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L'Envers De L'Histoire De Jacques Collin: On A New Approach To Balzac's Most Infamous Criminal Mastermind, Lauren Elise Pendas

LSU Master's Theses

Scholarship has failed to explore adequately how Honoré de Balzac evokes the human condition’s universal elements through his most infamous criminal mastermind: Jacques Collin, alias Vautrin. Unlike analyses of Collin that I have encountered, this thesis takes all three novels and the obscure play in which Collin appears into account, challenges the transparency of his statements and the narration’s descriptions of him, explores the conservative position framing Balzac’s critique of early nineteenth-century Paris, and actively focuses on evidence of Collin’s typical subjectivity (i.e. his insatiable desire and fallibility). Consequently, this reading does not evaluate Collin’s significance solely through his apparent …