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Old Goriot

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There's a good reason that this is commonly used as an introduction to Balzac: it's one of his best and most focused works (not that I've read them all, of course...). He wasn't a wholly consistent author (and neither would *you* be, had you written 120+ novels)--at times, he can be downright tedious. Not here, though: Old Goriot is a fast read, and utterly gripping.

The character of Goriot is handled quite delicately: Balzac plays mercilessly on our sympathy for an old man victimized by his daughters (intentional shades of King Lear here). It's not a uni-dimensional depiction, however; as Goriot's boundless love seems at times to go beyond the merely paternal--he may be a Christ-figure, but he's certainly not a straightforward one. Of course, the real show-stealer here is Vautrin, the master criminal. As much as Balzac fancied himself a historian, he was really at his most entertaining when he went over the top, as he does here: Vautrin is wonderfully demonic, and one can't but get a kick out of reading him. In contrast to these twin personalities, which tower above anyone else in the book, you have the titular protagonist, Eugene de Rastignac, a perfectly ordinary sort of guy--your archetypical 'young man from the provinces'. He provides a good counterpoint to all the madness going on, and you can't help but like the guy, even if he's not really an extraordinary person.

Anyway: you should read this. Yes--YOU. I mean come on, you really ought to read at least one Balzac in your life. And if you like it, you can go on to Lost Illusions and Cousin Bette. Highly recommended.

Balzac's "Old Goriot" both celebrates and satirizes early 19th Century Parisian society and its idiosyncrasies. In terms of the variety of characters it introduces and the themes covered, it is a novel of incredibly wide scope, written with efficiency and some of the most beautiful prose, at least via Marion Crawford's English translation.

Goriot is an elderly gentleman living in a Paris boardinghouse in 1819. He used to be a prosperous vermicelli merchant, but hard times of late have forced him to pawn off his remaining precious possessions and move into the cheapest room available in the house. Since running afoul of the landlady Madame Vauquer, whose romantic attentions he once spurned, he has become an object of ridicule to the other boarders, due to his shabby clothes and apparent senility.

Most of the novel's action, however, centers around another of the boarders, a law student named Eugene de Rastignac who comes from a modest family. Rastignac's situation and motives are easy for any urban young man to identify with: He is eager to climb into the upper echelons of Paris society, but he finds to his dismay that the fashionable Parisian women are not interested in paupers. His wealthy cousin, Madame de Beauseant, advises him that he must be ruthless to make it in high society. With his cousin's help, Rastignac acquaints himself with two young society matrons, Anastasie, the Countess de Restaud, and Delphine, the Baroness de Nucingen, who happen to be Goriot's daughters.

Goriot's relationship to his daughters provides the basis for the novel. He spoiled them rotten as little girls; consequently, they grew up irresponsible, greedy, and ungrateful. Having married wealthy men, they both seek consolation from their unhappy marriages through reckless spending and extramarital beaus. Despite their faults, Goriot loves and cares for his daughters with something more like a neurotic obsession than warm, paternal devotion. You can't help feel sorry for the guy, suffering from his delusions, selling everything he owns, and living in squalor so that his daughters, who are unable or unwilling to fend for themselves or fight their own battles, can stay financially solvent.

There is an interesting subplot involving another boarder at Madame Vauquer's house, a devilish, unscrupulous fellow named Vautrin who may not be what he initially appears to be. Vautrin knows Rastignac is trying to get his foot in the door of Parisian society and he knows he needs money to do it. He proposes this scheme: Rastignac will marry a poor girl dwelling at the boardinghouse named Victorine; Vautrin will have Victorine's brother killed so that she'll inherit the whole of her father's fortune, which will bring Rastignac into big money and high society, and he can pay Vautrin for collusion. The way Balzac plays out this scenario without letting it become an interference with the main story line of Rastignac's relationship to Goriot's daughters is quite a deft feat of plotting.

Of course there is a paradox, but Balzac manages to make this story touching while being extremely cynical about his characters. Old Goriot is a man who worked all his life and then ruined himself to enable his daughters to marry rich. In this he was successful, they both live comfortably as spouses of rich bourgeois. Ironically, they are ashamed of their father's modest background and have virtually stopped seeing him, not to mention taking care of him. Thus he spends his old age in a dismal pension, roaming the streets in the hope of a glance of his daughters - of whose success he is still proud.

There is not even a hint of sentimentality in this novel, nor does Balzac pass any easy judgments. This is C19 realism at its best. Turn to this Frenchman to find what no author writing in English managed to do in that century.

"To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter." Euripides

"Noble natures cannot long endure this world. How indeed should deep and noble feeling find a place in such a shallow, petty, mean society?" p. 282 "Old Goriot"

This classic novel by Balzac simply busted up my heart. It's so depressing; that reading it was the like watching the last half hour of "Brian's Song" times twenty. Ergo, anyone who tends to be on the soft-hearted, extremely sensitive side, beware my fellow friends, because this one is sure to draw a few tears. Especially if you are a father!

Now a few words about the story itself: The main protagonist, an altruistic, gentle, saint of a man 'Old Goriot' is a widower with two adult daughters. Old G. resides in a seedy boarding house in the slums of Paris. He rents out a tiny, filthy, dank room, one of the worst the shanty has to offer. He is getting on in years, and because of his quiet, simple, child-like nature, along with the fact that he is practically broke, he suddenly finds himself to be the butt of jokes by his fellow housemates. However, there is definitely an air of mystery regarding this old soul. For it was not too long ago that this simpleton was once a very successful businessman who made quite a fortune in his earlier days.

Now at the same time Old G. is living this sad, lonely life of a pauper, his two beautiful young daughters are basking in the sunlight of bourgeoisie Paris society. They are both in loveless marriages to wealthy, amoral men. However, both women came into their nuptials with quite a large dowry to boot due to their overly generous father who absolutely adores his daughters beyond definition and has spoiled them rotten ever since they were little girls. Both of his daughters are pretentious, self-absorbed, petty, ungrateful brats. Whatever their husbands deny them, they simply run off to daddy and he always happily grants them their every wish despite its personal cost to him. And King Lear thought he had it bad!

Another main character in this rather tearful tale is a young, noble, highly ambitious law student named Rastignac who is also one of the boarders at the sty in which Old G. resides. He comes to the big City of Lights from a poor, farming family in the South of France and quickly tries to immerse himself into the elite of Paris society, mainly because he's smitten with ... I'm stopping myself here, in order to not relate too much. I would also be remiss to omit mentioning another fascinating character by the name of Vautrin who also lives in the same boarding house as Old G. and Rastignac (two characters that play active roles in other Balzac stories).

All in all, the essential themes of this compelling classic are just as relevant today as they were in Paris in 1834. It's all about love and money, the two obsessions that seem to make this crazy world go round and round. Balzac's prose is loaded with wit which does help alleviate some of the novel's prevailing sadness. He also writes with such brilliant, dazzling detail in regards to Paris society after the French Revolution - what an artist! This is the first time I have ever tackled one of Honore's classics, and I definitely plan on reading more of his works in the future. This story took a while for me to really get into, but after about a third of the way through, I couldn't put it down and found myself staying up until 4am to finish it. If you love French Classics (as I do), pick this one up immediately!

Superb. My first try at Balzac and I'll definitely be reading more. He makes you want to reach into the book and strangle those two horrible daughters.

Old Goriot is a short novel of 1835 written by the prolific Honore de
Balzac (1799-1850), Balzac wanted to portray in his long series "The Human Comedy" French life in all of its many manifestations. In this early work we travel with him to Madame Vacquin's Boarding House meeting there several fascinating characters. Among them is Vautrin who is an escaped convict gifted with the ability to talk of philisophical matters. Vautrin gives the young law student Eugene de Rastignac advice on how to survive in the jungle of Paris. Eugene is fresh from the country and about to conquer the City of Lights. He becomes romantically entwined with several women. Among these ladies are two thankless daughters of Old Goriot a moribund border forced to live in the attic of the boardinghouse. His lonely death and the callous disregard of his feckless, materialistic daughters will bring a tear to all but the most cynical of readers. Rastignac will appear in several other of the novelist's books in the Human Comedy series. His work would later influence such diverse authors as Flaubert, Henry James, Emila Zola and Marcel Proust.
This novel is often taught in college courses providing an excellent introduction to the world of Balzac.

At the beginning of this wonderful commentary on love, society, family and wealth Balzac asks if the story he is about to tell "Will it be understood outside of Paris?" and he answers: "It is doubtful." This of course is just meant to be sarcastic, since like all classics, this work can be appreciated by everyone, regardless of time and place. I won't say much about the plot - which centers around a father fanatically devoted to his two daughters, and a poor law student hoping to make his way in fashionable Parisian society - since it's really Balzac's keen insight into human behavior and the complexity of his characters which make "Old Goriot" both an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. While there are some very melodramatic and extremely theatrical scenes that I think are somewhat distracting, this is still a book that is hard to put down, and one that will make you think about your own life in a more critical way. This is the first novel I've read by Balzac, but I will definitely read more!

Written in 1830's after the recession of the early 19th century where more than 75% of Parisians lived below the poverty level, ths book extensively focuses upon the social inequities and improprieties of France's most beloved city, Paris.

Paris is sensual. "Love in Paris is a thing distinct and apart . . . in this country within a country, it is not merely required of a woman that she satisfy the senses of the soul . . . [L]ove, for her, is above all things." Paris is beyond description of idle gossipers. "Those who know Paris believe nothing that is said, and say nothing of what is done there." Similar to today's Law Vegas ad campaign - what happens there, stays here.

And, what is happening is good old fashioned adultery. Old Goriot's lost daughter, Anastasie, is so overboard in her quest to keep her lover, she is virtually bankrupt because of expenses exceeding 100,000 francs to maintain her lover's attention. Goriot's other daughter, Delphine, has an unloving husband who has paid her fortune for his two mistresses - women and bad businesses decisions.

And, so the tale become focused upon Delphine's lover - Rastignac - a boarder in the house of Vauquer, whose 8 or 9 boarders are well outlined at the book's beginning. And, among the boarders is Goriot - appearing to be a pauper, but nouveau riche from fortunes made in vermicelli sales.

Rastignac (Eugene) is a law student who has nothing but a great future in store for him. But, he makes some errors. "Eugene had yet to learn that no one in Paris should present himself in any house without first making himself acquainted with the whole history of its owner, and of its owner's wife and family . . . " Paris, even in this time of poverty, was full of old time bequeathed wealth and snobbery.

As a young man, he is warned to "lock your heart carefully away like a treasure . . Or you will be lost. . . And, if ever you should love, never let your secret escape you! Trust no one . . . " Later he learns how forlorn marriage and parenthood can be as Goriot's daughters' cumulative demands for capital from father Goriot literally withdraw every cent and breath respectively from his estate and soul. Upon learning that his daughters abandoned him when his needs grew greatest, Goriot advises Rastignac, "Oh! My friend, do not marry; do not have children! You give them life; they give your death-blow. You bring them into the world, and they send you out of it."

Ultimately, the sad and faithful Goriot, whose generous hand delivered 700,000 francs to each daughter which did not last even a decade's time (when average people lived as families for less than 1,200 francs per year), discovers his spoiling was in error. Had he reserved the money and remained wealthy, as opposed to delivering the money to his daughters and self-imposed poverty for their purchase of happiness, he and they would have been happier; and, the family tighter.

Full of detail, and laden with Parisian character, this book resonates as to what confounded times this post-Napoleonic period entailed. Frivolity and thanklessness by the youth to the detriment of their parent's unending love, contrast to the world about them where a vast majority struggle not for love, but for food and shelter. Dickens-like social statements, curried with Shakespearean moments and Moliere-esque dialogue, make this a remarkable novel which resonates even two centuries later.

I've read a lot of Balzac and I love this with LOST ILLUSIONS probably most of all. The portrait of the old man, father to two selfish girls, who beggars himself to fulfill a dream is a superb. This is a good book to start with. One thing I must say is check your translations carefully. Some of the cheaper editions of this aren't very good. PENGUIN is probably the most consistently good translator of this wonderful writer.

The tremendous narrative drive, the energy of Balzac are everywhere evident in what is arguably his most powerful novel. The young man from the provinces, Rastignac's, effort to enter the world of high- society and power lead him into illicit connections with the daughters of Goriot. These spoiled , wealthy , selfish and cruel daughters are the subject of their fathers pathetic and obsessive love. The obsessiveness, the being possessed by one great overwhelming desire one cannot control,is a frequent theme of Balzac's work. Rastignac in his quest to go higher is also aided by the criminal Vautrin, another of Balzac's most memorable characters.

The father's tragedy of helpless and hopeless love towards rejecting and exploitative daughters is an echo of Lear. But there is no Cordelia here to add a deeper and more noble dimension to the tragedy.

Balzac creates in this work most memorable characters. And in his highly detailed- descriptive writing gives a picture of a corrupt world rich in human greed, envy and folly.