The Resources of Quinola

by Honoré de Balzac

Today, French writer Honore de Balzac is best remembered for The Human Comedy, a sprawling story cycle in which he attempted -- and some would argue, succeeded -- to capture the ebb and flow of everyday life in nineteenth-century Europe. But Balzac was an intrepid literary experimenter, and his prolific output encompassed every form and genre. The Resources of Quinola is a drama set in the Spanish Inquisition.

Genres: Plays

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1842

About the author

French writer Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac), a founder of the realist school of fiction, portrayed the panorama of society in a body of works, known collectively as La comédie humaine .

Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.

Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.

An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.

Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honoré de Balzac is one of the greatest novelists and short story writers who ever lived, but he is not a great dramatist. The Resources of Quinola is about a Spaniard who invests the steamboat in the 16th century. He is so beset with enemies, however, that the invention had to wait more than 200 years until Robert Fulton sailed the Clermont down the Hudson in 1807.

This play is a humorous take on the travails of inventors -- a subject that Balzac had tackled in The Quest Of The Absolute and Lost Illusions. In this case, however, he sees the humorous side of it as well as the tragic.

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Balzac's "Les Ressources de Quinola" is my second play of his five. This play kind of reminds me of his short stories the time period being in the sixteenth century but also being not as brilliant as his "Human Comedy". It is jumbled and not so clear as well as the characters being flat, nevertheless I gave it five stars because it was interesting. I like " Vautrin" much more because it reminded me of his novels. I wonder if and how many professional "clappers" were employed to cheer his plays on.


Play in short- A young inventor looks to win both in love and honor.

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 207311
Les Ressources de Quinola, a comedy in a prologue and five acts, was presented at the Theatre de l’Odeon, Paris, March 19, 1842. Souverain published it in an octavo volume. Balzac was disposed to complain bitterly of the treatment this play received (note his preface), but of it may be said, as in the case of its predecessor, that it makes better reading than it must have made acting, for the scenes are loosely
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 207314
constructed and often illogical. Our playwright yet betrays the amateur touch. It is regrettable, too, for he chose an excellent theme and setting. The time is near the close of the sixteenth century, under the rule of Philip II. of Spain and the much-dreaded Inquisition. An inventor, a pupil of Galileo, barely escapes the Holy Office because of having discovered the secret of the steamboat. Referring to the preface again, we find Balzac maintaining, in apparent candor, that he had historic authority for the statement
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 207318
that a boat propelled by steam-machinery had been in existence for a short time in those days. Be that as it may, one can accept the statement for dramatic purposes; and the story of the early inventor’s struggles and his servant’s “resources” is promising enough to leave but one regret — that the master-romancer did not make a novel instead of a play out of the material. Though this is called a comedy, it contains more than one element of tragedy in it, and the tone is moody and satirical. The climax, with its abortive
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 207322
love episode, is anything but satisfactory.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 207379
Must the author explain his work? Its only possible commentator is M. Frederick Lemaitre. Must he complain of the injunction which delayed the presentation of his play? That would be to betray ignorance of his time and country. Petty tyranny is the besetting sin of constitutional governments; it is thus they are disloyal to themselves, and on the other hand, who are so cruel as the weak? The present government is a spoilt child, and does what it likes, excepting that it fails

Highlight (Yellow) | Location 207382
to secure the public weal or the public vote.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 208963
In producing a work, constructed with all the dramatic irregularity of the early French and Spanish stage,
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 208963
the author has made an experiment which had been called for by the suffrages of more than one “organ of public opinion,” as well as of all the “first-nighters” of Paris. He wished to meet the genuine public and to have his piece represented in a house filled with a paying audience. The unsatisfactory result of this ordeal was so plainly pointed out by the whole press, that the indispensability of claqueurs has been now forever established. The author had been confronted by the following dilemma, as stated
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 208967
by those experienced in such matters. If he introduced into the theatre twelve hundred “dead heads,” the success secured by their applause would undoubtedly be questioned. If twelve hundred paying spectators were present, the success of the piece was almost out of the question. The author chose to run the risk of the latter alternative. Such is the history of this first representation, where so many people appeared to be made so uncomfortable by their elevation to the dignity of independent judges.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 208971
The author intends therefore to return to the beaten track, base and ignoble though it be, which prejudice has laid out as the only avenue to dramatic success; but it may not be unprofitable to state here, that the first representation of The Resources of Quinola actually redounded to the advantage of the claqueurs, the only persons who enjoyed any triumph in an evening entertainment from which their presence was debarred!
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 208986
PERSONS OF THE PROLOGUE Philip II., King of Spain Cardinal Cienfuegos, Grand Inquisitor The Captain of the Guards The Duke of Olmedo The Duke of Lerma Alfonso Fontanares Lavradi, known as Quinola A halberdier An alcalde of the palace

Highlight (Yellow) | Location 208989
A familiar of the Inquisition The Queen of Spain The Marchioness of Mondejar PERSONS OF THE PLAY Don Fregose, Viceroy of Catalonia Grand Inquisitor Count Sarpi, secretary to the Viceroy Don Ramon, a savant Avaloros, a banker Mathieu Magis, a Lombard Lothundiaz, a burgess Alfonso Fontanares, an inventor Lavradi, known as Quinola, servant
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 208992
to Fontanares Monipodio, a retired bandit Coppolus, a metal merchant Carpano, a locksmith Esteban, workman Girone, workman The host of the “Golden Sun” A bailiff An alcalde Faustine Brancadori Marie Lothundiaz, daughter to Lothundiaz Dona Lopez, duenna to Marie Lothundiaz Paquita, maid to Faustine
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 208995
SCENE: Spain — Valladolid and Barcelona TIME: 1588-89
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 208998
THE SCENE IS laid at Valladolid, in the palace of the King of Spain. The stage represents the gallery which leads to the chapel.

❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert

The ending was sad in that Marie had died pining away, because she had to marry her father's choice of a husband, not her true love who had neither name or money. Marie loved Fontanares for years but the inventor is not from noble birth and he lacks the monetary means which he tried to obtain. Faustine who loved him too, destroyed his chances when he refused her love, she went from helping to destroying him. Faustine is a courtesan and looks to have her cousin marry Marie so that Fontanares remains unmarried and she goes through many ways to help and destroy the one she loves. Quinola is a servant/friend to Fontanares and does not like the way Marie takes his master's mind to love instead of inventing. In the end when his fame and money are not clear, Marie is tricked into marrying Count Sarpi and Fontanares was back by Don Ramon. The Inquisition is also troubling to many but the worst part is when the inventor is not given credit for his steamed ship and another is treated like a hero, so when he is not given the credit, he decides to have Quinola sabotage his steam ship so it fails. Quinola is a friend but also a thief who lines his own pockets, and it seems to not be known to Fontanares. In the end all his attempts to make a name for himself so he could have wealth and marry Marie, Fontanares fails in the end. Marie's death has caused his love to other women cold and in that demands Faustine who loves him to be his "slave" especially she was the main person who pushed Marie to marry another. Having nothing left to do in Spain, they look to go into politics in France. This love story is confusing at times and the characters are basically flat in comparison to his "Human Tragedy".