Something Old

Not everything worth reading is hot off the press. In this section, we recommend "something old" that is still well worth reading. "Something Old" can mean anything from a venerable and antique classic to a good book first published year or two ago.    

“SPLENDEURS ET MISERES DES COURTISANES” [variously translated into English as “A Harlot’s Progress” or, in the Penguin translation, “A Harlot High and Low”] by Honore de Balzac (First published together in 1847, sections of which had earlier been published separately )

            Readers of Balzac’s works are often confused by the way a character in one novel can turn up in another novel, sometimes as a major character and sometimes as a purely incidental character.  These are the “recurring characters” that critics often discuss. Some years back, when I visited in Paris the house where Balzac wrote some of his best works, I saw on the wall a large plan of all the recurring characters and how they were linked with one-another and in which novels they appear. There were hundreds of them. In Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes, one of Balzac’s longest books, a major character carries over from Lost Illusions [reviewed on this blog]. If I were the kind of chap who chases down all the rabbit holes of Balzacian literature, then I would diligently tell you of which character was related to whom. But I will not test your patience. Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes is one of Balzac’s more “sensational” works, the sort that (with some reason) is often criticised as, in places, near to a thriller or “shocker”. It is also as much a collection of different stories put together as L’Histoire des Treize [also reviewed on this blog]. And once again, it is therefore one of Balzac’s longest. Incidentally, some readers of this blog have told me that my synopses of novels are too long, so I will attempt to give you brutally short ideas of the “novel’s” four sections.

            Part One  [the headings as given in the Penguin version] “Esther’s Happiest Days” Esther van Gobseck, known as “La Torpille”, is a fashionable, beautiful courtesan [i.e. expensive prostitute]. She falls in love with the young Lucien de Rubempre, but she almost commits suicide because of the fact that she is Jewish – therefore  not acceptable to many in the upper classes. She is rescued by the master criminal Vautrin [who in this novel goes by the alias “Collin” ] and places her into a convent, gets her baptised, explains to her how high society works and then lets her live for four years with Lucien. Their life is bliss. But Lucien de Rubempre wants to be accepted into high society himself and starts courting the rich but plain daughter of a Duke, Clotilde. He claims to be a wealthy man. And coincidentally another roue, the elderly  millionaire banker Baron de Nucingen, sees beautiful Esther and wants her for his own. There follows long bargaining [which I will not present in detail] between “Collin” and Baron de Nucingen and a whole circus of criminals, lechers and schemers before “Collin” gets the money he wants and de Nucingen gets Esther.

Part Two “What Love May Cost an Old Man” Old de Nucingen pays large sums to set Esther up in style. Comical in his love-sickness [he does not yet have sexual intercourse with Esther] he is advised by his wife on how to entertain a mistress…. But then his wife accepts such things as she has a lover, the pushy Rastignac. There are many intrigues among the police who want to find out who “Collin” really is… and a bunch of lawyers work out that Lucien de Rubempre is not the wealthy man he claims to be. The daughter of a Duke, Clotilde, whom Lucien was courting is taken by her family out of Lucien’s reach. Meanwhile, Esther is about to enter fully into life as de Nucingen’s mistress. There is to be a great celebration in her apartment. But Esther is so depressed by the prospect that she will now really be an old man’s harlot that she takes poison and commits suicide. Goodbye to the courtesan who was about to be a wealthy mistress. Lucien has illegally made a rendezvous with Clotilde, still trying to get her marry him. But her parents are on the warpath, and he is arrested and thrown into jail. “Collin” [Vautrin], who has been arrested for many crimes, is also thrown into jail. [NB For the sake of brevity, I’ve skipped  a side-story wherein a certain Peyrade whose daughter is kidnapped caught by Vautrin gang. She is debauched at an orgy. Peyrade dies of grief.]

            Part Three “Where Evil Ways Lead” [and here I will be very brief]. Both Lucien and “Collin” are in jail – but in separate cells. At one point, Lucien hears that the late Esther bequeathed her money to him. But it does not bring him any good. The police are now determined to find out who “Collin” really is. Under pressure, Lucien betrays “Collin” as the man who for a long time has been pretending to be as priest [the same bogus priest who appeared in Lost Illusions]. Shamed, and caught out in various dodgy deals he has done, Lucien hangs himself. But from all this, “Collin” [Vautrin] still is cunning enough to survive.

            Part Four “The Last Incarnation of Vautrin” has the criminal clever enough to extricate himself from any situation. In the prison yard of the notorious Conciergerie he is able to gather together a gang of spies and thugs. Through them, and in other ways, he promises the police that he will find out who murdered an important person, so long as he gets pardoned and becomes the head of the police’s detective squad!!. After much detective work he is pardoned, and does indeed  become head of the police’s detective squad!!! But to round it off, he has Esther and Lucien interred side-by-side, two sad suicides; and in an emotive scene he collapses at their funeral. He continues in his police work and dies of old age. The crim wins.

 

            Dear reader, for the sake of brevity, I have stripped this synopsis to the bone, missing out many characters, missing out many episodes, and certainly sparing you from being told who in this novel has already appeared in other of Balzac’s novels. Leave the litany of “recurring characters” to the real Balzacian fanatics. There is, however, one recurring character who has to be noted. For those who think that a criminal becoming a police inspector is rather improbable, then please be aware that Balzac was drawing this character, Vautrin, from real life. Vautrin is based on Eugene-Francois Vidocq, a long-term criminal, often jailed, but also expert at escaping. Eventually, because he knew all the underworld and all the ways of criminals, he was invited to be the head of France’s first criminal investigation bureau and he held that position for many years. His methods are often regarded as the foundation of modern criminality. Balzac knew Vidocq personally and used him as the model for Vautrin in many of his novels  - Lost Illusions, Le Pere Goriot etc. Incidentally, “Vautrin” means a wild boar and it was one of Vidocq’s nicknames.

After saying this I hope you realise that I, a great fan of Balzac’s work, think Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes is one of the Master’s lesser pieces. Even more than the third part of  Lost Illusions and the three separate tales of  L’Histoire des Treize, Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes is a literary mess. It does not hang together as a single novel and shows the strains of writing for serial publication (which, by the way, was how Charles Dickens presented his novels). Despite the “novel’s” title, the courtesan ceases to be the centre of attention halfway through the tale (she dies in Part Two). With her disappearance there is the complete and disconcerting disappearance from the novel of other major characters, such as the millionaire banker Baron de Nucingen. Much of it has an air of improvisation with new characters introduced at convenient moments. Balzac is keeping his yarn going and writing himself out of a corner. Three murders (at least), two suicides and the final cheek of the master criminal [based on Vidocq] becoming a respected detective. Blood and thunder elements there certainly are. I’d willingly describe Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes as one of Balzac’s most absurd and far-fetched plot. Yes, there are some good moments, but it is mainly the type of thing that allows a ninny like the critic Martin Turnell to condemn all of Balzac’s work, including masterpieces like Le Pere Goriot, Cousine Bette, Cousin Pons, La Rabouilleuse and many of Balzac’s best short stories.

I could say much, much more about what is wrong with Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes, but brevity is what you wanted and so you get it.