Résumé
Résumé de Ursule Mirouët
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love moral tales with a strong sense of place, and anyone curious about Balzac’s world of provincial life, inheritance, faith and family intrigue.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Ursula is a short novel by Honoré de Balzac, first published in France in 1841. It belongs to his huge cycle of stories called The Human Comedy, and it is set in Nemours, a small town south of Paris. Balzac wrote it as a study of provincial life, where money, family pride and local gossip shape every choice.
At its center is a gentle orphan girl, her old guardian, a doctor who believes in nothing he cannot touch, and a crowd of relatives who wait for his fortune. You get a story of greed and goodness side by side, with a sharp portrait of a small town and its notaries, priests, clerks and landowners. You also meet one of Balzac's few books that deals openly with faith, music and the unseen. Let us begin with the quiet house in Nemours, and the old doctor who lives in it.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A doctor and a girl in NemoursFree
- 2The relatives who wait for money
- 3A skeptic meets the unseen
- 4Ursula, music, and a young nobleman
- 5Greed moves against the innocent
- 6What the novel says and how it speaks
Point clé 1 sur 6
A doctor and a girl in Nemours
The story opens in Nemours, a quiet town where everyone knows everyone else's business. Doctor Minoret is an elderly physician who has retired there after a long career in Paris. He is respected, comfortable and rather proud of his own unbelief. He has read the thinkers of the eighteenth century, and he trusts reason and the evidence of the senses.
In his house lives Ursula Mirouet, a young girl he has raised as his ward. She is the child of a gifted musician, and she has her father's love of music. The doctor treats her with tender care, though he does not share her simple religious feeling. He sees her as the last warmth left in his life.
Balzac lingers over the details of this household. The rooms, the habits, the small rituals of the day tell us who these people are before they say a word. Ursula is patient and modest, and she does not push her views on the old man. The doctor, for his part, is gruff on the surface and soft underneath.
This calm picture matters because everything else in the book will threaten it. The reader is meant to love this house, and so to feel the danger when others begin to look at it with hungry eyes. Balzac builds the affection first, and the conflict grows out of it.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Ursula Mirouet
- A gentle, musical orphan, Ursula is Doctor Minoret's beloved ward and a devoted friend of the parish priest.
- Doctor Minoret
- An elderly retired physician and skeptic, Doctor Minoret raises Ursula while his relatives watch his fortune.
- Minoret-Levrault
- The doctor's prosperous nephew runs the local post house and regards Ursula as a rival for his family's inheritance.
- Zelie Minoret
- Minoret-Levrault's ambitious wife urges her husband to protect their family's claim to the doctor's fortune.
- Savinien de Portenduere
- A young nobleman from a declining family, Savinien loves Ursula but faces family pride and debts.
- The parish priest
- A kind local churchman, the parish priest is Ursula's close friend and supports her religious faith.
- The justice of the peace
- A fair-minded local magistrate, the justice of the peace stands apart from neighbors driven by greed.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 84,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 35 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about Ursule Mirouët
What is Ursula by Balzac about?
It tells of Ursula Mirouet, a gentle orphan in the town of Nemours, her skeptical guardian Doctor Minoret, and the greedy relatives who want his fortune. It mixes a struggle over inheritance with love, faith and mesmerism.
Where is Ursula set and when was it written?
The story takes place in Nemours, a small town south of Paris, in the France of Balzac's own day. It was first published in 1841 and is part of The Human Comedy.
Is Ursula part of The Human Comedy?
Yes. Balzac placed it among his Scenes of Provincial Life, within the larger cycle of The Human Comedy. It shares that cycle's interest in money, class and the way society shapes character.
Why does Ursula include mesmerism?
Balzac was curious about animal magnetism, a trance practice debated in the 1800s. In the novel it challenges Doctor Minoret's disbelief and raises the question of whether the soul and the unseen are real.
Is Ursula easy to read?
It is one of Balzac's more approachable novels. The plot is clear.