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<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:podcast="https://podcastindex.org/namespace/1.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" version="2.0"><channel><title>Marriage Contract</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/marriage-contract--7088448</link><description><![CDATA[Balzac’s novel “The Marriage Contract” (1835) is part of his “Scenes of Private Life,” which is one section of “The Human Comedy,” his great fiction series. A wealthy gentleman wishes to marry a beautiful heiress, whose mother is a Spanish Creole. (In this context, “Creole” refers to a person who is genetically European, but born in a New World colony.) As was common for wealthy families of that time, notaries are hired to negotiate a prenuptial agreement. The details of 19th-century financial arrangements may well seem obscure for modern readers. What remains true throughout time, however, is Balzac’s unsparing portrait of humanity, in all its romantic illusions and its naked avarice, its capacity for naïve innocence and for scheming treachery. - Summary by Bruce Pirie]]></description><atom:link href="https://www.spreaker.com/show/7088448/episodes/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><language>en</language><category>Books</category><copyright>Copyright Literary Fiction Genre</copyright><image><url>https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/c4d81354f3a8949c8cca535fd1bb96bb.jpg</url><title>Marriage Contract</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/marriage-contract--7088448</link></image><lastBuildDate>Sun, 07 Jun 2026 09:18:03 +0000</lastBuildDate><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:owner><itunes:name>Literary Fiction Genre</itunes:name><itunes:email>spreaker64@podcastlibrary.org</itunes:email></itunes:owner><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/c4d81354f3a8949c8cca535fd1bb96bb.jpg"/><itunes:subtitle>Balzac’s novel “The Marriage Contract” (1835) is part of his “Scenes of Private Life,” which is one section of “The Human Comedy,” his great fiction series. A wealthy gentleman wishes to marry a beautiful heiress, whose mother is a Spanish Creole. (In...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Balzac’s novel “The Marriage Contract” (1835) is part of his “Scenes of Private Life,” which is one section of “The Human Comedy,” his great fiction series. A wealthy gentleman wishes to marry a beautiful heiress, whose mother is a Spanish Creole. (In this context, “Creole” refers to a person who is genetically European, but born in a New World colony.) As was common for wealthy families of that time, notaries are hired to negotiate a prenuptial agreement. The details of 19th-century financial arrangements may well seem obscure for modern readers. What remains true throughout time, however, is Balzac’s unsparing portrait of humanity, in all its romantic illusions and its naked avarice, its capacity for naïve innocence and for scheming treachery. - Summary by Bruce Pirie]]></itunes:summary><itunes:category text="Arts"><itunes:category text="Books"/></itunes:category><itunes:category text="Fiction"/><itunes:category text="Fiction"><itunes:category text="Comedy Fiction"/></itunes:category><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:type>episodic</itunes:type><item><title>Marriage Contract - Honore de Balzac</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/marriage-contract-honore-de-balzac--72389437</link><description><![CDATA[Balzac’s novel “The Marriage Contract” (1835) is part of his “Scenes of Private Life,” which is one section of “The Human Comedy,” his great fiction series. A wealthy gentleman wishes to marry a beautiful heiress, whose mother is a Spanish Creole. (In this context, “Creole” refers to a person who is genetically European, but born in a New World colony.) As was common for wealthy families of that time, notaries are hired to negotiate a prenuptial agreement. The details of 19th-century financial arrangements may well seem obscure for modern readers. What remains true throughout time, however, is Balzac’s unsparing portrait of humanity, in all its romantic illusions and its naked avarice, its capacity for naïve innocence and for scheming treachery. - Summary by Bruce Pirie]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/72389437</guid><pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2026 15:55:14 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72389437/marriage_contract_honore_de_balzac.mp3" length="180841575" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Balzac’s novel “The Marriage Contract” (1835) is part of his “Scenes of Private Life,” which is one section of “The Human Comedy,” his great fiction series. A wealthy gentleman wishes to marry a beautiful heiress, whose mother is a Spanish Creole. (In...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Balzac’s novel “The Marriage Contract” (1835) is part of his “Scenes of Private Life,” which is one section of “The Human Comedy,” his great fiction series. A wealthy gentleman wishes to marry a beautiful heiress, whose mother is a Spanish Creole. (In this context, “Creole” refers to a person who is genetically European, but born in a New World colony.) As was common for wealthy families of that time, notaries are hired to negotiate a prenuptial agreement. The details of 19th-century financial arrangements may well seem obscure for modern readers. What remains true throughout time, however, is Balzac’s unsparing portrait of humanity, in all its romantic illusions and its naked avarice, its capacity for naïve innocence and for scheming treachery. - Summary by Bruce Pirie]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>22606</itunes:duration><itunes:keywords>balzac,contract,creole,genetically,literary,marriage,notaries,prenuptial,unsparing,wealthy</itunes:keywords><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/c4d81354f3a8949c8cca535fd1bb96bb.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item></channel></rss>
