A Daughter of Eve

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Two aristocratic sisters raised in religious seclusion by their pious mother are suddenly married off into the glittering, treacherous Paris society of the 1830's, the younger to a domineering banker, the elder to a humane and loving count. This excellent novella from the 'private life' collection of Balzac's Comédie Humaine focusses on the elder daughter, Madame Felix de Vandenesse, who has no need to be dissatisfied with her husband, yet naively invites a scandal on herself when she is manoeuvred into an affair by more sophisticated and mischievous ladies. Her chosen lover, Raoul Nathan, is an ambitious playwright and would-be politician, a man of some genius but with feet of clay. Despite having a devoted mistress, the vaudeville actress Florine, Nathan recklessly courts Madame Felix, little knowing that he to is the dupe of wiser minds. Though the story is slight and contains no great depths of either drama or tragedy, I still found A Daughter of Eve to be something of a delight, due in no small measure to Balzac's incomparably rich powers of physical description and eye for detail. ...( Perry Whitford) About the author: Honoré de Balzac 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 generally viewed as his magnum opus. Owing to his keen observation of 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 writers, including the novelists Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert, and Henry James, and filmmakers François Truffaut and Jacques Rivette. Many of Balzac's works have been made into films and continue to inspire other writers. James called him "really the father of us all." An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac had trouble adapting 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 in a law office, but he turned his back on the study of 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 owing 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, Balzac married Ewelina Häska (née Contessa Rzewuska), a Polish aristocrat and his longtime love. He died in Paris six months later. (wikipedia.org)