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The Deputy of Arcis

Chapter 61: ADDENDUM
By Honoré de Balzac
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About This Book

The narrative follows a provincial electoral campaign in which local notables and emerging liberal forces vie for influence, exposing civic rivalries, private ambitions, and social networks. Interleaved letters reveal personal motives and past entanglements that complicate public maneuvers, while a later section concentrates on a troubled aristocratic figure whose moral and political dilemmas intersect with family conflicts and parliamentary life. Scenes alternate between salon debates, clandestine intrigues, and legislative sessions, sketching the mechanics of power, the compromises of ambition, and the tensions between personal loyalty and public interest.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

Note.—“The Deputy of Arcis,” of which Balzac wrote and published the first part in 1847, was left unfinished at his death. He designated M. Charles Rabou, editor of the “Revue de Paris,” as the person to take his notes and prepare the rest of the volume for the press. It is instructive to a student of Balzac to see how disconnected and out of proportion the story becomes in these later parts,—showing plainly that the master’s hand was in the habit of pruning away half, if not more, of what it had written, or—to change the metaphor and give the process in his own language—that he put les grands pots dans les petits pots, the quarts into the pint pots. “If a thing can be done in one line instead of two,” he says, “I try to do it.” Some parts of this conclusion are evidently added by M. Rabou, and are not derived from Balzac at all,—especially the unnecessary reincarnation of Vautrin. There is no trace of the master’s hand here. The character is made so silly and puerile, and is so out of keeping with Balzac’s strong portrait, which never weakens, that the translator has thought best, in justice to Vautrin, to omit all that is not absolutely necessary to connect the story.


ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Arthez, Daniel d’       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Letters of Two Brides
       The Secrets of a Princess

     Beauvisage (tenant)
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Beauvisage, Phileas
       Cousin Betty

     Bixiou, Jean-Jacques
       The Purse
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       The Government Clerks
       Modeste Mignon
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       The Firm of Nucingen
       The Muse of the Department
       Cousin Betty
       Beatrix
       A Man of Business
       Gaudissart II.
       The Unconscious Humorists
       Cousin Pons

     Blondet, Virginie
       Jealousies of a Country Town
       The Secrets of a Princess
       The Peasantry
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Another Study of Woman
       A Daughter of Eve

     Brandon, Lady Marie Augusta
       The Lily of the Valley
       La Grenadiere

     Bridau, Joseph
       The Purse
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       A Start in Life
       Modeste Mignon
       Another Study of Woman
       Pierre Grassou
       Letters of Two Brides
       Cousin Betty

     Cadine, Jenny
       Cousin Betty
       Beatrix
       The Unconscious Humorists

     Camps, Octave de
       Madame Firmiani

     Camps, Madame Octave de
       Madame Firmiani
       The Government Clerks
       A Woman of Thirty
       A Daughter of Eve

     Canalis, Constant-Cyr-Melchior, Baron de
       Letters of Two Brides
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Modeste Mignon
       The Magic Skin
       Another Study of Woman
       A Start in Life
       Beatrix
       The Unconscious Humorists

     Carigliano, Duchesse de
       At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       The Peasantry

     Chargeboeuf, Melchior-Rene, Vicomte de
       The Muse of the Department

     Chocardelle, Mademoiselle
       Beatrix
       A Prince of Bohemia
       A Man of Business
       Cousin Betty

     Cinq-Cygne, Laurence, Comtesse (afterwards Marquise de)
       The Gondreville Mystery
       The Secrets of a Princess
       The Seamy Side of History

     Cointet, Boniface
       Lost Illusions
       The Firm of Nucingen

     Collin, Jacques
       Father Goriot
       Lost Illusions
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

     Dionis
       Ursule Mirouet

     Estorade, Louis, Chevalier, then Vicomte and Comte de l’
       Letters of Two Brides

     Estorade, Madame de l’
       Letters of Two Brides
       Ursule Mirouet

     Estorade, Armand de l’
       Letters of Two Brides

     Fontanon, Abbe
       A Second Home
       The Government Clerks
       Honorine

     Franchessini, Colonel
       Father Goriot

     Gaston, Marie
       La Grenadiere
       Letters of Two Brides

     Giguet, Colonel
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Gobseck, Sarah Van
       Gobseck
       Cesar Birotteau
       The Maranas
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

     Gondreville, Malin, Comte de
       The Gondreville Mystery
       A Start in Life
       Domestic Peace

     Gothard
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Goujet, Abbe
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Grevin
       A Start in Life
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Hauteserre, D’
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Hortense
       A Man of Business

     Hulot, Victorin
       Cousin Betty

     Keller, Francois
       Domestic Peace
       Cesar Birotteau
       Eugenie Grandet
       The Government Clerks

     Keller, Madame Francois
       Domestic Peace
       The Thirteen

     La Bastie la Briere, Madame Ernest de
       Modeste Mignon
       Cousin Betty

     Lanty, Comte de
       Sarrasine

     Lanty, Comtesse de
       Sarrasine

     Lanty, Marianina de
       Sarrasine

     Lanty, Filippo de
       Sarrasine

     La Roche-Hugon, Martial de
       Domestic Peace
       The Peasantry
       A Daughter of Eve
       The Middle Classes
       Cousin Betty

     Lenoncourt-Givry, Duc de
       Letters of Two Brides
       Cousin Betty

     Marest, Frederic
       A Start in Life
       The Seamy Side of History

     Marion (of Arcis)
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Marion (brother)
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Mary
       Letters of Two Brides

     Maufrigneuse, Duchesse de
       The Secrets of a Princess
       Modeste Mignon
       Jealousies of a Country Town
       The Muse of the Department
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       Letters of Two Brides
       Another Study of Woman
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Maufrigneuse, Georges de
       The Secrets of a Princess
       The Gondreville Mystery
       Beatrix

     Maufrigneuse, Berthe de
       Beatrix
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Michu, Francois
       The Gondreville Mystery
       Jealousies of a Country Town

     Michu, Madame Francois
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Montriveau, General Marquis Armand de
       The Thirteen
       Father Goriot
       Lost Illusions
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Another Study of Woman
       Pierrette

     Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de
       Father Goriot
       The Thirteen
       Eugenie Grandet
       Cesar Birotteau
       Melmoth Reconciled
       Lost Illusions
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       The Commission in Lunacy
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       Modeste Mignon
       The Firm of Nucingen
       Another Study of Woman
       A Daughter of Eve

     Philippe
       Letters of Two Brides

     Rastignac, Eugene de
       Father Goriot
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       The Ball at Sceaux
       The Commission in Lunacy
       A Study of Woman
       Another Study of Woman
       The Magic Skin
       The Secrets of a Princess
       A Daughter of Eve
       The Gondreville Mystery
       The Firm of Nucingen
       Cousin Betty
       The Unconscious Humorists

     Rastignac, Laure-Rose and Agathe de
       Father Goriot
       Lost Illusions

     Restaud, Ernest de
       Gobseck

     Restaud, Madame Ernest de
       Gobseck

     Restaud, Felix-Georges de
       Gobseck

     Rhetore, Duc Alphonse de
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
       Letters of Two Brides
       Albert Savarus

     Ronquerolles, Marquis de
       The Imaginary Mistress
       The Peasantry
       Ursule Mirouet
       A Woman of Thirty
       Another Study of Woman
       The Thirteen

     Saint-Hereen, Comtesse Moina de
       A Woman of Thirty
       A Daughter of Eve

     Sallenauve, Comtesse de
       Letters of Two Brides

     Sarrasine, Ernest-Jean
       Sarrasine

     Stidmann
       Modeste Mignon
       Beatrix
       Cousin Betty
       Cousin Pons
       The Unconscious Humorists

     Suzon
       A Man of Business

     Tillet, Ferdinand du
       Cesar Birotteau
       The Firm of Nucingen
       The Middle Classes
       A Bachelor’s Establishment
       Pierrette
       Melmoth Reconciled
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       The Secrets of a Princess
       A Daughter of Eve
       Cousin Betty
       The Unconscious Humorists

     Trailles, Comte Maxime de
       Cesar Birotteau
       Father Goriot
       Gobseck
       Ursule Mirouet
       A Man of Business
       The Secrets of a Princess
       Cousin Betty
       Beatrix
       The Unconscious Humorists

     Troubert, Abbe Hyacinthe
       The Vicar of Tours

     Varlet
       The Gondreville Mystery

     Vien, Joseph-Marie
       Sarrasine

     Vinet
       Pierrette
       The Middle Classes-
       Cousin Pons

     Vinet, Olivier
       Cousin Pons
       The Middle Classes

     Zambinella
       Sarrasine