
Modeste Mignon
'Modeste Mignon' Summary
The first part of Modeste Mignon is based on a traditional species of folktale known as La fille mal gardée ("The Ill-Watched Girl"), in which a young woman takes a lover despite the close attentions of her guardians, who are determined to preserve her chastity for a more suitable match. Modeste Mignon, a young provincial woman of romantic temperament, imagines herself to be in love with the famous Parisian poet Melchior de Canalis, whose works have filled her with passion. She corresponds with him, but he is unmoved by her attentions. Canalis invites his secretary Ernest de la Brière to deal with the matter. Ernest replies to Modeste in Canalis' name; a dangerous intrigue ensues, which sees Ernest appear in Modeste's home town of Ingouville (near Le Havre) disguised as Canalis. The plot is complicated by the interference of Modeste's family and friends, who suspect that she has secretly taken a lover. The wily dwarf Butscha, who loves Modeste as a medieval knight might have loved a lady far above his station, is determined to unmask the man. Things come to a head when Ernest discovers that Modeste's father Charles Mignon has returned from his long exile a very wealthy man: Modeste is no longer a poor provincial girl but a rich heiress with six million francs to her name. Ernest reveals his true identity, but Modeste feels humiliated and casts him off. When Modeste's true worth becomes generally known, Canalis takes a renewed interest in her and believes that his poetic ardour will enable him to win her heart. But his secretary is no longer his only rival: a local wealthy potentate the Duc d'Hérouville now regards the nouveau-riche Modeste Mignon as a suitable match and throws his hat into the ring.
The second part of the novel is also based on a traditional story-type, The Rival Suitors. Ernest, Canalis and the Duc d'Hérouville are invited to Ingouville to compete for the hand of Modeste. Still smarting from the trick played on her by Ernest, Modeste is determined to choose between the passionate advances of the poet and the prospect of becoming a duchess should she accept Hérouville. Butscha, however, who realizes that Ernest is the one who truly loves her, is equally determined to expose the pretensions of Canalis and promote Ernest's suit. Thanks to Butscha's intrigues and her father's good sense, Modeste chooses Ernest and the two are married.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
FrenchPublished In
1844Authors

Honoré de Balzac
France
Honoré de was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his magnum opus....
Books by Honoré de BalzacDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books

Elsie And The Child; A Tale Of Riceyman Steps And Other Stories by Arnold Bennett
This collection of thirteen short stories by Arnold Bennett, a prominent writer of the early 20th century, delves into the lives and struggles of ordi...

Cliff-Dwellers by Henry Blake Fuller
Cliff-Dwellers is a novel by Henry Blake Fuller that explores the social and economic changes taking place in Chicago in the late 19th century. The no...

Zes Novellen by Marcellus Emants
Zes Novellen by Marcellus Emants is a collection of six short stories, written by the Dutch author in the late 19th century. The stories explore theme...

Heavenly Twins by Sarah Grand
Heavenly Twins, penned by Sarah Grand in 1893, delves into the complexities of Victorian society through the intertwined lives of two sets of characte...

When Christmas Comes by Virna Sheard
"When Christmas Comes" is a classic holiday novel that tells the story of a young woman who returns to her hometown for the holidays and finds hersel...

sirena negra by Emilia Pardo Bazán
Gaspar Montenegro, a wealthy and cynical aristocrat, meets Rita Quiñones, a woman who is terminally ill. Despite their brief and platonic friendship,...

The Permanent Husband by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The novella's plot revolves around the complicated relationship between the nobleman Velchaninov and the widower Trusotsky, whose deceased wife was Ve...

Stories from the Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser
The Faerie Queen is an epic fantasy poem by Edmund Spenser, first published in 1590. It is an allegorical work that tells the story of the adventures...

Tim: A Story Of School Life by Howard Overing Sturgis
It is inevitable that some modern gays have claimed Tim as a gay novel, sadly so as it is quite unjustified. True, it is dedicated to a love passing t...

Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Mary Shelley's "Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck" is a historical novel exploring the life and reign of Perkin Warbeck, a man who claimed to be the lost son...
Reviews for Modeste Mignon
No reviews posted or approved, yet...