Honore de Balzac - French novelist, one of the founders realistic and naturalistic trends in prose. Born on May 20, 1799 in the city of Tours, he was at one time a clerk for a notary, but did not want to continue this service, feeling a calling to literature. Throughout his life, Balzac struggled with the constraint financial situation, worked with tenacity and perseverance, came up with a lot of unrealistic projects in order to get rich, but never got out of debt and was forced to write novel after novel, studying for 12 - 18 hours a day. The result of this work was 91 novels, which make up one general cycle « Human Comedy", where more than 2000 individuals are described with their characteristic individual and everyday traits.
Honore de Balzac. Daguerreotype 1842
Balzac did not know family life; he married only a few months before his death to Countess Ganskaya, with whom he corresponded for 17 years and came to Russia more than once to meet with her (Ganskaya’s husband owned extensive estates in Ukraine). The heart disease from which Balzac suffered intensified during his last trip, and, having arrived in Paris with his wife, whom he married in Berdichev, the writer died three months later, on August 18, 1850.
In his novels, Honoré de Balzac is an apt and thoughtful depicter human nature And public relations. bourgeois class, folk customs and the characters are described by him with a truthfulness and strength almost unknown before him. For the most part, each of the persons he deduces has one dominant passion, which serves as the motivating cause of his actions and very often also the cause of his death. This passion, despite its all-consuming dimensions, does not give to this person exceptional or fantastic character: the novelist so clearly makes these features dependent on the living conditions and moral physiognomy of the subject that the reality of the latter remains beyond doubt.
Geniuses and villains. Honore de Balzac
One of the most active and frequent springs that drive Balzac's heroes is money. The author, who spent his whole life inventing ways to get rich faster and more surely, had the opportunity to study the world of businessmen, swindlers, entrepreneurs with their grandiose plans, exaggerated, fantastic hopes that disappear like bubble, and carrying with them both the initiators themselves and those who believed them. This world was transferred by Balzac to his “Human Comedy”, along with all the differences that the passion for money creates in people with different mental makeup and different habits created by one or another environment. Balzac's description of the latter is often sufficient to characterize his characters; The author depicts the smallest details of the situation with great accuracy, giving his overall picture an idea of the moral side of the characters. This desire alone to reproduce the life situation of the characters in all its details can explain why Emile Zola saw Balzac as the head of naturalism.
Balzac studied the terrain, environment, and people in detail before starting to describe it. He traveled almost all of France, studying the areas in which his novels take place; he made a wide variety of acquaintances, tried to talk with people different professions and different social environment. Therefore, all his characters are vital, although most of them burn out from one dominant passion, which can be vanity, envy, stinginess, passion for profit, or, as in “Père Goriot,” paternal love for daughters that has turned into mania.
But as strong as Balzac is in describing human characters and social relations, he is just as weak in describing nature: his landscapes are pale, dull and banal. He is interested only in man, and among people mainly those whose vices allow him to see more clearly the true lining of human nature. Balzac's shortcomings as a writer include the poverty of his style and lack of sense of proportion. Even in the famous image of the hotel in “Père Goriot,” the excessiveness of descriptions and the artist’s passion are noticeable. The plot of his novels often does not correspond to the realism of characters and settings; Romanticism in this regard influenced him mainly through its bad side. But big picture The life of the bourgeois class in Paris and in the provinces, with all its shortcomings, vices, passions, with all the diversity of characters and types, is presented to them in perfection.
French literature
Honore de Balzac
Biography
BALZAC, HONORE (Balzac, Honor de) (1799−1850), French writer, recreated complete picture public life of its time. Born May 20, 1799 in Tours; his relatives, peasants by origin, came from southern France (Languedoc). His father changed his original surname Balssa when he arrived in Paris in 1767 and began a long bureaucratic career there, which he continued in Tours from 1798, holding a number of administrative positions. The particle “de” was added to the name by his son Honore in 1830, claiming noble origin. Balzac spent six years (1806−1813) as a boarder at the College of Vendôme, completing his education in Tours and Paris, where the family returned in 1814. After working for three years (1816−1819) as a clerk in a judge's office, he convinced his parents to allow him to try his luck in literature . Between 1819 and 1824 Honoré published (under a pseudonym) half a dozen novels, written under the influence of J. J. Rousseau, W. Scott and “horror novels.” In collaboration with various literary hacks, he published many novels of an overtly commercial nature.
In 1822, his relationship with forty-five-year-old Madame de Bernis began (d. 1836). The initially passionate feeling emotionally enriched him; later their relationship turned platonic, and Lily in the Valley (Le Lys dans la valle, 1835−1836) highest degree perfect picture this friendship.
An attempt to make a fortune in publishing and printing (1826−1828) involved Balzac in large debts. Turning again to writing, in 1829 he published the novel The Last Shuan (Le dernier Shouan; revised and published in 1834 under the title Les Chouans). This was the first book that was published under his own name, along with a humorous manual for husbands, The Physiology of Marriage (La Physiologie du mariage, 1829), it attracted public attention to the new author. That's when it started main work his life: in 1830 the first Scenes appear privacy(Scnes de la vie prive), with the undoubted masterpiece The House of the Cat Playing Ball (La Maison du chat qui pelote), in 1831 the first Philosophical Tales and Stories (Contes philosophiques) were published. For several more years, Balzac worked part-time as a freelance journalist, but from 1830 to 1848 his main efforts were devoted to an extensive series of novels and stories, known world as The Human Comedy (La Comdie humaine).
Balzac concluded the agreement to publish the first series of Etudes on Morals (tudes de moeurs, 1833−1837) when many volumes (12 in total) were not yet completed or had just begun, since he used to first sell the finished work for publication in periodicals, then release it as a separate book and, finally, included in one or another collection. The sketches consisted of Scenes - private, provincial, Parisian, political, military and village life. Scenes of private life, devoted mainly to youth and its inherent problems, were not tied to specific circumstances and place; but the scenes of provincial, Parisian and village life were played out in a precisely defined environment, which is one of the most characteristic and original features of the Human Comedy.
In addition to the desire to display social history France, Balzac intended to diagnose society and offer drugs to treat its diseases. This goal is clearly felt throughout the cycle, but occupies a central place in the Philosophical Studies (tudes philosophiques), the first collection of which was published between 1835 and 1837. The Studies on Morals were supposed to present “effects”, and the Philosophical Studies were to identify “causes”. Balzac's philosophy is a curious combination of scientific materialism, theosophy of E. Swedenborg and other mystics, physiognomy of I. C. Lavater, phrenology of F. J. Gall, magnetism of F. A. Mesmer and occultism. All this was combined, sometimes in a very unconvincing way, with official Catholicism and political conservatism, in support of which Balzac openly spoke out. Two aspects of this philosophy have special meaning for his work: first, a deep belief in “second sight,” a mysterious property that gives its owner the ability to recognize or guess facts or events that he did not witness (Balzac considered himself extremely gifted in this regard); secondly, based on the views of Mesmer, the concept of thought as a kind of “ethereal substance” or “fluid”. Thought consists of will and feeling, and a person projects it into the world around him, giving it more or less impulse. This is where the idea of the destructive power of thought arises: it contains Vital energy, the accelerated waste of which brings death closer. This is clearly illustrated by the magical symbolism of Shagreen Skin (La Peau de chagrin, 1831).
The third main section of the cycle was supposed to be Analytical Etudes (tudes analytiques), devoted to “principles,” but Balzac never made clear his intentions in this regard; in fact, he completed only two volumes from the series of these Etudes: the half-serious, half-joking Physiology of Marriage and the Minor Troubles of Married Life (Petites misres de la vie conjugale, 1845−1846).
Balzac defined the main contours of his ambitious plan in the fall of 1834 and then consistently filled in the cells of the intended scheme. Allowing himself to be distracted, he wrote, in imitation of Rabelais, a series of funny, albeit obscene, “medieval” stories called Mischievous Stories (Contes drolatiques, 1832−1837), which were not included in the Human Comedy. A title for the ever-expanding cycle was found in 1840 or 1841, and a new edition, first bearing this title, began to appear in 1842. It retained the same principle of division as in the Études 1833−1837, but Balzac added to it a “preface ", in which he explained his goals. The so-called “definitive edition” of 1869−1876 included Mischievous Stories, Theater (Thtre) and a number of letters.
There is no consensus in criticism as to how accurately the writer managed to portray the French aristocracy, although he himself was proud of his knowledge of the world. Having little interest in artisans and factory workers, he achieved the highest general opinion, persuasiveness in the description of various representatives of the middle class: office workers - Officials (Les Employs), judge's clerks and lawyers - The Case of Guardianship (L "Interdiction, 1836), Colonel Chabet (Le Colonel Chabert, 1832); financiers - Banking house of Nucingen ( La Maison Nucingen, 1838); journalists - Lost illusions (Illusions perdues, 1837−1843); small manufacturers and traders - The story of the greatness and fall of Cesar Birotteau (Histoire de la grandeur et decadence de Csar Birotteau, 1837). dedicated to feelings and passions, the most notable are The Abandoned Woman (La Femme abandonne), The Thirty-Year-Old Woman (La Femme de trente ans, 1831−1834), and The Daughter of Eve (Une Fille d've, 1838). Scenes of provincial life not only recreate the atmosphere of small towns. , but also depicts painful “storms in a teacup” that disrupt the peaceful flow of usual life- The Tours priest (Le Cur de Tours, 1832), Eugnie Grandet (1833), Pierrette (1840). The novels Ursule Mirout and La Rabouilleuse (1841−1842) depict violent family feuds over inheritance. But the human community appears even darker in the Scenes Parisian life. Balzac loved Paris and did a lot to preserve the memory of the now forgotten streets and corners of the French capital. At the same time, he considered this city a hellish abyss and compared the “struggle for life” taking place here with wars on the prairies, as one of his favorite authors, F. Cooper, portrayed them in his novels. Most Interest from Scenes political life presents a Dark Affair (Une Tnbreuse Affaire, 1841), where the figure of Napoleon appears for a moment. Scenes of military life (Scnes de la vie militaire) include only two works: the novel by Chouan and the story Passion in the Desert (Une Passion dans le dsert, 1830) - Balzac intended to significantly supplement them. Scenes of village life (Scnes de la vie de campagne) are generally devoted to the description of the dark and predatory peasantry, although in such novels as the Country Doctor (Le Mdecin de campagne, 1833) and the Country Priest (Le Cur de village, 1839), a significant place is devoted to the presentation of political, economic and religious views. Balzac was the first great writer to devote close attention the material background and “appearance” of their characters; before him, no one had portrayed acquisitiveness and ruthless careerism as the main motivations in life. The plots of his novels are often based on financial intrigue and speculation. He also became famous for his “cross-cutting characters”: a person who played a leading role in one of the novels then appears in others, revealing a new side and in different circumstances. It is also noteworthy that, in developing his theory of thought, he inhabits his art world people who are overcome by an obsession or passion. Among them - the moneylender in Gobseck (Gobseck, 1830), the mad artist in An unknown masterpiece(Le Chef d'oeuvre inconnu, 1831, new ed. 1837), a miser in Eugenie Grandet, a maniacal chemist in The Quest for the Absolute (La Recherche de l'absolu, 1834), an old man blinded by love for his daughters in Père Goriot (Le Pre Goriot, 1834−1835), a vengeful old maid and an incorrigible womanizer in Cousine Bette (La Cousine Bette, 1846), an inveterate criminal in Father Goriot and The Splendor and Poverty of the Courtesans (Splendeurs et misres des courtisanes, 1838−1847). This tendency, along with a penchant for the occult and horror, calls into question the view of the Human Comedy as the highest achievement of realism in prose. However, perfection narrative technique, mastery of description, taste for dramatic intrigue, interest in the smallest details everyday life, a sophisticated analysis of emotional experiences, including love (the novel The Golden-Eyed Girl - La Fille aux yeux d’or was an innovative study of perverted attraction), as well as the strongest illusion of a recreated reality give him the right to be called “father modern novel" Balzac's closest successors in France were G. Flaubert (for all his severity critical assessments), E. Zola and the naturalists, M. Proust, as well as modern authors novel cycles, undoubtedly, learned a lot from him. His influence was felt later, already in the twentieth century, when classic novel began to be considered an obsolete form. The totality of almost a hundred titles of the Human Comedy testifies to the amazing versatility of this prolific genius, who anticipated almost all of the subsequent discoveries. Balzac worked tirelessly, he was famous for using the next proof to radically revise the composition and significant changes text. At the same time, he paid tribute to entertainment in the Rabelaisian spirit, willingly paid visits to high-society acquaintances, traveled abroad and was far from alien to love interests, among which his relationship with the Polish countess and wife of a Ukrainian landowner Evelina Ganskaya stands out. Thanks to these relationships, which began in 1832 or 1833, an invaluable collection of Balzac's letters addressed to Ghanskaya was born, Letters to a Stranger (Lettres l'trangre, vols. 1−2 publ. 1899−1906; vols. 3−4 publ. 1933−1950) and Correspondence (Correspondance, publ. 1951) with Zulma Karro, whose friendship the writer carried throughout his life. Ganskaya promised to marry him after her husband’s death. This happened in 1841, but then complications arose. Overwork from the colossal work, Ganskaya’s indecisiveness and the first signs of a serious illness overshadowed last years Balzac, and when the wedding finally took place in March 1850, he had only five months to live. Balzac died in Paris on August 18, 1850.
Balzac Honoré was born in peasant family in 1799 in southern France. His father changed his surname Balzas to Balzac in 1767, when he began his work as an official in Paris, which he continued after moving to Tula. Already in 1830, the prefix “de” was added to the surname. From 1806, Balzac studied for 6 years at the College of Vendôme. He completed his studies in Paris and Tula.
From 1816 he worked in a judge's office as a clerk, but three years later he managed to convince his parents and try his hand at literary activity. Over the course of 5 years, working under a pseudonym, he created 6 novels, inspired by the works of JJ Rousseau and V. Scot. In addition, Balzac releases a large number of commercial novels. In 1822 he meets Madame de Bernis, who was twice the writer's age. Their passionate relationship soon turned platonic. In 1836, after her death, in memory of their feelings, Balzac painted Lily in the Valley.
Since 1826, he tried to get rich in the publishing and printing business, but his plans did not come true and the writer found himself in huge debts.
Balzac tried to write again, and in 1829 the first book under his name was published. The first works attracted the interest of readers. From that moment on, all books with his name on the cover are successful, he enters into contracts with publishing houses, sometimes even for works that are not yet completed.
Balzac strives to describe the social history of his country, point out to readers the ills of society and ways to cure it.
Balzac works day and night, creating more and more new creations. But work does not interfere with his love interests. Balzac's new lover was married woman- Polish Countess Evelina Hanska. They were dedicated to her lovely Letters to a stranger. The Countess assured that immediately after the death of her husband, a Ukrainian landowner, they would be together. In 1841 this day came.
After some time, Balzac became seriously ill. His fatigue and his beloved’s indecisiveness only worsened the writer’s condition. Only in 1850 Ganskaya and Balzac were united in marriage. The writer lived five months of marriage with his beloved, and on August 18 of the same year, Ganskaya became a widow for the second time.
Works
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Biography, life story of Honore de Balzac
Honore de Balzac - famous French writer XIX century, one of the creators realistic direction in European literature.Origin
Honore de Balzac was born on May 20, 1799 in Tours, located near the Loire River. The daughter of a merchant from Paris gave birth to a boy. His father, Bernard Francois, was a simple peasant, however, he was able to become a fairly rich man thanks to his ability to trade.
Bernard was so successful in buying and then reselling land plots confiscated from nobles during the revolution that he was able to become a popular man. For some reason, Honore's father did not like the real name Balsa, and he changed it to Balzac. In addition, by paying officials a certain amount of money, he became the owner of the “de” particle. Since then, he began to be called more nobly, and by the sound of his first and last name he could well pass for a representative of the privileged class. However, in those days in France, many ambitious commoners who had at least some francs in their souls did this.
Bernard believed that without studying law, his son would forever remain the son of a peasant. Only advocacy, in his opinion, could somehow bring the young man closer to the circle of the elite.
Studies
In the period from 1807 to 1813, fulfilling the will of his father, Honore completed a course of study at the College of Vendôme, and in 1816-1819 he learned the basics of science at the Paris School of Law. The young Balzac did not forget about practice, performing the duties of a scribe for a notary.
At that time he firmly decided to devote himself literary creativity. Who knows, his dream could have come true if the father had paid more attention to his son. But the parents did not pay due attention to what young Honore lived and breathed. Father was busy own affairs, and his mother, who was 30 years younger than him, had a frivolous character and often found delight in the chambers of strange men.
It should be noted that the future famous writer I didn’t want to become a lawyer at all, so I studied at these institutions, overcoming myself. Moreover, he amused himself by mocking the teachers. Therefore, it is not surprising that the careless student was repeatedly locked in a punishment cell. At the College of Vendôme, he was generally left to his own devices, because there parents could visit their children only once a year.
CONTINUED BELOW
College is over for 14-year-old Honore serious illness. It is not known why this happened, but the administration of the institution insisted that Balzac immediately go home. The illness lasted for five long years, during which doctors, one and all, gave very disappointing prognoses. It seemed that recovery would never come, but a miracle happened.
In 1816, the family moved to the capital, and here the disease suddenly subsided.
The beginning of a creative journey
Beginning in 1823, young Balzac began to assert himself in literary circles. He published his first novels under fictitious names, and tried to write in the spirit of extreme romanticism. Such conditions were dictated by the fashion that prevailed in France at that time. Over time, Honore was skeptical about his attempts at writing. So much so that in the future I tried not to think about them at all.
In 1825, he tried not to write books, but to print them. Attempts with varying success lasted for three years, after which Balzac became completely disillusioned with the publishing business.
Writing craft
Honoré returned to creativity again, finishing work on historical novel"Chouans". By that time, the aspiring writer had such confidence in his abilities that he signed the work with his real name. Then everything went very smoothly, “Scenes of Private Life”, “Elixir of Longevity”, “Gobsek”, “ Shagreen leather" The last of these works is a philosophical novel.
Balzac worked from last bit of strength, spending 15 hours a day at a desk. The writer was forced to write to the limit of his capabilities, because he owed creditors a large sum money.
Honore needed considerable finances for various dubious enterprises. At first, cherishing the hope of buying a silver mine at a reasonable price, he rushed to Sardinia. Then he acquired a spacious estate in rural areas, the contents of which took a toll on the owner’s pockets. Finally established a couple periodicals, the release of which was not commercially successful.
However, such hard work brought him good dividends in the form of fame. Balzac published several books every year. Not every colleague could boast of such a result.
At the time when Balzac loudly declared himself in French literature(late 1820s), the direction of romanticism blossomed wildly. Many writers created the image of an adventurous or lonely hero. However, Balzac sought to move away from describing heroic individuals and focus on bourgeois society as a whole, which was the France of the July Monarchy. The writer depicted the life of representatives of almost all strata, from village workers and merchants to priests and aristocrats.
Marriage
Balzac visited Russia several times, in particular St. Petersburg. During one of his visits, fate brought him together with Evelina Ganskaya. The Countess belonged to a noble Polish family. A romance began, which ended in a wedding. The solemn event took place in the Church of St. Barbara in the city of Berdichev early in the morning, without outsiders.
Balzac's beloved had an estate in Verkhovna, a village located in Ukraine in the Zhitomir region. The couple settled there. Their love lasted almost 20 years, at the same time Balzac and Ganskaya often managed to live separately and not see each other for several years.
Balzac's hobbies
Previously, Balzac, despite his shy nature, awkward behavior and rather short stature, had many women. All of them could not resist Honore's energetic pressure. Partners young man It was mostly ladies who were much older than him.
As an example, we can recall the history of his relationship with 42-year-old Laura de Berni, who raised nine children. Balzac was 22 years younger, however, this did not stop him from achieving a mature woman. And this can be understood, because in this way he tried, albeit with great delay, to receive the portion of maternal affection due to each child. Those that he was deprived of as a child.
Death of a Writer
In the last years of his life, the writer was often ill. Apparently it made itself felt disdain to your own body. Balzac never sought to lead healthy image life.
Your last earthly refuge famous writer found at the famous Parisian cemetery Père Lachaise. Death occurred on August 18, 1850.
Honore de Balzac (born May 20, 1799, Tours - died August 18, 1850, Paris) - French writer. His real name was Honore Balzac, the particle “de” meaning belonging to a noble family, he began to use it around 1830.
French writer who recreated a complete picture of the social life of his time. Born May 20, 1799 in Tours; his relatives, peasants by origin, came from southern France (Languedoc). His father changed his original surname Balssa when he arrived in Paris in 1767 and began a long bureaucratic career there, which he continued in Tours from 1798, holding a number of administrative positions. The particle “de” was added to the name by his son Honore in 1830, claiming noble origin. Balzac spent six years (1806-1813) as a boarder at the College of Vendôme, completing his education in Tours and Paris, where the family returned in 1814. After working for three years (1816-1819) as a clerk in a judge's office, he convinced his parents to allow him to try his luck in literature . Between 1819 × 1824 Honoré published (under a pseudonym) half a dozen novels, written under the influence of J. J. Rousseau, W. Scott and “horror novels.” In collaboration with various literary hacks, he published many novels of an overtly commercial nature.
Architecture is an exponent of morals.
Balzac Honore de
In 1822, his relationship with forty-five-year-old Madame de Bernis began (d. 1836). The initially passionate feeling emotionally enriched him; later their relationship became platonic, and Lily in the Valley (Le Lys dans la vallée, 1835-1836) gave a highly ideal picture of this friendship.
An attempt to make a fortune in publishing and printing (1826-1828) involved Balzac in large debts. Turning again to writing, in 1829 he published the novel The Last Shuan (Le dernier Shouan; revised and published in 1834 under the title Les Chouans). This was the first book to be published under his own name, along with a humorous manual for husbands, The Physiology of Marriage (La Physiologie du mariage, 1829), it attracted public attention to the new author. Then the main work of his life began: in 1830 the first Scenes of Private Life (Scènes de la vie privée) appeared, with the undoubted masterpiece The House of a Cat Playing Ball (La Maison du chat qui pelote), in 1831 the first Philosophical Tales and Stories ( Contes philosophiques). For several more years, Balzac worked as a freelance journalist, but from 1830 to 1848 his main efforts were devoted to an extensive cycle of novels and stories known to the world as La Comédie humaine.
Balzac concluded the agreement to publish the first series of Etudes on Morals (Études de moeurs, 1833-1837) when many volumes (12 in total) were not yet completed or had just begun, since he used to first sell the finished work for publication in periodicals, then release it as a separate book and, finally, included in one or another collection. The sketches consisted of Scenes - private, provincial, Parisian, political, military and village life. Scenes of private life, devoted mainly to youth and its inherent problems, were not tied to specific circumstances and place; but the scenes of provincial, Parisian and village life were played out in a precisely defined environment, which is one of the most characteristic and original features of the Human Comedy.
In addition to his desire to depict the social history of France, Balzac intended to diagnose society and offer remedies to treat its ills. This goal is clearly felt throughout the cycle, but occupies a central place in the Philosophical Etudes (Études philosophiques), the first collection of which was published between 1835 × 1837. The Etudes on Morals were supposed to present “effects”, and the Philosophical Etudes were to identify “causes”. Balzac's philosophy is a curious combination of scientific materialism, theosophy of E. Swedenborg and other mystics, physiognomy of I. K. Lavater, phrenology of F. J. Gall, magnetism of F. A. Mesmer and occultism. All this was combined, sometimes in a very unconvincing way, with official Catholicism and political conservatism, in support of which Balzac openly spoke out. Two aspects of this philosophy are of particular importance to his work: first, a deep belief in "second sight", a mysterious property that gives its owner the ability to recognize or guess facts or events that he did not witness (Balzac considered himself extremely gifted in this attitude); secondly, based on the views of Mesmer, the concept of thought as a kind of “ethereal substance” or “fluid”. Thought consists of will and feeling, and a person projects it into the world around him, giving it more or less impulse. This gives rise to the idea of the destructive power of thought: it contains vital energy, the accelerated waste of which brings death closer. This is clearly illustrated by the magical symbolism of Shagreen Skin (La Peau de chagrin, 1831).
The third main section of the cycle was supposed to be Analytical Etudes (Études analytiques), devoted to “principles,” but Balzac never made clear his intentions in this regard; in fact, he completed only two volumes from the series of these Etudes: the half-serious, half-joking Physiology of Marriage and Petites misères de la vie conjugale, 1845-1846.
Balzac defined the main contours of his ambitious plan in the fall of 1834 and then consistently filled in the cells of the intended scheme. Allowing himself to be distracted, he wrote, in imitation of Rabelais, a series of funny, albeit obscene, “medieval” stories called Mischievous Stories (Contes drolatiques, 1832-1837), which were not included in the Human Comedy. A title for the ever-expanding cycle was found in 1840 or 1841, and a new edition, first bearing this title, began to appear in 1842. It retained the same principle of division as in the Études 1833-1837, but Balzac added to it a "preface" ", in which he explained his goals. The so-called "definitive edition" of 1869-1876 included Mischievous Stories, Theater (Théâtre) and a number of letters.
Nobility of feelings is not always accompanied by nobility of manners.
Balzac Honore de
There is no consensus in criticism as to how accurately the writer managed to portray the French aristocracy, although he himself was proud of his knowledge of the world. Having little interest in artisans and factory workers, he achieved, by all accounts, the highest persuasiveness in his descriptions of various representatives of the middle class: office workers - Officials (Les Employés), judicial clerks and lawyers - The Case of Guardianship (L'Interdiction, 1836), Colonel Chabet (Le Colonel Chabert, 1832); financiers - Nucingen Banking House (La Maison Nucingen, 1838); journalists - Lost illusions (Illusions perdues, 1837-1843); small manufacturers and merchants - History of the greatness and fall of Cesar Birotteau (Histoire de la grandeur et decadence de César Birotteau, 1837). Among the Scenes of Private Life dedicated to feelings and passions, the Abandoned Woman (La Femme abandonnée), The Thirty-Year-Old Woman (La Femme de trente ans, 1831-1834), and The Daughter of Eve (Une Fille d’Ève, 1838) stand out. In Scenes of Provincial Life, not only the atmosphere of small towns is recreated, but also the painful “storms in a glass of water” are depicted that disrupt the peaceful flow of everyday life - The Priest of Tours (Le Curé de Tours, 1832), Eugénie Grandet (1833), Pierrette (Pierrette, 1840). The novels Ursule Mirouët and La Rabouilleuse (1841-1842) depict violent family feuds over inheritance. But the human community appears even darker in Scenes of Parisian Life. Balzac loved Paris and did a lot to preserve the memory of the now forgotten streets and corners of the French capital. At the same time, he considered this city a hellish abyss and compared the “struggle for life” taking place here with wars on the prairies, as one of his favorite authors, F. Cooper, depicted them in his novels. The most interesting of the Scenes of Political Life is the Dark Affair (Une Ténébreuse Affaire, 1841), where the figure of Napoleon appears for a moment. Scenes of military life (Scènes de la vie militaire) include only two works: the novel by Chouan and the story Passion in the Desert (Une Passion dans le désert, 1830) - Balzac intended to significantly supplement them. Scenes of village life (Scènes de la vie de campagne) are generally devoted to the description of the dark and predatory peasantry, although in such novels as the Country Doctor (Le Médecin de campagne, 1833) and the Country Priest (Le Curé de village, 1839), a significant place devoted to the presentation of political, economic and religious views.
(1799 - 1850)
French novelist, considered the father of the naturalistic novel. Honore de Balzac was born on May 20, 1799 in the city of Tours (France). Honore de Balzac's father, Bernard François Balssa (some sources indicate Vals's surname), is a peasant who became rich during the revolution by buying and selling confiscated noble lands, and later became an assistant to the mayor of Tours.
Having entered the service in the military supply department and finding himself among officials, he changed his “native” surname, considering it plebeian. At the turn of the 1830s. Honore, in turn, also modified his surname, arbitrarily adding the noble particle “de” to it, justifying this with the fiction of his origins from the noble family of Balzac d’Entregues. Honore Balzac’s mother was 30 years younger than his father, which, in part, was the reason for her betrayal: by her father younger brother Honore - Henri - was the owner of the castle.
In 1807-1813, Honore studied at the college of Vendôme; in 1816-1819 - at the Paris School of Law, while serving as a clerk in a notary's office. The father sought to prepare his son for lawyering, but Honoré decided to become a poet. At the family council, it was decided to give him two years to fulfill his dream. Honore de Balzac writes the drama "Cromwell", but the newly convened family council recognizes the work as worthless and the young man is denied financial assistance. This was followed by a period of material adversity.
Literary career Balzac's work began around 1820, when he began publishing action-packed novels under various pseudonyms and composing morally descriptive "codes" of secular behavior. Later, some of the first novels were published under the pseudonym Horace de Saint-Aubin. The period of anonymous creativity ended in 1829 after the publication of the novel “Chouans, or Brittany in 1799.” Honore de Balzac called the novel “Shagreen Skin” (1830) the “starting point” of his work. From 1830 under common name"Scenes of Private Life" began to publish short stories from contemporary French life.
In 1834 the writer decides to connect common heroes already written since 1829 and future works, combining them into an epic later called “The Human Comedy” (La comedie humaine). Your main literary teachers Honoré de Balzac considered Molière, François Rabelais and Walter Scott. Twice the novelist tried to do political career, nominating his candidacy for the Chamber of Deputies in 1832 and 1848, but failed both times. In January 1849, he also failed in the elections to the French Academy.
In 1832, Balzac began corresponding with the Polish aristocrat E. Hanska, who lived in Russia. In 1843, the writer went to visit her in St. Petersburg, and in 1847 and 1848 - to Ukraine. The official marriage with E. Ganskaya was concluded 5 months before the death of Honore de Balzac, who died on August 18, 1850 in Paris. In 1858, the writer's sister, Madame Surville, wrote his biography - "Balzac, sa vie et ses oеuvres d"apres sa correspondance". Authors: biographical books about Balzac were Stefan Zweig (“Balzac”), Andre Maurois (“Prometheus, or the Life of Balzac”), Wurmser (“Inhuman Comedy”).
Among the works of Honore de Balzac are stories, novellas, philosophical studies, novellas, novels, plays (5 plays were published); About 90 works made up the epic “The Human Comedy” (La comedie humaine). The number of characters in the works of the novelist reached four thousand.
