Rastignac Et son Art de Parvenir‪.‬

ENGLISH ABSTRACT In the nineteenth century, social ambition became an important theme for many French writers in their role as observers of society. Thus, there appear in the literature of this period characters driven by a will to succeed at any cost. All novelists of the age scatter throughout their works the various rules of the art of success, and it may well be this that constitutes their secret charm, giving readers the illusion that, by reading these novels, they learn about life itself. Balzac is one of the most systematic of these theoreticians of success. This study looks at the art of success as practiced by Eugene Rastignac, the ambitious protagonist of La Comedie humaine, and asks whether a future synonymous for Rastignac with glory and social power does indeed bring him happiness and complete personal fulfillment. The Balzacian hero who succeeds is dissatisfied because no person can be completely happy while a member of society. What Rastignac obtains through his social success is not happiness but rather self-esteem and overweening vanity. His marriage of convenience, devoid of love, fails to make him happy; in Balzac's eyes, love is essential to the pursuit of happiness. Balzac most admires ambitious persons who complement their ambition with a fine character and an honorable vocation.