Lucien de Rubempré and Raoul Nathan’s transformation from literary adversaries into friends

Lucien de Rubempré and Raoul Nathan’s relationship turns a commissioned literary attack into an ostentatious friendship, revealing how quickly judgment can be bent by the interests of the press. Lucien first condemns Nathan’s successful book at the urging of journalists who see Nathan as a rival; he then agrees to praise it in a second article. Nathan responds with effusive gratitude, while Lucien welcomes both the recognition and the prospect of using his new position to help other writers. Their friendship is therefore neither simply false nor free of calculation: it is made in a world where literary allegiance can be revised in print.

From literary target to assignment

The relationship begins at a remove. Nathan is the author of a book whose second edition is about to appear, and Félicien Vernou wants an attack published in the major newspaper where he works. Vernou believes Nathan’s success threatens the future success of his own work. The assignment thus presents Nathan less as a personal enemy than as a successful rival whose reputation can be made to serve someone else’s ambitions.

Lucien is not persuaded that the book deserves condemnation. He calls it beautiful and objects that he cannot turn its merits into faults. Étienne Lousteau answers by explaining a method of criticism designed to make an attack appear impartial: begin with praise, win the reader’s confidence, then shift to a broad argument about the direction of French literature. Lucien is to contrast the philosophical and analytical tradition associated with writers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Montesquieu, and Buffon with modern fiction that relies on dialogue, description, and dramatic incident. The terminology of “littérature idéée” and “littérature imagée” supplies a grand framework for presenting Nathan as an imitator, deficient in the concentrated style of the eighteenth century and too dependent on events rather than sentiment.

The episode exposes the distance between the article’s intellectual posture and its immediate purpose. Lousteau teaches Lucien how to dress a targeted attack as a principled defense of literary standards. Nathan’s work becomes the occasion for a sweeping critical argument, but the commission originates in Vernou’s professional jealousy and the newspaper’s appetite for useful controversy. Lucien’s own desire for revenge against Dauriat gives the assignment additional force: as he works, that desire takes the place of conscience and inspiration.

The attack and its making

Lucien spends three days working in Coralie’s room, by the fire. Bérénice serves him, and Coralie quietly comforts him when he tires. In this domestic setting he writes a criticism of about three columns, a substantial piece that surprises the journalists with its height and finish. At nine in the evening he takes it to the newspaper office and reads it aloud. The listeners receive it seriously; Vernou says nothing, but takes the manuscript and hurries downstairs. Hector Merlin explains that Vernou is carrying it to the printing house and judges that the article needs neither deletion nor addition. Lousteau’s instruction has brought Lucien to the threshold of professional mastery, though the accomplishment is inseparable from a commissioned attack.

The newspaper subsequently pays Lucien one hundred francs for the article. The payment is presented as recognition of unusually accomplished work and as a means of attaching its author to the paper. When Lousteau, Merlin, and Vernou visit Lucien, Coralie orders a meal at the nearby Cadran-Bleu and invites them into her dining room. The visit first appears to celebrate Lucien’s achievement; over champagne, its further purpose emerges. The journalists warn that Nathan is himself a journalist, has friends, and could damage Lucien’s prospects when Lucien tries to publish his own work. They propose that Lucien follow the attack with extravagant praise, turning a potentially lasting enmity into an alliance.

A friendship performed in print

Lousteau reports that Nathan has consoled himself with the belief that short articles pass while substantial books endure. The remark gives Nathan a way to withstand the attack without accepting its judgment. But the journalists’ plan is not to leave the dispute at that. They expect Nathan to visit Lucien, abase himself in gratitude, and call him a great man; what might look like a spontaneous reconciliation is already being anticipated as a useful social performance.

When Nathan arrives, he rushes toward Lucien with what the narration describes as a fury of friendship, takes his hands, and praises him not only as a great writer but as a man of feeling. He declares himself devoted to Lucien for life and death and says he will never forget what Lucien has done for him that week. His gratitude is prompted by Merlin’s having shown him the proof of Lucien’s favorable article, due to appear in the newspaper the next day. The reconciliation has therefore been prepared through publication: the attack and the promised defense make a sequence, and Nathan receives the second piece as evidence of loyalty.

Lucien tells Nathan privately that he agreed to write the attack only on condition that he could answer it himself, and presents that arrangement as proof that he belongs with Nathan’s side. The exchange reveals the flexibility of Lucien’s critical allegiance. He has not simply withdrawn his first judgment; he has made himself the author of both the wound and the remedy. Nathan, for his part, accepts the favorable article as an act of friendship, and Lucien takes evident pleasure in the warmth of his response.

Mutual advantage and the limits of allegiance

Nathan’s welcome changes Lucien’s posture toward the three friends from Le Cénacle who are present: Lucien looks at them with a sense of superiority. The recognition of a celebrated writer matters to him, and Nathan’s gratitude confirms the power his journalism can exert. Yet Lucien also frames the alliance prospectively. He thinks that when Daniel d’Arthez’s book appears, he will be in a position to help it, and says this possibility alone could persuade him to remain in journalism. Nathan’s friendship thus becomes a channel through which Lucien imagines extending influence to another writer.

The pair’s transformation is consequently shaped by both fellowship and exchange. Nathan receives a public defense after being attacked; Lucien gains the acknowledgment of a writer whose reputation attracts attention, strengthens his standing among journalists, and may give him leverage for future literary causes. The episode does not reduce Nathan’s gratitude to mere deceit: his enthusiastic thanks are shown, and Lucien is genuinely delighted by them. But the friendship is founded on a calculated reversal, with the same pen serving first as weapon and then as instrument of reconciliation. Their relationship makes visible the newspaper’s power to manufacture not just literary verdicts but the alliances that follow from them.