"Eversti Chabert" by Honoré de Balzac is a novella published in 1832. A French cavalry officer, believed killed at the Battle of Eylau, miraculously survives his burial and returns to Paris years later. He discovers his wife has remarried into high society and claimed his fortune as inheritance. Desperate to reclaim his identity and wealth, Chabert hires a lawyer to fight for what was stolen. Balzac contrasts Napoleonic values of honor with Restoration society's obsession with money and social rank in this tragic tale. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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