LibriVox Forum

Whew! Finally! Here's section 7, ready for PL. It's a long one, with a length of 67:39. I always run my sections through the "Checker" software, and this time Checker reports that this file "failed" because recordings "should be no longer than 60 minutes." Yeah, but I h...

Winnifred wrote: ↑August 8th, 2023, 9:27 pm ... at 2:35, I hear “Integrity, a sense of honour, and true modesty …” but the text reads “Integrity, a sense of duty, and true modesty …”

Thanks! The file has been fixed and re-uploaded, ready for spot PL.

Bruce

Section 6 is ready for PL. We meet two new characters: Madame Birotteau's uncle, who seems to be an ideal of caring for others (he is covering the Ragons' expenses), and Vauquelin, the "man of science." Of course, "science" (along with commerce) was the new "religion" o...

Section 5 is ready for PL. Balzac, I think, likes nothing better than the chance to present eccentric, colourful characters. (He's like Dickens in this way.) And he indulges himself in this chapter, parading a series of character oddities. Bruce (Incidentally, my output may seem to slow down a littl...

Section 4 is ready for PL. Balzac does this thing in several of his books: he goes on at length explaining something, often with a quantity of detail that is probably hard for most modern readers to follow. Sometimes it's about the setting, sometimes it's about the workings of the law, sometimes abo...

Winnifred wrote: ↑July 15th, 2023, 2:22 pm ... the title foreshadows his doom.

Well, yes, and if anyone still feels uncertain about César's destiny, all doubt will be removed by the end of this present section.
Section 3 is ready for PL.
Bruce

Section 2 is ready for PL. (It's time for a little back-story to be filled in.)

Bruce

And here we go...
Section 1 is ready for PL. (One of the most engaging and life-like domestic conversations — between husband and wife — that I've ever read in Balzac.)

Bruce

Thank you, Bernd!

Please note that Winnifred has kindly volunteered to be the DPL for this project.

Bruce

César Birotteau, by Honoré de Balzac (1799 - 1850), translated by Katherine Prescott Wormeley (1830 - 1908) This project is now complete. All audio files can be found on our catalog page: https://librivox.org/cesar-birotteau-by-honore-de-balzac/ “Rise and Fall of César Birotteau” (1837) is part of ...

... there are actually a couple of corrections you might want to make to this last one... Thank you for your notes. I have made both those changes and re-uploaded the file with those fixes. I especially thank you for challenging me about that 1832 / 1840 problem. I confess it was not an accident on...

Section 5 is ready for PL, And that, of course, is the final section, so once Winnifred approves, the project is ready to be catalogued. Thank you, Winnifred, for the time and attention you have put into listening to these sections. And, as always, thank you, Jo, for your admin services that make th...

Section 4 is ready for PL. Unfortunately, this section has a significant little detail that I am afraid many modern readers will miss. At one point the Colonel begins to tell the story of how he met his wife in the Palais Royal. At that point in history, the Palais Royal was well known as a cultural...

Section 3 is ready for PL. I'm always interested in the social history of France that we see in Balzac — or, at least, social history as he saw it . In this chapter, we are shown that old Napoleonic soldiers were not being treated well after the Restoration of the monarchy. Balzac admired the soldie...