Dado por muerto durante una de las batallas napoleónicas, el coronel Chabert se abrirá paso entre una macabra masa de cadáveres de compañeros y de caballos para salir de la tierra donde ha quedado sepultado. Como Agamenón cuando vuelve de Troya, como Ulises cuando regresa a Ítaca, Chabert reaparece en París y se encuentra con su esposa casada de nuevo, con su palacete demolido e incluso con su calle bautizada con otro nombre: su lucha por recuperar su identidad en un mundo en el que él, el coronel Chabert, un héroe de las guerras napoleónicas, ya no existe, tropezará con las argucias de una mujer sin corazón, que no tiene ningún interés en verle recuperar su puesto en la sociedad ni sus bienes. El relato de Balzac, que subió a los escenarios nada más publicarse, ha tenido fortuna en las tablas y en las pantallas: la película más reciente, dirigida por Yves Angelo, ha sido interpretada por Gérard Depardieu.

O Coronel Chabert, herói das Guerras Napoleônicas, após a Batalha de Eylau é tido como morto, sendo enterrado em uma vala coletiva. Na verdade, conseguiu sobreviver e se desenvencilhar da pilha de cadáveres e, após longa recuperação e andanças (incluindo um período num hospício), anos depois enfim retorna a Paris, totalmente miserável, para descobrir que sua esposa “herdara” sua fortuna, casara-se novamente e teve dois filhos com o marido novo, o conde Ferraud.

El coronel Chabert, héroe de guerra en las campañas Napoleónicas, es dado por muerto en la batalla de Eylau y arrojado a una fosa común. No obstante recobra el conocimiento y consigue salir de la tumba. Como si fuera un espectro, después de calamidades y pérdida de identidad pasando por hospitales, sanatorios y cárceles, consigue regresar a París para reclamar su identidad que nadie reconoce. Y menos aún su esposa, casada con un conde y disfrutando de los bienes y la fortuna de su primer marido "el coronel" que ahora repudia. Después de intentos legales y de aproximación a su esposa para recobrar su identidad y por lo menos su pensión vitalicia para poder subsistir, reconoce que "es mejor que los muertos no regresen" renunciando a seguir implorando para recobrar el honor que por méritos propios le correspondía y anunciando "que se vio repentinamente aquejado de una dolencia/enfermedad, el asco por la humanidad". Este hombre que se crio en un hospicio infantil para niños abandonados, vino a morir al hospicio de la Vejez, tras haber ayudado entre medias a Napoleón a conquistar: Europa y Egipto.
Hay en nuestra sociedad tres hombres, el sacerdote, el médico y el hombre de leyes, que no pueden estimar el mundo. Visten ropajes negros, porque quizás llevan luto por todas las virtudes, todas las ilusiones. El más desgraciado de todos es el Procurador porque vemos repetirse los mismos sentimientos malvados; nada los enmienda, nuestros despachos son cloacas que es imposible purgar. He visto morir a un padre en un desván, sin blanca, abandonado por sus hijas a las que había dado cuarenta mil libras de renta! He visto quemar testamentos; he visto a madres despojar a sus hijos, a maridos a robar a sus mujeres, a mujeres matar a sus maridos valiéndose del amor que les inspiraban para volverlos locos o imbéciles e irse a vivir en paz con un amante. He visto a mujeres inculcar al hijo de un primer lecho aficiones que le ocasionarían la muerte, para enriquecer al hijo del amor. No puede decir todo cuanto he visto, porque he visto crímenes contra los cuales la justicia es impotente. En fin, todos los horrores que los novelistas creen inventar están por debajo de la verdad. ( )

This was a lot shorter than I thought it was: my edition, slim though it may be, also contains extensive introductory essays and several appendices.

In Le colonel Chabert, the titular main character served under Napoleon and is believed dead at the battle of Eylau. As it happens, he survived, but he is in such bad health and finds himself without any credentials that he is reduced to vagrancy. By the time he has convalesced and returned to Paris to try and reclaim his name, several years have passed. His estate has been divided between the state and his widow, who has chosen to remarry a much wealthier man and who is a mother now, too. More generally, the political situation has changed drastically as well: in this post-Napoleonic era, France is once again a Kingdom, and few people of influence are willing to publicly support an Imperial claimant and his legal case for turning back time. It is much more convenient to pretend that the so-called Colonel Chabert is merely an impostor.

This is a very interesting situation to spin a story out of, and Balzac makes great use of it. There’s understandable emotional drama and ethical questions all-around, where (almost) every character has valid and above all just and even legal reasons for their behaviour: Chabert has been robbed of his estate, however legally binding the whole thing came about, and he is entitled to restitution; but the new situation has progressed so far that undoing it becomes itself a massive injustice to all involved. No surprise, then, that the main plot is concerned with finding a lawyer and with the legal intricacies of Restauration France.

I also liked the care that Balzac took to cite laws and governmental edicts (even though the footnotes point out where he confused dates) and to ground his work in actual fact: this novella is a great illustration of how day-to-day bureaucracy is run, and I don’t often get such a glimpse into a historical society. What I didn’t like, though, was the resolution, which I thought was a bit too facile. I won’t call it a cop-out, but I’m not really impressed, either.

Having said that: I enjoyed spending time in this bureaucratic universe, and I liked the way Balzac handled complex moral issues. I think I’ll read more by him. ( )

Absolutely wonderful novella, the story of returning war hero Chabert; presumed dead, his wife has re-married - greatly to her advantage - and has no wish for his return. Nor does she want to give him any of the money she 'inherited' from him. A good hearted old soldier and a ruthless woman of fashion come together in the office of clever lawyer Derville...
Part of Balzac's Comedie Humaine, this narrative is unusual in that it is framed - both beginning and end- in the scenario of a lawyer's office. In the first chapter, the joking, discourteous clerks take centre stage, as Chabert seeks an appointment...at the end the lawyer himself debates events with a colleague; as he lists some of the dreadful scenarios he's encountered in his career, we see a list of plot lines of other Balzac novels..."wills burnt, mothers despoiling their children, husbands stealing from their wives..."
Superb writing. ( )