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{{rough translation|date=August 2022}}

{{Short description|Collection of tales by Honoré de Balzac}}
{{Short description|Collection of tales by Honoré de Balzac}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Les Cent Contes drolatiques
| image = Gustave Dore Contes drolatiques cover.jpg
| caption = Frontispiece by [[Gustave Doré]] for ''Les Contes Drolatiques'', c. 1832
| author = [[Honoré de Balzac]]
| cover_artist =
| country = France
| language = French
| genre = [[Short story collection]]
| publisher =
| editor = [[Charles Gosselin]] and [[Edmond Werdet]]
| release_date = 1832–1837
| media_type = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages =
| isbn =
| dewey =
| congress =
| oclc =
}}
'''''Les Cent Contes drolatiques''''' ([[French language|French]], 'The Hundred Facetious Tales'), usually translated '''''Droll Stories''''', is a collection of humorous short stories by the French writer [[Honoré de Balzac]], based on [[Giovanni Boccaccio]]'s ''[[The Decameron]]'' and influenced by [[François Rabelais]]. The stories are written in pastiche Renaissance French; although the title promises a hundred, only thirty were published, in groups of ten in 1832, 1833, and 1837.


==Objectives and themes==
'''''Les Cent Contes drolatiques''''' ([[French language|French]], "The Hundred Facetious Tales") — known as '''''Droll Stories''''' — is a collection of 30 ribald short stories by [[Honoré de Balzac]]. They resemble [[Giovanni Boccaccio|Boccaccio's]] ''[[The Decameron|Décaméron]]'', an assertion made by the author himself in the 1832 preface.<ref>Preface of the 1832 edition.</ref><ref>Stéphane Vachon, ''Honoré de Balzac'', Presses Universitaires Paris-Sorbonne, 1999 {{ISBN|978-2-84050-159-6}}, {{p.|185}}.</ref>. They were first published in [[Paris]] in two separate volumes by Charles Gosselin and [[Edmond Werdet]] in 1832 and 1837. Of the intended 100 tales, Balzac only completed 30, grouped into three "decades" (groups of ten).<ref name="Delville">{{cite web|title=Les Cent Contes drolatiques d’Honoré de Balzac : une écriture des limites.|url=https://preo.u-bourgogne.fr/shc/index.php?id=184|language=fr|publication-date=}}</ref>
Balzac projected a hundred ''Contes drolatiques'', basing his title on that of [[Antoine de la Sale]]'s ''[[Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles|Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles]]''.<ref name=Clercq>"Translator's Preface", ''Droll Stories: Thirty Tales by Honoré de Balzac, All Now Especially Translated into Modern English'', trans. Jacques Le Clercq, The Limited Editions Club, 1932; reissued with illustrations by [[Boris Artzybasheff]], New York: Heritage, 1939, {{OCLC|270842415}}, p.&nbsp;xx.</ref> He was acutely conscious of the French heritage of the ''conte''; he probably wrote his ''Théorie du conte'' (Theory of the Short Story) as an introduction to the ''Contes drolatiques'' in 1851 or early 1852.<ref>Tim Farrant, ''Balzac's Shorter Fictions: Genesis and Genre'', Oxford: Oxford University, 2002, {{ISBN|9780198151975}}, p. 120.</ref> Set in medieval and Renaissance France, the ''Contes drolatiques'' seek to recall to the reader a golden age of French national character, before it was tainted by over-analysis and what Balzac himself refers to as hypocritical prudery.<ref>Farrant, pp. 119, 123–24.</ref><ref>In his edited edition of the first group of stories, Andrew Oliver refers to this attempt to revive characteristically French humour as "un pari esthétique" ('an aesthetic bet'): Andrew Oliver, ed., ''Les Cent Contes drolatiques colligez ès abbaïes de Touraine et mis en lumière par le sieur de Balzac: premier dixain'', Toronto: Éditions de l'originale, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-9809307-1-9}}, p.&nbsp;xi {{in lang|fr}}.</ref> They also use the remote setting, as well as the distancing afforded by the archaic language, which combines startling directness with circumlocation, to treat moral issues and political issues of the time of their composition.<ref>Farrant, pp. 122, 125.</ref><ref name=Brown/> Balzac wrote to his future wife, [[Ewelina Hańska|Countess Hańska]], describing them as an "arabesque" he was weaving around his contemporary novels and stories, ''[[La Comédie humaine|Human Comedy]]'', and predicting that they would be his "principal title to fame in days to come".<ref name=Brown>"Translator's Note", ''Droll Stories: Collected in the Monasteries of Touraine and Given to the Light by Honoré de Balzac'', trans. Alec Brown, 1874; reissued 1958 with illustrations by [[Mervyn Peake]], Elek; repr. London: The Folio Society, 1961, {{OCLC|877717441}}, p.&nbsp;v.</ref> Some stories relate in a ribald manner to books in the Human Comedy, and the stories as a whole present a sexually oriented, sometimes obscene commentary on history and its conventional representations.<ref name=Nesci>Catherine Nesci, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40551468 "Balzac et l'incontinence de l'histoire: à propos des ''Contes Drolatiques''"], ''French Forum'' 13.3 (September 1988) 351–63 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref>


In his preface to the first edition of ten tales in 1832, Balzac compares his tales to Boccaccio's ''Decameron''.<ref>"Avertissement du libraire", 1832 edition.</ref><ref>Stéphane Vachon, ''Honoré de Balzac'', Paris: Presses Universitaires de Paris-Sorbonne, 1999 {{ISBN|978-2-84050-159-6}}, p.&nbsp;185 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref> The prologue to the tales sets the tone while also invoking [[François Rabelais|Rabelais]]: "This is a book of the highest flavour, full of right hearty merriment, spiced to the palate of the illustrious and very precious tosspots and drinkers, to whom our worthy compatriot, the eternal honour of Touraine, François Rabelais, addressed himself."<ref>Prologue to the first group: "Cecy est ung livre de haulte digestion, plein de deduicts de grant goust, espicez pour ces goutteulx trez-illustres et beuveurs trez-prétieulx auxquels s'adressoyt nostre digne compatriote, esterne honneur de Tourayne, François Rabelays." Translation by Alec Brown, 1874.</ref>
According to the author:


==Language==
{{citation bloc|“This is a book of high digestion, full of deductions of great taste for those very illustrious gouts and very pretentious drinkers to whom our worthy compatriot, eternal honor of [[Touraine|Tourayne]], [[François Rabelais|François Rabelays]] addressed himself […]”|Prologue.}}
The collection bears the subtitle ''Colligez ez abbayes de Touraine et mis en lumiere par le sieur de Balzac pour l'esbattement des pantagruelistes et non aultres'' ('collected from the abbeys of Touraine and put forward by the Sieur de Balzac for the delight of [[Pantagruel]]ists and not of others'). The stories are written in a pastiche of early French,<ref name=Nesci/><ref name=Limits>Caroline Delville, [https://preo.u-bourgogne.fr/shc/index.php?id=184 "Les Cent Contes drolatiques d’Honoré de Balzac: une écriture des limites"], ''Sciences Humaines Combinées'' 5 (2010), {{in lang|fr}}.</ref> which has been characterised as "a barrage of archaism" and "intentionally opaque".<ref>Farrant, p. 125.</ref> In addition to archaisms and archaised spellings, it includes both learned words and invented words; Balzac referred to it as a ''languaige babilefique'' ('[[Tower of Babel|Babelific]] lingo').<ref>Anna Fierro, [http://www.wortspiel.uni-tuebingen.de/index-Dateien/Abstracts/Fierro.pdf "Jeux de mots, jeux d'images: l'écriture 'drolatique' face à l'illustration"], abstract, paper presented at ''Wordplay and Metalinguistic Reflection – New Interdisciplinary Perspectives / Les jeux de mots et la réflexion métalinguistique – nouvelles perspectives interdisciplinaires'' University of Tübingen, March 2013, {{in lang|fr}}.</ref> This creates distancing, but the stories are not situated in any particular time, evoking an undefined golden age of France.<ref>Farrant, p. 121.</ref> Balzac's stated aim was to write in a purely French idiom free of the artifice of foreign terms: ''ung françois pour luy seul, oultre les mots bizarres&nbsp;... phrazes d'oultre mer et jargons hespagnioles advenuz par le faict des estrangiers'' ("a French language for itself alone, without the bizarre words[,]&nbsp;...overseas words and bits of Spanish jargon attached to it through the actions of foreigners").<ref>Cited in Farrant, p. 197.</ref> In advertising for the third group of stories in 1837, he added that he wished to avoid affronts to modesty by using a still innocent form of the language: ''la forme de son linguayge aduers le temps où les mots ne auoyent point mauluoyse senteur'' ("the form of [the author's] language from the time when words had no bad meaning at all").<ref>Francis Bar, "Archaïsme et originalité dans les 'Contes drolatiques'", ''L'Année Balzacienne'' 1 January 1991, pp.&nbsp;189–203 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref>


==Publication history==
{{citation bloc|"Collect the abbeys of Touraine and highlighted by the Sieur de Balzac for the delight of the pantagruelists and not others [...]"}}
Balzac began work on the ''Contes drolatiques'' as an outgrowth of satirical articles he was writing in 1830; {{ill|La Belle Impéria|lt="La Belle Impéria"|fr}}, the first, was based on an article titled "L'Archevêque" and first appeared after some modifications to its scandalous content, in June 1831 in the ''[[Revue de Paris]]''.<ref>Farrant, pp. 121–22.</ref> Balzac then published three groups of ten in 1832, 1833, and 1837, with the Paris publishers {{ill|Charles Gosselin|fr|Charles Gosselin (éditeur)}} and [[Edmond Werdet]].<ref name=Limits/><ref name=Britannica>Kathleen Kuiper, [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Droll-Stories "Droll Stories"], ''[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]'' online ed., 2011, retrieved September 6, 2019.</ref> The 1832 group is permeated by delight, set in a world of the immediate satisfaction of desires, with humanity as a creature among others and sex as an expression of nature among others.<ref>Farrant, pp. 124–25.</ref> The 1833 group grow increasingly dark, permeated by frustration and turning increasingly on characters being duped and tormented.<ref>Farrant, p. 163.</ref> The final group, published after periods of self-doubt and the destruction of some drafts in a fire, show more ironic references to contemporary life and to the complex plotting the series had sought to avoid; some of the stories appear novelistic.<ref>Farrant, pp. 196–97, 202.</ref>


==Style==
===Illustrations===
An 1855 edition with illustrations by [[Gustave Doré]] is among the artist's most notable book illustrations.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gustave-Dore "Gustave Doré"], ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' online ed., 1998, retrieved September 6, 2019.</ref> The ''Contes drolatiques'' have also been illustrated by [[Albert Robida]], [[Albert Dubout]], and in some of his last completed work, [[Mervyn Peake]].
''Droll Stories'' constitute an unusual project of playful and parodic writing motivated by the author's desire to "remain oneself by cooking in front of the mold of others". The collection caused a great scandal at the time, and was frequently banned in other countries, as much by its earthiness as by the fantasies of an imagined language.
[[File:Gustave Doré Contes drolatiques page 16.jpg|thumb|A priest in the bad part of town, illustrated by Gustave Doré]]
==Reception==
The stories were not well received and are less known than Balzac's other works.<ref name=Limits/><ref>Nesci, p. 352 writes of them having "long been a marginal text".</ref> [[George Sand]] termed them "indecent"; a critic called them "tales in which all the lusts of the flesh are unleashed, satisfied and left to run riot amid a bacchanalia of flushed Priapi"; [[Alphonse de Lamartine]] described them as "futile, somewhat cynical volumes".<ref name=Clercq/> In addition, the ''conte'' was fashionable when the first group were published, but taste began to turn against it by 1833.<ref>Farrant, p. 163.</ref>


Since Balzac's death, critics have been intrigued by the contrasts between the ''Contes drolatiques'' and the novels Balzac was writing in the same period, ''[[Louis Lambert (novel)|Louis Lambert]]'' and ''[[Séraphîta]]''. Roland Chollet has argued that his humorous works "served Balzac as an experimental space",<ref>Pierre-Georges Castex, Roland Chollet, René Guise and Nicole Mozet, eds., Honoré de Balzac, ''Œuvres diverses'', Volume&nbsp;1, Pléiade&nbsp;364, Paris: Gallimard, 1990, {{ISBN|2-07-010664-0}}, p.&nbsp;1134 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref> and for [[Stefan Zweig]], such disparate writings carried out simultaneously "[could] be explained only by his desire to test his own genius", thereby establishing the foundations for his ''Human Comedy'' like an architect "calculat[ing] and check[ing] the dimensions and stresses" of a projected building.<ref>[[Stefan Zweig]], ''Balzac'', New York: Viking, 1946, {{OCLC|300026725}}, (translation of ''Balzac: sein Weltbild aus den Werken'', 1908), p.&nbsp;173.</ref> Some have judged them underappreciated within his works.<ref>Georges Jacques, "Balzac", in: ''Patrimoine littéraire européen'' Volume 11a ''Renaissances nationales et conscience universelle, 1832–1885: Romantismes triophants'', Brussels: De Boeck-université, 1999, {{ISBN|978-2-80412-805-0}}, p.&nbsp;230 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref>
Indeed, Balzac's multi-language, of [[François Rabelais|Rabelaisian]] inspiration, and which wanted to reproduce a [[Middle Ages]] spanning three centuries and thirteen reigns, is made up of neologisms, forged words, learned technical terms with their numerous [[Latinism|Latinisms]], but also dialects and [[Burlesque|burlesques]] — not to mention the puns — all served by archaic spelling and constructions which give the tales a tone and a style deemed by the author to be in keeping with his project, namely a "concentric book” in a “concentric work”.

This collection is much more Balzacian than first thought. In particular with regard to the style, unexpected in Balzac, declared shocking, and to which Georges Jacques returns: "Already between 1830 and 1850 emerges what some have called the total subversion of the subject and it will be a question of giving perhaps one day their exact place in the ''Droll Stories''<ref>Balzac dans : ''Patrimoine littéraire européen, renaissances nationales et conscience universelle 1832-1885, romantismes triomphants'', {{vol.|11a}}, Éditions De Boeck-université, [[Bruxelles]], 1999, {{ISBN|978-2-80412-805-0}}, {{OCLC|313542461}}, {{pc|lxix}}, p. 966, p. 230.</ref>.. »

The difference in inspiration with [[Louis Lambert (novel)|Louis Lambert]] or [[Séraphîta]] - short stories he wrote at the same time as these tales - has greatly intrigued critics. According to Roland Chollet, the humorous vein "served Balzac as an experimental space, and as an antidote to romantic seriousness.<ref>{{Harvsp|Pléiade 1990|p=1134}}.</ref>" Oliver also sees in it “an aesthetic bet: is it possible, in the 19th century, to rediscover while renewing the historical sources of a very French laughter<ref>{{Harvsp|Oliver 2008|p=xi}}.</ref>? ". For [[Stefan Zweig]], such a combination of such disparate writings carried out simultaneously can only be explained by his desire to test his genius, in order to see to what level he could go: just like an architect, by making the plan of a building, calculates the dimensions and the effects of the load, Balzac wanted to test his forces by establishing the foundations on which would rise his ''[[La Comédie humaine|Human Comedy]]''<ref>{{Harvsp|Zweig 1946|p=173}}.</ref>.


==Historical characters==
==Historical characters==
In writing the tales, Balzac was inspired by many historical figures. One story is about {{ill|Scipion Sardini|fr}}, Count of Chaumont (1526–1609), banker to [[Henry III of France|Henry III]] and [[Catherine de' Medici]] and the owner of the [[Château de Chaumont]], who in {{ill|La Chière nuictée d'amour|lt="La Chière nuictée d'amour"|fr}} falls hopelessly in love with the wife of the Parisian lawyer {{ill|Pierre des Avenelles|fr}}, the affair taking place against the background of the preparations for the [[Amboise conspiracy]]. The protagonists who become entangled in racy situations in {{ill|Le Péché véniel|lt="Le Péché véniel"|fr}} are the Seigneur de Rochecorbon, a member of the [[House of Amboise]]; the Count of [[Château de Montsoreau|Montsoreau]]; and [[Craon family|Jeanne de Craon]]. In the first story, {{ill|La belle Impéria|lt="La belle Impéria"|fr}}, the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Chur|Bishop of Chur]], secretary to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bordeaux|Archbishop of Bordeaux]], is seduced and threatened with [[excommunication]] for committing sins of the flesh.
Many historical or famous figures inspired Balzac. He notably dedicated an entire tale to Scipio Sardini, Count of Chaumont (1526-1609), banker [[Henry III of France]] and [[Catherine de' Medici|Catherine de Medici]], whose [[Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino|father]] was [[Gonfaloniere|gonfalonier]] of the lordship of [[Lucca]] in [[Tuscany]].

This Frenchman of Italian origin, who was one of the Italian "supporters" of Catherine de Medici's<ref>''Larousse'' en 10 volumes, {{vol.|IX}} {{ISBN|978-2-03102-309-8}}, {{p.|9424}}.</ref> entourage, left an architectural trace in Paris: the Hôtel Scipion Sardini (1565), at no. 13 rue Scipion, a residence built for his mistress [[Isabelle de Limeuil]]. He also became the owner of the [[Château de Chaumont|Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire]] from 1600 to 1667.<ref>''Mémoires de la Société des sciences et des lettres de la ville de [[Blois]]'', t. V, 1856, {{p.|286-289}}.</ref> In La Chière nuictée d'amour, Scipion Sardini is a victim of his love for the wife of the Parisian lawyer Pierre des Avenelles, the affair taking place against the background of the preparations for the [[Amboise conspiracy|conspiracy of Amboise (1560)]].

The Lord of Rochecorbon, the Count of Montsoreau and Jeanne de Craon are also the protagonists of Le Péché véniel, and they naturally find themselves in grotesque situations with many references to virginity and bed issues.

The Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Chur|Coire]], secretary to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bordeaux|Archbishop of Bordeaux]], is himself caught in the nets of the seduction of La Belle Impéria, threatened with excommunication for having committed the sin of the flesh.

==Illustrations==

Besides [[Albert Robida]] and [[Gustave Doré]], many painters and caricaturists were inspired by Balzac's Contes drolatiques. [[Albert Dubout]] produced a delirious version of it. Illustrations for it were among the last completed works of [[Mervyn Peake]].

==The stories==
This list is that of the 13th edition by Garnier Frères, Paris 1924. Each tale is framed by a prologue and an epilogue, which are also tasty pieces of Balzacian literature. "L'Avertissement du Libraire" (Balzac himself) which appears in the first edition of 1832 (first ten), was taken up in the 1855 edition (the fifth) by this publisher.


==Contents==
===First 10 tales===
This list is that of the 13th edition by {{ill|Garnier Frères|fr|Éditions Garnier Frères}}, Paris 1924. Each group of ten is framed by a prologue and an epilogue, and the first edition also included an ''Avertissement du Libraire'' in which Balzac addressed the reader; this is reprinted in the publisher's 5th (1855) and subsequent editions.


===First group===
* ''La Belle Impéria''
* {{ill|La belle Impéria|lt="La belle Impéria"|fr}}
* ''Le Péché véniel''
* {{ill|Le Péché véniel|lt="Le Péché véniel"|fr}}
* ''La Mye du Roy''
* ''L'Héritier du Diable''
* "La Mye du Roy"
* ''Les Ioyeulsetez du roy Loys le unziesme''
* "L'Héritier du Diable"
* "Les Ioyeulsetez du roy Loys le unziesme"
* ''La Connestable''
* "La Connestable"
* ''La pucelle de Thilhouze''
* "La pucelle de Thilhouze"
* ''Le Frère d'armes''
* "Le Frère d'armes"
* ''Le Curé d'Azay-le-rideau''
* "Le Curé d'Azay-le-rideau"
* ''L'Apostrophe''
* "L'Apostrophe"


=== Second 10 tales ===
===Second group===
* "Les trois Clercs de Saint-Nicholas"
* "Le Ieusne de Françoys premier"
* "Les bons Proupos des religieuses de Poissy"
* "Comment feut basty le chasteau d'Azay"
* "La faulse Courtizane"
* "Le Dangier d'estre trop coquebin"
* {{ill|La Chière nuictée d'amour|lt="La Chière nuictée d'amour"|fr}}
* "Le Prosne du ioyeulx curé de Meudon"
* [[The Succubus (short story)|"Le Succube"]]
* "Desespérance d'amour"


===Third group===
* ''Les trois Clercs de Saint-Nicholas''
* '"Persévérance d'amour"
* ''Le Ieusne de Françoys premier''
* "D'ung iusticiard qui ne se remembroyt les chouses"
* ''Les bons Proupos des religieuses de Poissy''
* "Sur le Moyne Amador, qui feut ung glorieux Abbé de Turpenay"
* ''Comment feut basty le chasteau d'Azay''
* "Berthe la repentie"
* ''La faulse Courtizane''
* "Comment la belle Fille de Portillon quinaulda son iuge"
* ''Le Dangier d'estre trop coquebin''
* "Cy est demonstré que la Fortune est touiours femelle"
* ''La Chière nuictée d'amour''
* "D'ung paouvre qui avait nom le Vieulx-par-chemins"
* ''Le Prosne du ioyeulx curé de Meudon''
* "Dires incongrus de trois pèlerins"
* ''Le Succube''
* "Naifveté"
* ''Desespérance d'amour''
* "La belle Impéria mariée"


==References==
=== Third 10 tales ===
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
* ''Persévérance d'amour''
* {{Commons category-inline|Les Contes Drolatiques by Gustave Doré}}
* ''D'ung iusticiard qui ne se remembroyt les chouses''
* [https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Les_Contes_drolatiques Text] on French Wikisource (1921 edition)
* ''Sur le Moyne Amador, qui feut ung glorieux Abbé de Turpenay''
* ''Berthe la repentie''
* ''Comment la belle Fille de Portillon quinaulda son iuge''
* ''Cy est demonstré que la Fortune est touiours femelle''
* ''D'ung paouvre qui avait nom le Vieulx-par-chemins''
* ''Dires incongrus de trois pèlerins''
* ''Naifveté''
* ''La belle Impéria mariée''


{{Authority control}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Cent Contes drolatiques}}
[[Category:Honoré de Balzac]]
[[Category:Short stories]]
[[Category:Short stories by Honoré de Balzac]]
[[Category:French short story collections]]
[[Category:1830s short story collections]]
[[Category:1832 in literature]]
[[Category:1832 in literature]]
[[Category:1837 in literature]]
[[Category:1837 in literature]]

Latest revision as of 01:30, 15 September 2024

Les Cent Contes drolatiques
Frontispiece by Gustave Doré for Les Contes Drolatiques, c. 1832
EditorCharles Gosselin and Edmond Werdet
AuthorHonoré de Balzac
LanguageFrench
GenreShort story collection
Publication date
1832–1837
Publication placeFrance
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)

Les Cent Contes drolatiques (French, 'The Hundred Facetious Tales'), usually translated Droll Stories, is a collection of humorous short stories by the French writer Honoré de Balzac, based on Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron and influenced by François Rabelais. The stories are written in pastiche Renaissance French; although the title promises a hundred, only thirty were published, in groups of ten in 1832, 1833, and 1837.

Objectives and themes

[edit]

Balzac projected a hundred Contes drolatiques, basing his title on that of Antoine de la Sale's Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles.[1] He was acutely conscious of the French heritage of the conte; he probably wrote his Théorie du conte (Theory of the Short Story) as an introduction to the Contes drolatiques in 1851 or early 1852.[2] Set in medieval and Renaissance France, the Contes drolatiques seek to recall to the reader a golden age of French national character, before it was tainted by over-analysis and what Balzac himself refers to as hypocritical prudery.[3][4] They also use the remote setting, as well as the distancing afforded by the archaic language, which combines startling directness with circumlocation, to treat moral issues and political issues of the time of their composition.[5][6] Balzac wrote to his future wife, Countess Hańska, describing them as an "arabesque" he was weaving around his contemporary novels and stories, Human Comedy, and predicting that they would be his "principal title to fame in days to come".[6] Some stories relate in a ribald manner to books in the Human Comedy, and the stories as a whole present a sexually oriented, sometimes obscene commentary on history and its conventional representations.[7]

In his preface to the first edition of ten tales in 1832, Balzac compares his tales to Boccaccio's Decameron.[8][9] The prologue to the tales sets the tone while also invoking Rabelais: "This is a book of the highest flavour, full of right hearty merriment, spiced to the palate of the illustrious and very precious tosspots and drinkers, to whom our worthy compatriot, the eternal honour of Touraine, François Rabelais, addressed himself."[10]

Language

[edit]

The collection bears the subtitle Colligez ez abbayes de Touraine et mis en lumiere par le sieur de Balzac pour l'esbattement des pantagruelistes et non aultres ('collected from the abbeys of Touraine and put forward by the Sieur de Balzac for the delight of Pantagruelists and not of others'). The stories are written in a pastiche of early French,[7][11] which has been characterised as "a barrage of archaism" and "intentionally opaque".[12] In addition to archaisms and archaised spellings, it includes both learned words and invented words; Balzac referred to it as a languaige babilefique ('Babelific lingo').[13] This creates distancing, but the stories are not situated in any particular time, evoking an undefined golden age of France.[14] Balzac's stated aim was to write in a purely French idiom free of the artifice of foreign terms: ung françois pour luy seul, oultre les mots bizarres ... phrazes d'oultre mer et jargons hespagnioles advenuz par le faict des estrangiers ("a French language for itself alone, without the bizarre words[,] ...overseas words and bits of Spanish jargon attached to it through the actions of foreigners").[15] In advertising for the third group of stories in 1837, he added that he wished to avoid affronts to modesty by using a still innocent form of the language: la forme de son linguayge aduers le temps où les mots ne auoyent point mauluoyse senteur ("the form of [the author's] language from the time when words had no bad meaning at all").[16]

Publication history

[edit]

Balzac began work on the Contes drolatiques as an outgrowth of satirical articles he was writing in 1830; "La Belle Impéria" [fr], the first, was based on an article titled "L'Archevêque" and first appeared after some modifications to its scandalous content, in June 1831 in the Revue de Paris.[17] Balzac then published three groups of ten in 1832, 1833, and 1837, with the Paris publishers Charles Gosselin [fr] and Edmond Werdet.[11][18] The 1832 group is permeated by delight, set in a world of the immediate satisfaction of desires, with humanity as a creature among others and sex as an expression of nature among others.[19] The 1833 group grow increasingly dark, permeated by frustration and turning increasingly on characters being duped and tormented.[20] The final group, published after periods of self-doubt and the destruction of some drafts in a fire, show more ironic references to contemporary life and to the complex plotting the series had sought to avoid; some of the stories appear novelistic.[21]

Illustrations

[edit]

An 1855 edition with illustrations by Gustave Doré is among the artist's most notable book illustrations.[22] The Contes drolatiques have also been illustrated by Albert Robida, Albert Dubout, and in some of his last completed work, Mervyn Peake.

A priest in the bad part of town, illustrated by Gustave Doré

Reception

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The stories were not well received and are less known than Balzac's other works.[11][23] George Sand termed them "indecent"; a critic called them "tales in which all the lusts of the flesh are unleashed, satisfied and left to run riot amid a bacchanalia of flushed Priapi"; Alphonse de Lamartine described them as "futile, somewhat cynical volumes".[1] In addition, the conte was fashionable when the first group were published, but taste began to turn against it by 1833.[24]

Since Balzac's death, critics have been intrigued by the contrasts between the Contes drolatiques and the novels Balzac was writing in the same period, Louis Lambert and Séraphîta. Roland Chollet has argued that his humorous works "served Balzac as an experimental space",[25] and for Stefan Zweig, such disparate writings carried out simultaneously "[could] be explained only by his desire to test his own genius", thereby establishing the foundations for his Human Comedy like an architect "calculat[ing] and check[ing] the dimensions and stresses" of a projected building.[26] Some have judged them underappreciated within his works.[27]

Historical characters

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In writing the tales, Balzac was inspired by many historical figures. One story is about Scipion Sardini [fr], Count of Chaumont (1526–1609), banker to Henry III and Catherine de' Medici and the owner of the Château de Chaumont, who in "La Chière nuictée d'amour" [fr] falls hopelessly in love with the wife of the Parisian lawyer Pierre des Avenelles [fr], the affair taking place against the background of the preparations for the Amboise conspiracy. The protagonists who become entangled in racy situations in "Le Péché véniel" [fr] are the Seigneur de Rochecorbon, a member of the House of Amboise; the Count of Montsoreau; and Jeanne de Craon. In the first story, "La belle Impéria" [fr], the Bishop of Chur, secretary to the Archbishop of Bordeaux, is seduced and threatened with excommunication for committing sins of the flesh.

Contents

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This list is that of the 13th edition by Garnier Frères [fr], Paris 1924. Each group of ten is framed by a prologue and an epilogue, and the first edition also included an Avertissement du Libraire in which Balzac addressed the reader; this is reprinted in the publisher's 5th (1855) and subsequent editions.

First group

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  • "La belle Impéria" [fr]
  • "Le Péché véniel" [fr]
  • "La Mye du Roy"
  • "L'Héritier du Diable"
  • "Les Ioyeulsetez du roy Loys le unziesme"
  • "La Connestable"
  • "La pucelle de Thilhouze"
  • "Le Frère d'armes"
  • "Le Curé d'Azay-le-rideau"
  • "L'Apostrophe"

Second group

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  • "Les trois Clercs de Saint-Nicholas"
  • "Le Ieusne de Françoys premier"
  • "Les bons Proupos des religieuses de Poissy"
  • "Comment feut basty le chasteau d'Azay"
  • "La faulse Courtizane"
  • "Le Dangier d'estre trop coquebin"
  • "La Chière nuictée d'amour" [fr]
  • "Le Prosne du ioyeulx curé de Meudon"
  • "Le Succube"
  • "Desespérance d'amour"

Third group

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  • '"Persévérance d'amour"
  • "D'ung iusticiard qui ne se remembroyt les chouses"
  • "Sur le Moyne Amador, qui feut ung glorieux Abbé de Turpenay"
  • "Berthe la repentie"
  • "Comment la belle Fille de Portillon quinaulda son iuge"
  • "Cy est demonstré que la Fortune est touiours femelle"
  • "D'ung paouvre qui avait nom le Vieulx-par-chemins"
  • "Dires incongrus de trois pèlerins"
  • "Naifveté"
  • "La belle Impéria mariée"

References

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  1. ^ a b "Translator's Preface", Droll Stories: Thirty Tales by Honoré de Balzac, All Now Especially Translated into Modern English, trans. Jacques Le Clercq, The Limited Editions Club, 1932; reissued with illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff, New York: Heritage, 1939, OCLC 270842415, p. xx.
  2. ^ Tim Farrant, Balzac's Shorter Fictions: Genesis and Genre, Oxford: Oxford University, 2002, ISBN 9780198151975, p. 120.
  3. ^ Farrant, pp. 119, 123–24.
  4. ^ In his edited edition of the first group of stories, Andrew Oliver refers to this attempt to revive characteristically French humour as "un pari esthétique" ('an aesthetic bet'): Andrew Oliver, ed., Les Cent Contes drolatiques colligez ès abbaïes de Touraine et mis en lumière par le sieur de Balzac: premier dixain, Toronto: Éditions de l'originale, 2008, ISBN 978-0-9809307-1-9, p. xi (in French).
  5. ^ Farrant, pp. 122, 125.
  6. ^ a b "Translator's Note", Droll Stories: Collected in the Monasteries of Touraine and Given to the Light by Honoré de Balzac, trans. Alec Brown, 1874; reissued 1958 with illustrations by Mervyn Peake, Elek; repr. London: The Folio Society, 1961, OCLC 877717441, p. v.
  7. ^ a b Catherine Nesci, "Balzac et l'incontinence de l'histoire: à propos des Contes Drolatiques", French Forum 13.3 (September 1988) 351–63 (in French).
  8. ^ "Avertissement du libraire", 1832 edition.
  9. ^ Stéphane Vachon, Honoré de Balzac, Paris: Presses Universitaires de Paris-Sorbonne, 1999 ISBN 978-2-84050-159-6, p. 185 (in French).
  10. ^ Prologue to the first group: "Cecy est ung livre de haulte digestion, plein de deduicts de grant goust, espicez pour ces goutteulx trez-illustres et beuveurs trez-prétieulx auxquels s'adressoyt nostre digne compatriote, esterne honneur de Tourayne, François Rabelays." Translation by Alec Brown, 1874.
  11. ^ a b c Caroline Delville, "Les Cent Contes drolatiques d’Honoré de Balzac: une écriture des limites", Sciences Humaines Combinées 5 (2010), (in French).
  12. ^ Farrant, p. 125.
  13. ^ Anna Fierro, "Jeux de mots, jeux d'images: l'écriture 'drolatique' face à l'illustration", abstract, paper presented at Wordplay and Metalinguistic Reflection – New Interdisciplinary Perspectives / Les jeux de mots et la réflexion métalinguistique – nouvelles perspectives interdisciplinaires University of Tübingen, March 2013, (in French).
  14. ^ Farrant, p. 121.
  15. ^ Cited in Farrant, p. 197.
  16. ^ Francis Bar, "Archaïsme et originalité dans les 'Contes drolatiques'", L'Année Balzacienne 1 January 1991, pp. 189–203 (in French).
  17. ^ Farrant, pp. 121–22.
  18. ^ Kathleen Kuiper, "Droll Stories", Encyclopedia Britannica online ed., 2011, retrieved September 6, 2019.
  19. ^ Farrant, pp. 124–25.
  20. ^ Farrant, p. 163.
  21. ^ Farrant, pp. 196–97, 202.
  22. ^ "Gustave Doré", Encyclopedia Britannica online ed., 1998, retrieved September 6, 2019.
  23. ^ Nesci, p. 352 writes of them having "long been a marginal text".
  24. ^ Farrant, p. 163.
  25. ^ Pierre-Georges Castex, Roland Chollet, René Guise and Nicole Mozet, eds., Honoré de Balzac, Œuvres diverses, Volume 1, Pléiade 364, Paris: Gallimard, 1990, ISBN 2-07-010664-0, p. 1134 (in French).
  26. ^ Stefan Zweig, Balzac, New York: Viking, 1946, OCLC 300026725, (translation of Balzac: sein Weltbild aus den Werken, 1908), p. 173.
  27. ^ Georges Jacques, "Balzac", in: Patrimoine littéraire européen Volume 11a Renaissances nationales et conscience universelle, 1832–1885: Romantismes triophants, Brussels: De Boeck-université, 1999, ISBN 978-2-80412-805-0, p. 230 (in French).
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