rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré

E305300

character trajectory fictional storyline narrative arc tragic arc

The rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré is the tragic arc of an ambitious young poet whose pursuit of social ascent in Balzac’s Comédie Humaine leads to moral compromise, manipulation, and ultimate ruin.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Lucien de Rubempré narrative cycle	1
Lucien seeks literary fame in Paris	1
rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2854612 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré
Context triple: [Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, narrativeFocus, rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré]

A. Pierre; or, The Ambiguities
Pierre; or, The Ambiguities is a dark, psychologically complex novel by Herman Melville that explores identity, morality, and family secrets in a Gothic, experimental style.
B. L’Œuvre
L’Œuvre is a naturalist novel by Émile Zola that portrays the struggles of an ambitious painter in Paris whose obsessive pursuit of artistic perfection leads to personal and professional ruin.
C. Le Siècle
Le Siècle was a prominent 19th-century French newspaper known for publishing major literary works and influencing public opinion in France.
D. Les Rougon-Macquart
Les Rougon-Macquart is a twenty-novel cycle by Émile Zola that traces the lives of a fictional French family to explore heredity, environment, and society during the Second French Empire.
E. L’Aube
L’Aube is the original French title of Elie Wiesel’s novel "Dawn," which explores a young Holocaust survivor’s moral struggle as he prepares to execute a British officer in postwar Palestine.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré
Target entity description: The rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré is the tragic arc of an ambitious young poet whose pursuit of social ascent in Balzac’s Comédie Humaine leads to moral compromise, manipulation, and ultimate ruin.

A. Pierre; or, The Ambiguities
Pierre; or, The Ambiguities is a dark, psychologically complex novel by Herman Melville that explores identity, morality, and family secrets in a Gothic, experimental style.
B. L’Œuvre
L’Œuvre is a naturalist novel by Émile Zola that portrays the struggles of an ambitious painter in Paris whose obsessive pursuit of artistic perfection leads to personal and professional ruin.
C. Le Siècle
Le Siècle was a prominent 19th-century French newspaper known for publishing major literary works and influencing public opinion in France.
D. Les Rougon-Macquart
Les Rougon-Macquart is a twenty-novel cycle by Émile Zola that traces the lives of a fictional French family to explore heredity, environment, and society during the Second French Empire.
E. L’Aube
L’Aube is the original French title of Elie Wiesel’s novel "Dawn," which explores a young Holocaust survivor’s moral struggle as he prepares to execute a British officer in postwar Palestine.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (45)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	character trajectory ⓘ fictional storyline ⓘ narrative arc ⓘ tragic arc ⓘ
appearsIn	Illusions perdues ⓘ Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes ⓘ
causeOfDownfall	opportunism ⓘ susceptibility to manipulation ⓘ vanity ⓘ
createdBy	Honoré de Balzac ⓘ
genre	bildungsroman ⓘ realist fiction ⓘ social novel ⓘ tragedy ⓘ
involves	compromise of artistic ideals ⓘ manipulation by powerful figures ⓘ use of the press for personal gain ⓘ
languageOfWork	French ⓘ
literaryFunction	critique of Restoration-era French society ⓘ exploration of the making and unmaking of a writer ⓘ
literaryPeriod	19th-century French literature ⓘ
mainCharacter	Lucien de Rubempré ⓘ
narrativeClimax	Lucien attains social success at the cost of integrity ⓘ
narrativeDevelopment	Lucien enters journalism and literary circles ⓘ Lucien pursues aristocratic and bourgeois patronage ⓘ Lucien seeks literary fame in Paris ⓘ linked to: rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré
narrativeEnd	Lucien’s social and moral collapse ⓘ
narrativeStart	Lucien as a poor but gifted provincial poet ⓘ
partOf	La Comédie humaine ⓘ
protagonistTrait	ambition ⓘ moral weakness ⓘ sensibility ⓘ
relatedWork	La Comédie humaine ⓘ
setting	Parisian high society ⓘ provincial Angoulême ⓘ
symbolizes	corrupting influence of Parisian society ⓘ dangers of rapid social ascent ⓘ fragility of individual morality under social pressure ⓘ
theme	class mobility ⓘ identity and self-betrayal ⓘ illusion versus reality ⓘ moral corruption ⓘ power of money ⓘ press and public opinion ⓘ social ambition ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes → narrativeFocus → rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré ⓘ

rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré → narrativeDevelopment → Lucien seeks literary fame in Paris ⓘ

linked to: rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré

Lucien pursues aristocratic and bourgeois patronage → isPartOf → Lucien de Rubempré narrative cycle ⓘ