Honore de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas

Broschiertes Buch

The Madwoman of Beresina and Other Napoleonic Plays

Beschreibung

These three plays all deal with the chaos resulting from the aftermath of the fall in 1815 of the Emperor Napoleon. THE MADWOMAN OF BERESINA, by Emmanuel Théaulon and Honoré de Balzac, is based on a short story by the latter author. Julie, Countess of Vandières, witnesses the death of her officer husband during the retreat of the French Army from Russia in 1812, at the River Beresina; although she lives to return to France, she loses her mind. Only after the war do her surviving friends attempt to restore her sanity once again. THE END OF MURAT, by Jean Berleux and Alexandre Dumas, adapted from an incident in a Dumas novel, deals with the fall of Joachim Murat, Napoleonic King of the Two Sicilies, in late 1815, and his trial at the instigation of the restored monarch, King Ferdinand. THE TRIAL OF MARSHAL NEY, by Louis-Marie Fontan and Charles Dupeuty, outlines the trial of one of Napoleon's chief generals and supporters, by command of the restored King Louis XVIII of France. All three dramas provide riveting glimpses into a period when Europe was trying to rediscover itself--without much success. First-rate tragedies!

Autor

Honoré de Balzac was a French dramatist and novelist who lived from May 20, 1799, to August 18, 1850. Most people consider the unique sequence La Comédie humaine, which offers a glimpse into post-Napoleonic French life, to be his greatest work. As one of the pioneers of realism in European literature, Balzac is recognized for his astute attention to detail and his raw portrayal of society. His characters are well known for having multiple facets; even his less prominent ones are nuanced, ethically gray, and completely human. Even inanimate objects acquire personality; Paris, which serves as the setting for a large portion of his writing, acquires human characteristics. Numerous well-known authors were affected by his work, including the novelists Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert, and Henry James, as well as the directors Jacques Rivette and François Truffaut. Writers still find inspiration in Balzac's novels, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures. According to James, he is "really the father of us all." Honoré de Balzac was born into a family that wanted to be respected for their hard work and dedication. His father, Bernard-François Balssa, was raised in Tarn, a province in southern France, as one of eleven children of an artisan family.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Borgo Press
• Seitenzahl: 188
• Erscheinungstermin: 23. März 2013
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 10mm
• Gewicht: 282g
• ISBN-13: 9781479400584
• ISBN-10: 1479400580
• Artikelnr.: 38042059