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Balzac's "Old Gorio" Synopsis - If you read "Crime and Punishment", this is also recommended!
Dostoevsky's most famous work isCrime and Punishment."The following is a list of the most common problems with the
In previous articles we have also presented this work in relation to Napoleon.
Dostoevsky is strongly influenced by France.
And during his youth, he was particularly drawn to the novels of the French literary giant Balzac.
Dostoevsky was a young man of literature. His older brother also loved literature, and the two brothers spent a lot of time reading and discussing literature together.
Among them, he was particularly devoted to Balzac, the author of "Old Gorio," which we will introduce today.
Balzac was born in 1799, emerged in Paris around 1830, and left a vast body of work in the world during the 20 years from then until his death.
Balzac's paintings reveal the France of his time in all its glory.
Dostoevsky became a strong admirer of Balzac, who had risen to prominence with a single stroke of his pen.
Balzac's masterpiece "Old Gorio" and "Crime and Punishment
Published in 1830, "Old Gorio" is Balzac's masterpiece and is considered one of Somerset Maugham's ten greatest novels in the world.
When I read this novel, I was amazed.
The situation of the young man Rastignak, the protagonist of the film, was similar to that of Raskolnikov, the protagonist of "Crime and Punishment.
They are both promising stars from poor families from the countryside.
Although poor, the parents manage to send money home and dream of their son studying in college and becoming a lawyer.
However, the reality is not so sweet. There is not enough money, and it takes too much time to establish oneself in academia in the first place. If they wait until they can become full-fledged lawyers and earn a lot of money, the poor family is left with no choice but to go broke.
It was Rastignak in "Old Gorio" and Raskolnikov in "Crime and Punishment" who found themselves in such a situation.
These two men set out on their own paths in Paris on one side and St. Petersburg on the other.
Subject of "Old Gorio
Rastignac moved to Paris, a city of splendor, to become a lawyer.
But even if you study steadily there, you will find that you are stuck in the doldrums.
What could he do to succeed more quickly? These thoughts soon began to occupy his mind.
From here, French literature scholar Shigeru KashimaFrench literature is useful!"We will refer to the following.
Rastignac, taking advantage of the unique trend during the restoration of the monarchy that even a penniless young man could rise in politics if he had the backing of a powerful socialite, tried to enter the world of society by relying on the connections of his relative, the Baroness Beauséant. He is also a very good friend of the Vicomte de Beaucaire. He is humiliated when a servant of Countess Lesteau makes fun of his mud-stained shoes.
In a time when the level of desire was skyrocketing, Vautrin, an escaped convict, was waiting in the wings to take advantage of those who were driven by greed. When Vautrin sees that Rastignac is "suddenly" burning with the desire to get ahead in life, he makes a clever pass at him and tries to win him over to his side. The argument that Vautrin uses to persuade Rastignac is, in essence, a recommendation for a short-cut life, and the emergence of a large number of young people who are willing to take the short cut is the greatest product of the Great Revolution.
If you want to get ahead quickly, you must already be rich, or at least look like it. If you want to be rich, you have to take a big gamble here in Paris, or you'll end up a miser for the rest of your life. Yes, thank you.
Rastignac almost succumbs to Vautrin's seduction and asks, "What do you want from me? but, as chance would have it, he escapes Vautrin's clutches just in the nick of time. (omitted).
This is a monumental work that addresses the modern theme of how a young man with only himself to rely on can fight against society without selling his soul to the devil, in a world where the existing social system has collapsed due to the Great Revolution and "money is everything. Rastignac is the prototype of the modern young man who "wants to do what he wants to do, suddenly become famous and rich, but hates tedious effort," and Flaubert, Maupassant, and Zola have all since been trying to create their own Rastignac.
Shigeru Kashima, French Literature is Useful, NHK Publishing, P71-73
Rastignac tries to get ahead as quickly as possible. However, this means entering a world of deceit and treachery. He even uses love to get ahead.
Vautrin's words are truly demonic. He approaches us with a tremendous force, "What is good, what is evil, and what is the reality of this world? He says, "Abandon the virtues. Despise human beings. Look for loopholes in the law. You are going to cheat and commit crimes. At most you will shed blood or not. That's murder, too.
And Rastignac tries desperately to resist it.
This conflict over whether to do or not to do evil is reminiscent of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment.
Summary - Rastignak and Raskolnikov
But why are Rastignak and Raskolnikov so similar?
To put it bluntly, that is because Dostoevsky is tremendously influenced by Balzac. (*Of course, there are many other factors at play as well.)
That is exactly what Dostoevsky would have done in his youth, reading Balzac, the great French writer who was sweeping Russia, over and over again, as if it were his bible.
And the problem of good and evil in Paris, France, as submitted by Balzac, was to be reconstructed in St. Petersburg, Russia.
This is evidenced by the mention of Rastignac in Dostoevsky's creative notes for Crime and Punishment.
Rastignac, after much deliberation, then entered the world of society and, as Vautrand said, entered the world of intrigue and glory, while Raskolnikov in Russia went on a murderous spree.
In "Grandpa Gorio," Rastignac is against Paris,
Now it's a game between me and you" (translated by Atsuyori Hiraoka in "Grandpa Gorio", 44th printing in 2028, p. 508).
The curtain ends with a declaration of war. Although his battle is not depicted in this work, it is a sequel to this "Old GorioDisillusioned."Rastignac emerges as a flamboyant figure in Parisian society with his work "The Rise and Fall of a Frenchman".
He threw himself into the battle, and he won.
On the one hand, he is a socialite with a lot of power, and on the other hand, he is a murderer and is on the road to ruin... This is a very interesting contrast.
In his own thought, Dostoevsky will describe Raskolnikov's agony of being stuck in a dead end and the murders he commits in an attempt to break out of it.
It may seem at first glance to be the one and only original content by Dostoevsky, but it cannot be overlooked that there is no small amount of influence from Balzac's "Old Gorio" as well.
No matter how original and original it may seem, there are many factors that go into the creation of a work of art. Dostoevsky is not the result of Dostoevsky alone; it is the result of the intertwining of all the things he has been involved with in his life.
Reading "Old Gorio" also made me think about why Dostoevsky created Raskolnikov, whose path is similar to Rastignak's but very different.
This was a very enjoyable read.
And to begin with, without a doubt, "Old Gorio" is an interesting novel. It is indeed a work that has been selected as one of the world's ten great novels. I highly recommend this book.
The above is a synopsis of Balzac's "Grandpa Goriot" - the story of the rise of a young French man - and its connection to Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment".
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