This is a short story, one of the few that deals specifically with a subject that could be loosely called "Horror" by Balzac. Balzac used to get paid by the word, so all his novels are very wordy, though not less enjoyable for that.
This story can be seen from multiple perspectives: as a plain horror story, as a portrait of the power relationship between a husband and a wife in 19th century France, or as a critique of "Christian" morality and fate, which seems to crumble when strong enough biological impulse is introduced to the equation.
The story has to do with a doctor from Paris who comes to a rural part of France and is enamored of an old, isolated house which seems to be abandoned. He gets the initial story from the town Notary, and then the Inn Keeper (who has a problem with theft) and finally by bedding a former maid from the house he was interested in.
The story has to do with a very-Christian wife who takes in a lover, imprisoned Spaniard, but falsely swears to the husband that there's no one in the room, though the guy is hiding in the alcove. The husband, who can compete in cruelty with the best, orders the alcove closed with a brick wall and spends several weeks in the wife's room to makes sure the guys inside is completely dead and decomposing before he leaves her.
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
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