Naturally, they had candidates to marry her in the form of Cruchot's nephew President Cruchot de Bonfons who was president of the court of first instance, and the des Grassins son, Adolphe des Grassins. The principal exceptions were his banker des Grassins and his notary Cruchot, both of whom understood better than many the extent of Grandet's wealth and that since he was 60 in 1819 when much of the action is set, that the wealth must one day devolve on Eugénie. We gradually learn of Grandet's miserly habits which included rarely admitting townspeople to his house. At this time his only daughter was ten years old and in that same year more wealth fell into Grandet's lap by way of inheritance of the estates of his mother-in-law, grandfather-in-law, and grandmother. Though there was little sympathy locally for the Revolution, Grandet rose in esteem and became mayor, later yielding the post under the Empire only because Napoleon had no liking for republicans. When the land was auctioned his wife's dowry and his existing savings enabled him to buy substantial property, including some of the best area under vines, all at a very satisfactory price. It is worth noting that though the Republic had replaced the Livre with the Franc (of equal value), both continued to circulate, as did the Louis (20 livres).įelix Grandet, master cooper, married the daughter of a wealthy timber merchant at a time when the French Republic had confiscated the lands of the Church in the district of Saumur. Though Balzac grew up in the aftermath of the Revolution, he came to adulthood in Paris under the restored Bourbon monarchy ( Louis XVIII & Charles X) and wrote most of what we know under the July Monarchy (1830-1848) of Louis Philippe, which came to power when the revolution of 1830 deposed the Bourbon monarchy. Tours was much more important historically and politically, which may explain why Balzac allows the impression in the opening that the Grandet residence was Saumur's most important building. The two towns are both on the Loire, with châteaux, and of similar size.

Background Įugénie Grandet is set in the town of Saumur, which should have been familiar to Balzac since he grew up in Tours about 35 miles away. He dedicated the edition to Maria Du Fresnay, who was then his lover and was the mother of his daughter, Marie-Caroline Du Fresnay. While he was writing it he conceived his ambitious project, La Comédie humaine, and almost immediately prepared a second edition, revising the names of some of the characters so that Eugénie Grandet then fitted into the section: Scenes from provincial life (Scènes de la vie de province) in the Comédie. Eugénie Grandet is a novel first published in 1833 by French author Honoré de Balzac.

Honore de balzac eugenie grandet