8474613175

Édition de la Bibliothèque Verte (Hachette), 1947. ( )

AG-1

..."this life of obscure renunciation",, 29 March 2015

This review is from: The Country Doctor (Kindle Edition)
Somewhere between *3 and *4 for this rather untypical Balzac novel (at least for the first 200 pages.)
The tale is set in the mountains near Grenoble, where, in 1829, a captain from the Napoleonic campaigns has come to seek out a local doctor for medical assistance. As the two strike up a friendship, the doctor (who is also mayor) talks at length on the changes he has wrought to the failing local economy. At dinner with local dignitaries, the topics move on to politics and religion; and in conversations with local old soldiers, there is quite a bit on Napoleon, who is still seen as a great hero.
It's not till the last 80 pages or so that our two characters start to reveal more of themselves: what has prompted the doctor to devote his life to the good of these people? Why is the captain operating under a pseudonym? ....
Although I found the diatribes a bit monotonous at times, the resumption of the novel later on was good enough to compensate (and the bit on Napoleon was quite interesting.) Excellent translation by Ellen Marriage. ( )

This novel is one of Balzac's best "Scenes from Country Life"--part of his great Human Comedy. Dr. Benassis is the hero of the tale, a rural doctor who treats the wounds of a Bonapartist soldier named Capt. Bluteau. Compared to most of Balzac's complex character studies, this simple refreshing story portrays a person who was more like a vicar to his fellow villagers--treating all their ills without demanding payment, teaching them new and better methods of farming and husbandry and enhancing the prosperity of all. He has a cook named Jacquotte who is his greatest critic and adviser, utterly devoted to him and indeed one of Balzac's most memorable characters.