Balzac et le « sujet » des jeunes filles

Abstract

In early 19th century France, the very young woman does not belong to herself. How then can we imagine her Bildungsroman? By dramatizing the choices available to her, in view of marriage. Such is the answer, such is the experience sketched out by Balzac in his Scènes de la vie privée and his Scènes de la vie de province. He lends a voice to the “marriageable girl” and gives substance to her ideals, with as much sympathy as irony. An initiatory scenario: taken to its conclusion, the “romanticisation of reality” (G. Lukács) becomes a school of lucidity.

Keywords

• education
• Balzac (Honoré de)
• Bildungsroman
• woman
• freedom
• marriage