Le Lys dans la vallée
 Image from Le Lys dans la Vallée | |
| Author | Honoré de Balzac |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Édouard Toudouze |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Series | La Comédie humaine |
| Publisher | Edmond Werdet |
Publication date | 1835 |
| Preceded by | Le Curé de village |
| Followed by | La Peau de chagrin |
Le Lys dans la Vallée (English: The Lily of the Valley) is an 1835 novel about love and society by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850). It concerns the affection — emotionally vibrant but never consummated — between Felix de Vandenesse and Henriette de Mortsauf. It is part of his series of novels (or Roman-fleuve) known as La Comédie humaine (The Human Comedy), which parodies and depicts French society in the period of the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy (1815–1848). In his novel he also mentions the chateau Azay-le-Rideau, which can still be visited today.
Inspiration
Henriette de Mortsauf was modelled on Balzac's close friend Laure Antoinette de Berny (née Hinner), a woman 22-years his senior who greatly encouraged his early career.[1] Mme de Berny died shortly after reading the completed novel[2] — in which Henriette also dies.
References
- ↑ Honoré de Balzac by Albert Keim and Louis Lumet, chapter 4
- ↑ Women in the Life of Balzac by Juanita Helm Floyd
External links
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- (French) Le Lys dans la vallée, audio version
