A Second Home

Name: A Second Home
ISBN: 9787540407117

Honoré de BalzacHunan Literature and Art Publishing House1991

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Word count: 52.6K words
Series: A Second Home (French original Une double famille, first published as La Femme vertueuse) is a novella by Balzac in the "Scenes of Private Life" of La Comédie humaine, translated into Chinese by Jin Zhiping. It tells the story of Count de Granville, a provincial nobleman who marries a devout, rigid, and straitlaced wife; the two are utterly incompatible in spirit and temperament, and their married life is long marked by repression and coldness. While serving in Paris, the Count meets Caroline, a poor but beautiful and gentle textile worker, lives with her for over a decade, and has two children with her, in effect forming a "second family." Caroline never knows the other side of her status until the affair is exposed, and the Count, to preserve his career and reputation, ultimately abandons her and their illegitimate children. The novella unfolds in three parts: first Caroline's daily life and feelings, then a retrospective of the Count's married life at home, and finally a close on the unhappiness of all. At about fifty thousand characters, it is compact yet lays before the reader the erosion of family happiness by religious fanaticism, incompatibility of temperament in marriage, and the domination of feeling by money and social rank; critics regard it as a highly representative sample of domestic tragedy.
ISBN: 9787540407117

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Summary

Double Family (originally titled Une double famille in French, first published as The Chaste Woman) is a novella by Balzac in the "Scenes of Private Life" section of The Human Comedy, translated into Chinese by Jin Zhiping. The story follows Count Grandville, a nobleman from the provinces: he marries a devoutly religious woman of rigid and inflexible character, and the couple are profoundly incompatible in spirit and temperament, their married life long steeped in repression and coldness. While serving in Paris, the Count meets Caroline, a poor but beautiful and gentle-natured textile worker, and lives with her for over a decade, fathering two children and in effect forming a "second family." Caroline remains unaware of the other side of her identity until the affair is exposed, and the Count, to protect his career and reputation, ultimately abandons her and their illegitimate children. The novel unfolds in a three-part structure: it first depicts Caroline's daily life and emotions, then traces back to the Count's married life at home, and finally concludes with the misfortunes of all involved. About fifty thousand characters in length, the book is compact yet lays before the reader, one by one, the erosion of domestic happiness by religious fanaticism, the incompatibility of temperaments in marriage, and the domination of love by money and social rank; critics regard it as a highly representative specimen of domestic tragedy.

Editor's review

如果要挑一部"小而锋利"的巴尔扎克，《双重家庭》是很好的入口。它不像《高老头》那样铺开整个巴黎社会，而是把镜头收窄到一间屋子、两段婚姻、三个人身上，却同样能看出《人间喜剧》的核心关切：家庭如何被宗教、金钱与体面撕开裂缝。这部小说的结构值得注意。巴尔扎克没有按时间顺序平铺直叙，而是先让读者与卡萝琳娜相处，感受她朴素生活的温度，再骤然回溯伯爵家中的冰冷秩序。等到两个空间被并置，读者才明白悲剧并非来自某个"坏女人"或"坏男人"，而是来自一种根深蒂固的社会安排——婚姻是契约，情感却无处安放。伯爵最后的抛弃，既是怯懦，也是那个时代体面人唯一"合乎逻辑"的选择。中译本仅五万余字，一两个晚上即可读完，却余味悠长。对初读巴尔扎克的人，它是很好的入门；对熟悉《人间喜剧》的读者，它是理解"私人生活场景"整体构思的一枚关键拼图。

Who it's for

A good fit for

想以较小篇幅进入巴尔扎克《人间喜剧》的初次读者
对19世纪法国婚姻、家庭与宗教伦理议题感兴趣的读者
喜欢结构精巧、以家庭悲剧透视社会的中篇小说的读者
外国文学专业学生与现实主义小说研究者

Not a good fit for

偏好强情节、快节奏现代叙事的读者
期待圆满结局或浪漫爱情故事的读者
不习惯大段环境与心理描写写法的读者

Reading tips

可先读卡萝琳娜部分，再回头重读伯爵家的段落，体会结构带来的对照效果。
阅读时留意环境描写中家具、陈设的细节，巴尔扎克常用它们暗示人物性格。
读后不妨与《猫打球商店》《夏娃的女儿》对读，比较巴尔扎克笔下不同形态的婚姻悲剧。
不必急于评判人物，先弄清当时法律、宗教与阶层对婚姻的实际约束。

About the publisher

Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1985

Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House is a publisher known for its literary titles, with a catalogue spanning foreign literature, world classics, classical Chinese literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, and mystery and detective fiction. Judging from the more than 1,100 books in the database, the press publishes foreign classics such as Crime and Punishment, Snow Country, The Complete Sherlock Holmes and Letter from an Unknown Woman, as well as Chinese classical and modern literary works including Lu Xun's Wandering and A Madman's Diary and Wu Jingzi's The Scholars. In terms of translators and authors, translations by Cao Guowei and Tan Jinghua appear in its foreign literature titles, and the authors involved include Dostoevsky, Kawabata Yasunari, Conan Doyle and Zweig. Its publishing character lies in introducing Chinese and foreign literary classics side by side, balancing popular and serious works and attending to both readability and literary value. Public information is limited; the above is a brief overview based solely on the books in the database.

FAQ

《A Second Home》和《双重家庭》是同一本书吗？

是的。英文译名 A Second Home 对应的法文原作为 Une double famille，中文通常译作《双重家庭》，另有早年译本以《贞洁的女人》为名，指的都是巴尔扎克这部中篇小说。

这本书在《人间喜剧》中属于哪一部分？

它属于《人间喜剧》中"风俗研究"下的"私人生活场景"系列，1984年湖南人民出版社的《双重家庭：私人生活场景之三》即以该系列第三部为名结集出版。

没读过巴尔扎克其他作品，能直接读这本吗？

可以。本书篇幅短、人物集中、情节线索清晰，不需要前置阅读。不过了解《人间喜剧》整体的人间百态构思，会让阅读收获更完整。

这本书大概多长，需要读多久？

中译本约五万余字，属中篇规模。按一般阅读速度，两三个小时可通读一遍；若要细读结构与描写，一天时间较为从容。

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About the author

Honoré de Balzac Author · France · 1799–1850

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was a French novelist and playwright and a leading figure of nineteenth-century literary realism. Born in Tours and died in Paris, he spent nearly twenty years creating La Comédie humaine, a collection of more than ninety works with over 2,400 characters, among which Le Père Goriot, Eugénie Grandet, Lost Illusions and La Peau de chagrin are especially well known. Through detailed settings and character portrayal, the collection depicts French society across its classes and is often called an encyclopedia of French society. Balzac's writing is grounded in reality, attentive to authentic detail and the continuity of his characters' fates, and has had a profound influence on later realist literature.