Rashmi bookmarks “The Human Comedy”

The Human Comedy by Honore de Balzac is a collection of works depicting French society in the early to mid 19th century (I read selected short stories translated by Linda Asher, Carol Cosman & Jordan Stump). My one lasting impression of this very interesting read, was that this was a presentation of human nature - in equal parts comic and tragic, in its eager running after that which is transient and the inherent short-lived nature of such things.

That concept was brilliantly portrayed in “Facino Cane”, the story of a blind musician, whose love of gold dominated his entire life. An all-consuming desire to go back to a hoard of buried gold in Venice remained his one driving purpose in life, till at least he … died of a cold.

“The Red Inn”, another one of my favourites, takes us back to the war in France, during a German attack, where two young assistant surgeons get involved in a murder. The beauty of this story was that it wasn’t about the mystery or solution of the crime at all. In a unique turn of events, years later, one of them falls in love with the daughter of the other man, who he believes to be the murderer. And that’s where the drama of this story begins - with the conflict of a heart that loves and a mind that is convinced about the identity of an unnamed criminal.

Sitting by the window looking out to the gardens; on the right, mountains, trees, some snow, and the gently descending dark quiet of a late evening. To the left, Comte de Lanty’s party guests; chandeliers and candles illuminating the women with their perfumes, flowers, and silks, blazing with diamonds … The one story in this collection that had me quite gripped in its throes was “Sarrasine”. It tells the story of a sculptor’s love for opera singer La Zambinella. Through twists and turns of passionate love, shocking deception and brutal murder, this story was for me, the epitome of the story of human nature: the tragic forever dominating the comic, the comic forever leaving indelible marks in the tragic.

Narrated as a story within a story, this was an interesting travel into the depths of the human heart and mind.