Old Man Goriot Read online

  PENGUIN CLASSICS

  OLD MAN GORIOT

  HONORÉ DE BALZAC was born at Tours in 1799, the son of a civil servant. He spent nearly six years as a boarder in a Vendôme school, then went to live in Paris, working as a lawyer’s clerk, then as a hack writer. Between 1820 and 1824 he wrote a number of novels under various pseudonyms, many of them in collaboration, after which he unsuccessfully tried his luck at publishing, printing and type-founding. At the age of thirty, heavily in debt, he returned to literature with a dedicated fury and wrote the first novel to appear under his own name, The Chouans. During the next twenty years he wrote about ninety novels and shorter stories, among them many masterpieces, to which he gave the comprehensive title The Human Comedy. As Balzac himself put it: ‘What he [Napoleon] was unable to finish with the sword, I shall accomplish with the pen.’ He died in 1850, a few months after his marriage to Eveline Hanska, the Polish countess with whom he had maintained amorous relations for eighteen years.

  OLIVIA McCANNON is a literary translator and writer based in London and Paris. She studied at the Queen’s College, Oxford (French/German), then at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris III), on an Entente Cordiale scholarship. Her translation work includes nineteenth- and twentieth-century French poetry and contemporary Francophone plays (Royal Court theatre). She has received various awards, including a Hawthornden Fellowship (2005). Her writing has been broadcast on BBC Radios 3 and 4 and her poetry collection Exactly my own Length is published by Carcanet/Oxford Poets (2011).

  GRAHAM ROBB studied French and German at Oxford and took his doctorate at Vanderbilt University. His books include Balzac (1994), Unlocking Mallarmé (1996), Victor Hugo (1997), Rimbaud (2000) and Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century (2003). The Discovery of France (2007), based in part on 14,000 miles’ cycling in France, won both the Duff Cooper Prize and the 2008 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris came out in 2010.

  HONORÉ DE BALZAC

  Old Man Goriot

  Translation and Notes by OLIVIA McCANNON

  Introduction by GRAHAM ROBB

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  PENGUIN CLASSICS

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  First published in French as Le Père Goriot 1835

  This translation first published in Penguin Classics 2011

  Translation and notes copyright © Olivia McCannon, 2011

  Introduction copyright © Graham Robb, 2011

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the translator and author of the introduction has been asserted

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  ISBN: 978-0-14-196857-5

  Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Chronology

  Introduction

  Further Reading

  Note on the Text and Translation

  Note on Money

  OLD MAN GORIOT

  I. A Respectable Boarding House

  II. Two Calls are Paid

  III. An Introduction to Society

  IV. Cat-o’-Nine-Lives

  V. The Two Daughters

  VI. Death of the Father

  Notes

  Map Showing Places of Interest in Old Man Goriot

  Acknowledgements

  My most grateful acknowledgements are due to the impressive scholarship of the many reference works I consulted at the British Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and above all to that of the Pléiade edition and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

  I’m extremely grateful to Mrs Drue Heinz for the opportunity to work on the translation without interruption at Hawthornden Castle, and to the Centre National du Livre, for enabling me to do the same in Paris.

  I owe a particular debt to Graham Robb, for his inspiration, generous guidance and expert scrutiny; and to Sasha Dugdale, and David and Helen Constantine, for their skilful advice on both my translation and the art and craft of translation itself.

  I’ve been very lucky to be supported by such a talented team at Penguin and am especially grateful to Laura Barber, for commissioning the translation; Monica Schmoller, for her sensitive copyediting; and Anna Hervé and Jessica Harrison, for putting the book to bed.

  My warmest personal thanks are due to Mike Bradshaw, Juan Yermo and Rhianwen Bailey, for sharing their expertise; and to my parents, Dominic and Judith McCannon, for all their encouragement.

  Finally, I’d like to thank my husband, Jamie Glazebrook, for his endless open-hearted support at every level.

  This translation is dedicated to my father, Dominic, to my husband, Jamie, and to my son, Arthur.

  Chronology

  1799 20 May: Born at Tours, and put out to nurse until the age of four. His father is a civil servant, of peasant stock; his mother from a family of wealthy Parisian drapers.

  Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the Directory and becomes First Consul of France.

  Hölderlin, Hyperion.

  1804 First Empire: Napoleon becomes Emperor of France and starts conquering Europe.

  Schiller, William Tell.

  1805 Nelson defeats the French and Spanish fleet in the naval battle of Trafalgar. Napoleon defeats Austro-Russian troops at Austerlitz and then the Prussians at Jena.

  Chateaubriand, René.

  1807 Sent to the Oratorian college in Vendôme, where he boards for the next six years. Birth of his half-brother Henry. (Already has two younger sisters: Laure, Laurence.)

  1812 Napoleon is defeated in his catastrophic Moscow campaign against Tsar Alexander I.

  Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.

  1814 Family move to Paris, where Balzac continues his education.

  Allied troops enter Paris. Napoleon abdicates, and becomes King of Elba. First restoration: Accession of Louis XVIII to the French throne.

  Austen, Mansfield Park. Goya, The Second and Third of May 1808.

  1815 Napoleon returns in triumph to Paris and rules for 100 days before defeat at Waterloo. Second restoration: Louis XVIII is reinstated on the French throne.

  1816–19 Begins his legal training, attending lectures at the Sorbonne; articled to a solicitor, Maître Guillonnet-Merville, then a notary, Maître Passez.

  1819 Determined to make a career from writing, moves into a garret in Rue Lesdiguières.

  Scott, Ivanhoe. Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa.

  1820 Finishes a verse drama, Cromwell, which i
s judged to be a failure by family and friends.

  Shelley, Prometheus Unbound. Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn.

  1821 Publishes novels of Gothic inspiration, many produced collaboratively, under the pseudonyms Lord R’hoone and Horace de St Aubin. Writes poems and plays.

  Constable, Landscape: Noon (The Hay Wain).

  1822 Becomes the lover of Laure de Berny, mother of nine and twenty-two years his senior.

  1824 ‘Horace de St Aubin’ is slated in the Feuilleton littéraire. Balzac contemplates suicide.

  Louis XVIII dies and is succeeded by Charles X.

  Beethoven, Ninth Symphony.

  1825 Launches a publishing and printing venture, producing editions of Molière and La Fontaine. Meets Victor Hugo.

  Grillparzer, King Ottokar’s Rise and Fall.

  1828 Printing business collapses, leaving him in debt. His literary purpose strengthens.

  Schubert, Schwanengesang (Swansong).

  1829 Frequents the salons, introduced by the Duchesse d’Abrantès. His father dies. The Chouans, the first novel he signs with his own name.

  1830 Publishes numerous short stories, including ‘Gobseck’, ‘The Vendetta’ and ‘Sarrasine’.

  July Revolution. Charles X abdicates. July Monarchy. Louis-Philippe becomes king.

  Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People. Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique.

  1831 Adopts a lifestyle beyond his means. The Wild Ass’s Skin establishes his reputation. Begins systematically and publicly to use the particle ‘de’ before his surname.

  Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris. Pushkin, Boris Godunov.

  1832 Travels widely. Begins corresponding with Eveline Hanska, a Polish countess. Joins the neo-legitimist (ultra-conservative) party and publishes political essays. Rumoured to be going mad. Louis Lambert, Colonel Chabert.

  Goethe, final revision of Faust before his death.

  1833 Meets Mme Hanska for the first time, in Switzerland. Signs a contract for the publication of Studies of Nineteenth-Century Life, a collective work which will stretch to twelve volumes over the next four years. The Country Doctor, Eugénie Grandet.

  1834 Birth of Marie du Fresnay, his supposed daughter by Maria du Fresnay. Becomes Mme Hanska’s lover. Meets Countess Guidoboni-Visconti. Has grand idea of recurring characters between novels and begins adapting previous works to establish continuity. History of the Thirteen, The Quest of the Absolute.

  1835 Spends three weeks with Mme Hanska in Vienna, the last time for eight years. Old Man Goriot, Seraphita and collected Philosophical Studies.

  Gautier, Mademoiselle de Maupin.

  1836 Birth of Lionel-Richard Guidoboni-Visconti, his supposed son. Death of Laure de Berny. Liquidates La Chronique de Paris, the journal purchased the previous year.

  Serial publication of Dickens’s Pickwick Papers begins in England. Some months later, Balzac’s The Old Maid is serialized in La Presse, the first roman-feuilleton.

  1837 Countess Guidoboni-Visconti settles his debts to save him from imprisonment. His tilbury is seized by the bailiffs. Travels to Italy, staying at the best hotels. Exhibition of his portrait in a monk’s habit by Louis Boulanger. César Birotteau.

  1838 Visits George Sand (who begins a nine-year relationship with Chopin this year). Travels across Sardinia, Corsica and the Italian peninsula. Incurs further debt after speculating in Sardinian silver mines. The Firm of Nucingen.

  1840 His play Vautrin opens and is banned. Launches the Revue parisienne, which folds; his review of Stendhal’s The Charterhouse of Parma appears in the third and final issue. Moves to Passy with his mother and housekeeper/mistress Louise de Brugnol.

  1841 Signs a publishing contract for The Human Comedy, his collective title since the previous year. Ursule Mirouet, A Murky Business.

  1842 Compares human types to animal species in the preface to The Human Comedy. Has his portrait taken by a Daguerréotypeur. Mme Hanska’s husband dies. The Black Sheep. His play The Resources of Quinola is a flop.

  Gogol, Dead Souls. Verdi, Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar).

  1843 Visits Mme Hanska in St Petersburg. Sits for David d’Angers. His health is poor. Writes a letter of introduction to Mme Hanska for Liszt, who tries to seduce her. Completion of Lost Illusions, in three parts. Honorine.

  1844 Due to ill health, travels and socializes little. Collects furniture and paintings. Modest Mignon and publication of the beginning of The Peasantry.

  Dumas, The Three Musketeers. Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed. Heine, New Poems.

  1845 Travels in Europe with Mme Hanska, her daughter and her future son-in-law.

  Poe, The Raven and Other Poems. Wagner, Tannhäuser.

  1846 Mme Hanska delivers a stillborn baby, which would have been named Victor-Honoré. Cousin Bette.

  1847 Mme Hanska visits for four months in Paris and he makes her his legal heir. They winter in the Ukraine. Cousin Pons. Completion of A Harlot High and Low.

  Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre. Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights.

  1848 Returns to Paris. Witnesses the sacking of the Tuileries. His play The Stepmother is a success with critics. Ill health prevents him working regularly. Returns to the Ukraine.

  February Revolution. Second Republic. Louis Bonaparte is elected President. Revolutionary uprisings across Europe. Final abolition of slavery in French domains.

  Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto. Gaskell, Mary Barton. Thackeray, Vanity Fair.

  1849 Health deteriorates seriously. Starts work on projects he will never finish.

  1850 Marries Mme Hanska in March, at Berdichev. (They are married for only five months.) On return to Paris in May, Balzac can no longer read or write. 18 August: Dies. A cast is taken of his writing hand. Hugo pronounces a funeral oration at Père Lachaise.

  Courbet, A Burial at Ornans.

  Introduction

  Like most of Balzac’s novels, Old Man Goriot began with a bare subject and the ghost of a character: paternal love, ‘a sentiment so great that nothing can exhaust it’; ‘a man who is a father in the same way that a saint or a martyr is a Christian’.

  1 Almost as soon as the idea was in his head, a story began to weave itself around the ghost. He jotted down these phrases in his notebook: ‘A decent man – middle-class boarding house – 600 francs annual income – Having sacrificed every penny to his daughters, who each have an income of 50,000, dying like a dog.’2

  This was the protoplasmic novel that was taking shape in Balzac’s mind when he set off for his country retreat, the little Château de Saché in the valley of the Indre, Touraine, at the end of September 1834. Five years before, Balzac had burst onto the Parisian literary stage with a historical novel, The Chouans, and an anthropological study of modern marriage presented as a self-help guide for husbands with unfaithful wives: The Physiology of Marriage. All his earlier novels had been published under pseudonyms. They were bloody melodramas and tearful romances written for undiscriminating readers. Since then, Balzac had written forty short stories, twenty tales in his own form of medieval French and five novels. He had also signed contracts for dozens of works that would never be written. His doctor had ordered a complete rest. He was not to read, write or think.

  The prospect of comfortable idleness always had an energizing effect on Balzac’s brain. ‘Sometimes’, he told a correspondent as he worked on several stories at the same time, ‘I have the impression that my brain has caught fire.’

  3 At Saché he finished two other novels and saw the new work growing in his mind. Before a word of it was written, he knew that Old Man Goriot would be a masterpiece.

  He sat at his desk on the top floor of the chateau, with a view of ancient oaks and peaceful fields, and thought of the city he had left behind, that ‘valley full of genuine suffering and frequently counterfeit joy’ (p. 3). He told his mother about the new novel as though it already existed on paper: ‘It’s a work even more beautiful than Eugénie Grandet.’4 (Eugénie Grandet, the tale of a miser and his daughter, ha
d been published in 1833 to universal acclaim.) Later, when the new novel had been written and – to use Balzac’s image – he could turn the tapestry over and see what he had made, he would describe it in different terms: ‘Old Man Goriot is a beautiful work, but monstrously sad. In order to be complete, it was necessary to depict a moral sewer in Paris, and it looks like a repulsive wound.’5

  In mid-October, Balzac was back in Paris, settling into his story like a housekeeper into a new home. He had signed a contract with the Revue de Paris, which was to publish the novel in instalments. For Balzac, this newfangled mode of publication was a blessing and a curse. The advance from the journal helped him to pay the everlasting debts that seemed to other people to be his principal motive for writing. Though he wore a monk’s robe and (as he put it himself) worked like a galley-slave, Balzac presented himself to the journalists and gossips of literary Paris as a bumptious parvenu, a conspicuous consumer who revelled in the new, socially mobile France, where money was a magic talisman and noble obscurity had no market value. As Vautrin tells Rastignac in Old Man Goriot, in order to succeed ‘you either have to be rich to start with or appear to be so’ (p. 99). When Balzac described the seedy boarding house where much of the novel takes place, he had just redecorated his home near the Paris Observatory with expensive wallpaper. He bought gold buttons for his blue suit, a powerful spyglass made for him by the Observatory optician and a jewel-encrusted walking-stick. A young observer of literary life called Antoine Fontaney saw him at a party: ‘He is the commercial writer par excellence. “The Revue de Paris”, [Balzac] said airily, “is the best journal in Europe: it pays the biggest fees.” How disgraceful!’6