Festival Quartier Du Livre – 11th Edition, Paris

As part of the 11th edition of the Festival Quartier du Livre, join us for a conversation around the book "Le Bien. Édification, exemple et scandale dans le roman du XIXe siècle" with editors Mathilde Bertrand and Paolo Tortonese.

This collective volume explores a fascinating question at the heart of nineteenth-century literature: how can the novel represent goodness? While realism is often associated with the depiction of vice, conflict, and moral ambiguity, the contributors examine the ways in which virtue, moral exemplarity, and the pursuit of the good continue to shape narrative forms. From Honoré de Balzac and Victor Hugo to Gustave Flaubert, Émile Zola, and Leo Tolstoy, the book investigates how literary works negotiate the tension between moral ideals and the realities of modern society.

The discussion will offer an opportunity to reflect on the place of ethics, exemplarity, and scandal in the nineteenth-century novel, as well as on the enduring relevance of these questions for contemporary readers.

An engaging dialogue for anyone interested in literature, cultural history, and the complex relationship between fiction and morality.