At the gate of Hell: the river Seine in The Human Comedy
Balzac, archaeologist of Paris, offers few descriptions of the Seine River in La Comédie humaine. More than a geographical element, the river becomes a symbol of isolation in Balzac’s novels—a symbol of desperation, a metaphor of Dante’s exile in Les Proscrits. If l’île de la Cité and l’île Saint-Louis are dark and gloomy places that are still linked to the Middle Ages, to theatres of conspiracies and secret societies, as in L’Envers de l’histoire contemporaine, the dark waters of the river deepen the dimension of mystery and exoticism. The Seine attracts desperate characters who, much like Raphaël de Valentin, have shot their last round and are haunted by the shadow of Ophelia. The Seine embodies the Styx of the modern city, the gate between the past and the present, between the living world and the afterlife, where secret Powers reveal themselves.