Germinie Lacerteux · Chapters

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Chapter companions for Germinie Lacerteux by Edmond de Goncourt.

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Chapter 1
Preface to First Edition
The authors apologize to the public for offering a true novel that depicts the lives of the lower classes, rather than the fashionable, indecent, or soothing stories readers prefer. They justify their work as a serious literary study of contemporary morals, arguing that the common people have hearts and souls worthy of literary attention, and that the novel should be free to explore misery and suffering to teach humanity and charity.
Chapter 2
Second Preface
The author reflects on the hidden life and death of their servant Rose, revealing her secret passions, theft, remorse, and illness, and the shock of discovering her double life after her death.
Chapter 3
Germinie Lacerteux
The chapter introduces Germinie Lacerteux, a servant in the household of Mademoiselle de Varandeuil, and explores her early life, her intense religious devotion, and the beginning of her tragic romantic obsession with the young Jupillon, which leads her into a cycle of sacrifice and suffering.
Chapter 4
I
The chapter opens with Germinie, the maid, joyfully exclaiming that her mistress, Mademoiselle de Varandeuil, is out of danger. As Mademoiselle lies in bed, Germinie kisses her and weeps with relief. Mademoiselle, an old woman with a stern face softened by kindness, listens as Germinie pours out memories of her impoverished childhood in the countryside, her mother's death, her hardworking brother, her abusive father, and her eventual journey to Paris at age fourteen.
Chapter 5
II
This chapter delves into Mademoiselle de Varandeuil's life after the deaths of her loved ones, focusing on her weekly pilgrimages to the Montmartre Cemetery, her decade-long care for her paralyzed and bitter father, her selfless support of her brother's family, and her stoic, solitary old age marked by a blend of aristocratic and revolutionary ideals.

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Preface to First Edition

Second Preface

Germinie Lacerteux

I

II