Lilie v údolí – de Balzac Honoré (2020)

Unlike many other novels by Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), in which the author acts as a critic of the social, political, or moral conditions of his time, Lilie v údolí is dedicated to a private theme, the relationship between a man and a woman, and in this sense, it is timeless. The narrator first describes his gloomy childhood, during which he suffered from being raised away from his family from a young age, feeling unloved, and in his adolescence, humiliated by poverty and hopelessly longing for affection and a woman. One day, this twenty-year-old boy, emotionally and physically still undeveloped, finds himself at a rural festival, where he suddenly meets a woman in whom all his previous desires materialize, and in a sudden lapse of senses, he kisses her bare shoulders. From this moment, the story of fateful love between Félix and the married Madame de Mortsauf unfolds, who suffers in an unhappy marriage with a tyrannical and unstable old man. In the twists and turns of her relationship with Félix, full of disappointments and hopes, renunciation and growing intimacy, Balzac demonstrates great mastery. The unexpectedly ironic conclusion then underscores the extraordinary impact of the work, in which the author pays tribute to the first woman of his life, Madame de Berny. The novel is being published in Czech for the first time in nearly forty-five years as the first volume of the edition SVĚTOVÍ…