The Illustrious Gaudissart

'The Illustrious Gaudissart' is a short story by Honoré de Balzac. The story follows Felix Gaudissart, a successful and ambitious traveling salesman, based in Paris. He has previously sold clothing and hats, but at the start of the story he has also taken up selling life insurance and subscriptions to newspapers. The latter include newspapers advocating Saint-Simonianism and republicanism, and he learns the Saint-Simonian doctrine without having any belief in it. He sets off to the Touraine area on a sales trip, and during this trip stays in the town of Vouvray. He tries to sell his items to a local man named Vernier, without realizing that Vernier is strongly opposed to Saint-Simonianism.