The Ball at Sceaux by Honoré de Balzac

“Marrying up” in post-Revolutionary France
The Comte de Fontaine is a staunch royalist. Even during the Revolution, he remains fiercely loyal to the monarchy, though it costs him great financial loss. When Louis XVIII is restored to the throne of France, the Comte hopes to receive some compensation for the money spent and property taken during his efforts fighting for the royal family. When he makes the acquaintance of the King, he is disappointed at not receiving the restitution he hoped for. Instead, what he gets in return is a personal friendship with the King, who helps advise the Comte on how to update his antiquated notions and keep up with the times. France is not the same as it was before the rise of republicanism; even Louis XVIII can admit this. In former days the Comte would have only married his children to members of the titled nobility, but under the King’s guidance he prudently consents to marry his sons and daughters into the nouveau riche families of bankers and civil servants. By doing so, the Comte improves his financial outlook considerably. His youngest daughter, Emilie, however, sees herself as above such a compromise. Raised a spoiled child, she has grown into a beautiful but stuck-up young woman. Emilie has incredibly high standards for the man she will marry, and at the top of her unreasonable list of criteria is that he absolutely must be a peer of France. After several aborted attempts to find her a match, the Comte wonders if he has any hope of sealing a matrimonial deal for his troublesome daughter.

The Ball at Sceaux, originally published in 1830, is one of the earliest works in Balzac’s Comedie Humaine. Balzac wrote for a mass audience, so his works are usually quite accessible to the general reader. However, historical and political concepts that were common knowledge to the audience of his time are now lost on many of today’s readers, particularly those outside of France. He often writes about the clashes between persons of differing political persuasions and social classes. Often in order to understand what he is talking about, the reader must have a basic understanding of French history, particularly the events surrounding the Revolution. This is more true of The Ball at Sceaux than for most of his works. If you don’t have a solid orientation into the time period you are going to be lost.

Another problem plaguing this novella is that one of the main characters, Emilie, is not very likeable at all. The reader is not inclined to care whether she finds true love or not. Nevertheless, the concern one feels in regards to the successful completion of the young woman’s marriage stems not from any affinity for her but rather out of sympathy for her father, the Comte de Fontaine. The Ball at Sceaux is kind of a hard work to get into. It starts out rather slowly, establishing a lot of elaborate context. Halfway through the book the reader wonders if there will ever be a ball, or if the story will ever get to Sceaux, a suburb of Paris where the wealthy have their country houses. Ultimately, however, the reader need have no fear, because the second half of the story is much more engaging than the first. Towards the end it offers some unexpected developments, and Balzac wraps it all up with a satisfying conclusion.

Though it’s not his best work by any means, The Ball at Sceaux is a good, solid story that fans of Balzac will enjoy. I would not recommend it as a starting point for those who have never read Balzac, and if you’re not familiar with your French history, you’d better look up the Revolution on Wikipedia and bone up on the basics.
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