La Femme de trente ans by Honoré De Balzac (review)

La Femme de trente ans stands as one of Balzac's most intriguing works. Consisting of six short fictions that were written and revised repeatedly between 1829 and 1842, the story famously heralded thirty as the age at which feminine beauty truly blossoms. In the early nineteenth century, when women who remained unmarried in their late twenties were commonly viewed as spinsters, this claim won Balzac the adoration of female readers across France and beyond. However, as Jean-Yves Tadié points out in his preface to this new edition of the text, the novel also appears as a nexus of many of the themes and narrative strategies that underpin Balzac's wider œuvre. Tadié's detailed and informative preface is divided into short sections, each of which deals with a key aspect of the text. The first of these sections explains how La Femme de trente ans represents a point of intersection between the Scènes de la vie privée, to which the novel belongs, and the Scènes de la vie militaire. In a manner typical of La Comédie humaine, history looms large in this text, which opens with the description of a military parade at the Tuileries in April 1813, prior to Napoleon's departure on his ill-fated German campaign. Tadié proceeds to consider the autobiographical resonance of the story and the way in which Balzac can be seen to draw on his own experience of relationships with older women (most notably his cherished friend, lover, and confidante Mme de Berny, who was twenty-two years his senior). By establishing this autobiographical context, Tadié paves the way for a more sustained analysis of one of the central themes of the novel, namely that of marital unhappiness. As the editor explains, Balzac re-invigorated the well-worn literary stereotype of the unhappily married woman by representing her plight with acute psychological realism. In particular, La Femme de trente ans traces the disintegration of the marriage between Victor and Julie d'Aiglemont to its first, violent night, during which Victor proves incapable of satisfying his wife's physical and emotional needs. As well as providing the standard critical apparatus that will be useful to students and readers approaching this text for the first time, Tadié reflects on previously under-discussed aspects of the novel. Of particular interest in this regard is his discussion of the theme of childhood and Balzac's portrayal of the hatred that can develop between siblings when one is born of conjugal duty and the other of a love-affair—a situation that recalls the novelist's own resentment towards his younger brother, Henry. In addition to this prefatory material, the volume contains a summary biography of Balzac, prepared by Samuel S. de Sacy for the 1972 Folio edition, an overview of the genesis and publication history of the text, and a short bibliography that complements the extensive notes. Collectively, these elements make for an accessible, well-finished edition of the novel, and a valuable reference for students and specialists alike.