Honoré de Balzac, Le Colonel Chabert [Colonel Chabert]

Andrew Watts (University of Birmingham)

Ed. by Tim Unwin, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1832

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Le Colonel Chabert

is one of Balzac's most enduring achievements, a story of military life, private tragedy and legal chicanery that offers multiple points of contrast and convergence with the rest of its author's vast literary output. The text was first published in a literary review,

L'Artiste

, from 19 February to 12 March 1832, under the title

La Transaction

. Two months later, it appeared again, this time without Balzac's permission, in the Saint Petersburg

Revue étrangère

, and again, in October 1832, as part of a collected volume of short fictions, for which it was renamed

Le Comte Chabert

[

Count Chabert

]. Furious that others had abused his intellectual property in this way, Balzac launched court proceedings to regain full control and ownership of his work. Having won the case (and…

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2841 words

Citation: Watts, Andrew. "Le Colonel Chabert". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 August 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24832, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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