An Old Maid

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

3.9

Word count: 283K words
Chapters: 29

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.An Old Maid by Honoré de BalzacAuthor: Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Jun 1, 1998

Editor's review

An Old Maid is a fine novella in which Balzac takes up provincial life and the question of marriage. The story revolves around an unmarried woman and her family's calculations over a match, rendering the conservatism, scheming and concern for respectability of provincial society with fine, biting detail. Balzac excels at revealing character through everyday trifles; this book has no earth-shattering events, yet in the tug of war over choosing a spouse, property and family honor it lays bare the complexity of human nature. Its value lies in offering a genre painting of provincial society and in letting readers see the author's cool observation of women's situation and the institution of marriage. As you read, note how the narrator peels back layer after layer of the characters' psychology, and those details that seem like idle strokes but conceal a sharp point. For readers who enjoy novels of social manners and are willing to savor the irony within a calm narrative, this is a small book worth reading closely; those expecting strong drama may find the pace slow.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers who enjoy provincial genre paintings and depictions of social manners
Readers interested in marriage, family and the situation of women
Beginners who want a short work as an entry point into Balzac's oeuvre
Readers who appreciate delicate psychological portrayal and an ironic touch

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer strong conflict and fast-paced narrative
Readers with little patience for descriptions of provincial daily trifles
Readers expecting a clear love plot and a happy ending

Reading tips

First sort out the kinship and property relations among the characters, then move into dialogue and psychological description.
Note the narrator's ironic tone; much of the meaning hides in seemingly plain sentences.
It can be paired with a short background piece on the marriage system in nineteenth-century France to understand the logic of matchmaking.
It is not long; read it in one sitting to keep a coherent grasp of shifts in the characters' motives.

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 book suitable as an introduction to Balzac?

Yes. It is short and focused on few characters, so you can quickly get a sense of how Balzac handles provincial society and the question of marriage. If it whets your interest, turn to weightier works such as Old Goriot, and it will be easier to build an overall impression.

What does “old maid” in the title mean?

It refers to a woman who has reached a certain age without marrying. The novel unfolds precisely around such a woman and her family's calculations over a match, thereby showing how much provincial society values marriage, property and respectability, and the awkward position in which she finds herself.

The story moves slowly; what if I can't get through it?

First hold on to the main thread of the marriage, and skim the long passages of setting and family description as background; once the relationships are clear, go back and look closely at the psychological and ironic passages. You can also read it in two or three sittings, focusing on one or two characters each time.

Comments

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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.