A Man of Business

Name: A Man of Business
ISBN: 9787020019014

Honoré de BalzacPeople's Literature Publishing House1997

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Series: La Comédie humaine
ISBN: 9787020019014

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Summary

A Man of Business (French original: Un homme d'affaires) is a short story by Balzac in the Scenes of Parisian Life of his Studies of Manners within La Comédie humaine. It was first published in September 1845 in Le Siècle under the title "A Creditor's Ruse," in two chapters; when it was included in August 1846 in Volume XII of the Furne edition of La Comédie humaine, the title was changed to "A Sketch of a Man of Business," and Balzac then settled on A Man of Business in proof, adding a dedication to the banker Baron James de Rothschild. The story centers on a contest between a Parisian creditor and debtor. At a gathering, the lawyer Desroches tells the guests the story of the rakish Count Maxime de Trailles, a man of considerable borrowing skill who refuses to repay his debts; the shrewd man of business Cerizet buys up his notes from creditors at a low price and then sets about collecting. Cerizet's traps are laid layer by layer, and in the end even the wily Trailles is caught. Among the many debt stories in La Comédie humaine, the creditor is usually no match for the debtor; this tale is a rare exception. The work is brief, yet it brings to life the debts, notes, obligations, and calculations of the stock-exchange era; it is a neat cross-section for understanding the money-driven society Balzac portrays. The Chinese translation is included in Volume XIV of the 1997 People's Literature Publishing House edition of La Comédie humaine (Studies of Manners: Scenes of Parisian Life [V]), together with Cousin Pons, The Prince of Bohemia, Gaudissart II, and The Government Clerks.

Editor's review

在《人间喜剧》的版图上，《经纪人》常被《高老头》《欧也妮·葛朗台》等长篇的光芒遮住，其实它是巴尔扎克写“钱”写得最见巧思的一篇短制。全篇几乎没有抒情，只有一笔笔债务、一张张借据和一场以家具买卖为幌子的追债陷阱；读者跟随律师德罗什的讲述，看经纪人塞里泽如何把浪荡子特拉伊的狡猾反过来用在他自己身上，像看一场短小精悍的巴黎商战。值得留意的是它的成稿轨迹：从《一个债主的狡计》到《经纪人》，标题几经改动，作品也由报刊速写升格为《巴黎生活场景》的一节，巴尔扎克还把它题献给罗斯柴尔德男爵——这一细节本身就说明他对“生意人”题材的看重。篇幅不长，一小时可读完，却能让人直观感受到巴尔扎克世界的基本法则：金钱是新的上帝，而聪明人只是更懂得如何与它周旋。对初次接触《人间喜剧》的读者，它也是很好的入门短篇。

Who it's for

A good fit for

想用较短时间了解巴尔扎克风格与《人间喜剧》世界的读者
对19世纪巴黎金融、债务、商人题材感兴趣的读者
喜欢短小精悍、以对话和计谋推进故事的读者
正在系统阅读《人间喜剧》人民文学出版社二十四卷本的读者

Not a good fit for

期待复杂情节、宏大叙事或多线结构的读者
希望读到爱情、抒情或成长主题的读者

Reading tips

篇幅很短，建议一次读完，再回头梳理塞里泽每一步布局的时间线。
可先读《高老头》《纽沁根银行》等篇，认识特拉伊、塞里泽等再现人物后再读，更能体会人物间的呼应。
阅读时留意债务、借据、贴现等金融细节，它们正是巴尔扎克观察社会的切口。
若购买人民文学出版社《人间喜剧》第十四卷，可顺带读同卷《邦斯舅舅》，对照长篇与短制的写法差异。

About the publisher

People's Literature Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

People's Literature Publishing House publishes across classical literature, foreign literature, documentary writing and folk literature, with 492 titles in its catalogue. Representative books range from the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms to Lao She's Teahouse and Longxu Ditch in the Selected Works of Lao She, as well as translated foreign literature such as Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Dante's Divine Comedy and Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels, alongside documentary and fictional works including Primo Levi's If This Is a Man and João Guimarães Rosa's The Devil to Pay in the Backlands. Its authors include Chinese writers such as Lao She, translators such as Shen Emeri and Li Wenjun, and foreign authors such as James Wood. Overall, the house has a strong record in editing classic works and translating foreign literature, with a publishing character that bridges Chinese and foreign writing and values textual quality.

FAQ

《经纪人》就是英文版里的 A Man of Business 吗？

是的。它对应的法文原题是 Un homme d'affaires，英文通常译作 A Man of Business，中文译为《经纪人》，属《人间喜剧·巴黎生活场景》。

这篇小说最初发表时叫什么名字？

1845年9月以《一个债主的狡计》为题在《世纪报》发表，分两章；1846年收入菲讷版《人间喜剧》时改题《一个经纪人的小影》，后由巴尔扎克定为《经纪人》。

在哪里能读到这篇小说的中文译本？

人民文学出版社1997年版《人间喜剧》第十四卷收录了《经纪人》，该卷另收《邦斯舅舅》《浪荡王孙》《戈迪萨尔第二》《公务员》等篇。

没有读过《人间喜剧》其他作品，能直接读这篇吗？

可以。故事相对独立，靠对话和计谋推动，篇幅很短；只是其中的人物在其他篇目中反复出现，读过《高老头》等书会更有兴味。

这篇小说主要讲什么？

讲经纪人与浪荡贵族之间的债务攻防：塞里泽收购特拉伊的借据后设局追债，最终让这位一贯赖账的伯爵被迫清偿，是《人间喜剧》中少见的债权人占上风的故事。

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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.