Here i am again, on my blog, and to write about one of my favourite classical novel: "Lily of the valley" of Balzac.
Balzac is one of my favourtite writer, brought to me by my father when i was too young to read this kind of novel (according to elders), but he was right to tell me about Balzac because his works have such a huge influence in my life now, in all my creations, all my thoughs. I love the way he describes people, their innocence, their joy, and their pain, each detail is important. I love the way he talks about LIFE, with all its cruelty, its pretence, its complications, and certainly, its sweet moments...
"Lily of the valley" is one of his novel which is hardly criticized, sometimes the critics are unfair. For me, this novel is the most sensual, the purest one among the others, it's about the love story between the young aristocrate Félix de Vandenesse and the countess Madame de Mortsauf.
Its a platonic but intense love, two personne desire each other but the woman is too virtuous to betray her tyranic husband, and the man doesn't dare to go further in the relationship because of his respect toward the countess, and their love last until the death of the countess, due to a heart disease.
It's a beautiful love story. You may think this kind of love story existes only in novel but who can be sure that in real life, there are not two persons like this, somewhere in this huge world? :) Throughout the novel, Balzac describes how the two caracters met, how their relationship envolved and how things passed with the count (husband of Madame de Mortsauf), the evolution of the young aristocrate beyond the court, his meeting with another woman who teached him about carnal pleasure, and how this relationship worsened the heart problem of the countess.
If you like classical novels, historic romantic stuffs, then "Lily of the valley" is an excellent sentimental education book, where Balzac shows you how great love can be and how a woman can love you 'til her death.
Certainly, ther're another great novel of Balzac such as "Father Goriot", "Eugénie Grandet", "the girl with golden eyes", "Cousin Bette", "The old girl" or "Lost illusions", and a lot, a lot, a lot of others great novels. Balzac created a new fantastic in litterature, not as a kind of litterature but a kind of reality. It's in real life that mystery and horror of "Skin of sorrow" (la peau de chagrin) are revealed, the fantastic elements existe without magical objects, it is nourished with the real life, in according with the situations and the characters.
With his own "fantastic", Balzac obliges his readers to consider thing differently to see its real essence, and the realisme of Balzac reaches the "surreal" philosophic with his "fantastic"!
