A Man of Business

THE HUMAN COMEDY – Honoré de Balzac Twelfth volume of works of Honoré de Balzac edited by widow André Houssiaux, publisher, Hebert and Co, successors, 7 rue Perronet – Paris (1877)

Scenes from Parisian life

A MAN OF BUSINESS

Written in Paris in 1845

Dedicated TO BARON JAMES ROTHSCHILD CONSUL GENERAL OF AUSTRIA IN PARIS, BANKER

Un Homme d’ affaires is a short story published in 1844 by Hetzel under the title Les Roueries d’un créancier , republished a few months later in Le Siècle. Edited by both the first publisher and the author himself, Un Homme d’affaires was included in 1845 in La Comédie Humaine’ s Scènes de la vie parisienne for the 1846 Furne edition, with a dedication dated 1845 to “A Monsieur le baron James de Rothschild”.

Analysis of the work With the short stories that follow, we return to Balzac’s true inspiration and authentic Scènes de la vie parisienne. But many of them also have their own particularities, belonging to a new style of Balzac’s that was born and developed in the 1840s. In 1839, the publisher Curner had the idea of a collection of amusing sketches of contemporary mores illustrated by fashionable engravers. This collection was entitled Les Français peints par eux-mêmes, and can still be found today in some family libraries. Balzac was one of the contributors to this collection. In 1842, Hetzel, who had just joined forces with Furne, Paulin and Dubochet to publish The Human Comedy, had the idea of imitating Curmer, first by publishing Animals painted by themselves to which Balzac collaborated, then The Devil in Paris for which Balzac gave a number of sketches that he later brought together under the title Les Comédiens sans le savoir. One of these sketches was The tricks of a creditor, who in the end did not appear in Le Diable à Paris, but in the newspaper Le Siècle. Balzac reprinted it almost immediately in his edition of La Comédie Humaine under the title Esquisse d’un homme d’affaires d’après nature, which later became Un homme d’affaires. The various pochades, all from the same mold, required little effort and no complicated plotting, and enabled Balzac to ensure the continuity of his production during the difficult years he spent uncertain about Madame Hanska’s intentions. Un homme d’affaires, as its original title, Les roueries d’un créancier, indicates, is an anecdote showing how a devious creditor manages to get one of his recalcitrant debtors to pay. We don’t know where this anecdote comes from, but it must have been told to Balzac. We’re reminded of Vidocq, whose private police agency specialized in collecting desperate bills, or of a conversation Balzac had a few days before writing his short story, during a conference with his solicitor. Both hypotheses are interesting, but lack evidence. We’re no better informed when we search through Balzac’s relationships to find the characters he portrayed. Victor Bohain has been suggested as a model for Cérizet. Despite a few analogies that Balzac may indeed have thought of, there’s hardly any resemblance between Victor Bohain, a lively journalist and a merry scatterbrain whom the government had to give up using after a few unadministrative women’s scandals, and the venomous Cérizet, a forger, double agent and swindler, confined to petty and ignoble enterprises, on a completely different social level from the muddled and, as they used to say in those days, inconsistent boulevardier who later became an unlucky businessman.

The story Mademoiselle Marguerite Turquet, or Malaga, a lorette by trade, is the delight of Maître Cardot notaire. At a dinner party at Mademoiselle Turquet’s, Cardot gathered a few friends, including Desroches the solicitor, Bixiou the caricaturist, Lousteau the feuilletoniste, the poet and newspaper editor Raoul Nathan, and Charles-Edouard Ruscoli, the young Comte de la Palferine. During the meal, discussion turns to the strategy being pursued in Paris by creditors and debtors. Mr. Desroches comments that his clients include debtors experienced in chasing creditors. Among them is a man who, in his opinion, is the most skilful and cunning at outsmarting his creditors. That Count in the yellow gloves. is none other than Maxime de Trailles, the indebted dandy. Perfectly versed in the rules of commercial jurisprudence, he is unrivalled in his ability to “honestly” trick his creditors. Then, in a less elegant vein, come Claparon and Cérizet, two crooked associates with the same talent for screwing people over. This Claparon, who was none other than the lampoon of bankers du Tillet and Nucingen during their organized bankruptcies, completed his downfall when he joined forces to do fraudulent business with the despicable Cérizet – the former partner of the Cointet printing works, which precipitated the ruin of David Séchard (read Lost Illusions). It is at this point in the narrative that Desroches explains the duel between the de Trailles and Claparon-Cérizet camps. Specialized in buying debts, Cérizet and Claparon buy a few thousand francs’ worth of Maxime’s effects, which he is reluctant to pay back. At the time, Maxime de Traille was in love with a young courtesan, Antonia Chocardelle. He gives her a reading cabinet, which he pays half with her. The beautiful Antonia doesn’t really like this “bread-and-butter” business – she’s bored, she’d rather have her own well-furnished apartment and drive a car. One of the regulars at the book club, a petit bourgeois, the old rentier Croizeau, falls in love with her. He came to the reading room every day and made friends with Denisard, a former customs director. When Denisard breaks with his mistress Hortense, Croizeau offers Antonia the chance to buy back the magnificent furniture Denisard has installed in Hortense’s home. Maxime speculates on the future: the opportunity for him to sell the reading room; to buy back, with the money from the sale, the beautiful furniture proposed by Croizeau and to install Antonia. When his passion for Antonia has passed, it will be time to hand her over to the care of old Croizeau. Maxime set off to buy the furniture, followed by the commission agents responsible for transporting it. When he demands a receipt for the furniture purchased and orders its removal, he is confronted by Cérizet, who has played the false salesman and repaid Maxime de Trailles’ debt.

The characters Marguerite Turquet: Ecuyère and lorette born in 1816, better known as Malaga. Cardot: Jean-Jérôme-Séverin, born in 1755, was a silk merchant. Married a Husson who died in 1816, leaving two daughters and a son. Desroches: Born in 1796. Avoué. Bixiou: Jean-Jacques, born 1797, caricaturist. His father, a colonel, was killed in action. His grandfather was a grocer and his grandmother a Descoings. Etienne Lousteau: Born in 1799, journalist. Father of Mme de la Baudraye’s children. Raoul Nathan: Writer and journalist. Married Sophie Grignoult, known as Florine, actress born in 1805. La Palferine: Charles-Edouard Ruscoli, Comte de la Palferine, came from a noble Italian family settled in France. Charles Claparon: born in 1790, an unscrupulous businessman. Cérizet: Born in 1802, Cérizet was a protector, sub-prefect and loan shark. Du Tillet: Born in 1793, Ferdinand was a foundling. He became a clerk, banker and member of parliament. In 1831, he married Marie-Eugénie de Granville, born in 1814. Nucingen: Baron Frédéric de Nucingen, born around 1763, banker. Husband of Delphine Goriot born in 1792. Their daughter Augusta married Eugène de Rastignac. Antonia Chocardelle: Female caretaker. Maxime de Trailles: Count Maxime de Trailles, born around 1792. Certainly the husband of Cécile Beauvisage, born in 1820. Croizeau: Former coachbuilder. Denisard: Cérizet’s alias. Hortense: Kept woman.  

Source analysis/history: Preface (Volume XVI) compiled from the full text of the Comédie Humaine published by France Loisirs 1986 under the auspices of the Société des Amis d’Honoré de Balzac. Source: Félicien Marceau “Balzac et son monde – Gallimard” (Balzac and his world – Gallimard)

Source of preamble notes: Wikipedia.