Colonel Chabert [Paperback]

Honoré de Balzac (Author), Carol Cosman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0811213595 | ISBN-13: 978-0811213592 | Publication Date: November 17, 1997

The story of a French military hero of the Napoleonic Wars, long assumed to be dead, tries to recover his fortune and former wife through the help of a famous Parisian lawyer. Colonel Chabert, a Napoleonic War hero supposedly killed in the Battle of Eylau, returns to Paris after a long convalescence to find his wife remarried, and his pension gone. He employs a young, well-known lawyer to at least reclaim his pension. It is a game of wits: first to convince the lawyer that he is who he says he is; secondly to get his wife to admit to his identity and thereby give up some of her wealth. Once the lawyer believes Chabert's story, the wife must be made to part with his pension...

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

About the Author

Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) was born in Tours. By the time of his death, he had written over one hundred novels, novellas, and plays, all the while working as a journalist. Colonel Chabert is one of the "Scenes from Private Life," which is a part of Balzac's well-known life-long project, La Comedie Humaine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 101 pages
• Publisher: New Directions (November 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811213595
• ISBN-13: 978-0811213592
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Military & Spies
  • #41 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Translation of a Masterful Story!, November 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Colonel Chabert (Paperback)

Carol Cosman's translation of Balzac's French 'Colonel Chabert' into the English has been very effective here- she does not input her own interpretations and seems to have a good handle on Balzac's natural, concise wording style.

The story itself is fascinating. In a nutshell, it focuses on a military man who is essentially erased from society, and the tribulations and insights he has from this 'non-existant' state as he tries to re-establish himself. Not only is this a witty and profound social commentary, but an entertaining twist which just keeps twisting.

In reading other's reviews of this short masterpiece, it seems as if many people have missed the meaning of the finale. While it is indeed a very enigmatic ending, it is not as lugubrious or fatalistic as most believe. What happens is that Colonel Chabert, in essentially having his old identity annihilated, becomes enlighted. In the ultimate destruction of his ego he becomes free. This is the magic finale which Balzac labors so hard, and so majestically, to set up in the plot.

This tome is very impressive, and relatively short (just over 100 pages) for those new to Balzac who want a nice, piquant appetizer. Balzac is one of the most brilliant French fiction writers of all time! He is a giant, and in 'Colonel Chabert', he weaves another illustrious stitch into his tapestry the Comedie Humaine.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best translation..., May 10, 2004

By 

Robert G. Serafini (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colonel Chabert (Paperback)

...of a great Balzac novella. Ms. Cosman captures the rigorous, logical quality of Balzac's prose - most translators get lost in unidiomatic wordiness. This 100 page novella showcases the Master's comfort with legal matters, his profound understanding of "the fang and the claw" and features at its center the incomparable Derville, Balzac's great, recurring lawyer character. I usually recommend Pere Goriot for first-time Balzac readers because of the rich connections between that novel and many other Balzac works - but I am hard pressed to imagine a better one-course meal than this rendering of Colonel Chabert by Ms. Cosman. I certainly plan to read her version of The Girl with the Golden Eyes.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Criticism of Lawyers Remains Unchanged, August 16, 2000

By 

Judith Puncochar - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colonel Chabert (Paperback)

Carol Cosman does a masterful job of translating Balzac's story of COLONEL CHABERT. The book is 101 pages of fast and fascinating reading. I loved Balzac's quip about the three professionals who cannot appreciate the world: the priest, the doctor, and the lawyer... the unhappiest of whom is the lawyer whose "offices are gutters that cannot be cleansed." Everyone should read this book. It will appeal equally to realists and optimists and to those who partake in social criticism or simply enjoy a good story.