophers such as Friedrich Engels. Many of Balzac's works have been made into films, and they continue to inspire other writers. An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac had trouble adapting himself to the teaching style of his grammar school. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life, and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. When he finished school, Balzac was apprenticed as a legal clerk, but he turned his back on law after wearying of its inhumanity and banal routine. Before and during his career as a writer, he attempted to be a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician. He failed in all of these efforts. La Comédie Humaine reflects his real-life difficulties, and includes scenes from his own experience. Balzac suffered from health problems throughout his life, possibly due to his intense writing schedule. His relationship with his family was often strained by financial and personal drama, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; he passed away five months later.
