Balzac, Honoré de: The Atheist’s Mass, v1, 25 Aug 2007.
 

Honoré De Balzac
The Atheist’s Mass
(La messe de l’athée)
Translated by Clara Bell

A short story of about 6,700 words.

Young Doctor Bianchon repeatedly sees his chief of surgery, Desplein, attending mass. Yet Desplein is a noted freethinker and atheist. Eventually, Bianchon asks the reason for this strange behaviour and Desplein tells him a story…


Bianchon and Desplein are two characters who will turn up frequently in the Comédie Humaine. Balzac was the first person to hit on the idea of recurring characters.

I have added a picture, and restored accents and italics etc.