Among his own novels this was one of Balzac's favorites. In 1835 he wrote to Madame Hanska: "I am writing a great and beautiful work, entitled Le Lys dens la Vallee, the heroine of which is to represent terrestrial perfection as Seraphita is to represent celestial perfection." A little later he wrote: "But the Lily! If the Lily is not a breviary for women, I am nothing! In it virtue is sublime and not at all tiresome." He also called it "the poetic pendant of The Country Doctor, and in his dedication to Dr. Nacquart he wrote: "Here is one of the most highly wrought stones of the second story of a literary edifice that is being slowly and laboriously constructed." The book was published in 1836, before which time parts of it had appeared in the Revue de Paris. It was not finished in that publication, because it was the occasion of a lawsuit, which Balzac won. An account of this appeared in the first edition. Some of the characters appear in other books: the hero, Felix de Vandenesse, in tine Fate d'Eve (" A Daughter of Eve"); his brother Charles in La Femme de Trente Ans ("The Woman of Thirty"); Madeleine de Mortsauf in Memoires de Deux Jeunes Mariees (" Memoirs of Two Young Wives") and Splendeurs et Miseres (" Splendors and Miseries"); and Natalie de Manerville in Le Contrat de Mariage ("The Marriage Contract"). When writing his introduction to the Comedic Humaine, Balzac remarked: "A sure grasp of the purport of this work will make it clear that I attach to common, daily facts, hidden or patent to the eye, to the acts of individual lives and to their causes and principles, the importance which historians have hitherto ascribed to the events of public national life. The unknown struggle which goes on in a valley of the Indre between Madame de Mortsauf and her passion is perhaps as great as the most famous of battles. In one, the glory of the victor is at stake; in the other, it is heaven."
这是一部描写凄婉哀怨的爱情悲剧的优秀作品!
费利克斯是一个青年贵族,他爱上了有夫之妇莫瑟夫伯爵夫人!伯爵夫人的家庭生活极为不幸,她的丈夫性格暴躁,对她缺乏真正的爱!这样缺乏爱情的生活自然枯燥#平淡!费利克斯进入到莫瑟夫伯爵夫人的生活后,在她一潭死水的生活中掀起了波澜!
但是莫瑟夫伯爵夫人对丈夫却十分忠诚,她压抑着内心的痛苦,拒绝一种不道德的生活方式!
后来,费利克斯到达巴黎,在贵妇人迪特利的引诱之下,堕入爱河!莫瑟夫伯爵夫人得知这个消息,痛不欲生,她选择了死亡作为自己解除痛苦的办法,看成自己命运的结局!在她临终时,费利克斯来到她的身边,读到了她留下的信!这封信中她表露了她的真实情怀以及不得已的苦衷!
这部小说结合了当时的时代风云,我们从中可以读到百日政变《宫廷的演变》法国贵族的流亡等等情节,这是巴尔扎克驾轻就熟的技巧,正是通过这种背景,把这曲爱情悲歌演绎得如泣如诉#缠绵悱恻!这部小说可以称得上是巴尔扎克的代表作之一,是法国文学的宝贵遗产,也是世界文学史上一部不可多得的爱情小说!
本书的作者巴尔扎克,是十九世纪著名的法国文学家!代表作还有《欧也妮·葛朗台》、《高老头》等!
To Monsieur J. B. Nacquart, Member of the Royal
Academy of Medicine.
Dear Doctor--Here is one of the most carefully hewn stones
in the second course of the foundation of a literary edifice which
I have slowly and laboriously constructed. I wish to inscribe
your name upon it, as much to thank the man whose science
once saved me as to honor the friend of my daily life.
De Balzac.
THE LILY OF THE VALLEY
ENVOI
Felix de Vandenesse to Madame la Comtesse Natalie de
Manerville: I yield to your wishes. It is the privilege of the women
whom we love more than they love us to make the men who love them
ignore the ordinary rules of common-sense. To smooth the frown upon
their brow, to soften the pout upon their lips, what obstacles we
miraculously overcome! We shed our blood, we risk our future! You
exact the history of my past life; here it is. But remember this, Natalie;
in obeying you I crush under foot a reluctance hitherto unconquerable.
Why are you jealous of the sudden reveries which overtake me in the
midst of our happiness? Why show the pretty anger of a petted woman
when silence grasps me? Could you not play upon the contradictions
of my character without inquiring into the causes of them? Are there
secrets in your heart which seek absolution through a knowledge of
mine? Ah! Natalie, you have guessed mine; and it is better you should
know the whole truth. Yes, my life is shadowed by a phantom; a word
evokes it; it hovers vaguely above me and about me; within my soul
are solemn memories, buried in its depths like those marine
productions seen in calmest weather and which the storms of ocean
cast in fragments on the shore. The mental labor which the
expression of ideas necessitates has revived the old, old feelings which
give me so much pain when they come suddenly; and if in this
confession of my past they break forth in a way that wounds you,
remember that you threatened to punish me if I did not obey your
wishes, and do not, therefore, punish my obedience. I would that this,
my confidence, might increase your love.Until we meet,Felix.
献给王家医学科学院院士
J－B·纳卡尔①先生
①冉—巴蒂斯特·纳卡尔（1781—1854），著名医生，1815年开始同巴尔扎克家交往密切，对巴尔扎克来说，他既是忠实的医生，见解深刻的读者，又是多次慷慨解囊的朋友。
亲爱的博士，这是我长期勤奋建造的文学大厦第二层基的精雕细琢的
石头，我要在上面镌刻您的名字，既是为了感激曾经救过我性命的学者，
又是为了颁扬与我朝夕相处的朋友。
德·巴尔扎克
致娜塔莉·德·玛奈维尔伯爵夫人的信
我遵从你的意愿。如果我们爱一个女子胜过她爱我们，那她就有了特
权，能使我们事事把情理置于脑后。若不愿意看到你们皱一皱眉头，若想
拂去你们稍不如意便显露在朱唇上的怏怏神情，我们就必须奇迹般地跨越
间距，奉献我们的鲜血，断送我们的前程。现在，你要了解我的过去，它
全部在此。不过，娜塔莉，要知道，为了顺从你，我不得不践踏从未触动
过的一段不愿回顾的隐情。的确，我就是处在无比幸福之中，有时也会突
然沉入长时间的冥想，可你又何必生疑呢？作为受人爱恋的女子，对一阵
沉默何必娇嗔呢？你就不能赏玩我性格上的种种矛盾，而不追问其缘由吗？
难道你心里也有隐衷要取得谅解，就要探询我的隐衷吗？是的，你猜得不
错，娜塔莉，也许最好全盘告诉你：对，我的生活是被一个幽灵所控制，
一有只言片语涉及，它就会依稀现形，而且，它还常常不召自来，在我的
头顶上晃动。往事如织，深深埋藏在我的心底，宛如海中生物，在风平浪
静时漂浮可见，一旦风暴袭来，就被波涛撕碎，抛上海滩。昔日的激情猝
然苏醒会使我万分痛苦；尽管为清理思想所需的努力使那种激情受到抑制，
但我在忏悔中仍可能因悲恸而伤害你，如果是这样，请你不要忘记，我是
被逼无奈而服从你的。总不能因为我顺从了你而怪罪我吧？但愿我这样交
心会使你的情意更浓。晚上见。
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[此贴子已经被作者于2012-8-15 11:33:31编辑过]