HONORE DE BALZAC

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HONORE DE BALZAC
(1799-1850)
FRANCE!!!!!!
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REALISM

• Regarded as one of the founders of realism in
  European literature!!!!!!
• Complex, morally ambiguous characters

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character

• Used to write 14 to 16 hours per day. Hed write,
  sleep a little, and then write all night.
• In the world of his stories, sometimes confused
  reality with the reality of his characters
• Had many affairs, ate a lot

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Origins, Writings

• Born in Tours, France
• Father, Bernard-François Balssa, was a state
  prosecutor, secretary for the Kings Council in
  Paris
• Mother was Anne-Charlotte-Laure Sallambier
• Announced that she wanted to be a writer when she
  was 20, and moved to Paris.
• 1st work was Cromwell, a verse tragedy, had bad
  reviews.
• Wrote under pseudonyms, no success for 9 years.
  Racked up debt
• 1829 Les Chouans (the royalists), 1830s six
  novelettes Scenes de la Vie Privee  (scenes of
  private life) and gained acclaim!!!!!    
• Interested in mysticism, magic. La peau de
  chagrin, ( the magic skin) is about someone who
  uses magic powers to gain success.
• 1833 came up with the idea to link all his old
  novels and add some new novels into a grand work
  that attempted to understand French society. La
  comedie humaine

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Novelist, Playwright

• MOST FAMOUS LITERATURE La Comedie Humaine
  (painted a portrait of all aspects of society)
• 95 inter-linked novels depicting French society,
  over 2000 characters!!!
• Some recurring characters

Some of the stories in Comedie Humaine were
in play form
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Some of the more famous novellasfrom Comedie
Humaine

• Le Père Goriot (Old Goriot), an adaption of
  King Lear. Known as one of his best novels.
  Incorporated characters from other novels, and
  really developed his REALISM. Criticizes
  post-revolution French society
• La Cousin Bette (1846) had many references to
  his love affairs

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Marriage, then Death

• In 1850, he married a woman with whom he had been
  having an affair.
• Died in 1850, 3 months
• after marraige

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sources

• Honoré de Balzac. Albert Keim and Louis Lumet.
  Translated by Frederic Taber Cooper. 1914, USA
• Honoré de Balzac. Liukkonen, Petri. 2008.
  http//www.kirjasto.sci.fi/balzac.htm