). Balzac's father made a fortune by buying and selling confiscated noble lands during the years of the revolution, and later became assistant to the mayor of the city of Tours. Has no relation to the French writer Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (1597-1654). Honore's father changed his surname and became Balzac, and later bought himself a de particle. Mother Anna-Charlotte-Laura Salambier (1778-1853) was much younger than her husband and even outlived her son. She came from a family of a Parisian cloth merchant.
The father prepared his son for advocacy. In -1813, Balzac studied at the College of Vendôme, in - - at the Paris School of Law, at the same time he worked for a notary as a scribe; however, he abandoned his legal career and devoted himself to literature. Parents did little for their son. He was placed at the College Vendôme against his will. Meetings with relatives there were forbidden all year round, with the exception of the Christmas holidays. During the first years of his studies, he repeatedly had to be in a punishment cell. In the fourth grade, Honore began to come to terms with school life, but he did not stop mocking teachers ... At the age of 14, he fell ill, and his parents took him home at the request of the college authorities. For five years, Balzac was seriously ill, it was believed that there was no hope of recovery, but soon after the family moved to Paris in 1816, he recovered.
The director of the school, Maréchal-Duplessis, wrote in his memoirs about Balzac: "Starting from the fourth grade, his desk was always full of writings ...". Honore was fond of reading from an early age, he was especially attracted by the work of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Holbach, Helvetius and other French enlighteners. He also tried to write poetry and plays, but his childhood manuscripts have not been preserved. His essay "Treatise on the Will" was taken away by the teacher and burned before his eyes. Later, the writer will describe his childhood years in an educational institution in the novels Louis Lambert, Lily in the Valley and others.
His hope of getting rich had not yet materialized (heavy debt is the result of his unsuccessful business ventures) when fame began to come to him. Meanwhile, he continued to lead a diligent working life, working at his desk for 15-16 hours a day, and annually publishing three, four and even five, six books.
In the works created in the first five or six years of his writing activity, the most diverse areas of contemporary French life are depicted: the village, the provinces, Paris; various social groups: merchants, aristocracy, clergy; various social institutions: family, state, army.
He was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor (1845).
He died of gangrene, which developed after he cut his leg on the corner of the bed. However, the fatal illness was only a complication of several years of excruciating ailment associated with the destruction of blood vessels, presumably arteritis.
He was buried in Paris at the Père Lachaise cemetery. " All the writers of France came out to bury him". From the chapel where he was bid farewell to the church where he was buried, the pallbearers included Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.
Composition of The Human Comedy
Balzac departs both from the novel of personality and from the historical novel of Walter Scott. He aims to show the "individualized type". In the center of his creative attention, according to a number of Soviet literary critics, is not a heroic or outstanding personality, but modern bourgeois society, the France of the July Monarchy.
"Studies on Morals" unfold the picture of France, paint the life of all classes, all social conditions, all social institutions. Their leitmotif is the victory of the financial bourgeoisie over the landed and tribal aristocracy, the strengthening of the role and prestige of wealth, and the weakening or disappearance of many traditional ethical and moral principles associated with this.
Honore de Balzac in the Russian Empire
Balzac's work found its recognition in Russia during the life of the writer. Much was published in separate editions, as well as in Moscow and St. Petersburg magazines, almost immediately after the Paris publications - during the 1830s. However, some works were banned.
The first collected works of Balzac in Russian, in twenty volumes, were published in 1896-1899.
Honore de Balzac and Evelina Ganskaya
In 1832, Balzac met in absentia with Evelina Ganskaya, who entered into correspondence with the writer without revealing her name. Balzac met with Evelina in Neuchâtel, where she arrived with her husband, the owner of vast estates in Ukraine, Wenceslas of Gansky. In 1842, Wenceslas Gansky died, but his widow, despite many years of romance with Balzac, did not marry him, because she wanted to pass on the inheritance of her husband to her only daughter (having married a foreigner, Ganskaya would have lost her fortune). In 1847-1850, Balzac stayed at the estate of Ganskaya Verkhovnya (now a village in the Ruzhinsky district of the Zhytomyr region, Ukraine). Balzac married Evelina Hanska on March 2, 1850 in the city of Berdichev, in the church of St. Barbara, after the wedding, the couple left for Paris. Immediately upon arrival home, Balzac fell ill, and Evelina looked after her husband until her last days.
In the unfinished "Letter about Kyiv", private letters left mention of his stay in the Ukrainian towns of Brody, Radzivilov, Dubno, Vyshnevets and others. Kyiv visited in 1847, 1848 and 1850.
Memory
CinemaFeature films and television series have been made about the life and work of Balzac, including:
- - "Mistake of Honore de Balzac", USSR, director Timofey Levchuk.
- - "Balzac's Great Love", Poland-France, director Wojciech Solyazh.
- - "Balzac", France-Italy-Germany, directed by Jose Diane.
Museums
There are several museums dedicated to the writer's work, including in Russia. In France, there is a house-museum in Paris and the Balzac Museum in the Chateau Sachet of the Loire Valley.
Philately and numismatics
- In honor of Balzac, postage stamps from many countries of the world were issued.
Collected works
- Oeuvres complètes, 24 vv., P., - , Correspondence, 2 vv., P.,
- Letters à l'Étrangère, 2 vv.; P.,-
- Sobr. cit., vols. 1-24. - M.,;
Artworks
Novels
- Beatrice (1839)
- Balamutka (1842) / La Rabouilleuse (fr.) / Black sheep (en) / alternative titles: Black Sheep / Bachelor's Life
- Lost Illusions (I, 1837; II, 1839; III, 1843)
- Peasants (1844)
Novels and stories
- Marriage Contract (1830)
- Goodbye! (1830)
- Country Ball (1830)
- Marital Consent (1830)
- Sarrazin (1830)
- Red Inn (1831)
- The abandoned woman (1832)
- Belle of the Empire (1834)
- Involuntary Sin (1834)
- The Devil's Heir (1834)
- The constable's wife (1834)
- Shout of salvation (1834)
- Witch (1834)
- The Perseverance of Love (1834)
- Bertha's Remorse (1834)
- Naivete (1834)
- The Marriage of the Belle of the Empire (1834)
- Forgiven Melmoth (1835)
- Mass of the Godless (1836)
- Pierre Grasse (1840)
- The Imaginary Mistress (1841)
Screen adaptations
- Colonel Chabert (Le Colonel Chabert, 1994, France)
- Honoré de Balzac's Mistake (USSR, 1968)
- Balzac's Big Love - Polish-French television series, 1973
- Do not touch the ax (France-Italy,), based on the story "The Duchess de Lange"
see also
- Bernard, Charles de - friend and student of Balzac.
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Notes
Literature
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- // Encyclopedic Lexicon: In 17 vols. - St. Petersburg. : Type. A. Plushara, 1835. - T. IV: B-BAR. - S. 177.
- Dezhurov A.S. Artistic world of O. de Balzac (based on the novel "Father Goriot") // Foreign literature of the XIX century. Workshop for students, graduate students, philologists and high school students of humanitarian schools. - M., . - S. 278-303.
- Morois A. Prometheus, or the life of Balzac. - M., 1967.
- Oblomievsky D. D. The main stages of the creative path of Balzac. - M., 1957.
- Reizov B. G. Balzac. - L., 1960;
- Cyprio P. Balzac without a mask. - M.: Young Guard. (Series "ZhZL"). - 2003. - ISBN 5-235-02516-4.
- Sukhotin P.S. Balzac - 1934. - 368 p. (Series "ZhZL").
- Chernyshevsky N. G. // Chernyshevsky N. G. Complete works: in 15 volumes - M., 1947. - V. 3. - pp. 369–386.
- Zweig, S., Balzac, 2nd ed. - M., 1962;
The article is based on materials from the Literary Encyclopedia 1929-1939. The article uses the text of Isaac Nusinov , which has passed into the public domain .
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An excerpt characterizing Balzac, Honore de
- Where is he? she asked again, addressing everyone.“He’s downstairs, Natasha is with him,” answered Sonya, blushing. - Let's go find out. I think you are tired, princess?
The princess had tears of annoyance in her eyes. She turned away and wanted to ask the countess again where to go to him, when light, swift, as if cheerful steps were heard at the door. The princess looked round and saw Natasha almost running in, the same Natasha whom she did not like so much on that old meeting in Moscow.
But before the princess had time to look at the face of this Natasha, she realized that this was her sincere comrade in grief, and therefore her friend. She rushed to meet her and, embracing her, wept on her shoulder.
As soon as Natasha, who was sitting at the head of Prince Andrei, found out about the arrival of Princess Marya, she quietly left his room with those quick, as it seemed to Princess Marya, as if with cheerful steps, and ran to her.
On her excited face, when she ran into the room, there was only one expression - an expression of love, boundless love for him, for her, for everything that was close to a loved one, an expression of pity, suffering for others and a passionate desire to give herself all for in order to help them. It was evident that at that moment not a single thought about herself, about her relationship to him, was in Natasha's soul.
The sensitive Princess Marya, at the first glance at Natasha's face, understood all this and wept on her shoulder with sorrowful pleasure.
“Come on, let’s go to him, Marie,” Natasha said, taking her to another room.
Princess Mary raised her face, wiped her eyes, and turned to Natasha. She felt that she would understand and learn everything from her.
“What…” she began to question, but suddenly stopped. She felt that words could neither ask nor answer. Natasha's face and eyes should have said everything more clearly and deeply.
Natasha looked at her, but seemed to be in fear and doubt - to say or not to say everything that she knew; she seemed to feel that before those radiant eyes, penetrating into the very depths of her heart, it was impossible not to tell the whole, the whole truth as she saw it. Natasha's lip suddenly trembled, ugly wrinkles formed around her mouth, and she, sobbing, covered her face with her hands.
Princess Mary understood everything.
But she still hoped and asked in words in which she did not believe:
But how is his wound? In general, what position is he in?
“You, you ... will see,” Natasha could only say.
They sat for some time downstairs near his room in order to stop crying and come in to him with calm faces.
- How was the illness? Has he gotten worse? When did it happen? asked Princess Mary.
Natasha said that at first there was a danger from a feverish state and from suffering, but in the Trinity this passed, and the doctor was afraid of one thing - Antonov's fire. But that danger was over. When we arrived in Yaroslavl, the wound began to fester (Natasha knew everything about suppuration, etc.), and the doctor said that suppuration could go right. There was a fever. The doctor said that this fever was not so dangerous.
“But two days ago,” Natasha began, “suddenly it happened ...” She restrained her sobs. “I don't know why, but you'll see what he's become.
- Weakened? lost weight? .. - the princess asked.
No, not that, but worse. You will see. Ah, Marie, Marie, he's too good, he can't, can't live... because...
When Natasha opened his door with a habitual movement, letting the princess pass in front of her, Princess Marya already felt ready sobs in her throat. No matter how much she prepared herself, or tried to calm down, she knew that she would not be able to see him without tears.
Princess Mary understood what Natasha meant in words: it happened to him two days ago. She understood that this meant that he suddenly softened, and that softening, tenderness, these were signs of death. As she approached the door, she already saw in her imagination that face of Andryusha, which she had known since childhood, tender, meek, tender, which he had so rarely seen and therefore always had such a strong effect on her. She knew that he would say to her quiet, tender words, like those that her father had said to her before his death, and that she could not bear it and burst into tears over him. But, sooner or later, it had to be, and she entered the room. Sobs came closer and closer to her throat, while with her short-sighted eyes she more and more clearly distinguished his form and searched for his features, and now she saw his face and met his gaze.
He was lying on the sofa, padded with pillows, in a squirrel-fur robe. He was thin and pale. One thin, transparently white hand held a handkerchief, with the other, with quiet movements of his fingers, he touched his thin overgrown mustache. His eyes were on those who entered.
Seeing his face and meeting his gaze, Princess Mary suddenly slowed down the speed of her step and felt that her tears had suddenly dried up and her sobs had stopped. Catching the expression on his face and eyes, she suddenly became shy and felt guilty.
“Yes, what am I guilty of?” she asked herself. “In the fact that you live and think about the living, and I! ..” answered his cold, stern look.
There was almost hostility in the deep, not out of himself, but looking into himself look, when he slowly looked around at his sister and Natasha.
He kissed his sister hand in hand, as was their custom.
Hello Marie, how did you get there? he said in a voice as even and alien as his eyes were. If he had squealed with a desperate cry, then this cry would have horrified Princess Marya less than the sound of this voice.
“And did you bring Nikolushka?” he said, also evenly and slowly, and with an obvious effort of recollection.
- How is your health now? - said Princess Marya, herself surprised at what she said.
“That, my friend, you need to ask the doctor,” he said, and, apparently making another effort to be affectionate, he said with one mouth (it was clear that he did not think at all what he was saying): “Merci, chere amie , d "etre venue. [Thank you, dear friend, for coming.]
Princess Mary shook his hand. He winced slightly as he shook her hand. He was silent and she didn't know what to say. She understood what had happened to him in two days. In his words, in his tone, and especially in that cold, almost hostile look, one could feel an estrangement from everything worldly, terrible for a living person. He apparently had difficulty understanding now all living things; but at the same time it was felt that he did not understand the living, not because he was deprived of the power of understanding, but because he understood something else, something that the living did not understand and could not understand and that swallowed him up.
- Yes, that's how strange fate brought us together! he said, breaking the silence and pointing to Natasha. - She keeps following me.
Princess Mary listened and did not understand what he was saying. He, sensitive, gentle Prince Andrei, how could he say this in front of the one he loved and who loved him! If he had thought to live, he would not have said it in such a coldly insulting tone. If he did not know that he was going to die, how could he not feel sorry for her, how could he say this in front of her! There could only be one explanation for this, that it was all the same to him, and all the same because something else, something more important, had been revealed to him.
The conversation was cold, incoherent, and interrupted incessantly.
“Marie passed through Ryazan,” said Natasha. Prince Andrei did not notice that she called his sister Marie. And Natasha, calling her that in his presence, noticed this for the first time.
- Well, what? - he said.
- She was told that Moscow was all burned down, completely, as if ...
Natasha stopped: it was impossible to speak. He obviously made an effort to listen, and yet he couldn't.
“Yes, it burned down, they say,” he said. “It’s very pitiful,” and he began to look ahead, absentmindedly smoothing his mustache with his fingers.
“Have you met Count Nikolai, Marie?” - said Prince Andrei suddenly, apparently wanting to please them. “He wrote here that he was very fond of you,” he continued simply, calmly, apparently unable to understand all the complex meaning that his words had for living people. “If you fell in love with him too, it would be very good ... for you to get married,” he added a little more quickly, as if delighted with the words that he had been looking for a long time and found at last. Princess Marya heard his words, but they had no other meaning for her, except that they proved how terribly far he was now from all living things.
- What can I say about me! she said calmly and looked at Natasha. Natasha, feeling her gaze on her, did not look at her. Again everyone was silent.
“Andre, do you want ...” Princess Mary suddenly said in a trembling voice, “do you want to see Nikolushka?” He always thought of you.
Prince Andrey smiled slightly perceptibly for the first time, but Princess Marya, who knew his face so well, realized with horror that it was not a smile of joy, not tenderness for her son, but a quiet, meek mockery of what Princess Mary used, in her opinion. , the last resort to bring him to his senses.
– Yes, I am very glad to Nikolushka. He is healthy?
When they brought Nikolushka to Prince Andrei, who looked frightened at his father, but did not cry, because no one was crying, Prince Andrei kissed him and, obviously, did not know what to say to him.
When Nikolushka was taken away, Princess Marya went up to her brother again, kissed him, and, unable to restrain herself any longer, began to cry.
He looked at her intently.
Are you talking about Nikolushka? - he said.
Princess Mary, weeping, bowed her head affirmatively.
“Marie, you know Evan…” but he suddenly fell silent.
- What are you saying?
- Nothing. There is no need to cry here,” he said, looking at her with the same cold look.
When Princess Mary began to cry, he realized that she was crying that Nikolushka would be left without a father. With great effort on himself, he tried to go back to life and transferred himself to their point of view.
“Yes, they must feel sorry for it! he thought. “How easy it is!”
“The birds of the air neither sow nor reap, but your father feeds them,” he said to himself and wanted to say the same to the princess. “But no, they will understand it in their own way, they will not understand! They cannot understand this, that all these feelings that they value are all ours, all these thoughts that seem so important to us that they are not needed. We can't understand each other." And he was silent.
The little son of Prince Andrei was seven years old. He could hardly read, he knew nothing. He experienced a lot after that day, acquiring knowledge, observation, experience; but if he had then mastered all these later acquired abilities, he could not have better, deeper understood the full significance of the scene that he saw between his father, Princess Mary and Natasha than he understood it now. He understood everything and, without crying, left the room, silently went up to Natasha, who followed him, looked shyly at her with beautiful, thoughtful eyes; his upturned ruddy upper lip quivered, he leaned his head against it and wept.
From that day on, he avoided Desalles, avoided the countess who caressed him, and either sat alone or timidly approached Princess Mary and Natasha, whom he seemed to love even more than his aunt, and softly and shyly caressed them.
Princess Mary, leaving Prince Andrei, fully understood everything that Natasha's face told her. She no longer spoke to Natasha about the hope of saving his life. She took turns with her at his sofa and wept no more, but prayed incessantly, turning her soul to that eternal, incomprehensible, whose presence was now so palpable over the dying man.
Prince Andrei not only knew that he would die, but he felt that he was dying, that he was already half dead. He experienced a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being. He, without haste and without anxiety, expected what lay ahead of him. That formidable, eternal, unknown and distant, the presence of which he had not ceased to feel throughout his life, was now close to him and - by that strange lightness of being that he experienced - almost understandable and felt.
Before, he was afraid of the end. He twice experienced this terrible tormenting feeling of fear of death, the end, and now he no longer understood it.
The first time he experienced this feeling was when a grenade was spinning like a top in front of him and he looked at the stubble, at the bushes, at the sky and knew that death was in front of him. When he woke up after the wound and in his soul, instantly, as if freed from the oppression of life that held him back, this flower of love blossomed, eternal, free, not dependent on this life, he no longer feared death and did not think about it.
The more he, in those hours of suffering solitude and semi-delusion that he spent after his wound, thought about the new beginning of eternal love revealed to him, the more he, without feeling it, renounced earthly life. Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not to love anyone, meant not to live this earthly life. And the more he was imbued with this beginning of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he destroyed that terrible barrier that, without love, stands between life and death. When, this first time, he remembered that he had to die, he said to himself: well, so much the better.
But after that night in Mytishchi, when the woman he desired appeared before him half-delirious, and when he, pressing her hand to his lips, wept quiet, joyful tears, love for one woman crept imperceptibly into his heart and again tied him to life. And joyful and disturbing thoughts began to come to him. Remembering that moment at the dressing station when he saw Kuragin, he now could not return to that feeling: he was tormented by the question of whether he was alive? And he didn't dare to ask.
His illness followed its own physical order, but what Natasha called it happened to him, happened to him two days before Princess Mary's arrival. It was that last moral struggle between life and death in which death triumphed. It was an unexpected realization that he still cherished life, which seemed to him in love for Natasha, and the last, subdued fit of horror before the unknown.
It was in the evening. He was, as usual after dinner, in a slight feverish state, and his thoughts were extremely clear. Sonya was sitting at the table. He dozed off. Suddenly a feeling of happiness swept over him.
“Ah, she came in!” he thought.
Indeed, Natasha, who had just entered with inaudible steps, was sitting in Sonya's place.
Ever since she'd followed him, he'd always had that physical sensation of her closeness. She was sitting on an armchair, sideways to him, blocking the light of the candle from him, and knitting a stocking. (She had learned to knit stockings ever since Prince Andrei had told her that no one knows how to look after the sick as well as old nannies who knit stockings, and that there is something soothing in knitting a stocking.) Her thin fingers quickly fingered from time to time spokes colliding, and the thoughtful profile of her lowered face was clearly visible to him. She made a move - the ball rolled from her knees. She shuddered, looked back at him, and shielding the candle with her hand, with a careful, flexible and precise movement, bent over, picked up the ball and sat down in her former position.
He looked at her without moving, and saw that after her movement she needed to take a deep breath, but she did not dare to do this and carefully caught her breath.
In the Trinity Lavra they talked about the past, and he told her that if he were alive, he would thank God forever for his wound, which brought him back to her; but since then they have never talked about the future.
“Could it or couldn’t it be? he thought now, looking at her and listening to the light steely sound of the spokes. “Is it really only then that fate brought me so strangely together with her in order for me to die? .. Was it possible that the truth of life was revealed to me only so that I would live in a lie?” I love her more than anything in the world. But what should I do if I love her? he said, and he suddenly groaned involuntarily, out of a habit he had acquired during his suffering.
Hearing this sound, Natasha put down her stocking, leaned closer to him, and suddenly, noticing his luminous eyes, went up to him with a light step and bent down.
- You are not asleep?
- No, I have been looking at you for a long time; I felt when you entered. Nobody like you, but gives me that soft silence... that light. I just want to cry with joy.
Natasha moved closer to him. Her face shone with ecstatic joy.
“Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything else.
- And I? She turned away for a moment. - Why too much? - she said.
- Why too much? .. Well, what do you think, how do you feel to your heart, to your heart's content, will I be alive? What do you think?
- I'm sure, I'm sure! - Natasha almost screamed, passionately taking him by both hands.
Honore de Balzac, French writer, "the father of the modern European novel", was born on May 20, 1799 in the city of Tours. His parents did not have a noble origin: his father came from peasants with a good commercial streak, and later changed his surname from Balsa to Balzac. The particle "de", indicating belonging to the nobility, is also a later acquisition of this family.
The ambitious father saw his son as a lawyer, and in 1807 the boy, against his will, was sent to Vendôme College, an educational institution with very strict rules. The first years of study turned into a real torment for young Balzac, he was a regular in the punishment cell, then he gradually got used to it, and his internal protest resulted in parodies of teachers. Soon, the teenager was overtaken by a serious illness, which forced him to leave the college in 1813. The forecasts were the most pessimistic, but five years later the disease receded, allowing Balzac to continue his education.
From 1816 to 1819, while living with his parents in Paris, he worked as a clerk in a judicial office and at the same time studied at the Paris School of Law, but did not want to associate his future with jurisprudence. Balzac managed to convince his father and mother that a literary career was exactly what he needed, and from 1819 he took up writing. In the period up to 1824, the novice author published under pseudonyms, giving out, one after another, frankly opportunistic novels that did not have great artistic value, which he himself later defined as “real literary disgusting”, trying to recall as rarely as possible.
The next stage in the biography of Balzac (1825-1828) was associated with publishing and printing activities. His hopes to get rich did not materialize, moreover, huge debts appeared, which forced the failed publisher to pick up the pen again. In 1829, the reading public learned about the existence of the writer Honore de Balzac: the first novel, Chouans, signed by his real name, was published, and in the same year it was followed by The Physiology of Marriage (1829) - a manual written with humor for married people men. Both works did not go unnoticed, and the novel "The Elixir of Longevity" (1830-1831), the story "Gobsek" (1830) caused quite a wide response. 1830, the publication of "Scenes of Private Life" can be considered the beginning of work on the main literary work - a cycle of stories and novels called "The Human Comedy".
For several years the writer worked as a freelance journalist, but his main thoughts until 1848 were devoted to composing works for the "Human Comedy", which included a total of about a hundred works. Schematic features of a large-scale canvas depicting the life of all social strata of contemporary France, Balzac worked in 1834. The name for the cycle, which was replenished with more and more new works, he came up with in 1840 or 1841, and in 1842 the next edition came out already with new heading. Fame and honor outside the homeland came to Balzac during his lifetime, but he did not think to rest on his laurels, especially since the amount of debt left after the failure of publishing was very impressive. The tireless novelist, correcting the work once again, could significantly change the text, completely reshape the composition.
Despite the intense activity, he found time for secular entertainment, trips, including abroad, did not ignore earthly pleasures. In 1832 or 1833 he began an affair with Evelina Hanska, a Polish countess, who at that time was not free. Beloved gave Balzac a promise to marry him when she became a widow, but after 1841, when her husband died, she was in no hurry to keep him. Mental anguish, impending illness and great fatigue caused by many years of intense activity made the last years of Balzac's biography not the happiest. His wedding with Hanska nevertheless took place - in March 1850, but in August, Paris, and then the whole of Europe, spread the news of the writer's death.
Balzac's creative heritage is huge and multifaceted, his talent as a narrator, realistic descriptions, ability to create dramatic intrigue, convey the most subtle impulses of the human soul, put him among the greatest prose writers of the century. Both E. Zola, M. Proust, G. Flaubert, F. Dostoevsky, and prose writers of the 20th century experienced his influence.
Biography from Wikipedia
Honore de Balzac Born in Tours in the family of a peasant from Languedoc Bernard Francois Balssa (Balssa) (06/22/1746-06/19/1829). Balzac's father made a fortune by buying and selling confiscated noble lands during the years of the revolution, and later became assistant to the mayor of the city of Tours. Has no relation to the French writer Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (1597-1654). Father Honore changed his surname and became Balzac. Mother Anna-Charlotte-Laura Salambier (1778-1853) was much younger than her husband and even outlived her son. She came from a family of a Parisian cloth merchant.
The father prepared his son for advocacy. In 1807-1813, Balzac studied at the College of Vendome, in 1816-1819 - at the Paris School of Law, at the same time he worked as a scribe for a notary; however, he abandoned his legal career and devoted himself to literature. Parents did little for their son. He was placed at the College Vendôme against his will. Meetings with relatives there were forbidden all year round, with the exception of the Christmas holidays. During the first years of his studies, he repeatedly had to be in a punishment cell. In the fourth grade, Honore began to come to terms with school life, but he did not stop mocking teachers ... At the age of 14, he fell ill, and his parents took him home at the request of the college authorities. For five years, Balzac was seriously ill, it was believed that there was no hope of recovery, but soon after the family moved to Paris in 1816, he recovered.
The director of the school, Maréchal-Duplessis, wrote in his memoirs about Balzac: "Starting from the fourth grade, his desk was always full of writings ...". Honoré was fond of reading from an early age, he was especially attracted by the work of Montesquieu, Holbach, Helvetius and other French enlighteners. He also tried to write poetry and plays, but his childhood manuscripts have not been preserved. His essay "Treatise on the Will" was taken away by the teacher and burned before his eyes. Later, the writer will describe his childhood years in an educational institution in the novels “Louis Lambert”, “Lily in the Valley” and others.
After 1823, he published several novels under various pseudonyms in the spirit of "violent romanticism". Balzac strove to follow the literary fashion, and later he himself called these literary experiments "real literary disgust" and preferred not to think about them. In 1825-1828 he tried to engage in publishing activities, but failed.
In 1829, the first book signed with the name "Balzac" was published - the historical novel "Chuans" (Les Chouans). The formation of Balzac as a writer was influenced by the historical novels of Walter Scott. Balzac's subsequent works: "Scenes of Private Life" (Scènes de la vie privée, 1830), the novel "The Elixir of Longevity" (L "Élixir de longue vie, 1830-1831, a variation on the themes of the legend of Don Juan); the story "Gobsek" ( Gobseck, 1830) attracted the attention of the reader and critics.In 1831, Balzac published his philosophical novel La Peau de chagrin and began the novel La femme de trente ans (La femme de trente ans). stories "(Contes drolatiques, 1832-1837) - an ironic stylization of Renaissance novelistics. In part autobiographical novel" Louis Lambert "(Louis Lambert, 1832) and especially in the later" Seraphite "(Séraphîta, 1835) reflected Balzac's fascination with the mystical concepts of E Swedenborg and Cl. de Saint-Martin.
His hope of getting rich had not yet materialized (heavy debt is the result of his unsuccessful business ventures) when fame began to come to him. Meanwhile, he continued to work hard, working at his desk for 15-16 hours a day, and annually publishing 3 to 6 books.
In the works created during the first five or six years of his writing activity, the most diverse areas of contemporary French life are depicted: the village, the province, Paris; various social groups - merchants, aristocracy, clergy; various social institutions - family, state, army.
In 1845, the writer was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.
Honore de Balzac died on August 18, 1850, at the age of 52. The cause of death is gangrene, which developed after he injured his leg on the corner of the bed. However, the fatal disease was only a complication of several years of excruciating ailment associated with the destruction of blood vessels, presumably arteritis.
Balzac was buried in Paris, at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. " All the writers of France came out to bury him". From the chapel where he was said goodbye to the church where he was buried, among the people carrying the coffin were Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.
Balzac and Evelina Ganskaya
In 1832, Balzac met Evelina Ganskaya in absentia, who entered into correspondence with the writer without revealing her name. Balzac met with Evelina in Neuchâtel, where she arrived with her husband, the owner of vast estates in Ukraine, Wenceslas of Gansky. In 1842, Wenceslas Gansky died, but his widow, despite many years of romance with Balzac, did not marry him, because she wanted to pass on the inheritance of her husband to her only daughter (having married a foreigner, Ganskaya would have lost her fortune). In 1847-1850, Balzac stayed at the estate of Ganskaya Verkhovnya (in the village of the same name in the Ruzhinsky district of the Zhytomyr region, Ukraine). Balzac married Evelina Hanska on March 2, 1850 in the city of Berdichev, in the church of St. Barbara, after the wedding the couple left for Paris. Immediately upon arrival home, the writer fell ill, and Evelina looked after her husband until his last days.
In the unfinished "Letter about Kyiv" and private letters, Balzac left mention of his stay in the Ukrainian towns of Brody, Radzivilov, Dubno, Vyshnevets visited Kyiv in 1847, 1848 and 1850.
Creation
Composition of The Human Comedy
In 1831, Balzac had the idea to create a multi-volume work - a "picture of manners" of his time - a huge work, later entitled by him "The Human Comedy". According to Balzac, The Human Comedy was supposed to be the artistic history and artistic philosophy of France - as it developed after the revolution. Balzac worked on this work throughout his later life; he includes in it the majority of already written works, specially for this purpose he reworks them. The cycle consists of three parts:
- "Etudes on Morals"
- "Philosophical Studies"
- "Analytical Studies".
The most extensive is the first part - "Etudes on Morals", which includes:
"Scenes of Private Life"
- "Gobsek" (1830),
- "Thirty-year-old woman" (1829-1842),
- "Colonel Chabert" (1844),
- "Father Goriot" (1834-35)
"Scenes of Provincial Life"
- "Turkish priest" ( Le curé de Tours, 1832),
- Evgenia Grande "( Eugenie Grandet, 1833),
- "Lost Illusions" (1837-43)
"Scenes of Parisian Life"
- trilogy "The Story of Thirteen" ( L'Histoire des Treize, 1834),
- "Caesar Birotto" ( Cesar Birotteau, 1837),
- Nucingen Banking House ( La Maison Nucingen, 1838),
- "Shine and poverty of courtesans" (1838-1847),
- "Sarrasin" (1830)
"Scenes of Political Life"
- "A case from the time of terror" (1842)
"Scenes of military life"
- "Chuans" (1829),
- "Passion in the Desert" (1837)
"Scenes of village life"
- "Lily of the Valley" (1836)
Subsequently, the cycle was replenished with the novels "Modesta Mignon" ( Modeste Mignon, 1844), "Cousin Betta" ( La Cousine Bette, 1846), "Cousin Pons" ( Le Cousin Pons, 1847), as well as, in its own way summing up the cycle, the novel The Reverse Side of Modern History ( L'envers de l'histoire contemporaine, 1848).
"Philosophical Studies"
They are reflections on the patterns of life.
- "Shagreen Skin" (1831)
"Analytical Studies"
The cycle is characterized by the greatest "philosophy". In some works - for example, in the story "Louis Lambert", the volume of philosophical calculations and reflections many times exceeds the volume of the plot narrative.
Balzac's innovation
The end of the 1820s and the beginning of the 1830s, when Balzac entered literature, was the period of the greatest flowering of Romanticism in French literature. The big novel in European literature by the arrival of Balzac had two main genres: a novel of a personality - an adventurous hero (for example, Robinson Crusoe) or a self-deepening, lonely hero (The Suffering of Young Werther by W. Goethe) and a historical novel (Walter Scott).
Balzac departs both from the novel of personality and from the historical novel of Walter Scott. He aims to show the "individualized type". In the center of his creative attention, according to a number of Soviet literary critics, is not a heroic or outstanding personality, but modern bourgeois society, the France of the July Monarchy.
"Studies on Morals" unfold the picture of France, paint the life of all classes, all social conditions, all social institutions. Their leitmotif is the victory of the financial bourgeoisie over the landed and tribal aristocracy, the strengthening of the role and prestige of wealth, and the weakening or disappearance of many traditional ethical and moral principles associated with this.
In the Russian Empire
Balzac's work found its recognition in Russia during the life of the writer. Much was published in separate editions, as well as in Moscow and St. Petersburg magazines, almost immediately after the Paris publications - during the 1830s. However, some works were banned.
At the request of the head of the Third Department, General A.F. Orlov, Nicholas I allowed the writer to enter Russia, but with strict supervision..
In 1832, 1843, 1847 and 1848-1850. Balzac visited Russia.
From August to October 1843, Balzac lived in St. Petersburg, in Titov's house on Millionnaya Street, 16. That year, a visit by such a famous French writer to the Russian capital caused a new wave of interest in his novels among local youth. One of the young people who showed such interest was Fyodor Dostoevsky, a 22-year-old second lieutenant of the St. Petersburg engineering team. Dostoevsky was so delighted with the work of Balzac that he decided immediately, without delay, to translate one of his novels into Russian. It was the novel "Eugene Grande" - the first Russian translation, published in the magazine "Pantheon" in January 1844, and the first printed publication of Dostoevsky (although the translator was not indicated during publication).
Memory
Cinema
Feature films and television series have been made about the life and work of Balzac, including:
- 1968 - "Mistake of Honore de Balzac" (USSR): director Timofey Levchuk.
- 1973 - Balzac's Great Love (TV series, Poland-France): director Wojciech Solyazh.
- 1999 - "Balzac" (France-Italy-Germany): director José Diane.
Museums
There are several museums dedicated to the writer's work, including in Russia. In France they work:
- house museum in Paris;
- Balzac Museum in the Chateau Sacher of the Loire Valley.
Philately and numismatics
- In honor of Balzac, postage stamps from many countries of the world were issued.
Postage stamp of Ukraine, 1999
Postage stamp of Moldova, 1999
- In 2012, the Paris Mint as part of the numismatic series “Regions of France. Famous people”, minted a 10 euro silver coin in honor of Honore de Balzac, representing the Center region.
Bibliography
Collected works
in Russian
- Collected works in 20 volumes (1896-1899)
- Collected works in 15 volumes (~ 1951-1955)
- Collected works in 24 volumes. - M.: Pravda, 1960 ("Spark" Library)
- Collected works in 10 volumes - M .: Fiction, 1982-1987, 300,000 copies.
in French
- Oeuvres completes, 24 vv. - Paris, 1869-1876, Correspondence, 2 vv., P., 1876
- Letters à l'Étrangère, 2 vv.; P., 1899-1906
Artworks
Novels
- Chouans, or Brittany in 1799 (1829)
- Shagreen leather (1831)
- Louis Lambert (1832)
- Eugenia Grande (1833)
- The History of Thirteen (Ferragus, leader of the devorants; Duchess de Langeais; Golden-eyed girl) (1834)
- Father Goriot (1835)
- Lily of the Valley (1835)
- Nucingen Banking House (1838)
- Beatrice (1839)
- Country Priest (1841)
- Balamutka (1842) / La Rabouilleuse (fr.) / Black sheep (en) / alternative titles: Black Sheep / Bachelor's Life
- Ursula Mirue (1842)
- Thirty Years Old Woman (1842)
- Lost Illusions (I, 1837; II, 1839; III, 1843)
- Peasants (1844)
- Cousin Betta (1846)
- Cousin Pons (1847)
- The Luster and Poverty of the Courtesans (1847)
- MP for Arcee (1854)
Novels and stories
- House of a Cat Playing Ball (1829)
- Marriage Contract (1830)
- Gobsek (1830)
- Vendetta (1830)
- Goodbye! (1830)
- Country Ball (1830)
- Marital Consent (1830)
- Sarrazin (1830)
- Red Inn (1831)
- Unknown Masterpiece (1831)
- Colonel Chabert (1832)
- The abandoned woman (1832)
- Belle of the Empire (1834)
- Involuntary Sin (1834)
- The Devil's Heir (1834)
- The constable's wife (1834)
- Shout of salvation (1834)
- Witch (1834)
- The Perseverance of Love (1834)
- Bertha's Remorse (1834)
- Naivete (1834)
- The Marriage of the Belle of the Empire (1834)
- Forgiven Melmoth (1835)
- Mass of the Godless (1836)
- Facino Canet (1836)
- Secrets of the Princess de Cadignan (1839)
- Pierre Grasse (1840)
- The Imaginary Mistress (1841)
Screen adaptations
- Shine and Poverty of Courtesans (France; 1975; 9 episodes): director M. Kaznev. Based on the novel of the same name.
- Colonel Chabert (film) (fr. Le Colonel Chabert, 1994, France). Based on the story of the same name.
- Don't Touch the Ax (France-Italy, 2007). Based on the story "The Duchess de Langeais".
- Shagreen leather (French La peau de chagrin, 2010, France). Based on the novel of the same name.
Data
- In the story of K. M. Stanyukovich "A Terrible Disease" the name of Balzac is mentioned. The protagonist Ivan Rakushkin, an aspiring writer with no creative talent and doomed to failure as a writer, is comforted by the thought that Balzac wrote several bad novels before he became famous.
(French Honoré de Balzac, May 20, 1799, Tours - August 18, 1850, Paris) - French writer. The real name - Honore Balzac, began to use the particle "de", meaning belonging to a noble family, around 1830.
Biography
Honoré de Balzac was born in Tours, the son of peasants from Languedoc. In 1807-1813 he studied at the College of Vendome, in 1816-1819 - at the Paris School of Law, at the same time he worked for a notary as a scribe; abandoned a career in law and devoted himself to literature.
From 1823 he published a number of novels under various pseudonyms in the spirit of "violent romanticism". In 1825–28 B. was engaged in publishing activities, but failed.
In 1829, the first book signed with the name "Balzac" was published - the historical novel "Chuans" (Les Chouans). Balzac's subsequent works: "Scenes of Private Life" (Scènes de la vie privée, 1830), the novel "The Elixir of Longevity" (L "Élixir de longue vie, 1830–31, a variation on the themes of the legend of Don Juan); the story of Gobseck (Gobseck, 1830) attracted wide attention of the reader and critics. In 1831 Balzac published his philosophical novel Shagreen Skin and began the novel The Thirty-Year-Old Woman (La femme de trente ans). ironically stylized Renaissance novelistics.In partly autobiographical novel "Louis Lambert" (Louis Lambert, 1832) and especially in the later "Seraphite" (Séraphîta, 1835), B.'s fascination with the mystical concepts of E. Swedenborg and Cl. de Saint-Martin was reflected. his hope of getting rich has not yet been realized (since a huge debt is weighing down - the result of his unsuccessful commercial enterprises), then his hope of becoming famous, his dream of winning Paris, the world with talent has been realized. Success did not turn Balzac's head, as happened to many of his young contemporaries . He continued to lead a hard working life, sitting at his desk for 15–16 hours a day; working until dawn, annually publishing three, four and even five, six books.
In the works created in the first five or six years of his writing activity, the most diverse areas of contemporary French life are depicted: the village, the provinces, Paris; various social groups: merchants, aristocracy, clergy; various social institutions: family, state, army. A huge number of artistic facts, which were contained in these books, required their systematization.
Innovation Balzac
The end of the 1820s and the beginning of the 1830s, when Balzac entered literature, was the period of the greatest flowering of Romanticism in French literature. The big novel in European literature by the arrival of Balzac had two main genres: a novel of a personality - an adventurous hero (for example, Robinson Crusoe) or a self-deepening, lonely hero (The Suffering of Young Werther by W. Goethe) and a historical novel (Walter Scott).
Balzac departs both from the novel of personality and from the historical novel of Walter Scott. He seeks to show the "individualized type", to give a picture of the whole society, the whole people, the whole of France. Not a legend about the past, but a picture of the present, an artistic portrait of bourgeois society is at the center of his creative attention.
The standard-bearer of the bourgeoisie now is a banker, not a commander, its shrine is the stock exchange, not a battlefield.
Not a heroic personality and not a demonic nature, not a historical act, but a modern bourgeois society, the France of the July Monarchy - such is the main literary theme of the era. In place of the novel, whose task is to give in-depth experiences of the individual, Balzac puts a novel about social mores, in place of historical novels - the artistic history of post-revolutionary France.
"Studies on Morals" unfold the picture of France, paint the life of all classes, all social conditions, all social institutions. The key to this story is money. Its main content is the victory of the financial bourgeoisie over the landed and tribal aristocracy, the desire of the entire nation to become at the service of the bourgeoisie, to intermarry with it. Thirst for money is the main passion, the highest dream. The power of money is the only invincible force: love, talent, family honor, family hearth, parental feeling are submissive to it.
Honore de Balzac (05/20/1799 - 08/18/1850) - French writer, an outstanding prose writer of the 19th century, is considered the founder of the realistic trend in literature.
Childhood
Balzac was born in the French city of Tours into a peasant family. His father was able to get rich during the revolutionary years, and later became the right hand of the local mayor. Their surname was originally Balsa. The father saw the future lawyer in his son. Balzac studied at college away from his family, was distinguished by bad behavior, for which he was constantly punished in a punishment cell. His parents took him home because of a severe illness that lasted five years. After his family moved to the capital in 2016, the young man recovered.
Balzac then studied at the Paris School of Law. He began to work as a scribe at a notary, but soon gave preference to literary activity. He loved to read from early childhood, his favorite authors were Montesquieu, Rousseau and others. As a boy he composed plays, but they have not survived. During his school years, his teacher did not like his Treatise on Will, and he burned the essay in front of the author.
Literary activity
The debut in literature is the work "Cromwell" (1820). It, along with other early works of the author, was published, but was not successful. Subsequently, Balzac himself abandoned them. Seeing the failures of the novice writer, his parents deprived him of material support, so Balzac entered an independent life.
Young Balzac
In 1825, Honore decided to open a publishing business, which he unsuccessfully engaged in for three years, until he finally went bankrupt. Previously, his works were published under pseudonyms, in 1829 for the first time he signs the novel "Chuans" with his real name. Balzac himself considered the 1831 novel Shagreen Skin to be the starting point of his literary activity. This was followed by "The Elixir of Longevity", "Gobsek", "Thirty Years Old Woman". Thus, a period of recognition and success began in the writer's career. The writer V. Scott had the greatest influence on his work.
In 1831, Honore plans to write a multi-volume book, where he wants to reflect French history and philosophy in an artistic style. He devotes most of his life to this work and calls it "The Human Comedy". The epic, which consists of three parts and 90 works, includes both previously written and new creations.
The writer's style was considered original with the general spread of Romanism in those days. In any novel, the main theme was the tragedy of the individual in bourgeois society, described by a new artistic method. The works were distinguished by deep realism, they very accurately reflected reality, which aroused admiration among readers.
Balzac worked at a hard pace, practically not looking up from the pen. I wrote mostly at night, very quickly, I never used drafts. Several works were published per year. During the first years of active writing of books, he managed to touch upon the most diverse spheres of life in French society. Balzac also wrote dramatic works that were not as popular as his novels.
Recognition and final years
Balzac was recognized as an outstanding literary figure during his lifetime. Despite his popularity, he could not get rich, as he had a lot of debt. His work was reflected in the works of Dickens, Zola, Dostoevsky and other famous writers. In Russia, his novels were published almost immediately after the Paris editions. The writer visited the empire several times, in 1843 he lived in St. Petersburg for three months. Fyodor Dostoevsky, who was fond of reading Balzac, translated the novel "Eugene Grande" into Russian.
Balzac's wife E. Ganskaya
Balzac had a long-term affair with the Polish landowner Evelina Hanska. Having met in 1832, they corresponded for a long time, then met. Ghanskaya was married, widowed, and then planned to pass on her husband's inheritance to her daughter. They were able to get married only in 1850. After the wedding, the couple left for Paris, where Honore prepared an apartment for the new family, but there the writer was overtaken by a serious illness. His wife was with him until the last day.
The writer's work is studied to this day. The first biography was published by Balzac's sister. Later, Zweig, Morois, Würmser and others wrote about him. Films were also made about his life, his works were filmed. There is more than one museum dedicated to his work, including in Russia. In many countries, at different times, the image of Balzac was placed on postage stamps. In total, during his life he wrote 137 works, introduced the world to more than 4 thousand characters. In Russia, the first published collection of his works consisted of 20 volumes.
Honoré de Balzac (French Honoré de Balzac, May 20, 1799, Tours - August 18, 1850, Paris) - French writer. The real name - Honore Balzac, the particle "de", meaning belonging to a noble family, began to be used around 1830.
Biography
Honoré de Balzac was born in Tours, the son of peasants from Languedoc. In 1807-1813 he studied at the College of Vendôme, in 1816-1819 - at the Paris School of Law, at the same time he worked for a notary as a scribe; abandoned a career in law and devoted himself to literature.
From 1823 he published a number of novels under various pseudonyms in the spirit of "violent romanticism". In 1825-28 B. engaged in publishing, but fails.
In 1829, the first book signed with the name "Balzac" was published - the historical novel Les Chouans. Balzac's subsequent works: "Scenes of Private Life" (Scènes de la vie privée, 1830), the novel "The Elixir of Longevity" (L "Élixir de longue vie, 1830-31, a variation on the themes of the legend of Don Juan); the story of Gobseck (Gobseck, 1830) attracted wide attention of the reader and critics. In 1831, Balzac published his philosophical novel Shagreen Skin and began the novel The Thirty-Year-Old Woman (La femme de trente ans). ironically stylized Renaissance novelistics.In partly autobiographical novel "Louis Lambert" (Louis Lambert, 1832) and especially in the later "Seraphite" (Séraphîta, 1835), B.'s fascination with the mystical concepts of E. Swedenborg and Cl. de Saint-Martin was reflected. his hope of becoming rich has not yet been realized (since a huge debt is weighing down - the result of his unsuccessful commercial enterprises), then his hope of becoming famous, his dream of winning Paris, the world with his talent has been realized. Success did not turn Balzac's head, as happened to many of his young contemporaries . He continued to lead a hard working life, sitting at his desk for 15-16 hours a day; working until dawn, publishing three, four and even five, six books a year.
In the works created in the first five or six years of his writing activity, the most diverse areas of contemporary French life are depicted: the village, the provinces, Paris; various social groups: merchants, aristocracy, clergy; various social institutions: family, state, army. A huge number of artistic facts, which were contained in these books, required their systematization.
Balzac's innovation
The end of the 1820s and the beginning of the 1830s, when Balzac entered literature, was the period of the greatest flowering of Romanticism in French literature. The big novel in European literature by the time of Balzac's arrival had two main genres: a novel of a personality - an adventurous hero (for example, Robinson Crusoe) or a self-deepening, lonely hero (The Sufferings of Young Werther by W. Goethe) and a historical novel (Walter Scott).
Balzac departs both from the novel of personality and from the historical novel of Walter Scott. He seeks to show the "individualized type", to give a picture of the whole society, the whole people, the whole of France. Not a legend about the past, but a picture of the present, an artistic portrait of bourgeois society is at the center of his creative attention.
The standard-bearer of the bourgeoisie is now a banker, not a military leader, its shrine is the stock exchange, not a battlefield.
Not a heroic personality and not a demonic nature, not a historical deed, but modern bourgeois society, the France of the July Monarchy - such is the main literary theme of the era. In place of the novel, whose task is to give in-depth experiences of the individual, Balzac puts a novel about social mores, in place of historical novels - the artistic history of post-revolutionary France.
"Studies on Morals" unfold the picture of France, paint the life of all classes, all social conditions, all social institutions. The key to this story is money. Its main content is the victory of the financial bourgeoisie over the landed and tribal aristocracy, the desire of the entire nation to become at the service of the bourgeoisie, to intermarry with it. The thirst for money is the main passion, the highest dream. The power of money is the only invincible force: love, talent, family honor, family hearth, parental feeling are submissive to it.
