3 h 54 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 54 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a man of science can measure everything except the cruelty of his own desires?
In Tribulat Bonhomet, Auguste de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam introduces a plump, self-satisfied doctor who treats the world as a laboratory. Bonhomet trusts only what he can measure. Across these tales, his calm pursuit of experiments and appetites turns the promise of reason into something chilling.
The cycle brings together a portrait of smug reason, experiments without pity, and a clash between ideals and practical life. In one tale, Bonhomet seeks the song said to come from a dying swan. Gothic dread and bitter laughter sharpen a question: what survives when usefulness matters more than wonder?
What you’ll discover
- A harmless name, a menace Meet a doctor whose comfortable manner makes his cold view of life more disturbing.
- The dying swan's song Follow Bonhomet's desire to hear a song that draws his curiosity toward cruelty.
- Progress under a harsh light See faith in science challenged when measurement leaves no room for pity.
- Laughter close to dread Find Gothic shadows beside sharp social satire, where amusement gives way to unease.
- Wonder against usefulness Explore the conflict between a mystical ideal and a society devoted to practical gain.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy black comedy, ghost stories with a scientific edge, and sharp satire of smug progress. Readers of Poe, Baudelaire and Swift will find a companion here.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Polite manners can hide cruelty
- Progress becomes an excuse for sacrifice
- Comfort can keep people politically quiet
- The confident narrator has hidden fears
- A conversation plants an uneasy connection
- His judgments reveal what he misses
- Reality reaches beyond the Doctor's senses
- The jokes expose blind confidence
- Certainty can justify almost anything
Who’s who
- Doctor Tribulat BonhometA tall, vain physician and microscope hobbyist who arranges marriages as a cover, boasts of his reason, and hides a nervous terror.
- Claire LenoirA thoughtful, devout young woman losing her sight, who wears blue spectacles and carries a private burden.
- Doctor Césaire LenoirClaire's husband and Bonhomet's old friend, a robust man who loves occult study, Hegel and argument, and fears his own dark instincts.
- Sir Henry CliftonA reserved young English naval lieutenant who confides in Bonhomet on a ship about a woman he cannot forget.
- FructuenceA strong wet nurse from the Pays de Caux who becomes Bonhomet's loyal housekeeper after one of his strange cures.
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Tribulat Bonhomet
by Auguste de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam · 1887
A doctor in rubber boots wades toward sleeping swans at night to hear them sing as they die.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEnglish
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In short
Picture a gentleman in thick rubber boots and steel gauntlets, wading into a black pond at midnight. His goal is a flock of sleeping swans, and what he wants from them is their last song.
Tribulat Bonhomet at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 10 min1 h 45 min fast, 2 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 31,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1887by Auguste de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A doctor stalks swans for their song
The first piece, The Swan Killer, opens with a simple fact. Bonhomet has read that the swan sings just before it dies. Ever since, he has treated that song as the only music worth hearing.
In an abandoned park, a pond holds a dozen or so swans. A black swan keeps watch all night with a stone in its beak. If danger comes, it drops the stone, and the flock flies off in the dark.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1887
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2 h 30 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Auguste de. Tribulat Bonhomet. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/tribulat-bonhomet.
Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, A. de. (2026). Tribulat Bonhomet. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tribulat-bonhomet (Original work published 1887)
Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Auguste de. Tribulat Bonhomet. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tribulat-bonhomet.
@book{villiersdelisleadam2026tribulat,
author = {Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Auguste de},
title = {Tribulat Bonhomet},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tribulat-bonhomet},
note = {First published 1887}
}
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What is Tribulat Bonhomet about?
It follows Doctor Tribulat Bonhomet, a smug scientist, through three short satirical pieces and the longer tale Claire Lenoir. The book mocks self-satisfied progress while telling a ghostly story about marriage, belief and a vision seen in a dead woman's eyes.
Who is Doctor Tribulat Bonhomet?
He is a fictional physician and microscope enthusiast who calls himself the archetype of his century. He arranges marriages to hide his studies, loves comfort and good manners, and carries an inherited terror he cannot explain.
Is Claire Lenoir a separate book?
Claire Lenoir is the longest section of this collection and is told by Bonhomet as a memorandum. It is a story about its own events, but it shares his voice and satire with the earlier short pieces.
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