Autre étude de femme presents itself as a drawing-room conversation in which several characters gathered after an elegant supper exchange tales and reflections on women, love, and society. The setting — an evening where familiar figures of La Comédie humaine such as de Marsay, Bianchon, Rastignac, or the Marquise de Listomère meet — allows Balzac to juxtapose several anecdotes and portraits in a free, brilliant form that owes as much to the essay as to the tale. They discourse on the different types of women, on the modern "comme il faut" woman, on the distinction between the great lady of old and the coquette of today, in developments in which the analyst of manners gives himself free rein. Several stories are told by the guests: de Marsay relates the tale of his first great love affair and how he was betrayed, forming his character as a cold, disenchanted statesman; other episodes, sometimes tragic, come to illustrate the talk. The famous tale "La Grande Bretèche" — the terrible story of a husband who has his wife's lover walled up alive — is attached to this ensemble and constitutes its dramatic summit, narrated by Bianchon as one of those affairs that physicians come to know. By its structure of conversational anthology, the work illustrates Balzac's art of feminine portraiture and of the drawing-room talk. It complements Étude de femme and belongs to the series of analyses devoted to the psychology of women according to rank, age, and situation. Blending worldly satire, theory of manners, and striking narratives, Autre étude de femme offers a sample of Balzac the moralist and storyteller, and closes the Scenes of Private Life on a note of virtuosity. ---