Eugenie Grandet

Author: (French) Balzac, translated by Song Wu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-01-01
Features: This book was published in 1833, during the early years of the July Monarchy. The recently ended Restoration period was still fresh in people's minds. During the Restoration, the nobility, though having returned to France from abroad and appearing arrogant and dominant, held a far less significant position than before the French Revolution, as the bourgeoisie had grown powerful.
Excerpt: In the town of Saumur stood a house that had stood for three hundred years, its appearance resembling a gloomy monastery. The owner, Grandet, was a very wealthy cooper in 1789. During the sale of church properties by the republican government, he bribed the auction official with 400 livres and purchased the best vineyards in the county, an old monastery, and several rented fields. He was appointed as the county's administrative commissioner by the central government, where he protected the nobility, preventing their properties from being auctioned off. In business, he contracted with the revolutionary army to supply a thousand or two barrels of white wine, securing a prime meadow from a women's monastery.