Gobseck

Gobseck is a novel of the series The Human Comedy by Honoré de Balzac; he is there to the scenes of private life ( Scènes de la vie privée ).

The work was first published in 1830 under the title " The usurer ." The title Gobseck got the work in the publication of the complete edition in 1842.

Content

In the Salon of the Duchess de Grandlieu Madame entertains with a friend of the family, the lawyer Derville. She tells him about the affection of her daughter Camille to Ernest de Restaud. Madame de Grandlieu is against this bond; Ernest's mother keeps for a very lavish woman who is also involved in a romance with Maxim de Trailles. Derville is contradictory opinion, he has Ernests assets and reminds that it is the money which plays the main role in Paris.

Then he tells a story from his youth, in a Dutch Jew named Gobseck has been his neighbor. It was a loan from him to be that allowed Derville lawyer and the observation Gobsecks visitors taught him a lot about life in Paris. He learned, among other things, the true story of Madame de Restaud: the Duchess has her husband for her lover, Maxim de Trailles, ruined and brought him finally killed by telling of the non-marital children who did for his her husband.

Meanwhile Gobseck was already the owner of a large part of the assets of Restauds. The Duke has the most of the remaining assets to his legitimate son Ernest bequeathed on his deathbed without disinherit the children of his wife completely. Madame de Restaud but has destroyed the unread Testament, where she was able to convince later of having their own children so ruined.

Gobseck, meanwhile, had enriched and died many years later. He bequeathed his fortune Ernest de Restaud and his distant relatives Esther van Gobseck ( a main character in splendor and misery of courtesans ).

Narrative technique

Gobseck is another technique used in the human comedy " of a story in a story " because the main plot of the novel is not in the current situation (conversation in the house of the Duchess de Grandlieu ) but in the story of Derville.

The analysis of the usurer is in a group of works which represent the hidden but essential for the understanding of the great Paris World's institutions in detail. There is thus a complete description of the banking system in the house Nucingen. In this way, Gobseck fits into the general picture of the contemporary world and in the analysis of the reigning him in money.

The structure of the novel, in which the seemingly trivial story plays the most important role, is a reflection of the problem described - the role and position of the usurer in society. At the same time, the novel is a praise of human energy and an illustration of the power of an individual who understands his era and is ready to confront the society courageous. Such a shape is the eponymous usurers Gobseck.

Bibliography

• Didier Maleuvre, Gobseck

• Literary work
• Literature ( French)
• Literature (19th century)
• Novel, epic
• Works of Honoré de Balzac