Rise And Fall Of Cesar Birotteau

C?sar is a man of peasant origins from the Touraine region. At the start of the novel, in 1819, he owns a successful perfume shop, La Reine des Roses, he has been elected deputy mayor of his arrondissement in Paris, and he has been awarded the Legion of Honour. During the revolution he took part in the Royalist 13 Vend?miaire uprising against the Republic, at one stage confronting Napoleon Bonaparte himself, and he mentions this often in conversation. He is married to Constance and has a daughter Cesarine. He plans to throw a ball at his home, and make renovations to his home for the ball. He becomes involved in property speculation with borrowed money, through his notary Roguin. He plans to expand his business with a new hair oil product, with his assistant Anselme Popinot (who is in love with Cesarine) as his business partner. All of these plans have caused him to run up large debts.What he does not realise is that Roguin has money problems of his own, and that C?sar's former shop assistant Ferdinand du Tillet, now a banker, is manipulating Roguin in order to have revenge against C?sar. His financial situation becomes a crisis when Roguin absconds and leaves C?sar with debts that he is not able to pay. His attempts to get financial assistance from various bankers such as Nucingen, the Keller brothers and Gigonnet fail, since all are friends of du Tillet and acting on his instructions. This leads him to declare bankruptcy, sell La Reine des Roses to his assistant Celestin Crevel and retire from business.Eventually C?sar pays off all of his debts when his business venture with Popinot succeeds. He then dies suddenly, but happy that his honour has been restored.

Author: Honor?de Balzac, Katharine Prescott Wormeley

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Publication Date: Apr 08, 2017

Number of Pages: 288 pages

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: 1545203172

ISBN-13: 9781545203170