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Balzac: Melmoth Reconciled & The Conscript

Melmoth Reconciled, by Balzac

This is Balzac's rather odd and uneven version of the Faust tale.  A bank cashier steals 500000 francs, meets a stranger, exchanges his soul for power, discovers his "love" doesn't really love him, discovers that power is not all that he expects, and then makes his own trade, avoiding hell by consigning someone else to it.  Faust, Dorian Grey--both better by far.

On desire, once satisfied:  "So often it happens that, with possession, the vast vast poetry of desire must end, and the thing possessed is the seldom the thing that we dreamed of."

On Paris:  "That city of fiery ordeals and branch establishment of hell."

On theft by the wealthy:  "Society will sanction the theft of millions, shower ribbons upon the thief, cram him with honors, and smother him with consideration."

Great description:  "For the first time in his life the old soldier felt a sensation of dread that made him stare open-mouthed and wide-eyed at the man before him; and for that matter, the appearance of the apparition was sufficiently alarming even if unaccompanied by the mysterious circumstances of so sudden an entry. The rounded forehead, the harsh coloring of the long oval face, indicated quite as plainly as the cut of his clothes that the man was an Englishman, reeking of his native isles. You had only to look at the collar of his overcoat, at the voluminous cravat which smothered the crushed frills of a shirt front so white that it brought out the changeless leaden hue of an impassive face, and the thin red line of the lips that seemed made to suck the blood of corpses; and you could guess at once at the black gaiters buttoned up to the knee, and the half-puritanical costume of a wealthy Englishman dressed for a walking excursion. The intolerable glitter of the stranger's eyes produced a vivid and unpleasant impression, which was only deepened by the rigid outlines of his features. The dried-up, emaciated creature seemed to carry within him some gnawing thought that consumed him and could not be appeased."

On the power of the devil:  The fools who long for the power of the Devil gauge its desirability from a human standpoint; they do not see that with the Devil's power they will likewise assume his thoughts.

THE CONSCRIPT

Adored only son is conscripted into the service during the French Revolution. Mother awaits his return, fearing for his life in such troubled times.  She has reason to fear, as he is killed as he attempts to return to her.  At the exact moment he dies, the mother dies of  . . . ?  Balzac seems to be suggesting that there is some bond across time and space that links the fates of people, and that in time the "scientific" basis of this bond will be discovered.  Well, maybe.

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