The Celibates

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 1.1M words
Chapters: 107

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Celibates by Honoré de BalzacAuthor: Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Aug 10, 2005

Editor's review

The Celibates is an often overlooked yet highly incisive work within Balzac's La Comédie Humaine, built around the peculiar world of the celibate. With his signature meticulous touch, Balzac peels back the complex entanglement of celibacy with property, desire, religious power, and social advancement, revealing the struggles of small figures in provincial society caught between interest and feeling. The book's value lies not in dramatic plot but in its cold, clear observation of miserliness, obsession, and self-deception in human nature—reading it often stings with recognition of reality. As a public-domain English eBook from Project Gutenberg, it serves well as extended reading in Balzac's oeuvre and for readers interested in nineteenth-century French social structure, celibate culture, and inheritance law. Better entered after finishing Eugénie Grandet or Père Goriot, when the intertextual ties among Balzac's character groups become easier to feel. There is no need to rush; attending to the narrator's repeated probing of character motive is where the book rewards most.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who have read Balzac's major works and wish to go deeper into La Comédie Humaine
Those interested in nineteenth-century French social history, property, and marriage systems
Literary readers who enjoy psychological realism and slow-paced character analysis
Literature students studying themes of celibacy, family, and power relations

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer plot-driven, fast-paced genre fiction
Those unaccustomed to nineteenth-century long sentences and extensive social background
Readers who want a Chinese translation rather than the English public-domain text

Reading tips

First read a brief introduction to Balzac's life and the structure of La Comédie Humaine to establish a sense of coordinates.
After each chapter, summarize in one sentence the character's current core desire and situation.
Read alongside Eugénie Grandet to observe variations on the themes of miserliness and celibacy.
For the English public-domain text, use an annotated edition or introduction to reduce obstacles from the period background.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a complete novel or part of a series?

The Celibates is a component of Balzac's La Comédie Humaine, sharing characters and social background with the author's other works. It is not an isolated story; readers who know the overall framework of La Comédie Humaine will more easily understand the character relationships and thematic echoes. For the specific chapter structure, refer to the table of contents in the eBook you obtain.

Is the English public-domain eBook difficult to read?

Balzac's English translations have long sentences and dense social background, posing some challenge for non-native readers. It is advisable to read the introduction or preface first and to look up institutional terms as needed; there is no need to read word by word. If it feels heavy, start with shorter, more plot-focused chapters and gradually adapt to the narrative rhythm.

Can I read this without having read other Balzac works?

Yes, but depth of understanding will be affected. The book's themes are closely tied to the recurring issues of property, marriage, and ambition in La Comédie Humaine; reading one or two major works first helps build context. If time is limited, at least understanding the social differences between provincial France and Paris in the nineteenth century will significantly lower the threshold.

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About the author

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850 Author

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was a French novelist best known for his vast series La Comédie humaine. The library holds 143 of his works, including Father Goriot, Lost Illusions, Eugénie Grandet, and several volumes of La Comédie humaine. His writing is distinguished by dense detail, a large cast of characters, and an intricate social network, often linking separate works through recurring figures to portray nineteenth-century French society. He excelled at depicting the power of desire, ambition, and money through precise settings and strong narrative tension, and he exerted a lasting influence on later realist fiction. Beyond the broad outline of his life, public information is limited, so this note focuses on the themes and style of his works.