The Black Sheep, by Honoré de Balzac is a riveting and melodramayic tale about rank and how it goes about defining reality. Balzac uses stock characters: hero, villain, heroine, aged parents, and servants. All engaged in a sensational plot of love, murder and betrayal. I like the way he so transparently weaves this tale and nudges us into thought so lightly as he takes the reader into his confidence and comments on the action. He often uses lists as ordering devices for this commentary, a widow has two tasks… p.36, In Paris, there are in fact three classes of pauperdom p.120, There are two kinds of timidity: p.171, …three infallible ways of killing a woman p.331.
I couldn’t help but feel confident of his perspicacity…

The significance of this scene is that calculation enters much further into the heart when it is concealed beneath an expression of feeling; then it can even overcome the most genuine grief. p.310

This layered story finds significance in the layering. Much could be written about the way finances are expressed and assessed as measures of expectation, greed and worth. The Knights of Idleness appear to spring from a provincial morality play. The source and most of the action happens at Issoudun, as Balzac explains, a place where Isis, a goddess who (ironically) protects women and is associated with marital devotion, was once worshipped in a temple. This layering is almost painterly where motifs of the spectre of death hang of over innocent beauty; nowhere more evident in the progression of Flore from budding flower to wilted carcass.

Perhaps my readers will accuse me of painting too crude a picture; perhaps they will say that Flore’s outbursts are so close to the truth of human nature that the painter should leave them in the shadow? p.197

Despite intelligence and capability, women fare badly in The Black Sheep. They are devoted hostages to emotion. Perhaps a sign of the times, perhaps some provocative misogyny?

Women are like naughty children. They are inferior animals to men, and you must make them afraid of you, for the worst plight that can befall us is to be governed by the brutes!

Historical context is another layer. One of the main characters (Phillipe) had been an aide-de-camp to Napoleon and much of the story is set in a France that yearns for Napoleon (he is in exile on Elba). I have long been interested in how it was that France (immediately post-revolution) was in such a need of a leader that they installed an Emperor. Perhaps it’s because I have grown a cutting from the willow that grew on Napoleon's grave in Elba. The Black Sheep has led me to my next read: a massive (900 page) biography Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts. ( )

Enjoyable read, not one of his best, but an average Balzac is so much better than most. ( )

Dva brata ražalovani potpukovnik Filip i Žozef mladi slikar u usponu nastoje da svaki na svoj način dobiju nasledstvo od svog bogatog rođaka koga u svojim rukama drži mutivoda Flora.
Ovaj roman je kod nas preveden kao "Mutivoda" što u suštini u ovom romanu predstavlja igru reči jer Flora je ona koja voli da dobro "zamuti vodu" kako bi ostvarila svoje ciljeve, ali je to takođe bilo i njeno zanimanje kao male devojčice odakle je i dobila zloglasni nadimak. Posao mutivode se sastojao u tome da u gornjem toku reke zamuti vodu i time plaši rakove i ribe kako bi se lakše hvatali u zamke.
Takođe u romanu ona nije jedina mutivoda, ima ih nekoliko. Potpukovnik Filip je raspikuća, kockar, probisvet koji ne bira sredstva da dođe do bogatstva. Florin seoski ljubavnik Max je još jedan opasan mutivoda, lukav na svoj podli seljački način, rešen da po svaku cenu preko svoje ljubavnice dođe do bogatstva.
Ono što krasi ovaj roman su bogato portretisani likovi u Balzakovom stilu i prikaz života u Francuskoj sa početka 19-og veka. ( )

A typical- and utterly gripping- Balzac tale of greed and self-sacrifice, fiendish plots and unrewarded virtue.
Mme Bridau is a widowed mother of two. Handsome charmer Philippe has her heart, but his younger artist brother Joseph is the ever-unappreciated hero. There is much family history and many machinations, but as wastrel Philippe brings his doting mother to penury, she and Joseph are forced to seek the assistance of wealthy Uncle Rouget. And here a second strand comes into play: poor, timorous Uncle is enamoured of an unscrupulous housekeeper. And she, in turn, is being seduced by local "gang leader" Maxence, who has plans for appropriating Uncle's money...
One of my favourite authors. ( )

It's Balzac, and it's reasonably short, so you know it's pretty powerful. The only interesting thing I have to say about this is stolen from the introduction to the Penguin edition; the translator points out that in this book, unlike many of Balzac's writing, the historical asides are actually relevant and important for the plot, so it's far more unified than the others. Great point. Also, Balzac got the whole 'show you someone who's horrible, then show you someone even worse so that you'll sympathize with the horrible shit' move down pat. George Martin's an amateur by comparison.

On the other hand, not sure it's one of the greatest novels of all time, as some poll or other suggested. ( )