Letters of Two Brides

Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées (Letters of Two Brides) is an epistolary novel by the French writer Honoré de Balzac. It was serialized in the French newspaper La Presse in 1841 and published by Furne in 1842 as the first work in the second volume (Scènes de la vie privée, tome II or Scenes from Private Life, Volume 2) of Balzac's La Comédie humaine. It was dedicated to the French novelist George Sand. The first English translation of the novel appeared in 1902, with a preface by Henry James.

Letters of Two Brides grew out of two earlier works which Balzac never completed: Mémoires d'une jeune femme (Memoirs of A Young Woman), which was written in 1834, and Soeur Marie des Anges (Sister Marie des Anges), which was probably written around 1835. In 1840, Balzac informed his future wife Ewelina Hańska of his intention to write an epistolary novel: "I am writing an epistolary novel, though I do not know what title to give it, as Soeur Marie des Anges is too long, and that would only apply to the first part." In June 1841, Balzac wrote again to Mme Hanska: "I have just finished Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées". The manuscript to which this letter refers is no longer extant.

On 10 November 1841, Balzac's editor Hippolyte Souverain authorized the serialization of the novel in the French journal La Presse. The editor of the journal, however, bowdlerized Balzac's text. Between 26 November and 6 December 1841 letters I through XXV, which comprised part one of the novel, were serialized. Part two (letters XXVI through XLVII) and part three (letters XLVIII through LIX) were serialized between then and 1 January 1842. The serialization had neither a foreword nor a dedication.

The first Furne edition, which faithfully reproduced Balzac's original text, appeared in two volumes in January 1842. This edition included a foreword (dated "Les Jardies, May 1840") and a dedication to George Sand. The original division of the novel into three parts was retained.

The second edition appeared on 3 September 1842 as part of Furne's publication of La Comédie humaine. Letters of Two Brides was the first book in the second volume of the series, Scènes de la vie privée(Scenes from Private Life), followed by A Daughter of Eve. For this edition Balzac removed the foreword and divided the novel into two parts. He also altered the date of the foreword to "Paris, 1841".

There exists a final revision of the text in Balzac's own hand in the Lovenjoul Collection. In this revision Canalis replaces M. de Saint-Héreen, and the dates of letters XLVIII, XLIX and LI have been altered.

The fragmentary Soeur Marie des Anges was to form part of the series of works known as Scènes de la vie parisienne (Scenes from Parisian Life). However, this fragment has little in common with Letters of Two Brides; it is not in epistolary form and its plot is quite different. Its relation to the later novel has still not been satisfactorily explained. A character called Mère Marie des Anges, the superior of the Ursuline convent at Arcis-sur-Aube, appears in another of Balzac's novels, The Member for Arcis, as do a number of characters from Letters of Two Brides. (wikipedia.org)