Eugénie Grandet (French pronunciation: [øʒeni ɡʁɑ̃dɛ]) is a novel first serialised from 1833 to 1834, and published in book form in 1834 by French author Honoré de Balzac. While he was writing it he conceived his ambitious project La Comédie humaine and almost immediately prepared a second edition, revising the names of some of the characters so that Eugénie Grandet then fitted into the section: Scenes from provincial life (Scènes de la vie de province) in the Comédie. He dedicated the edition to Maria Du Fresnay, who was then his lover and was the mother of his daughter, Marie-Caroline Du Fresnay.
Contents
Background
Eugénie Grandet is set in the town of Saumur, which would have been familiar to Balzac since he grew up in Tours (about 35 miles away). The two towns are both on the Loire, with châteaux, and of similar size. Tours was much more important historically and politically, which may explain why Balzac allows the impression in the opening that the Grandet residence was Saumur's most important building. Though Balzac grew up in the aftermath of the Revolution, he came to adulthood in Paris under the restored Bourbon monarchy (Louis XVIII and Charles X) and wrote most of his oeuvre under the July Monarchy (1830–1848) of Louis Philippe I, which came to power when the revolution of 1830 deposed the Bourbon monarchy. Note, given the importance of money in the novel, that though the Republic had replaced the Livre with the Franc (of equivalent value), both currencies continued to circulate, as did the Louis (20 livres).
Balzac had been in a serious amount of debt in the 1820s and received a large loan from his tailor, Jean Buisson. In exchange for the loan, Balzac introduced Buisson to his readers and emphasized the quality of his work in this novel, as well as in Le Cabinet des Antiques and Étude de femme. This is arguably an early form of product placement.
Plot summary
Felix Grandet, master cooper, married the daughter of a wealthy timber merchant at a time when the French Republic had confiscated the lands of the Church in the district of Saumur. When the land was auctioned his wife's dowry and his existing savings enabled him to buy substantial property, including some of the best area under vines, all at a very satisfactory price. Though there was little sympathy locally for the Revolution, Grandet rose in esteem and became mayor, later yielding the post under the Empire only because Napoleon had no liking for republicans. At this time his only daughter was ten years old and in that same year more wealth fell into Grandet's lap by way of inheritance of the estates of his mother-in-law, grandfather-in-law, and grandmother.
We gradually learn of Grandet's miserly habits which included rarely admitting townspeople to his house. The principal exceptions were his banker des Grassins and his notary Cruchot, both of whom understood better than many the extent of Grandet's wealth and that since he was 60 in 1819 when much of the action is set, that the wealth must one day devolve on Eugénie. Naturally, they had candidates to marry her in the form of Cruchot's nephew President Cruchot de Bonfons who was president of the court of first instance, and the des Grassins son, Adolphe des Grassins. The townspeople take a lively interest in the competition, which is only natural since some sort of inheritance was the major route to prosperity in the early nineteenth century.
Throughout this sequence we are treated to details of Felix Grandet's parsimony; this may have developed initially through sheer lack of funds but by now is total vice. He counts out slices of bread in the morning though actually never parting with cash for it since one of his tenants pays part of his rent in kind; most other consumables are supplied in a similar way. Mme Grandet is given no more than six francs at a time for pocket money. Though his house is impressive externally it is old and run-down, and he is too miserly to repair it; their servant Nanon puts her foot through a rotten stair but faithfully saves the bottle she carries. The novel illustrates Balzac's belief that money had taken over as the national god.
On Eugénie's birthday, in 1819, Felix Grandet is celebrating with his favoured coterie of Grassinistes and Cruchotins. They are disturbed by a confident knock on the door and a young stranger is admitted, who hands a letter to Felix. It is from brother Guillaume, unseen and unresponsive in Paris for 30 years asking Felix to assist Charles his son to travel to the Indies. Additionally and confidentially, that Guillaume having gone bankrupt, is planning to take his own life. The next day newspaper headline announces the fact of Guillaume's death, and debts, which causes Charles to break down. While he sleeps Eugénie reads a letter to his mistress and assumes he is dismissing Annette and planning to marry her: Another letter Eugénie reads impels her to collect up the rare gold coins her father gave her on her birthdays. Later she offers the gold to Charles who asks her to guard a gold dressing case given to him by his mother. Meanwhile Felix had made 14,000 francs on dealing in gold coin and preparations were made for Charles to depart to the Indies. Felix devises a way of profiting from winding up his deceased brother's failed business, aided by des Grassins.
Reception
Eugenie Grandet was critically well received when published. So much so that Balzac complained, "Those who call me the father of Eugenie Grandet wish to belittle me. It is a masterpiece, I know; but it is a little masterpiece; they are very careful not to mention the great ones."
Themes
Christopher Prendergast writes "Eugenie's story is primarily of interest as the tale of a rite de passage from innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge, illusion to disenchantment."
Balzac portrays Eugenie's father Felix as a miser, and his portrayal is influenced by the character Harpagon from Molière's play, The Miser. He wrote, “Molière had created Avarice with Harpagon; with Old Grandet, I have created a miser.” Felix Grandet was also part of the new capitalist class that had emerged since the French Revolution. The start of his fortunes occur during the Revolution when he takes advantage of the opportunities at that time, pretending to be a committed Republican. He continues to prosper in the years since the Revolution in spite of all the political changes.
Balzac had initially classified this novel as one of the Scènes de la vie privée in La Comédie humaine but then later moved it to the Scènes de la vie de province. So the novel is a study of life in provincial France, and the interconnection between the private lives of the Grandet family and the public life of Saumur.
Notable translations
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky began his career by translating the novel into Russian, in 1843.
Ellen Marriage translated most of Dent's first complete English edition of the Comedie in the 1890s.
Clara Bell and Katherine Prescott Wormeley both translated the novel into English. Rose Tremain wrote an introduction to Wormeley's translation for a Vintage Classics edition.
Adaptations
Film
The Conquering Power (1921) by Rex Ingram, starring Alice Terry (Eugénie), Rudolph Valentino (Charles), Ralph Lewis (Father), Carrie Daumery (Mother), Bridgetta Clark (Mrs. des Grassins)
Eugenia Grandet (1946) by Mario Soldati, starring Alida Valli
Eugenia Grandet (1953) by Emilio Gómez Muriel, starring Marga López, Julio Villareal and Andrea Palma.
Eugenia Grande (1960) by Alekseev Sergey Petrovich / Sergey Alekseev, starring Ariadna Shengelaya, Mikhail Kozakov
Television
Eugenie Grandet (1965) directed by Rex Tucker, starring Valerie Gearon (Eugénie), Mary Kerridge (Madame des Grassins), Beatrix Lehmann (Madame Grandet), Jonathan Cecil (Adolphe)
Cross of Gold (1965)
Eugenia Grandet (1977) by Pilar Miró, starring Carmen Maura, Eusebio Poncela.
Eugénie Grandet (1993) by Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe, starring Alexandra London (Eugénie), Jean Carmet (Father Grandet), Dominique Labourier (Mother Grandet), Claude Jade (Lucienne des Grassins).
Radio
Eugenie Grandet (2014) by Rose Tremain (adaptor), for BBC Radio 4