Le Colonel Chabert

E62665

French literature literary work novella

Le Colonel Chabert is a novella by Honoré de Balzac that portrays a presumed-dead Napoleonic officer’s struggle to reclaim his identity, honor, and inheritance in post-Imperial French society.

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All labels observed (5)

Label	Occurrences
Le Colonel Chabert canonical	15
Colonel Chabert	10
Colonel Chabert is a presumed-dead Napoleonic officer	1
Le Colonel Chabert (1844)	1
Le Colonel Chabert (as director)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T505509 — 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: Le Colonel Chabert
Context triple: [Honoré de Balzac, notableWork, Le Colonel Chabert]

A. Les Cent-Jours
Les Cent-Jours refers to the brief 1815 period when Napoleon Bonaparte returned from exile, regained power in France, and ultimately fell after the Battle of Waterloo.
B. Lion of Belfort
The Lion of Belfort is a monumental sandstone sculpture in Belfort, France, symbolizing French resistance during the Franco-Prussian War and created by Statue of Liberty sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.
C. La Henriade
La Henriade is an epic poem by Voltaire that celebrates the reign of Henry IV of France while promoting Enlightenment ideals of religious tolerance and reason.
D. Le Quatorze Juillet
Le Quatorze Juillet is the French national holiday celebrated on July 14, commemorating the 1789 storming of the Bastille and symbolizing the birth of the French Republic.
E. Drôle de guerre
Drôle de guerre is the term for the early phase of World War II on the Western Front marked by little active fighting despite the formal state of war between the Allies and Germany.
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: Le Colonel Chabert
Target entity description: Le Colonel Chabert is a novella by Honoré de Balzac that portrays a presumed-dead Napoleonic officer’s struggle to reclaim his identity, honor, and inheritance in post-Imperial French society.

A. Les Cent-Jours
Les Cent-Jours refers to the brief 1815 period when Napoleon Bonaparte returned from exile, regained power in France, and ultimately fell after the Battle of Waterloo.
B. Lion of Belfort
The Lion of Belfort is a monumental sandstone sculpture in Belfort, France, symbolizing French resistance during the Franco-Prussian War and created by Statue of Liberty sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.
C. La Henriade
La Henriade is an epic poem by Voltaire that celebrates the reign of Henry IV of France while promoting Enlightenment ideals of religious tolerance and reason.
D. Le Quatorze Juillet
Le Quatorze Juillet is the French national holiday celebrated on July 14, commemorating the 1789 storming of the Bastille and symbolizing the birth of the French Republic.
E. Drôle de guerre
Drôle de guerre is the term for the early phase of World War II on the Western Front marked by little active fighting despite the formal state of war between the Allies and Germany.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	French literature ⓘ literary work ⓘ novella ⓘ
author	Honoré de Balzac ⓘ
belongsTo	Scènes de la vie parisienne ⓘ
characterRole	Colonel Chabert is a presumed-dead Napoleonic officer ⓘ linked to: Le Colonel Chabert Comtesse Ferraud is Chabert's former wife ⓘ Maître Derville is a lawyer representing Chabert ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	France ⓘ
depicts	Napoleonic officer ⓘ post-Imperial French society ⓘ
explores	conflict between individual and society ⓘ corruption of the legal system ⓘ effects of war on personal identity ⓘ
genre	novella ⓘ realist fiction ⓘ
hasAdaptation	film adaptations ⓘ theatrical adaptations ⓘ
hasCharacter	Colonel Chabert ⓘ linked to: Le Colonel Chabert Comtesse Ferraud ⓘ Maître Derville ⓘ Rose Chapotel ⓘ
language	French ⓘ
literaryCycle	Scènes de la vie parisienne ⓘ
literaryMovement	realism ⓘ
literaryStatus	classic of French literature ⓘ
mainCharacter	Colonel Chabert ⓘ linked to: Le Colonel Chabert Comtesse Ferraud ⓘ Maître Derville ⓘ Rose Chapotel ⓘ
narrativePerspective	third-person narration ⓘ
originalLanguage	French ⓘ
partOf	La Comédie humaine ⓘ
plotSummary	A colonel believed dead at the Battle of Eylau returns to reclaim his name, wife, and fortune. ⓘ
publicationForm	serial publication ⓘ
series	La Comédie humaine ⓘ
settingLocation	Paris ⓘ
settingPeriod	Restoration France ⓘ post-Napoleonic era ⓘ
theme	bureaucracy ⓘ class and social status ⓘ honor ⓘ identity ⓘ legal struggle ⓘ memory ⓘ social injustice ⓘ
workType	prose fiction ⓘ
writtenBy	Honoré de Balzac ⓘ