Le Médecin de campagne
Encyclopedia
Le Médecin de campagne (The country doctor) is an 1833 novel by Honoré de Balzac
. The second in his Scène de la vie de campagne series, it addresses the author's own preoccupation with social organisation, political power and religion, though the reader has to avoid confusing Balzac's political principles with the convictions of Dr Benassis on which critics have often given contrary opinions. Some see the book as giving a sort of 20th century-type liberalism, while others see the premises of socialist thinking or fourierist
tendencies. The book's romantic dimension has to be taken into account, despite quite a thin plot, connecting it with the world of Rousseau
with an elogy on nature, peace and poetry. None of its characters appear elsewhere in the La Comédie humaine
.
The heart of its third part is made up of tales told during a vigil in a barn by Guoguelat, a former soldier in the armies of Napoleon. This section uses material Balzac had gathered for a planned work entitled Les Batailles napoléoniennes, which he began but never finished.
, where he meets Dr Benassis, who has transformed this miserable settlement into a small but prosperous town in only ten years. The two men each have a secret which is only revealed at the end of the book.
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
. The second in his Scène de la vie de campagne series, it addresses the author's own preoccupation with social organisation, political power and religion, though the reader has to avoid confusing Balzac's political principles with the convictions of Dr Benassis on which critics have often given contrary opinions. Some see the book as giving a sort of 20th century-type liberalism, while others see the premises of socialist thinking or fourierist
Charles Fourier
François Marie Charles Fourier was a French philosopher. An influential thinker, some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become main currents in modern society...
tendencies. The book's romantic dimension has to be taken into account, despite quite a thin plot, connecting it with the world of Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
with an elogy on nature, peace and poetry. None of its characters appear elsewhere in the La Comédie humaine
La Comédie humaine
La Comédie humaine is the title of Honoré de Balzac's multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration and the July Monarchy .-Overview:...
.
The heart of its third part is made up of tales told during a vigil in a barn by Guoguelat, a former soldier in the armies of Napoleon. This section uses material Balzac had gathered for a planned work entitled Les Batailles napoléoniennes, which he began but never finished.
Synopsis
In 1829, commander Genestas arrives in a village in the DauphinéDauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
, where he meets Dr Benassis, who has transformed this miserable settlement into a small but prosperous town in only ten years. The two men each have a secret which is only revealed at the end of the book.