Honore de Balzac - Classic Literature Honore de Balzac
Balzac was born in Tours France in 1799. His father had married his mother two years before. She was 31 years younger than he was. His father ran the local hospital in Tours.
Balzac spent his first four years in foster care, a not uncommon practice in France at the time. He had been placed in the village of Saint-Cyr. He returned to his family when he was about to turn five and remained in Tours until the family returned to Paris in 1814 when he was 15.
He was an ordinary student. He studied at the College de Vendome and then at the Sorbonne. Afterward he began to work in law offices. In 1819, his family moved for financial reasons out of Paris to a smaller village, Villeparisis.
Balzac then announced that he wished to be a writer, which had been his dream. He moved back to Paris, where he took a small and shabby apartment he would later d3escribe in his book, "La Peau de Charin" (1931). Soon after he moved, his first work was "Cromwell", which was a tragedy in verse and left his family wondering.
By 1882, he had written several novels, under pseudonyms with little success. His family objected, but he continued with his writing, believing that success would only come through that endeavor. Nonetheless, he also tried business, but his forays included a publishing company and a printing house that soon went into bankruptcy, leaving him with heavy debts. He later remarked "all happiness depends on courage and work."
In 1928 Balzac moved to Britanny, accepting the hospitality of a prominent local family. He was seeking both refuge and respite as well as local color for a new novel. He published a work called "La Demrrier Choan" in 1829 under his own name and began to gain notice. Between 1830 and 1832 he published six short novels aimed at a female readership called "Scenes de la Vie Privee" which were successful.
His father died in 1892 as well, and his mother fell ill. When she recovered, he began to study "animal magnetism" at the Servonne, as theorized by Swedenborg and Mesmer. In 1831, he wrote "La Peau del Chargrin" which showed those influences.
In 1833, Balzac thought to link together his old novels as well as new ones so that they would reflect all of society. This led to over ninety novels and shorter works under the overarching title of "The Human Comedy".
Balzac was a prolific writer who lived a large life. He worked 12-16 hours per day, but always made time for the pleasures of life. He delighted in drinking large amounts of coffee blended particularly for him. He had many affairs and loved women. He was said to have eaten 100 oysters, then 12 lamb chops plus accompaniments at one sitting.
One book written in 1846 (La Cousin Bette) contained very thinly veiled autobiographical elements of his love affairs. It was read avidly by Parisian society, who tried to decide who was who.
Among the masterpieces of "The Human Comedy" were the book "Le Pere Goriot" "Les Illusion Perdues" "Les Paysans" "La Femme de Trente Ans" and "Eugenie Grandet". With these books, Balzac painted a view of French life of the time, from Paris out to the various Provinces. His characters reflected all aspects of the life he saw, knew and lived.
In some sense, it was not easy to understand Balzac’s relationship with his characters. Since many were drawn from his own experiences, it was difficult to separate those in novels from his imagination outside of the novels.
His later years were spent in Sevres. One of his muses was an older woman, Mme de Berny. Her death was a significant blow to Balzac. He also had a long term although distant relationship with a wealthy Polish woman, Evelene Hanska, with whom he corresponded for more than 15 years. She had been the model for a number of his characters, most notably Madame Hulot.
In 1848, Balzac traveled to the Ukraine, where Madame Hanska was living after the death of her husband in 1841. His health was not good at the time, but they married in March 1850, and returned to Paris where Balzac died on August 18, 1850 at the age of 51.
Balzac was extremely prolific during his life and his keen and satirical observations on French society were on the mark. He embodied the person who lives within a society yet can stand outside and portray all the eccentricities of that society. He was both a realist and a satirist.
