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Maitre Cornelius
Novel by Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac: Maître Cornelius
Category: Novellas; History, France, King Louis XI
ISBN: 1-59569-017-4
104 pages

Balzac's famous medieval love story, in which he turns King Louis XI of France into a detective. Set in the fifteenth century, this is a tale of a married woman whose lover apprentices himself to a silversmith, Maitre Cornelius, just to be nearer to her.


Trivia/History: In May, 1831, Balzac (1799-1850) was again away from Paris, this time taking up his abode in Nemours, where he describes himself as living alone in a tent in the depths of the earth, subsisting on coffee, and working day and night at "La Peau de Chagrin," (The Wild-Ass's Skin) with "L'Auberge Rouge," which he was writing for the Revue de Paris, as his only distraction.
These absences did not apparently cause any friction; but when, in November, 1831, Balzac went to Sache to stay with M. de Margonne, and then moved on to the Carrauds, he left "Le Maître Cornelius," which he was writing for the Revue de Paris, in an unfinished and uncorrected condition. Thereupon, Amédée Pichot, who naturally wanted consecutive numbers of the story for his magazine, committed what was in Balzac's eyes an unpardonable breach of trust, by publishing the uncorrected proofs, leaving out or altering what he did not understand. Balzac was furious at his signature being appended to what he considered unfinished work. Amédée Pichot was also very angry, because Balzac had unduly lengthened the first part of the story, and had kept him two months waiting for the finish. Therefore, as diligence was the only mode of transit, and it was necessary that "Le Maître Cornelius" should end with the year, it was impossible to send the proofs before printing for correction to Angoulême. Nevertheless, as he had undoubtedly exceeded his rights as editor, he thought it wise to temporise, and wrote an explanatory and conciliatory letter; and as this did not pacify Balzac, he dispatched a second of similar tenor.
However, a few days later, on January 9th, 1832, he felt compelled by the tone of Balzac's correspondence to send a third beginning: "Sir, I find from the tone of your letter that I am guilty of doing you a great wrong. I have treated on an equality and as a comrade a superior person, whom I should have been contented to admire. I therefore beg your pardon humbly for the 'My dear Balzac' of my preceding letters. I will preserve the distance of 'Monsieur' between you and me."
Mary F. Sandars in: Honoré de Balzac, His Life and Writing

 

ISBN: 1595690174 / 978-1595690173

Language: English

Subjects: Fiction (French Classics - History - Love Story - Adventure - Detective - Novella)

Pages: 104

Book Type: 5.5 x 8.5 in, Perfect Bound - Paperback)

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