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diff --git a/1968-h/1968-h.htm b/1968-h/1968-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a5ec921 --- /dev/null +++ b/1968-h/1968-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2563 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Human Comedy, by Honore de Balzac + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Human Comedy, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Human Comedy + Introductions and Appendix + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Commentator: George Saintsbury + +Release Date: March 8, 2010 [EBook #1968] +Last Updated: November 26, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HUMAN COMEDY *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE HUMAN COMEDY + </h1> + <h2> + INTRODUCTIONS AND APPENDIX + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Honore De Balzac + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <div class="mynote"> + <p> + <b>Note:</b> This reposting is dedicated to Dagny, who, 10 years ago, + was part of the "Balzac Team" which produced 113 eBooks for Project + Gutenberg. I cannot locate her present email address to thank her for + the extraordinarily fine work she did at a time when we had none of the + present easy programs to help locate errors--and to notify her that all + her Balzac files have been rechecked and reposted. + </p> + <p> + DW + </p> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> <b>INTRODUCTIONS AND APPENDIX</b> </a> + </p> + <br /> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>HONORE DE BALZAC</b> </a> + </p> + <br /> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPE"> <b>APPENDIX</b> </a> + </p> + <br /> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> <b>COMEDIE HUMAINE</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> SCENES DE LA VIE PRIVEE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> SCENES DE LA VIE PROVINCE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> SCENES DE LA VIE PARISIENNE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> SCENES DE LA VIE POLITIQUE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> SCENES DE LA VIE MILITAIRE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> SCENES DE LA VIE DE CAMPAGNE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> ETUDES PHILOSOPHIQUES </a> + </p> + <br /> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> <b>AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION</b> </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + CONTENTS + + Honore de Balzac + Introduction and brief biography by George Saintsbury. + + Appendix + List of titles in French with English translations and grouped + in the various classifications. + + Author's introduction + Balzac's 1842 introduction to The Human Comedy. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + HONORE DE BALZAC + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + <i>"Sans genie, je suis flambe!"</i> +</pre> + <p> + Volumes, almost libraries, have been written about Balzac; and perhaps of + very few writers, putting aside the three or four greatest of all, is it + so difficult to select one or a few short phrases which will in any way + denote them, much more sum them up. Yet the five words quoted above, which + come from an early letter to his sister when as yet he had not "found his + way," characterize him, I think, better than at least some of the volumes + I have read about him, and supply, when they are properly understood, the + most valuable of all keys and companions for his comprehension. + </p> + <p> + "If I have not genius, it is all up with me!" A very matter-of-fact person + may say: "Why! there is nothing wonderful in this. Everybody knows what + genius is wanted to make a name in literature, and most people think they + have it." But this would be a little short-sighted, and only excusable + because of the way in which the word "genius" is too commonly bandied + about. As a matter of fact, there is not so very much genius in the world; + and a great deal of more than fair performance is attainable and attained + by more or less decent allowances or exhibitions of talent. In prose, more + especially, it is possible to gain a very high place, and to deserve it, + without any genius at all: though it is difficult, if not impossible, to + do so in verse. But what Balzac felt (whether he was conscious in detail + of the feeling or not) when he used these words to his sister Laure, what + his critical readers must feel when they have read only a very little of + his work, what they must feel still more strongly when they have read that + work as a whole—is that for him there is no such door of escape and + no such compromise. He had the choice, by his nature, his aims, his + capacities, of being a genius or nothing. He had no little gifts, and he + was even destitute of some of the separate and indivisible great ones. In + mere writing, mere style, he was not supreme; one seldom or never derives + from anything of his the merely artistic satisfaction given by perfect + prose. His humor, except of the grim and gigantic kind, was not + remarkable; his wit, for a Frenchman, curiously thin and small. The minor + felicities of the literature generally were denied to him. <i>Sans genie, + il etait flambe</i>; <i>flambe</i> as he seemed to be, and very reasonably + seemed, to his friends when as yet the genius had not come to him, and + when he was desperately striving to discover where his genius lay in those + wonderous works which "Lord R'Hoone," and "Horace de Saint Aubin," and + others obligingly fathered for him. + </p> + <p> + It must be the business of these introductions to give what assistance + they may to discover where it did lie; it is only necessary, before taking + up the task in the regular biographical and critical way of the + introductory cicerone, to make two negative observations. It did not lie, + as some have apparently thought, in the conception, or the outlining, or + the filling up of such a scheme as the <i>Comedie Humaine</i>. In the + first place, the work of every great writer, of the creative kind, + including that of Dante himself, is a <i>comedie humaine</i>. All humanity + is latent in every human being; and the great writers are merely those who + call most of it out of latency and put it actually on the stage. And, as + students of Balzac know, the scheme and adjustment of his comedy varied so + remarkably as time went on that it can hardly be said to have, even in its + latest form (which would pretty certainly have been altered again), a + distinct and definite character. Its so-called scenes are even in the mass + by no means exhaustive, and are, as they stand, a very "cross," division + of life: nor are they peopled by anything like an exhaustive selection of + personages. Nor again is Balzac's genius by any means a mere vindication + of the famous definition of that quality as an infinite capacity of taking + pains. That Balzac had that capacity—had it in a degree probably + unequaled even by the dullest plodders on record—is very well known, + is one of the best known things about him. But he showed it for nearly ten + years before the genius came, and though no doubt it helped him when + genius had come, the two things are in his case, as in most, pretty + sufficiently distinct. What the genius itself was I must do my best to + indicate hereafter, always beseeching the reader to remember that all + genius is in its essence and quiddity indefinable. You can no more get + close to it than you can get close to the rainbow, and your most + scientific explanation of it will always leave as much of the heart of the + fact unexplained as the scientific explanation of the rainbow leaves of + that. + </p> + <p> + Honore de Balzac was born at Tours on the 16th of May, 1799, in the same + year which saw the birth of Heine, and which therefore had the honor of + producing perhaps the most characteristic writers of the nineteenth + century in prose and verse respectively. The family was a respectable one, + though its right to the particle which Balzac always carefully assumed, + subscribing himself "<i>de</i> Balzac," was contested. And there appears + to be no proof of their connection with Jean Guez de Balzac, the founder, + as some will have him, of modern French prose, and the contemporary and + fellow-reformer of Malherbe. (Indeed, as the novelist pointed out with + sufficient pertinence, his earlier namesake had no hereditary right to the + name at all, and merely took it from some property.) Balzac's father, who, + as the <i>zac</i> pretty surely indicates, was a southerner and a native + of Languedoc, was fifty-three years old at the birth of his son, whose + Christian name was selected on the ordinary principle of accepting that of + the saint on whose day he was born. Balzac the elder had been a barrister + before the Revolution, but under it he obtained a post in the + commissariat, and rose to be head of that department for a military + division. His wife, who was much younger than himself and who survived her + son, is said to have possessed both beauty and fortune, and was evidently + endowed with the business faculties so common among Frenchwomen. When + Honore was born, the family had not long been established at Tours, where + Balzac the elder (besides his duties) had a house and some land; and this + town continued to be their headquarters till the novelist, who was the + eldest of the family, was about sixteen. He had two sisters (of whom the + elder, Laure, afterwards Madame Surville, was his first confidante and his + only authoritative biographer) and a younger brother, who seems to have + been, if not a scapegrace, rather a burden to his friends, and who later + went abroad. + </p> + <p> + The eldest boy was, in spite of Rousseau, put out to nurse, and at seven + years old was sent to the Oratorian grammar-school at Vendome, where he + stayed another seven years, going through, according to his own account, + the future experiences and performances of Louis Lambert, but making no + reputation for himself in the ordinary school course. If, however, he + would not work in his teacher's way, he overworked himself in his own by + devouring books; and was sent home at fourteen in such a state of health + that his grandmother (who after the French fashion, was living with her + daughter and son-in-law), ejaculated: <i>"Voila donc comme le college nous + renvoie les jolis enfants que nous lui envoyons!"</i> It would seem indeed + that, after making all due allowance for grandmotherly and sisterly + partiality, Balzac was actually a very good-looking boy and young man, + though the portraits of him in later life may not satisfy the more + romantic expectations of his admirers. He must have had at all times eyes + full of character, perhaps the only feature that never fails in men of + intellectual eminence; but he certainly does not seem to have been in his + manhood either exactly handsome or exactly "distinguished-looking." But + the portraits of the middle of the century are, as a rule, rather wanting + in this characteristic when compared with those of its first and last + periods; and I cannot think of many that quite come up to one's + expectations. + </p> + <p> + For a short time he was left pretty much to himself, and recovered + rapidly. But late in 1814 a change of official duties removed the Balzacs + to Paris, and when they had established themselves in the famous old <i>bourgeois</i> + quarter of the Marais, Honore was sent to divers private tutors or private + schools till he had "finished his classes" in 1816 at the age of seventeen + and a half. Then he attended lectures at the Sorbonne where Villemain, + Guizot, and Cousin were lecturing, and heard them, as his sister tells us, + enthusiastically, though there are probably no three writers of any + considerable repute in the history of French literature who stand further + apart from Balzac. For all three made and kept their fame by spirited and + agreeable generalizations and expatiations, as different as possible from + the savage labor of observation on the one hand and the gigantic + developments of imagination on the other, which were to compose Balzac's + appeal. His father destined him for the law; and for three years more he + dutifully attended the offices of an attorney and a notary, besides going + through the necessary lectures and examinations. All these trials he seems + to have passed, if not brilliantly, yet sufficiently. + </p> + <p> + And then came the inevitable crisis, which was of an unusually severe + nature. A notary, who was a friend of the elder Balzac's and owed him some + gratitude offered not merely to take Honore into his office, but to allow + him to succeed to his business, which was a very good one, in a few years + on very favorable terms. Most fathers, and nearly all French fathers, + would have jumped at this; and it so happened that about the same time M. + de Balzac was undergoing that unpleasant process of compulsory retirement + which his son has described in one of the best passages of the <i>Oeuvres + de Jeunesse</i>, the opening scene of <i>Argow le Pirate</i>. It does not + appear that Honore had revolted during his probation—indeed he is + said, and we can easily believe it from his books, to have acquired a very + solid knowledge of law, especially in bankruptcy matters, of which he was + himself to have a very close shave in future. A solicitor, indeed, told + Laure de Balzac that he found <i>Cesar Birotteau</i> a kind of <i>Balzac + on Bankruptcy</i>; but this may have been only the solicitor's fun. + </p> + <p> + It was no part of Honore's intentions to use this knowledge—however + content he had been to acquire it—in the least interesting, if + nearly the most profitable, of the branches of the legal profession; and + he protested eloquently, and not unsuccessfully, that he would be a man of + letters and nothing else. Not unsuccessfully; but at the same time with + distinctly qualified success. He was not turned out of doors; nor were the + supplies, as in Quinet's case only a few months later, absolutely withheld + even for a short time. But his mother (who seems to have been less + placable than her husband) thought that cutting them down to the lowest + point might have some effect. So, as the family at this time (April 1819) + left Paris for a house some twenty miles out of it, she established her + eldest son in a garret furnished in the most Spartan fashion, with a + starvation allowance and an old woman to look after him. He did not + literally stay in this garret for the ten years of his astonishing and + unparalleled probation; but without too much metaphor it may be said to + have been his Wilderness, and his Wanderings in it to have lasted for that + very considerable time. + </p> + <p> + We know, in detail, very little of him during the period. For the first + years, between 1819 and 1822, we have a good number of letters to Laure; + between 1822 and 1829, when he first made his mark, very few. He began, of + course, with verse, for which he never had the slightest vocation, and, + almost equally of course, with a tragedy. But by degrees and apparently + pretty soon, he slipped into what was his vocation, and like some, though + not very many, great writers, at first did little better in it than if it + had not been his vocation at all. The singular tentatives which, after + being allowed for a time a sort of outhouse in the structure of the <i>Comedie + Humaine</i>, were excluded from the octavo <i>Edition Definitive</i> + five-and-twenty years ago, have never been the object of that exhaustive + bibliographical and critical attention which has been bestowed on those + which follow them. They were not absolutely unproductive—we hear of + sixty, eighty, a hundred pounds being paid for them, though whether this + was the amount of Balzac's always sanguine expectations, or hard cash + actually handed over, we cannot say. They were very numerous, though the + reprints spoken of above never extended to more than ten. Even these have + never been widely read. The only person I ever knew till I began this + present task who had read them through was the friend whom all his friends + are now lamenting and are not likely soon to cease to lament, Mr. Louis + Stevenson; and when I once asked him whether, on his honor and conscience, + he could recommend me to brace myself to the same effort, he said that on + his honor and conscience he must most earnestly dissuade me. I gather, + though I am not sure, that Mr. Wedmore, the latest writer in English on + Balzac at any length, had not read them through when he wrote. + </p> + <p> + Now I have, and a most curious study they are. Indeed I am not sorry, as + Mr. Wedmore thinks one would be. They are curiously, interestingly, almost + enthrallingly bad. Couched for the most part in a kind of Radcliffian or + Monk-Lewisian vein—perhaps studied more directly from Maturin (of + whom Balzac was a great admirer) than from either—they often begin + with and sometimes contain at intervals passages not unlike the Balzac + that we know. The attractive title of <i>Jane la Pale</i> (it was + originally called, with a still more Early Romantic avidity for <i>baroque</i> + titles, <i>Wann-Chlore</i>) has caused it, I believe, to be more commonly + read than any other. It deals with a disguised duke, a villainous Italian, + bigamy, a surprising offer of the angelic first wife to submit to a sort + of double arrangement, the death of the second wife and first love, and a + great many other things. <i>Argow le Pirate</i> opens quite decently and + in order with that story of the <i>employe</i> which Balzac was to + rehandle so often, but drops suddenly into brigands stopping diligences, + the marriage of the heroine Annette with a retired pirate marquis of vast + wealth, the trial of the latter for murdering another marquis with a + poisoned fish-bone scarf-pin, his execution, the sanguinary reprisals by + his redoubtable lieutenant, and a finale of blunderbusses, fire, devoted + peasant girl with <i>retrousse</i> nose, and almost every possible <i>tremblement</i>. + </p> + <p> + In strictness mention of this should have been preceded by mention of <i>Le + Vicaire des Ardennes</i>, which is a sort of first part of <i>Argow le + Pirate</i>, and not only gives an account of his crimes, early history, + and manners (which seem to have been a little robustious for such a + mild-mannered man as Annette's husband), but tells a thrilling tale of the + loves of the <i>vicaire</i> himself and a young woman, which loves are + crossed, first by the belief that they are brother and sister, and + secondly by the <i>vicaire</i> having taken orders under this delusion. <i>La + Derniere Fee</i> is the queerest possible cross between an actual fairy + story <i>a la</i> Nordier and a history of the fantastic and inconstant + loves of a great English lady, the Duchess of "Sommerset" (a piece of + actual <i>scandalum magnatum</i> nearly as bad as Balzac's cool use in his + acknowledged work of the title "Lord Dudley"). This book begins so well + that one expects it to go on better; but the inevitable defects in + craftsmanship show themselves before long. <i>Le Centenaire</i> connects + itself with Balzac's almost lifelong hankering after the <i>recherche de + l'absolu</i> in one form or another, for the hero is a wicked old person + who every now and then refreshes his hold on life by immolating a virgin + under a copper-bell. It is one of the most extravagant and "Monk-Lewisy" + of the whole. <i>L'Excommunie</i>, <i>L'Israelite</i>, and <i>L'Heritiere + de Birague</i> are mediaeval or fifteenth century tales of the most + luxuriant kind, <i>L'Excommunie</i> being the best, <i>L'Israelite</i> the + most preposterous, and <i>L'Heritiere de Birague</i> the dullest. But it + is not nearly so dull as <i>Dom Gigadus</i> and <i>Jean Louis</i>, the + former of which deals with the end of the seventeenth century and the + latter with the end of the eighteenth. These are both as nearly unreadable + as anything can be. One interesting thing, however, should be noted in + much of this early work: the affectionate clinging of the author to the + scenery of Touraine, which sometimes inspires him with his least bad + passages. + </p> + <p> + It is generally agreed that these singular <i>Oeuvres de Jeunesse</i> were + of service to Balzac as exercise, and no doubt they were so; but I think + something may be said on the other side. They must have done a little, if + not much, to lead him into and confirm him in those defects of style and + form which distinguish him so remarkably from most writers of his rank. It + very seldom happens when a very young man writes very much, be it + book-writing or journalism, without censure and without "editing," that he + does not at the same time get into loose and slipshod habits. And I think + we may set down to this peculiar form of apprenticeship of Balzac's not + merely his failure ever to attain, except in passages and patches, a + thoroughly great style, but also that extraordinary method of composition + which in after days cost him and his publishers so much money. + </p> + <p> + However, if these ten years of probation taught him his trade, they taught + him also a most unfortunate avocation or by-trade, which he never ceased + to practise, or to try to practise, which never did him the least good, + and which not unfrequently lost him much of the not too abundant gains + which he earned with such enormous labor. This was the "game of + speculation." His sister puts the tempter's part on an unknown "neighbor," + who advised him to try to procure independence by <i>une bonne speculation</i>. + Those who have read Balzac's books and his letters will hardly think that + he required much tempting. He began by trying to publish—an attempt + which has never yet succeeded with a single man of letters, so far as I + can remember. His scheme was not a bad one, indeed it was one which has + brought much money to other pockets since, being neither more nor less + than the issuing of cheap one-volume editions of French classics. But he + had hardly any capital; he was naturally quite ignorant of his trade, and + as naturally the established publishers and booksellers boycotted him as + an intruder. So his <i>Moliere</i> and his <i>La Fontaine</i> are said to + have been sold as waste paper, though if any copies escaped they would + probably fetch a very comfortable price now. Then, such capital as he had + having been borrowed, the lender, either out of good nature or avarice, + determined to throw the helve after the hatchet. He partly advanced + himself and partly induced Balzac's parents to advance more, in order to + start the young man as a printer, to which business Honore himself added + that of typefounder. The story was just the same: knowledge and capital + were again wanting, and though actual bankruptcy was avoided, Balzac got + out of the matter at the cost not merely of giving the two businesses to a + friend (in whose hands they proved profitable), but of a margin of debt + from which he may be said never to have fully cleared himself. + </p> + <p> + He had more than twenty years to live, but he never cured himself of this + hankering after <i>une bonne speculation</i>. Sometimes it was ordinary + stock-exchange gambling; but his special weakness was, to do him justice, + for schemes that had something more grandiose in them. Thus, to finish + here with the subject, though the chapter of it never actually finished + till his death, he made years afterwards, when he was a successful and a + desperately busy author, a long, troublesome, and costly journey to + Sardinia to carry out a plan of resmelting the slag from Roman and other + mines there. Thus in his very latest days, when he was living at + Vierzschovnia with the Hanska and Mniszech household, he conceived the + magnificently absurd notion of cutting down twenty thousand acres of oak + wood in the Ukraine, and sending it <i>by railway</i> right across Europe + to be sold in France. And he was rather reluctantly convinced that by the + time a single log reached its market the freight would have eaten up the + value of the whole plantation. + </p> + <p> + It was perhaps not entirely chance that the collapse of the printing + scheme, which took place in 1827, the ninth year of the Wanderings in the + Wilderness, coincided with or immediately preceded the conception of the + book which was to give Balzac passage into the Promised Land. This was <i>Les + Chouans</i>, called at its first issue, which differed considerably from + the present form, <i>Le Dernier Chouan ou la Bretagne en 1800</i> (later + <i>1799</i>). It was published in 1829 without any of the previous + anagrammatic pseudonyms; and whatever were the reasons which had induced + him to make his bow in person to the public, they were well justified, for + the book was a distinct success, if not a great one. It occupies a kind of + middle position between the melodramatic romance of his nonage and the + strictly analytic romance-novel of his later time; and, though dealing + with war and love chiefly, inclines in conception distinctly to the + latter. Corentin, Hulot, and other personages of the actual Comedy (then + by no means planned, or at least avowed) appear; and though the influence + of Scott is in a way paramount* on the surface, the underwork is quite + different, and the whole scheme of the loves of Montauran and Mademoiselle + de Verneuil is pure Balzac. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Balzac was throughout his life a fervent admirer of Sir Walter, + and I think Mr. Wedmore, in his passage on the subject, distinctly + undervalues both the character and the duration of this esteem. + Balzac was far too acute to commit the common mistake of thinking + Scott superficial—men who know mankind are not often blind to + each other's knowledge. And while Mr. Wedmore seems not to know + any testimony later than Balzac's <i>thirty-eighth</i> year, it is in + his <i>forty-sixth</i>, when all his own best work was done, except the + <i>Parents Pauvres</i>, that he contrasts Dumas with Scott saying that + <i>on relit Walter Scott</i>, and he does not think any one will + re-read Dumas. This may be unjust to the one writer, but it is + conclusive as to any sense of "wasted time" (his own phrase) + having ever existed in Balzac's mind about the other. +</pre> + <p> + It would seem as if nothing but this sun of popular approval had been + wanting to make Balzac's genius burst out in full bloom. Although we have + a fair number of letters for the ensuing years, it is not very easy to + make out the exact sequence of production of the marvelous harvest which + his genius gave. It is sufficient to say that in the three years following + 1829 there were actually published the <i>Physiologie du Mariage</i>, the + charming story of <i>La Maison du Chat-que-Pelote</i>, the <i>Peau de + Chagrin</i>, the most original and splendid, if not the most finished and + refined, of all Balzac's books, most of the short <i>Contes Philosophiques</i>, + of which some are among their author's greatest triumphs, many other + stories (chiefly included in the <i>Scenes de la Vie Privee</i>) and the + beginning of the <i>Contes Drolatiques</i>.* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * No regular attempt will after this be made to indicate the date of + production of successive works, unless they connect themselves + very distinctly with incidents in the life or with general + critical observations. At the end of this introduction will be + found a full table of the <i>Comedie Humaine</i> and the other works. + It may perhaps be worth while to add here, that while the labors + of M. de Lovenjoul (to whom every writer on Balzac must + acknowledge the deepest obligation) have cleared this matter up + almost to the verge of possibility as regards the published works, + there is little light to be thrown on the constant references in + the letters to books which never appeared. Sometimes they are + known, and they may often be suspected, to have been absorbed into + or incorporated with others; the rest must have been lost or + destroyed, or, which is not quite impossible, have existed chiefly + in the form of project. Nearly a hundred titles of such things are + preserved. +</pre> + <p> + But without a careful examination of his miscellaneous work, which is very + abundant and includes journalism as well as books, it is almost as + impossible to come to a just appreciation of Balzac as it is without + reading the early works and letters. This miscellaneous work is all the + more important because a great deal of it represents the artist at quite + advanced stages of his career, and because all its examples, the earlier + as well as the later, give us abundant insight on him as he was "making + himself." The comparison with the early works of Thackeray (in <i>Punch</i>, + <i>Fraser</i>, and elsewhere) is so striking that it can escape no one who + knows the two. Every now and then Balzac transferred bodily, or with + slight alterations, passages from these experiments to his finished + canvases. It appears that he had a scheme for codifying his "Physiologies" + (of which the notorious one above mentioned is only a catchpenny exemplar + and very far from the best) into a seriously organized work. Chance was + kind or intention was wise in not allowing him to do so; but the value of + the things for the critical reader is not less. Here are tales—extensions + of the scheme and manner of the <i>Oeuvres de Jeunesse</i>, or attempts at + the <i>goguenard</i> story of 1830—a thing for which Balzac's hand + was hardly light enough. Here are interesting evidences of striving to be + cosmopolitan and polyglot—the most interesting of all of which, I + think, is the mention of certain British products as "mufflings." + "Muffling" used to be a domestic joke for "muffin;" but whether some + wicked Briton deluded Balzac into the idea that it was the proper form or + not it is impossible to say. Here is a <i>Traite de la Vie Elegante</i>, + inestimable for certain critical purposes. So early as 1825 we find a <i>Code + des Gens Honnetes</i>, which exhibits at once the author's legal studies + and his constant attraction for the shady side of business, and which + contains a scheme for defrauding by means of lead pencils, actually + carried out (if we may believe his exulting note) by some literary + swindlers with unhappy results. A year later he wrote a <i>Dictionnaire + des Enseignes de Paris</i>, which we are glad enough to have from the + author of the <i>Chat-que-Pelote</i>; but the persistence with which this + kind of miscellaneous writing occupied him could not be better exemplified + than by the fact that, of two important works which closely follow this in + the collected edition, the <i>Physiologie de l'Employe</i> dates from 1841 + and the <i>Monographie de la Presse Parisienne</i> from 1843. + </p> + <p> + It is well known that from the time almost of his success as a novelist he + was given, like too many successful novelists (<i>not</i> like Scott), to + rather undignified and foolish attacks on critics. The explanation may or + may not be found in the fact that we have abundant critical work of his, + and that it is nearly all bad. Now and then we have an acute remark in his + own special sphere; but as a rule he cannot be complimented on these + performances, and when he was half-way through his career this critical + tendency of his culminated in the unlucky <i>Revue Parisienne</i>, which + he wrote almost entirely himself, with slight assistance from his friends, + MM. de Belloy and de Grammont. It covers a wide range, but the literary + part of it is considerable, and this part contains that memorable and + disastrous attack on Sainte-Beuve, for which the critic afterwards took a + magnanimous revenge in his obituary <i>causerie</i>. Although the thing is + not quite unexampled it is not easily to be surpassed in the blind fury of + its abuse. Sainte-Beuve was by no means invulnerable, and an anti-critic + who kept his head might have found, as M. de Pontmartin and others did + find, the joints in his armor. But when, <i>a propos</i> of the <i>Port + Royal</i> more especially, and of the other works in general, Balzac + informs us that Sainte-Beuve's great characteristic as a writer is <i>l'ennui, + l'ennui boueux jusqu'a mi-jambe</i>, that his style is intolerable, that + his historical handling is like that of Gibbon, Hume, and other dull + people; when he jeers at him for exhuming "La mere Angelique," and scolds + him for presuming to obscure the glory of the <i>Roi Soleil</i>, the thing + is partly ludicrous, partly melancholy. One remembers that agreeable + Bohemian, who at a symposium once interrupted his host by crying, "Man o' + the hoose, gie us less o' yer clack and mair o' yer Jairman wine!" Only, + in human respect and other, we phrase it: "Oh, dear M. de Balzac! give us + more <i>Eugenie Grandets</i>, more <i>Pere Goriots</i>, more <i>Peaux de + Chagrin</i>, and don't talk about what you do not understand!" + </p> + <p> + Balzac was a great politician also, and here, though he may not have been + very much more successful, he talked with more knowledge and competence. + He must have given himself immense trouble in reading the papers, foreign + as well as French; he had really mastered a good deal of the political + religion of a French publicist. It is curious to read, sixty years after + date, his grave assertion that "<i>La France a la conquete de Madagascar a + faire</i>," and with certain very pardonable defects (such as his + Anglophobia), his politics may be pronounced not unintelligent and not + ungenerous, though somewhat inconsistent and not very distinctly traceable + to any coherent theory. As for the Anglophobia, the Englishman who thinks + the less of him for that must have very poor and unhappy brains. A + Frenchman who does not more or less hate and fear England, an Englishman + who does not regard France with a more or less good-humored impatience, is + usually "either a god or a beast," as Aristotle saith. Balzac began with + an odd but not unintelligible compound, something like Hugo's, of + Napoleonism and Royalism. In 1824, when he was still in the shades of + anonymity, he wrote and published two by no means despicable pamphlets in + favor of Primogeniture and the Jesuits, the latter of which was reprinted + in 1880 at the last <i>Jesuitenhetze</i> in France. His <i>Lettres sur + Paris</i> in 1830-31, and his <i>La France et l'Etranger</i> in 1836, are + two considerable series of letters from "Our Own Correspondent," handling + the affairs of the world with boldness and industry if not invariably with + wisdom. They rather suggest (as does the later <i>Revue Parisienne</i> + still more) the political writing of the age of Anne in England, and + perhaps a little later, when "the wits" handled politics and society, + literature and things in general with unquestioned competence and an easy + universality. + </p> + <p> + The rest of his work which will not appear in this edition may be + conveniently despatched here. The <i>Physiologie du Mariage</i> and the <i>Scenes + de la Vie Conjugale</i> suffer not merely from the most obvious of their + faults but from defect of knowledge. It may or may not be that marriage, + in the hackneyed phrase, is a net or other receptacle where all the + outsiders would be in, and all the insiders out. But it is quite clear + that Coelebs cannot talk of it with much authority. His state may or may + not be the more gracious: his judgment cannot but lack experience. The + "Theatre," which brought the author little if any profit, great annoyance, + and a vast amount of trouble, has been generally condemned by criticism. + But the <i>Contes Drolatiques</i> are not so to be given up. The famous + and splendid <i>Succube</i> is only the best of them, and though all are + more or less tarred with the brush which tars so much of French + literature, though the attempt to write in an archaic style is at best a + very successful <i>tour de force</i>, and represents an expenditure of + brain power by no means justifiable on the part of a man who could have + made so much better use of it, they are never to be spoken of + disrespectfully. Those who sneer at their "Wardour Street" Old French are + not usually the best qualified to do so; and it is not to be forgotten + that Balzac was a real countryman of Rabelais and a legitimate inheritor + of <i>Gauloiserie</i>. Unluckily no man can "throw back" in this way, + except now and then as a mere pastime. And it is fair to recollect that as + a matter of fact Balzac, after a year or two, did not waste much more time + on these things, and that the intended ten <i>dizains</i> never, as a + matter of fact, went beyond three. + </p> + <p> + Besides this work in books, pamphlets, etc., Balzac, as has been said, did + a certain amount of journalism, especially in the <i>Caricature</i>, his + performances including, I regret to say, more than one puff of his own + work; and in this, as well as by the success of the <i>Chouans</i>, he + became known about 1830 to a much wider circle, both of literary and of + private acquaintance. It cannot indeed be said that he ever mixed much in + society; it was impossible that he should do so, considering the vast + amount of work he did and the manner in which he did it. This subject, + like that of his speculations, may be better finished off in a single + passage than dealt with by scattered indications here and there. He was + not one of those men who can do work by fits and starts in the intervals + of business or of amusement; nor was he one who, like Scott, could work + very rapidly. It is true that he often achieved immense quantities of work + (subject to a caution to be given presently) in a very few days, but then + his working day was of the most peculiar character. He could not bear + disturbance; he wrote best at night, and he could not work at all after + heavy meals. His favorite plan (varied sometimes in detail) was therefore + to dine lightly about five or six, then to go to bed and sleep till + eleven, twelve, or one, and then to get up, and with the help only of + coffee (which he drank very strong and in enormous quantities) to work for + indefinite stretches of time into the morning or afternoon of the next + day. He speaks of a sixteen hours' day as a not uncommon shift or spell of + work, and almost a regular one with him; and on one occasion he avers that + in the course of forty-eight hours he took but three of the rest, working + for twenty-two hours and a half continuously on each side thereof. In such + spells, supposing reasonable facility of composition and mechanical power + in the hand to keep going all the time, an enormous amount can of course + be accomplished. A thousand words an hour is anything but an extraordinary + rate of writing, and fifteen hundred by no means unheard of with persons + who do not write rubbish. + </p> + <p> + The references to this subject in Balzac's letters are very numerous; but + it is not easy to extract very definite information from them. It would be + not only impolite but incorrect to charge him with unveracity. But the + very heat of imagination which enabled him to produce his work created a + sort of mirage, through which he seems always to have regarded it; and in + writing to publishers, editors, creditors, and even his own family, it was + too obviously his interest to make the most of his labor, his projects, + and his performance. Even his contemporary, though elder, Southey, the + hardest-working and the most scrupulously honest man of letters in England + who could pretend to genius, seems constantly to have exaggerated the idea + of what he could perform, if not of what he had performed in a given time. + The most definite statement of Balzac's that I remember is one which + claims the second number of <i>Sur Catherine de Medicis</i>, "La + Confidence des Ruggieri," as the production of a single night, and not one + of the most extravagant of his nights. Now, "La Confidence des Ruggieri" + fills, in the small edition, eighty pages of nearer four hundred than + three hundred words each, or some thirty thousand words in all. Nobody in + the longest of nights could manage that, except by dictating it to + shorthand clerks. But in the very context of this assertion Balzac assigns + a much longer period to the correction than to the composition, and this + brings us to one of the most curious and one of the most famous points of + his literary history. + </p> + <p> + Some doubts have, I believe, been thrown on the most minute account of his + ways of composition which we have, that of the publisher Werdet. But there + is too great a consensus of evidence as to his general system to make the + received description of it doubtful. According to this, the first draft of + Balzac's work never presented it in anything like fulness, and sometimes + it did not amount to a quarter of the bulk finally published. This being + returned to him from the printer in "slip" on sheets with very large + margins, he would set to work on the correction; that is to say, on the + practical rewriting of the thing, with excisions, alterations, and above + all, additions. A "revise" being executed, he would attack this revise in + the same manner, and not unfrequently more than once, so that the expenses + of mere composition and correction of the press were enormously heavy (so + heavy as to eat into not merely his publisher's but his own profits), and + that the last state of the book, when published, was something utterly + different from its first state in manuscript. And it will be obvious that + if anything like this was usual with him, it is quite impossible to judge + his actual rapidity of composition by the extent of the published result. + </p> + <p> + However this may be (and it is at least certain that in the years above + referred to he must have worked his very hardest, even if some of the work + then published had been more or less excogitated and begun during the + Wilderness period), he certainly so far left his eremitical habits as to + become acquainted with most of the great men of letters of the early + thirties, and also with certain ladies of more or less high rank, who were + to supply, if not exactly the full models, the texts and starting-points + for some of the most interesting figures of the <i>Comedie</i>. He knew + Victor Hugo, but certainly not at this time intimately; for as late as + 1839 the letter in which he writes to Hugo to come and breakfast with him + at Les Jardies (with interesting and minute directions how to find that + frail abode of genius) is couched in anything but the tone of a familiar + friendship. The letters to Beyle of about the same date are also + incompatible with intimate knowledge. Nodier (after some contrary + expressions) he seems to have regarded as most good people did regard that + true man of letters and charming tale-teller; while among the younger + generation Theophile Gautier and Charles de Bernard, as well as Goslan and + others, were his real and constant friends. But he does not figure + frequently or eminently in any of the genuine gossip of the time as a + haunter of literary circles, and it is very nearly certain that the + assiduity with which some of his heroes attend <i>salons</i> and clubs had + no counterpart in his own life. In the first place he was too busy; in the + second he would not have been at home there. Like the young gentleman in + <i>Punch</i>, who "did not read books but wrote them," though in no + satiric sense, he felt it his business not to frequent society but to + create it. + </p> + <p> + He was, however, aided in the task of creation by the ladies already + spoken of, who were fairly numerous and of divers degrees. The most + constant, after his sister Laure, was that sister's schoolfellow, Madame + Zulma Carraud, the wife of a military official at Angouleme and the + possessor of a small country estate at Frapesle, near Tours. At both of + these places Balzac, till he was a very great man, was a constant visitor, + and with Madame Carraud he kept up for years a correspondence which has + been held to be merely friendly, and which was certainly in the vulgar + sense innocent, but which seems to me to be tinged with something of that + feeling, midway between love and friendship, which appears in Scott's + letters to Lady Abercorn, and which is probably not so rare as some think. + Madame de Berny, another family friend of higher rank, was the prototype + of most of his "angelic" characters, but she died in 1836. He knew the + Duchesse d'Abrantes, otherwise Madame Junot, and Madame de Girardin, + otherwise Delphine Gay; but neither seems to have exercised much influence + over him. It was different with another and more authentic duchess, Madame + de Castries, after whom he dangled for a considerable time, who certainly + first encouraged him and probably then snubbed him, and who is thought to + have been the model of his wickeder great ladies. And it was comparatively + early in the thirties that he met the woman whom, after nearly twenty + years, he was at last to marry, getting his death in so doing, the Polish + Madame Hanska. These, with some relations of the last named, especially + her daughter, and with a certain "Louise"—an <i>Inconnue</i> who + never ceased to be so—were Balzac's chief correspondents of the + other sex, and, as far as is known, his chief friends in it. + </p> + <p> + About his life, without extravagant "pudding" of guesswork or of mere + quotation and abstract of his letters, it would be not so much difficult + as impossible to say much; and accordingly it is a matter of fact that + most lives of Balzac, including all good ones, are rather critical than + narrative. From his real <i>debut</i> with <i>Le Dernier Chouan</i> to his + departure for Poland on the long visit, or brace of visits, from which he + returned finally to die, this life consisted solely of work. One of his + earliest utterances, "<i>Il faut piocher ferme</i>," was his motto to the + very last, varied only by a certain amount of traveling. Balzac was always + a considerable traveler; indeed if he had not been so his constitution + would probably have broken down long before it actually did; and the + expense of these voyagings (though by his own account he generally + conducted his affairs with the most rigid economy), together with the + interruption to his work which they occasioned, entered no doubt for + something into his money difficulties. He would go to Baden or Vienna for + a day's sight of Madame Hanska; his Sardinian visit has been already + noted; and as a specimen of others it may be mentioned that he once + journeyed from Paris to Besancon, then from Besancon right across France + to Angouleme, and then back to Paris on some business of selecting paper + for one of the editions of his books, which his publishers would probably + have done much better and at much less expense. + </p> + <p> + Still his actual receipts were surprisingly small, partly, it may be, + owing to his expensive habits of composition, but far more, according to + his own account, because of the Belgian piracies, from which all popular + French authors suffered till the government of Napoleon the Third managed + to put a stop to them. He also lived in such a thick atmosphere of bills + and advances and cross-claims on and by his publishers, that even if there + were more documents than there are it would be exceedingly difficult to + get at facts which are, after all, not very important. He never seems to + have been paid much more than 500 pounds for the newspaper publication + (the most valuable by far because the pirates could not interfere with its + profits) of any one of his novels. And to expensive fashions of + composition and complicated accounts, a steady back-drag of debt and the + rest, must be added the very delightful, and to the novelist not useless, + but very expensive mania for the collector. Balzac had a genuine taste + for, and thought himself a genuine connoisseur in, pictures, sculpture, + and objects of art of all kinds, old and new; and though prices in his day + were not what they are in these, a great deal of money must have run + through his hands in this way. He calculated the value of the contents of + the house, which in his last days he furnished with such loving care for + his wife, and which turned out to be a chamber rather of death than of + marriage, at some 16,000 pounds. But part of this was Madame Hanska's own + purchasing, and there were offsets of indebtedness against it almost to + the last. In short, though during the last twenty years of his life such + actual "want of pence" as vexed him was not due, as it had been earlier, + to the fact that the pence refused to come in, but only to imprudent + management of them, it certainly cannot be said that Honore de Balzac, the + most desperately hard worker in all literature for such time as was + allotted him, and perhaps the man of greatest genius who was ever a + desperately hard worker, falsified that most uncomfortable but truest of + proverbs—"Hard work never made money." + </p> + <p> + If, however, he was but scantily rewarded with the money for which he had + a craving (not absolutely, I think, devoid of a touch of genuine avarice, + but consisting chiefly of the artist's desire for pleasant and beautiful + things, and partly presenting a variety or phase of the grandiose + imagination, which was his ruling characteristic), Balzac had plenty of + the fame, for which he cared quite as much as he cared for money. Perhaps + no writer except Voltaire and Goethe earlier made such a really European + reputation; and his books were of a kind to be more widely read by the + general public than either Goethe's or Voltaire's. In England (Balzac + liked the literature but not the country, and never visited England, + though I believe he planned a visit) this popularity was, for obvious + reasons, rather less than elsewhere. The respectful vogue which French + literature had had with the English in the eighteenth century had ceased, + owing partly to the national enmity revived and fostered by the great war, + and partly to the growth of a fresh and magnificent literature at home + during the first thirty years of the nineteenth in England. But Balzac + could not fail to be read almost at once by the lettered; and he was + translated pretty early, though not perhaps to any great extent. It was in + England, moreover, that by far his greatest follower appeared, and + appeared very shortly. For it would be absurd in the most bigoted admirer + of Thackeray to deny that the author of <i>Vanity Fair</i>, who was in + Paris and narrowly watching French literature and French life at the very + time of Balzac's most exuberant flourishing and education, owed something + to the author of <i>Le Pere Goriot</i>. There was no copying or imitation; + the lessons taught by Balzac were too much blended with those of native + masters, such as Fielding, and too much informed and transformed by + individual genius. Some may think—it is a point at issue not merely + between Frenchmen and Englishmen, but between good judges of both nations + on each side—that in absolute veracity and likeness to life, in + limiting the operation of the inner consciousness on the outward + observation to strictly artistic scale, Thackeray excelled Balzac as far + as he fell short of him in the powers of the seer and in the gigantic + imagination of the prophet. But the relations of pupil and master in at + least some degree are not, I think, deniable. + </p> + <p> + So things went on in light and in shade, in homekeeping and in travel, in + debts and in earnings, but always in work of some kind or another, for + eighteen years from the turning point of 1829. By degrees, as he gained + fame and ceased to be in the most pressing want of money, Balzac left off + to some extent, though never entirely, those miscellaneous writings—reviews + (including puffs), comic or general sketches, political diatribes, + "physiologies" and the like—which, with his discarded prefaces and + much more interesting matter, were at last, not many years ago, included + in four stout volumes of the <i>Edition Definitive</i>. With the exception + of the <i>Physiologies</i> (a sort of short satiric analysis of this or + that class, character, or personage), which were very popular in the reign + of Louis Philippe in France, and which Albert Smith and others introduced + into England, Balzac did not do any of this miscellaneous work extremely + well. Very shrewd observations are to be found in his reviews, for + instance his indication, in reviewing La Touche's <i>Fragoletta</i>, of + that common fault of ambitious novels, a sort of woolly and "ungraspable" + looseness of construction and story, which constantly bewilders the reader + as to what is going on. But, as a rule, he was thinking too much of his + own work and his own principles of working to enter very thoroughly into + the work of others. His politics, those of a moderate but decided Royalist + and Conservative, were, as has been said, intelligent in theory, but in + practice a little distinguished by that neglect of actual business detail + which has been noticed in his speculations. + </p> + <p> + At last, in the summer of 1847, it seemed as if the Rachel for whom he had + served nearly if not quite the full fourteen years already, and whose + husband had long been out of the way, would at last grant herself to him. + He was invited to Vierzschovnia in the Ukraine, the seat of Madame Hanska, + or in strictness of her son-in-law, Count Georges Mniszech; and as the + visit was apparently for no restricted period, and Balzac's pretensions to + the lady's hand were notorious, it might have seemed that he was as good + as accepted. But to assume this would have been to mistake what perhaps + the greatest creation of Balzac's great English contemporary and + counterpart on the one side, as Thackeray was his contemporary and + counterpart on the other, considered to be the malignity of widows. What + the reasons were which made Madame Hanska delay so long in doing what she + did at last, and might just as well, it would seem, have done years + before, is not certainly known, and it would be quite unprofitable to + discuss them. But it was on the 8th of October 1847 that Balzac first + wrote to his sister from Vierzschovnia, and it was not till the 14th of + March 1850 that, "in the parish church of Saint Barbara at Berditchef, by + the Count Abbe Czarski, representing the Bishop of Jitomir (this is as + characteristic of Balzac in one way as what follows is in another) a + Madame Eve de Balzac, born Countess Rzevuska, or a Madame Honore de Balzac + or a Madame de Balzac the elder" came into existence. + </p> + <p> + It does not appear that Balzac was exactly unhappy during this huge + probation, which was broken by one short visit to Paris. The interest of + uncertainty was probably much for his ardent and unquiet spirit, and + though he did very little literary work for him, one may suspect that he + would not have done very much if he had stayed at Paris, for signs of + exhaustion, not of genius but of physical power, had shown themselves + before he left home. But it is not unjust or cruel to say that by the + delay "Madame Eve de Balzac" (her actual baptismal name was Evelina) + practically killed her husband. These winters in the severe climate of + Russian Poland were absolutely fatal to a constitution, and especially to + lungs, already deeply affected. At Vierzschovnia itself he had illnesses, + from which he narrowly escaped with life, before the marriage; his heart + broke down after it; and he and his wife did not reach Paris till the end + of May. Less than three months afterwards, on the 18th of August, he died, + having been visited on the very day of his death in the Paradise of + bric-a-brac which he had created for his Eve in the Rue Fortunee—a + name too provocative of Nemesis—by Victor Hugo, the chief maker in + verse as he himself was the chief maker in prose of France. He was buried + at Pere la Chaise. The after-fortunes of his house and its occupants were + not happy: but they do not concern us. + </p> + <p> + In person Balzac was a typical Frenchman, as indeed he was in most ways. + From his portraits there would seem to have been more force and address + than distinction or refinement in his appearance, but, as has been already + observed, his period was one ungrateful to the iconographer. His + character, not as a writer but as a man, must occupy us a little longer. + For some considerable time—indeed it may be said until the + publication of his letters—it was not very favorably judged on the + whole. We may, of course, dismiss the childish scandals (arising, as + usual, from clumsy or malevolent misinterpretation of such books as the <i>Physiologie + de Mariage</i>, the <i>Peau de Chagrin</i>, and a few others), which gave + rise to the caricatures of him such as that of which we read, representing + him in a monk's dress at a table covered with bottles and supporting a + young person on his knee, the whole garnished with the epigraph: Scenes de + la Vie Cachee. They seem to have given him, personally, a very unnecessary + annoyance, and indeed he was always rather sensitive to criticism. This + kind of stupid libel will never cease to be devised by the envious, + swallowed by the vulgar, and simply neglected by the wise. But Balzac's + peculiarities, both of life and of work, lent themselves rather fatally to + a subtler misconstruction which he also anticipated and tried to remove, + but which took a far stronger hold. He was represented—and in the + absence of any intimate male friends to contradict the representation, it + was certain to obtain some currency—as in his artistic person a + sardonic libeler of mankind, who cared only to take foibles and vices for + his subjects, and who either left goodness and virtue out of sight + altogether, or represented them as the qualities of fools. In private life + he was held up as at the best a self-centered egotist who cared for + nothing but himself and his own work, capable of interrupting one friend + who told him of the death of a sister by the suggestion that they should + change the subject and talk of "something real, of <i>Eugenie Grandet</i>," + and of levying a fifty per cent commission on another who had written a + critical notice of his, Balzac's, life and works.* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Sandeau and Gautier, the victims in these two stories, were + neither spiteful, nor mendacious, nor irrational, so they are + probably true. The second was possibly due to Balzac's odd notions + of "business being business." The first, I have quite recently + seen reason to think, may have been a sort of reminiscence of one + of the traits in Diderot's extravagant encomium on Richardson. +</pre> + <p> + With the first of these charges he himself, on different occasions, rather + vainly endeavored to grapple, once drawing up an elaborate list of his + virtuous and vicious women, and showing that the former outnumbered the + latter; and, again, laboring (with that curious lack of sense of humor + which distinguishes all Frenchmen but a very few, and distinguished him + eminently) to show that though no doubt it is very difficult to make a + virtuous person interesting, he, Honore de Balzac, had attempted it, and + succeeded in it, on a quite surprising number of occasions. + </p> + <p> + The fact is that if he had handled this last matter rather more lightly + his answer would have been a sufficient one, and that in any case the + charge is not worth answering. It does not lie against the whole of his + work; and if it lay as conclusively as it does against Swift's, it would + not necessarily matter. To the artist in analysis as opposed to the + romance-writer, folly always, and villainy sometimes, does supply a much + better subject than virtuous success, and if he makes his fools and his + villains lifelike and supplies them with a fair contrast of better things, + there is nothing more to be said. He will not, indeed, be a Shakespeare, + or a Dante, or even a Scott; but we may be very well satisfied with him as + a Fielding, a Thackeray, or a Balzac. As to the more purely personal + matter I own that it was some time before I could persuade myself that + Balzac, to speak familiarly, was a much better fellow than others, and I + myself, have been accustomed to think him. But it is also some time since + I came to the conclusion that he was so, and my conversion is not to be + attributed to any editorial retainer. His education in a lawyer's office, + the accursed advice about the <i>bonne speculation</i>, and his constant + straitenings for money, will account for his sometimes looking after the + main chance rather too narrowly; and as for the Eugenie Grandet story + (even if the supposition referred to in a note above be fanciful) it + requires no great stretch of charity or comprehension to see in it nothing + more awkward, very easily misconstrued, but not necessarily in the least + heartless or brutal attempt of a rather absent and very much self-centered + recluse absorbed in one subject, to get his interlocutor as well as + himself out of painful and useless dwelling on sorrowful matters. + Self-centered and self-absorbed Balzac no doubt was; he could not have + lived his life or produced his work if he had been anything else. And it + must be remembered that he owed extremely little to others; that he had + the independence as well as the isolation of the self-centered; that he + never sponged or fawned on a great man, or wronged others of what was due + to them. The only really unpleasant thing about him that I know, and even + this is perhaps due to ignorance of all sides of the matter, is a slight + touch of snobbishness now and then, especially in those late letters from + Vierzschovnia to Madame de Balzac and Madame Surville, in which, while + inundating his mother and sister with commissions and requests for + service, he points out to them what great people the Hanskas and Mniszechs + are, what infinite honor and profit it will be to be connected with them, + and how desirable it is to keep struggling engineer brothers-in-law and + ne'er-do-well brothers in the colonies out of sight lest they should + disgust the magnates. + </p> + <p> + But these are "sma' sums, sma' sums," as Bailie Jarvie says; and smallness + of any kind has, whatever it may have to do with Balzac the man, nothing + to do with Balzac the writer. With him as with some others, but not as + with the larger number, the sense of <i>greatness</i> increases the longer + and the more fully he is studied. He resembles, I think, Goethe more than + any other man of letters—certainly more than any other of the + present century—in having done work which is very frequently, if not + even commonly, faulty, and in yet requiring that his work shall be known + as a whole. His appeal is cumulative; it repeats itself on each occasion + with a slight difference, and though there may now and then be the same + faults to be noticed, they are almost invariably accompanied, not merely + by the same, but by fresh merits. + </p> + <p> + As has been said at the beginning of this essay, no attempt will be made + in it to give that running survey of Balzac's work which is always useful + and sometimes indispensable in treatment of the kind. But something like a + summing up of that subject will here be attempted because it is really + desirable that in embarking on so vast a voyage the reader should have + some general chart—some notes of the soundings and log generally of + those who have gone before him. + </p> + <p> + There are two things, then, which it is more especially desirable to keep + constantly before one in reading Balzac—two things which, taken + together, constitute his almost unique value, and two things which not a + few critics have failed to take together in him, being under the + impression that the one excludes the other, and that to admit the other is + tantamount to a denial of the one. These two things are, first, an immense + attention to detail, sometimes observed, sometimes invented or imagined; + and secondly; a faculty of regarding these details through a mental lens + or arrangement of lenses almost peculiar to himself, which at once + combines, enlarges, and invests them with a peculiar magical halo or + mirage. The two thousand personages of the <i>Comedie Humaine</i> are, for + the most part, "signaled," as the French official word has it, marked and + denoted by the minutest traits of character, gesture, gait, clothing, + abode, what not; the transactions recorded are very often given with a + scrupulous and microscopic accuracy of reporting which no detective could + outdo. Defoe is not more circumstantial in detail of fact than Balzac; + Richardson is hardly more prodigal of character-stroke. Yet a very large + proportion of these characters, of these circumstances, are evidently + things invented or imagined, not observed. And in addition to this the + artist's magic glass, his Balzacian speculum, if we may so say (for none + else has ever had it), transforms even the most rigid observation into + something flickering and fanciful, the outline as of shadows on the wall, + not the precise contour of etching or of the camera. + </p> + <p> + It is curious, but not unexampled, that both Balzac himself when he + struggled in argument with his critics and those of his partisans who have + been most zealously devoted to him, have usually tried to exalt the first + and less remarkable of these gifts over the second and infinitely more + remarkable. Balzac protested strenuously against the use of the word + "gigantesque" in reference to his work; and of course it is susceptible of + an unhandsome innuendo. But if we leave that innuendo aside, if we adopt + the sane reflection that "gigantesque" does not exceed "gigantic," or + assert as constant failure of greatness, but only indicates that the + magnifying process is carried on with a certain indiscriminateness, we + shall find none, I think, which so thoroughly well describes him. + </p> + <p> + The effect of this singular combination of qualities, apparently the most + opposite, may be partly anticipated, but not quite. It results + occasionally in a certain shortcoming as regards <i>verite vraie</i>, + absolute artistic truth to nature. Those who would range Balzac in point + of such artistic veracity on a level with poetical and universal realists + like Shakespeare and Dante, or prosaic and particular realists like + Thackeray and Fielding, seem not only to be utterly wrong but to pay their + idol the worst of all compliments, that of ignoring his own special + qualifications. The province of Balzac may not be—I do no think it + is—identical, much less co-extensive, with that of nature. But it is + his own—a partly real, partly fantastic region, where the lights, + the shades, the dimensions, and the physical laws are slightly different + from those of this world of ours, but with which, owing to the things it + has in common with that world, we are able to sympathize, which we can + traverse and comprehend. Every now and then the artist uses his observing + faculty more, and his magnifying and distorting lens less; every now and + then he reverses the proportion. Some tastes will like him best in the one + stage; some in the other; the happier constituted will like him best in + both. These latter will decline to put <i>Eugenie Grandet</i> above the <i>Peau + de Chagrin</i>, or <i>Le Pere Goriot</i> above the wonderful handful of + tales which includes <i>La Recherche de l'Absolu</i> and <i>Le + Chef-d'oeuvre Inconnu</i>, though they will no doubt recognize that even + in the first two named members of these pairs the Balzacian quality, that + of magnifying and rendering grandiose, is present, and that the martyrdom + of Eugenie, the avarice of her father, the blind self-devotion of Goriot + to his thankless and worthless children, would not be what they are if + they were seen through a perfectly achromatic and normal medium. + </p> + <p> + This specially Balzacian quality is, I think, unique. It is like—it + may almost be said to <i>be</i>—the poetic imagination, present in + magnificent volume and degree, but in some miraculous way deprived and + sterilized of the specially poetical quality. By this I do not of course + mean that Balzac did not write in verse: we have a few verses of his, and + they are pretty bad, but that is neither here nor there. The difference + between Balzac and a great poet lies not in the fact that the one fills + the whole page with printed words, and the other only a part of it—but + in something else. If I could put that something else into distinct words + I should therein attain the philosopher's stone, the elixir of life, the + <i>primum mobile</i>, the <i>grand arcanum</i>, not merely of criticism + but of all things. It might be possible to coast about it, to hint at it, + by adumbrations and in consequences. But it is better and really more + helpful to face the difficulty boldly, and to say that Balzac, approaching + a great poet nearer perhaps than any other prose writer in any language, + is distinguished from one by the absence of the very last touch, the + finally constituting quiddity, which makes a great poet different from + Balzac. + </p> + <p> + Now, when we make this comparison, it is of the first interest to remember—and + it is one of the uses of the comparison, that it suggests the remembrance + of the fact—that the great poets have usually been themselves + extremely exact observers of detail. It has not made them great poets; but + they would not be great poets without it. And when Eugenie Grandet starts + from <i>le petit banc de bois</i> at the reference to it in her + scoundrelly cousin's letter (to take only one instance out of a thousand), + we see in Balzac the same observation, subject to the limitation just + mentioned, that we see in Dante and Shakespeare, in Chaucer and Tennyson. + But the great poets do not as a rule <i>accumulate</i> detail. Balzac + does, and from this very accumulation he manages to derive that singular + gigantesque vagueness—differing from the poetic vague, but ranking + next to it—which I have here ventured to note as his distinguishing + quality. He bewilders us a very little by it, and he gives us the + impression that he has slightly bewildered himself. But the compensations + of the bewilderment are large. + </p> + <p> + For in this labyrinth and whirl of things, in this heat and hurry of + observation and imagination, the special intoxication of Balzac consists. + Every great artist has his own means of producing this intoxication, and + it differs in result like the stimulus of beauty or of wine. Those persons + who are unfortunate enough to see in Balzac little or nothing but an + ingenious piler-up of careful strokes—a man of science taking his + human documents and classing them after an orderly fashion in portfolio + and deed-box—must miss this intoxication altogether. It is much more + agreeable as well as much more accurate to see in the manufacture of the + <i>Comedie</i> the process of a Cyclopean workshop—the bustle, the + hurry, the glare and shadow, the steam and sparks of Vulcanian forging. + The results, it is true, are by no means confused or disorderly—neither + were those of the forges that worked under Lipari—but there + certainly went much more to them than the dainty fingering of a literary + fretwork-maker or the dull rummagings of a realist <i>a la Zola</i>. + </p> + <p> + In part, no doubt, and in great part, the work of Balzac is dream-stuff + rather than life-stuff, and it is all the better for that. What is better + than dreams? But the coherence of his visions, their bulk, their solidity, + the way in which they return to us and we return to them, make them such + dream-stuff as there is all too little of in this world. If it is true + that evil on the whole predominates over good in the vision of this + "Voyant," as Philarete Chasles so justly called him, two very respectable, + and in one case very large, though somewhat opposed divisions of mankind, + the philosophic pessimist and the convinced and consistent Christian + believer, will tell us that this is at least not one of the points in + which it is unfaithful to life. If the author is closer and more faithful + in his study of meanness and vice than in his studies of nobility and + virtue, the blame is due at least as much to his models as to himself. If + he has seldom succeeded in combining a really passionate with a really + noble conception of love, very few of his countrymen have been more + fortunate in that respect. If in some of his types—his journalists, + his married women, and others—he seems to have sacrificed to + conventions, let us remember that those who know attribute to his + conventions such a power if not altogether such a holy influence that two + generations of the people he painted have actually lived more and more up + to his painting of them. + </p> + <p> + And last of all, but also greatest, has to be considered the immensity of + his imaginative achievement, the huge space that he has filled for us with + vivid creation, the range of amusement, of instruction, of (after a + fashion) edification which he has thrown open for us all to walk in. It is + possible that he himself and others more or less well-meaningly, though + more or less maladroitly, following his lead, may have exaggerated the + coherence and the architectural design of the <i>Comedie</i>. But it has + coherence and it has design; nor shall we find anything exactly to + parallel it. In mere bulk the <i>Comedie</i> probably, if not certainly, + exceeds the production of any novelist of the first class in any kind of + fiction except Dumas, and with Dumas, for various and well-known reasons, + there is no possibility of comparing it. All others yield in bulk; all in + a certain concentration and intensity; none even aims at anything like the + same system and completeness. It must be remembered that owing to + shortness of life, lateness of beginning, and the diversion of the author + to other work, the <i>Comedie</i> is the production, and not the sole + production, of some seventeen or eighteen years at most. Not a volume of + it, for all that failure to reach the completest perfection in form and + style which has been acknowledged, can be accused of thinness, of scamped + work, of mere repetition, of mere cobbling up. Every one bears the marks + of steady and ferocious labor, as well as of the genius which had at last + come where it had been so earnestly called and had never gone away again. + It is possible to overpraise Balzac in parts or to mispraise him as a + whole. But so long as inappropriate and superfluous comparisons are + avoided and as his own excellence is recognized and appreciated, it is + scarcely possible to overestimate that excellence in itself and for + itself. He stands alone; even with Dickens, who is his nearest analogue, + he shows far more points of difference than of likeness. His vastness of + bulk is not more remarkable than his peculiarity of quality; and when + these two things coincide in literature or elsewhere, then that in which + they coincide may be called, and must be called, Great, without hesitation + and without reserve. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + GEORGE SAINTSBURY. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPE" id="link2H_APPE"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + APPENDIX + </h2> + <p> + THE BALZAC PLAN OF THE COMEDIE HUMAINE + </p> + <p> + The form in which the Comedie Humaine was left by its author, with the + exceptions of <i>Le Depute d'Arcis</i> (incomplete) and <i>Les Petits + Bourgeois</i>, both of which were added, some years later, by the Edition + Definitive. + </p> + <p> + The original French titles are followed by their English equivalents. + Literal translations have been followed, excepting a few instances where + preference is shown for a clearer or more comprehensive English title. + </p> + <div class="mynote"> + <p> + [Note from Team Balzac, the Etext preparers: In some cases more than one + English translation is commonly used for various translations/editions. + In such cases the first translation is from the Saintsbury edition + copyrighted in 1901 and that is the title referred to in the personages + following most of the stories. We have added other title translations of + which we are currently aware for the readers' convenience.] + </p> + <br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + COMEDIE HUMAINE + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + SCENES DE LA VIE PRIVEE + </h2> + <p> + SCENES FROM PRIVATE LIFE + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1680/1680-h/1680-h.htm"> <b>At + the Sign of the Cat and Racket</b></a> (<i>La Maison du Chat-qui + Pelote</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1305/1305-h/1305-h.htm"> <b>The + Ball at Sceaux</b></a> (<i>Le Bal de Sceaux</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1196/1196-h/1196-h.htm"> <b>The + Purse</b></a> (<i>La Bourse</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1374/1374-h/1374-h.htm"> <b>Vendetta</b></a> + (<i>La Vendetta</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1357/1357-h/1357-h.htm"> <b>Madame + Firmiani</b></a> (<i>Mme. Firmiani</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1810/1810-h/1810-h.htm"> <b>A + Second Home</b></a> (<i>Une Double Famille</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1411/1411-h/1411-h.htm"> <b>Domestic + Peace</b></a> (<i>La Paix du Menage</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1369/1369-h/1369-h.htm"> <b>Paz</b></a> + (<i>La Fausse Maitresse</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1373/1373-h/1373-h.htm"> <b>Study + of a Woman</b></a> (<i>Etude de femme</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1714/1714-h/1714-h.htm"> <b>Another + Study of Woman</b></a> (<i>Autre etude de femme</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1710/1710-h/1710-h.htm"> <b>The + Grand Breteche</b></a> (<i>La Grande Breteche</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1898/1898-h/1898-h.htm"> <b>Albert + Savarus</b></a> (<i>Albert Savarus</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1941/1941-h/1941-h.htm"> <b>Letters + of Two Brides</b></a> (<i>Memoires de deux Jeunes Mariees</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1481/1481-h/1481-h.htm"> <b>A + Daughter of Eve</b></a> (<i>Une Fille d'Eve</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1950/1950-h/1950-h.htm"> <b>A + Woman of Thirty</b></a> (<i>La Femme de Trente Ans</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1729/1729-h/1729-h.htm"> <b>The + Deserted Woman</b></a> (<i>La Femme abandonnee</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1428/1428-h/1428-h.htm"> <b>La + Grenadiere</b></a> (<i>La Grenadiere</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1189/1189-h/1189-h.htm"> <b>The + Message</b></a> (<i>Le Message</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1389/1389-h/1389-h.htm"> <b>Gobseck</b></a> + (<i>Gobseck</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1556/1556-h/1556-h.htm"> <b>The + Marriage Contract</b></a> (<i>Le Contrat de Mariage</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1403/1403-h/1403-h.htm"> <b>A + Start in Life</b></a> (<i>Un Debut dans la vie</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1482/1482-h/1482-h.htm"> <b>Modeste + Mignon</b></a> (<i>Modeste Mignon</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1957/1957-h/1957-h.htm"> <b>Beatrix</b></a> + (<i>Beatrix</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1683/1683-h/1683-h.htm"> <b>Honorine</b></a> + (<i>Honorine</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1954/1954-h/1954-h.htm"> <b>Colonel + Chabert</b></a> (<i>Le Colonel Chabert</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1220/1220-h/1220-h.htm"> <b>The + Atheist's Mass</b></a> (<i>La Messe de l'Athee</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1410/1410-h/1410-h.htm"> <b>The + Commission in Lunacy</b></a> (<i>L'Interdiction</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1230/1230-h/1230-h.htm"> <b>Pierre + Grassou</b></a> (<i>Pierre Grassou</i>)<br /> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SCENES DE LA VIE PROVINCE + </h2> + <p> + SCENES FROM PROVINCIAL LIFE + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + Ursule Mirouet (<i>Ursule Mirouet</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1715/1715-h/1715-h.htm"> <b>Eugenie + Grandet</b></a> (<i>Eugenie Grandet</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1704/1704-h/1704-h.htm"> <b>Pierrette</b></a> + (<i>Les Celibataires, Pierrette</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1345/1345-h/1345-h.htm"> <b>The + Vicar of Tours</b></a> (<i>Le Cure de Tours</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1380/1380-h/1380-h.htm"> <b>The + Two Brothers, (The Black Sheep)</b></a> (<i>Un Menage de Garcon, La + Rabouilleuse</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1474/1474-h/1474-h.htm"> <b>The + Illustrious Gaudissart</b></a> (<i>L'illustre Gaudissart, Parisians in + the Country</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1912/1912-h/1912-h.htm"> <b>The + Muse of the Department</b></a> (<i>La Muse du departement</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1352/1352-h/1352-h.htm"> <b>The + Old Maid, Jealousies of a Country Town</b></a> (<i>La Vieille Fille, + Les Rivalites</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1405/1405-h/1405-h.htm"> <b>The + Collection of Antiquities</b></a> (<i>Le Cabinet des antiques</i>)<br /> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1569/1569-h/1569-h.htm"> <b>The + Lily of the Valley</b></a> (<i>Le Lys dans la Vallee</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1443/1443-h/1443-h.htm"> <b>Two + Poets, Lost Illusions:—I.</b></a> (<i>Les Deux Poetes, Illusions + Perdues:—I.</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1559/1559-h/1559-h.htm"> <b>A + Distinguished Provincial at Paris</b></a> (<i>Un Grand homme de + province a Paris, 1re partie</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1639/1639-h/1639-h.htm"> <b>Eve + and David</b></a> (<i>Eve et David</i>)<br /> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SCENES DE LA VIE PARISIENNE + </h2> + <p> + SCENES FROM PARISIAN LIFE + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1660/1660-h/1660-h.htm"> <b>Scenes + from a Courtesan's Life, Esther Happy</b></a> (<i>Splendeurs et + Miseres des Courtisanes</i><br /> What Love Costs an Old Man (<i>A + combien l'amour revient aux vieillards</i>)<br /> The End of Evil Ways + (<i>Ou menent les mauvais Chemins</i>)<br /> Vautrin's Last Avatar (La + derniere Incarnation de Vautrin)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1812/1812-h/1812-h.htm"> <b>A + Prince of Bohemia</b></a> (<i>Un Prince de la Boheme</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1813/1813-h/1813-h.htm"> <b>A Man + of Business</b></a> (<i>Un Homme d'affaires</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1475/1475-h/1475-h.htm"> <b>Gaudissart + II</b></a> (<i>Gaudissart II.</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1242/1242-h/1242-h.htm"> <b>Unconscious + Comedians, The Unconscious Humorists</b></a> (<i>Les Comediens sans le + savoir</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1649/1649-h/1649-h.htm"> <b>Ferragus, + The Thirteen</b></a> (Ferragus, Histoire des Treize)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/469/469-h/469-h.htm"> <b>The + Duchesse de Langeais</b></a> (<i>La Duchesse de Langeais</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1659/1659-h/1659-h.htm"> <b>Girl + with the Golden Eyes</b></a> (<i>La Fille aux yeux d'or</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1237/1237-h/1237-h.htm"> <b>Father + Goriot, Old Goriot</b></a> (<i>Le Pere Goriot</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1942/1942-h/1942-h.htm"> <b>Rise + and Fall of Cesar Birotteau</b></a> (<i>Grandeur et Decadence de Cesar + Birotteau</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1294/1294-h/1294-h.htm"> <b>The + Firm of Nucingen</b></a> (<i>La Maison Nucingen</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1344/1344-h/1344-h.htm"> <b>Secrets + of the Princesse de Cadignan</b></a> (<i>Les Secrets de la princesse + de Cadignan</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1343/1343-h/1343-h.htm"> <b>Bureaucracy, + The Government Clerks</b></a> (<i>Les Employes</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1826/1826-h/1826-h.htm"> <b>Sarrasine</b></a> + (<i>Sarrasine</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1737/1737-h/1737-h.htm"> <b>Facino + Cane</b></a> (<i>Facino Cane</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1749/1749-h/1749-h.htm"> <b>Cousin + Betty, Poor Relations:—I.</b></a> (<i>La Cousine Bette, Les + Parents Pauvres:—I.</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1856/1856-h/1856-h.htm"> <b>Cousin + Pons, Poor Relations:—II.</b></a> (<i>Le Cousin Pons, Les + Parents Pauvres:—II.</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1641/1641-h/1641-h.htm"> <b>The + Lesser Bourgeoisie, The Middle Classes</b></a> (<i>Les Petits + Bourgeois</i>)<br /> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SCENES DE LA VIE POLITIQUE + </h2> + <p> + SCENES FROM POLITICAL LIFE + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1678/1678-h/1678-h.htm"> <b>An + Historical Mystery, The Gondreville Mystery</b></a> (<i>Une Tenebreuse + Affaire</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1456/1456-h/1456-h.htm"> <b>An + Episode Under the Terror</b> </a> (<i>Un Episode sous + la Terreur</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1967/1967-h/1967-h.htm"> <b>Brotherhood + of Consolation, Seamy Side of History</b></a> (<i>Mme. de la + Chanterie, L'Envers de l'Histoire Contemporaine)</i><br /> Initiated, + The Initiate (<i>L'Initie</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1841/1841-h/1841-h.htm"> <b>Z. + Marcas</b></a> (<i>Z. Marcas</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1871/1871-h/1871-h.htm"> <b>The + Deputy of Arcis, The Member for Arcis</b></a> (<i>Le Depute d'Arcis</i>)<br /> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SCENES DE LA VIE MILITAIRE + </h2> + <p> + SCENES FROM MILITARY LIFE + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1921/1921-h/1921-h.htm"> <b>The + Chouans</b></a> (<i>Les Chouans</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1555/1555-h/1555-h.htm"> <b>A + Passion in the Desert</b></a> (<i>Une Passion dans le desert</i>)<br /> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SCENES DE LA VIE DE CAMPAGNE + </h2> + <p> + SCENES FROM COUNTRY LIFE + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1350/1350-h/1350-h.htm"> <b>The + Country Doctor</b></a> (<i>Le Medecin de Campagne</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1899/1899-h/1899-h.htm"> <b>The + Village Rector, The Country Parson</b></a> (<i>Le Cure de Village</i>)<br /> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1417/1417-h/1417-h.htm"> <b>Sons + of the Soil, The Peasantry</b></a> (<i>Les Paysans</i>)<br /> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ETUDES PHILOSOPHIQUES + </h2> + <p> + PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1307/1307-h/1307-h.htm"> <b>The + Magic Skin</b></a> (<i>La Peau de Chagrin</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1453/1453-h/1453-h.htm"> <b>The + Alkahest, The Quest of the Absolute</b></a> (<i>La Recherche de + l'Absolu</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1940/1940-h/1940-h.htm"> <b>Christ + in Flanders</b></a> (<i>Jesus-Christ en Flandre</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1277/1277-h/1277-h.htm"> <b>Melmoth + Reconciled</b></a> (<i>Melmoth reconcilie</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23060/23060-h/23060-h.htm"> <b>The + Unknown Masterpiece, The Hidden Masterpiece</b></a> (<i>Le + Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1455/1455-h/1455-h.htm"> <b>The + Hated Son</b></a> (<i>L'Enfant Maudit</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1873/1873-h/1873-h.htm"> <b>Gambara</b></a> + (<i>Gambara</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1811/1811-h/1811-h.htm"> <b>Massimilla + Doni</b></a> (<i>Massimilla Doni</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1437/1437-h/1437-h.htm"> <b>Juana, + The Maranas</b></a> (<i>Les Marana</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5873/5873-h/5873-h.htm"> <b>Farewell</b></a> + (<i>Adieu</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1426/1426-h/1426-h.htm"> <b>The + Recruit, The Conscript</b></a> (<i>Le Requisitionnaire</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1425/1425-h/1425-h.htm"> <b>El + Verdugo</b></a> (<i>El Verdugo</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1427/1427-h/1427-h.htm"> <b>A + Drama on the Seashore, A Seaside Tragedy</b></a> (<i>Un Drame au bord + de la mer</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1433/1433-h/1433-h.htm"> <b>The + Red Inn</b></a> (<i>L'Auberge rouge</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1215/1215-h/1215-h.htm"> <b>The + Elixir of Life</b></a> (<i>L'Elixir de longue vie</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1454/1454-h/1454-h.htm"> <b>Maitre + Cornelius</b></a> (<i>Maitre Cornelius</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1854/1854-h/1854-h.htm"> <b>Catherine + de' Medici, The Calvinist Martyr</b></a> (<i>Sur Catherine de Medicis, + Le Martyr calviniste</i>)<br /> The Ruggieri's Secret, (<i>La + Confidence des Ruggieri</i>)<br /> The Two Dreams (<i>Les Deux Reves</i>) + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1943/1943-h/1943-h.htm"> <b>Louis + Lambert</b></a> (<i>Louis Lambert</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1884/1884-h/1884-h.htm"> <b>The + Exiles</b></a> (<i>Les Proscrits</i>)<br /> <a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1432/1432-h/1432-h.htm"> <b>Seraphita</b></a> + (<i>Seraphita</i>)<br /> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION + </h2> + <p> + In giving the general title of "The Human Comedy" to a work begun nearly + thirteen years since, it is necessary to explain its motive, to relate its + origin, and briefly sketch its plan, while endeavoring to speak of these + matters as though I had no personal interest in them. This is not so + difficult as the public might imagine. Few works conduce to much vanity; + much labor conduces to great diffidence. This observation accounts for the + study of their own works made by Corneille, Moliere, and other great + writers; if it is impossible to equal them in their fine conceptions, we + may try to imitate them in this feeling. + </p> + <p> + The idea of <i>The Human Comedy</i> was at first as a dream to me, one of + those impossible projects which we caress and then let fly; a chimera that + gives us a glimpse of its smiling woman's face, and forthwith spreads its + wings and returns to a heavenly realm of phantasy. But this chimera, like + many another, has become a reality; has its behests, its tyranny, which + must be obeyed. + </p> + <p> + The idea originated in a comparison between Humanity and Animality. + </p> + <p> + It is a mistake to suppose that the great dispute which has lately made a + stir, between Cuvier and Geoffroi Saint-Hilaire, arose from a scientific + innovation. Unity of structure, under other names, had occupied the + greatest minds during the two previous centuries. As we read the + extraordinary writings of the mystics who studied the sciences in their + relation to infinity, such as Swedenborg, Saint-Martin, and others, and + the works of the greatest authors on Natural History—Leibnitz, + Buffon, Charles Bonnet, etc., we detect in the <i>monads</i> of Leibnitz, + in the <i>organic molecules</i> of Buffon, in the <i>vegetative force</i> + of Needham, in the correlation of similar organs of Charles Bonnet—who + in 1760 was so bold as to write, "Animals vegetate as plants do"—we + detect, I say, the rudiments of the great law of Self for Self, which lies + at the root of <i>Unity of Plan</i>. There is but one Animal. The Creator + works on a single model for every organized being. "The Animal" is + elementary, and takes its external form, or, to be accurate, the + differences in its form, from the environment in which it is obliged to + develop. Zoological species are the result of these differences. The + announcement and defence of this system, which is indeed in harmony with + our preconceived ideas of Divine Power, will be the eternal glory of + Geoffroi Saint-Hilaire, Cuvier's victorious opponent on this point of + higher science, whose triumph was hailed by Goethe in the last article he + wrote. + </p> + <p> + I, for my part, convinced of this scheme of nature long before the + discussion to which it has given rise, perceived that in this respect + society resembled nature. For does not society modify Man, according to + the conditions in which he lives and acts, into men as manifold as the + species in Zoology? The differences between a soldier, an artisan, a man + of business, a lawyer, an idler, a student, a statesman, a merchant, a + sailor, a poet, a beggar, a priest, are as great, though not so easy to + define, as those between the wolf, the lion, the ass, the crow, the shark, + the seal, the sheep, etc. Thus social species have always existed, and + will always exist, just as there are zoological species. If Buffon could + produce a magnificent work by attempting to represent in a book the whole + realm of zoology, was there not room for a work of the same kind on + society? But the limits set by nature to the variations of animals have no + existence in society. When Buffon describes the lion, he dismisses the + lioness with a few phrases; but in society a wife is not always the female + of the male. There may be two perfectly dissimilar beings in one + household. The wife of a shopkeeper is sometimes worthy of a prince, and + the wife of a prince is often worthless compared with the wife of an + artisan. The social state has freaks which Nature does not allow herself; + it is nature <i>plus</i> society. The description of social species would + thus be at least double that of animal species, merely in view of the two + sexes. Then, among animals the drama is limited; there is scarcely any + confusion; they turn and rend each other—that is all. Men, too, rend + each other; but their greater or less intelligence makes the struggle far + more complicated. Though some savants do not yet admit that the animal + nature flows into human nature through an immense tide of life, the grocer + certainly becomes a peer, and the noble sometimes sinks to the lowest + social grade. Again, Buffon found that life was extremely simple among + animals. Animals have little property, and neither arts nor sciences; + while man, by a law that has yet to be sought, has a tendency to express + his culture, his thoughts, and his life in everything he appropriates to + his use. Though Leuwenhoek, Swammerdam, Spallanzani, Reaumur, Charles + Bonnet, Muller, Haller and other patient investigators have shown us how + interesting are the habits of animals, those of each kind, are, at least + to our eyes, always and in every age alike; whereas the dress, the + manners, the speech, the dwelling of a prince, a banker, an artist, a + citizen, a priest, and a pauper are absolutely unlike, and change with + every phase of civilization. + </p> + <p> + Hence the work to be written needed a threefold form—men, women, and + things; that is to say, persons and the material expression of their + minds; man, in short, and life. + </p> + <p> + As we read the dry and discouraging list of events called History, who can + have failed to note that the writers of all periods, in Egypt, Persia, + Greece, and Rome, have forgotten to give us a history of manners? The + fragment of Petronius on the private life of the Romans excites rather + than satisfies our curiosity. It was from observing this great void in the + field of history that the Abbe Barthelemy devoted his life to a + reconstruction of Greek manners in <i>Le Jeune Anacharsis</i>. + </p> + <p> + But how could such a drama, with the four or five thousand persons which + society offers, be made interesting? How, at the same time, please the + poet, the philosopher, and the masses who want both poetry and philosophy + under striking imagery? Though I could conceive of the importance and of + the poetry of such a history of the human heart, I saw no way of writing + it; for hitherto the most famous story-tellers had spent their talent in + creating two or three typical actors, in depicting one aspect of life. It + was with this idea that I read the works of Walter Scott. Walter Scott, + the modern troubadour, or finder (<i>trouvere=trouveur</i>), had just then + given an aspect of grandeur to a class of composition unjustly regarded as + of the second rank. Is it not really more difficult to compete with + personal and parochial interests by writing of Daphnis and Chloe, Roland, + Amadis, Panurge, Don Quixote, Manon Lescaut, Clarissa, Lovelace, Robinson + Crusoe, Gil Blas, Ossian, Julie d'Etanges, My Uncle Toby, Werther, + Corinne, Adolphe, Paul and Virginia, Jeanie Deans, Claverhouse, Ivanhoe, + Manfred, Mignon, than to set forth in order facts more or less similar in + every country, to investigate the spirit of laws that have fallen into + desuetude, to review the theories which mislead nations, or, like some + metaphysicians, to explain what <i>Is</i>? In the first place, these + actors, whose existence becomes more prolonged and more authentic than + that of the generations which saw their birth, almost always live solely + on condition of their being a vast reflection of the present. Conceived in + the womb of their own period, the whole heart of humanity stirs within + their frame, which often covers a complete system of philosophy. Thus + Walter Scott raised to the dignity of the philosophy of History the + literature which, from age to age, sets perennial gems in the poetic crown + of every nation where letters are cultivated. He vivified it with the + spirit of the past; he combined drama, dialogue, portrait, scenery, and + description; he fused the marvelous with truth—the two elements of + the times; and he brought poetry into close contact with the familiarity + of the humblest speech. But as he had not so much devised a system as hit + upon a manner in the ardor of his work, or as its logical outcome, he + never thought of connecting his compositions in such a way as to form a + complete history of which each chapter was a novel, and each novel the + picture of a period. + </p> + <p> + It was by discerning this lack of unity, which in no way detracts from the + Scottish writer's greatness, that I perceived at once the scheme which + would favor the execution of my purpose, and the possibility of executing + it. Though dazzled, so to speak, by Walter Scott's amazing fertility, + always himself and always original, I did not despair, for I found the + source of his genius in the infinite variety of human nature. Chance is + the greatest romancer in the world; we have only to study it. French + society would be the real author; I should only be the secretary. By + drawing up an inventory of vices and virtues, by collecting the chief + facts of the passions, by depicting characters, by choosing the principal + incidents of social life, by composing types out of a combination of + homogeneous characteristics, I might perhaps succeed in writing the + history which so many historians have neglected: that of Manners. By + patience and perseverance I might produce for France in the nineteenth + century the book which we must all regret that Rome, Athens, Tyre, + Memphis, Persia, and India have not bequeathed to us; that history of + their social life which, prompted by the Abbe Barthelemy, Monteil + patiently and steadily tried to write for the Middle Ages, but in an + unattractive form. + </p> + <p> + This work, so far, was nothing. By adhering to the strict lines of a + reproduction a writer might be a more or less faithful, and more or less + successful, painter of types of humanity, a narrator of the dramas of + private life, an archaeologist of social furniture, a cataloguer of + professions, a registrar of good and evil; but to deserve the praise of + which every artist must be ambitious, must I not also investigate the + reasons or the cause of these social effects, detect the hidden sense of + this vast assembly of figures, passions, and incidents? And finally, + having sought—I will not say having found—this reason, this + motive power, must I not reflect on first principles, and discover in what + particulars societies approach or deviate from the eternal law of truth + and beauty? In spite of the wide scope of the preliminaries, which might + of themselves constitute a book, the work, to be complete, would need a + conclusion. Thus depicted, society ought to bear in itself the reason of + its working. + </p> + <p> + The law of the writer, in virtue of which he is a writer, and which I do + not hesitate to say makes him the equal, or perhaps the superior, of the + statesman, is his judgment, whatever it may be, on human affairs, and his + absolute devotion to certain principles. Machiavelli, Hobbes, Bossuet, + Leibnitz, Kant, Montesquieu, <i>are</i> the science which statesmen apply. + "A writer ought to have settled opinions on morals and politics; he should + regard himself as a tutor of men; for men need no masters to teach them to + doubt," says Bonald. I took these noble words as my guide long ago; they + are the written law of the monarchical writer. And those who would confute + me by my own words will find that they have misinterpreted some ironical + phrase, or that they have turned against me a speech given to one of my + actors—a trick peculiar to calumniators. + </p> + <p> + As to the intimate purpose, the soul of this work, these are the + principles on which it is based. + </p> + <p> + Man is neither good nor bad; he is born with instincts and capabilities; + society, far from depraving him, as Rousseau asserts, improves him, makes + him better; but self-interest also develops his evil tendencies. + Christianity, above all, Catholicism, being—as I have pointed out in + the Country Doctor (<i>le Medecin de Campagne</i>)—a complete system + for the repression of the depraved tendencies of man, is the most powerful + element of social order. + </p> + <p> + In reading attentively the presentment of society cast, as it were, from + the life, with all that is good and all that is bad in it, we learn this + lesson—if thought, or if passion, which combines thought and + feeling, is the vital social element, it is also its destructive element. + In this respect social life is like the life of man. Nations live long + only by moderating their vital energy. Teaching, or rather education, by + religious bodies is the grand principle of life for nations, the only + means of diminishing the sum of evil and increasing the sum of good in all + society. Thought, the living principle of good and ill, can only be + trained, quelled, and guided by religion. The only possible religion is + Christianity (see the letter from Paris in "Louis Lambert," in which the + young mystic explains, <i>a propos</i> to Swedenborg's doctrines, how + there has never been but one religion since the world began). Christianity + created modern nationalities, and it will preserve them. Hence, no doubt, + the necessity for the monarchical principle. Catholicism and Royalty are + twin principles. + </p> + <p> + As to the limits within which these two principles should be confined by + various institutions, so that they may not become absolute, every one will + feel that a brief preface ought not to be a political treatise. I cannot, + therefore, enter on religious discussions, nor on the political + discussions of the day. I write under the light of two eternal truths—Religion + and Monarchy; two necessities, as they are shown to be by contemporary + events, towards which every writer of sound sense ought to try to guide + the country back. Without being an enemy to election, which is an + excellent principle as a basis of legislation, I reject election regarded + as <i>the only social instrument</i>, especially so badly organized as it + now is (1842); for it fails to represent imposing minorities, whose ideas + and interests would occupy the attention of a monarchical government. + Elective power extended to all gives us government by the masses, the only + irresponsible form of government, under which tyranny is unlimited, for it + calls itself law. Besides, I regard the family and not the individual as + the true social unit. In this respect, at the risk of being thought + retrograde, I side with Bossuet and Bonald instead of going with modern + innovators. Since election has become the only social instrument, if I + myself were to exercise it no contradiction between my acts and my words + should be inferred. An engineer points out that a bridge is about to fall, + that it is dangerous for any one to cross it; but he crosses it himself + when it is the only road to the town. Napoleon adapted election to the + spirit of the French nation with wonderful skill. The least important + members of his Legislative Body became the most famous orators of the + Chamber after the Restoration. No Chamber has ever been the equal of the + <i>Corps Legislatif</i>, comparing them man for man. The elective system + of the Empire was, then, indisputably the best. + </p> + <p> + Some persons may, perhaps, think that this declaration is somewhat + autocratic and self-assertive. They will quarrel with the novelist for + wanting to be an historian, and will call him to account for writing + politics. I am simply fulfilling an obligation—that is my reply. The + work I have undertaken will be as long as a history; I was compelled to + explain the logic of it, hitherto unrevealed, and its principles and moral + purpose. + </p> + <p> + Having been obliged to withdraw the prefaces formerly published, in + response to essentially ephemeral criticisms, I will retain only one + remark. + </p> + <p> + Writers who have a purpose in view, were it only a reversion to principles + familiar in the past because they are eternal, should always clear the + ground. Now every one who, in the domain of ideas, brings his stone by + pointing out an abuse, or setting a mark on some evil that it may be + removed—every such man is stigmatized as immoral. The accusation of + immorality, which has never failed to be cast at the courageous writer, + is, after all, the last that can be brought when nothing else remains to + be said to a romancer. If you are truthful in your pictures; if by dint of + daily and nightly toil you succeed in writing the most difficult language + in the world, the word <i>immoral</i> is flung in your teeth. Socrates was + immoral; Jesus Christ was immoral; they both were persecuted in the name + of the society they overset or reformed. When a man is to be killed he is + taxed with immorality. These tactics, familiar in party warfare, are a + disgrace to those who use them. Luther and Calvin knew well what they were + about when they shielded themselves behind damaged worldly interests! And + they lived all the days of their life. + </p> + <p> + When depicting all society, sketching it in the immensity of its turmoil, + it happened—it could not but happen—that the picture displayed + more of evil than of good; that some part of the fresco represented a + guilty couple; and the critics at once raised a cry of immorality, without + pointing out the morality of another position intended to be a perfect + contrast. As the critic knew nothing of the general plan I could forgive + him, all the more because one can no more hinder criticism than the use of + eyes, tongues, and judgment. Also the time for an impartial verdict is not + yet come for me. And, after all, the author who cannot make up his mind to + face the fire of criticism should no more think of writing than a traveler + should start on his journey counting on a perpetually clear sky. On this + point it remains to be said that the most conscientious moralists doubt + greatly whether society can show as many good actions as bad ones; and in + the picture I have painted of it there are more virtuous figures than + reprehensible ones. Blameworthy actions, faults and crimes, from the + lightest to the most atrocious, always meet with punishment, human or + divine, signal or secret. I have done better than the historian, for I am + free. Cromwell here on earth escaped all punishment but that inflicted by + thoughtful men. And on this point there have been divided schools. Bossuet + even showed some consideration for great regicide. William of Orange, the + usurper, Hugues Capet, another usurper, lived to old age with no more + qualms or fears than Henri IV. or Charles I. The lives of Catherine II. + and of Frederick of Prussia would be conclusive against any kind of moral + law, if they were judged by the twofold aspect of the morality which + guides ordinary mortals, and that which is in use by crowned heads; for, + as Napoleon said, for kings and statesmen there are the lesser and the + higher morality. My scenes of political life are founded on this profound + observation. It is not a law to history, as it is to romance, to make for + a beautiful ideal. History is, or ought to be, what it was; while romance + ought to be "the better world," as was said by Mme. Necker, one of the + most distinguished thinkers of the last century. + </p> + <p> + Still, with this noble falsity, romance would be nothing if it were not + true in detail. Walter Scott, obliged as he was to conform to the ideas of + an essentially hypocritical nation, was false to humanity in his picture + of woman, because his models were schismatics. The Protestant woman has no + ideal. She may be chaste, pure, virtuous; but her unexpansive love will + always be as calm and methodical as the fulfilment of a duty. It might + seem as though the Virgin Mary had chilled the hearts of those sophists + who have banished her from heaven with her treasures of loving kindness. + In Protestantism there is no possible future for the woman who has sinned; + while, in the Catholic Church, the hope of forgiveness makes her sublime. + Hence, for the Protestant writer there is but one Woman, while the + Catholic writer finds a new woman in each new situation. If Walter Scott + had been a Catholic, if he had set himself the task of describing truly + the various phases of society which have successively existed in Scotland, + perhaps the painter of Effie and Alice—the two figures for which he + blamed himself in his later years—might have admitted passion with + its sins and punishments, and the virtues revealed by repentance. Passion + is the sum-total of humanity. Without passion, religion, history, romance, + art, would all be useless. + </p> + <p> + Some persons, seeing me collect such a mass of facts and paint them as + they are, with passion for their motive power, have supposed, but wrongly, + that I must belong to the school of Sensualism and Materialism—two + aspects of the same thing—Pantheism. But their misapprehension was + perhaps justified—or inevitable. I do not share the belief in + indefinite progress for society as a whole; I believe in man's improvement + in himself. Those who insist on reading in me the intention to consider + man as a finished creation are strangely mistaken. <i>Seraphita</i>, the + doctrine in action of the Christian Buddha, seems to me an ample answer to + this rather heedless accusation. + </p> + <p> + In certain fragments of this long work I have tried to popularize the + amazing facts, I may say the marvels, of electricity, which in man is + metamorphosed into an incalculable force; but in what way do the phenomena + of brain and nerves, which prove the existence of an undiscovered world of + psychology, modify the necessary and undoubted relations of the worlds to + God? In what way can they shake the Catholic dogma? Though irrefutable + facts should some day place thought in the class of fluids which are + discerned only by their effects while their substance evades our senses, + even when aided by so many mechanical means, the result will be the same + as when Christopher Columbus detected that the earth is a sphere, and + Galileo demonstrated its rotation. Our future will be unchanged. The + wonders of animal magnetism, with which I have been familiar since 1820; + the beautiful experiments of Gall, Lavater's successor; all the men who + have studied mind as opticians have studied light—two not dissimilar + things—point to a conclusion in favor of the mystics, the disciples + of St. John, and of those great thinkers who have established the + spiritual world—the sphere in which are revealed the relations of + God and man. + </p> + <p> + A sure grasp of the purport of this work will make it clear that I attach + to common, daily facts, hidden or patent to the eye, to the acts of + individual lives, and to their causes and principles, the importance which + historians have hitherto ascribed to the events of public national life. + The unknown struggle which goes on in a valley of the Indre between Mme. + de Mortsauf and her passion is perhaps as great as the most famous of + battles (<i>Le Lys dans la Vallee</i>). In one the glory of the victor is + at stake; in the other it is heaven. The misfortunes of the two + Birotteaus, the priest and the perfumer, to me are those of mankind. La + Fosseuse (<i>Medecin de Campagne</i>) and Mme. Graslin (<i>Cure de Village</i>) + are almost the sum-total of woman. We all suffer thus every day. I have + had to do a hundred times what Richardson did but once. Lovelace has a + thousand forms, for social corruption takes the hues of the medium in + which it lives. Clarissa, on the contrary, the lovely image of impassioned + virtue, is drawn in lines of distracting purity. To create a variety of + Virgins it needs a Raphael. In this respect, perhaps literature must yield + to painting. + </p> + <p> + Still, I may be allowed to point out how many irreproachable figures—as + regards their virtue—are to be found in the portions of this work + already published: Pierrette Lorrain, Ursule Mirouet, Constance Birotteau, + La Fosseuse, Eugenie Grandet, Marguerite Claes, Pauline de Villenoix, + Madame Jules, Madame de la Chanterie, Eve Chardon, Mademoiselle + d'Esgrignon, Madame Firmiani, Agathe Rouget, Renee de Maucombe; besides + several figures in the middle-distance, who, though less conspicuous than + these, nevertheless, offer the reader an example of domestic virtue: + Joseph Lebas, Genestas, Benassis, Bonnet the cure, Minoret the doctor, + Pillerault, David Sechard, the two Birotteaus, Chaperon the priest, Judge + Popinot, Bourgeat, the Sauviats, the Tascherons, and many more. Do not all + these solve the difficult literary problem which consists in making a + virtuous person interesting? + </p> + <p> + It was no small task to depict the two or three thousand conspicuous types + of a period; for this is, in fact, the number presented to us by each + generation, and which the Human Comedy will require. This crowd of actors, + of characters, this multitude of lives, needed a setting—if I may be + pardoned the expression, a gallery. Hence the very natural division, as + already known, into the Scenes of Private Life, of Provincial Life, of + Parisian, Political, Military, and Country Life. Under these six heads are + classified all the studies of manners which form the history of society at + large, of all its <i>faits et gestes</i>, as our ancestors would have + said. These six classes correspond, indeed, to familiar conceptions. Each + has its own sense and meaning, and answers to an epoch in the life of man. + I may repeat here, but very briefly, what was written by Felix Davin—a + young genius snatched from literature by an early death. After being + informed of my plan, he said that the Scenes of Private Life represented + childhood and youth and their errors, as the Scenes of Provincial Life + represented the age of passion, scheming, self-interest, and ambition. + Then the Scenes of Parisian Life give a picture of the tastes and vice and + unbridled powers which conduce to the habits peculiar to great cities, + where the extremes of good and evil meet. Each of these divisions has its + local color—Paris and the Provinces—a great social antithesis + which held for me immense resources. + </p> + <p> + And not man alone, but the principal events of life, fall into classes by + types. There are situations which occur in every life, typical phases, and + this is one of the details I most sought after. I have tried to give an + idea of the different districts of our fine country. My work has its + geography, as it has its genealogy and its families, its places and + things, its persons and their deeds; as it has its heraldry, its nobles + and commonalty, its artisans and peasants, its politicians and dandies, + its army—in short, a whole world of its own. + </p> + <p> + After describing social life in these three portions, I had to delineate + certain exceptional lives, which comprehend the interests of many people, + or of everybody, and are in a degree outside the general law. Hence we + have Scenes of Political Life. This vast picture of society being finished + and complete, was it not needful to display it in its most violent phase, + beside itself, as it were, either in self-defence or for the sake of + conquest? Hence the Scenes of Military Life, as yet the most incomplete + portion of my work, but for which room will be allowed in this edition, + that it may form part of it when done. Finally, the Scenes of Country Life + are, in a way, the evening of this long day, if I may so call the social + drama. In that part are to be found the purest natures, and the + application of the great principles of order, politics, and morality. + </p> + <p> + Such is the foundation, full of actors, full of comedies and tragedies, on + which are raised the Philosophical Studies—the second part of my + work, in which the social instrument of all these effects is displayed, + and the ravages of the mind are painted, feeling after feeling; the first + of the series, <i>The Magic Skin</i>, to some extent forms a link between + the Philosophical Studies and Studies of Manners, by a work of almost + Oriental fancy, in which life itself is shown in a mortal struggle with + the very element of all passion. + </p> + <p> + Besides these, there will be a series of Analytical Studies, of which I + will say nothing, for one only is published as yet—The Physiology of + Marriage. + </p> + <p> + In the course of time I purpose writing two more works of this class. + First the Pathology of Social Life, then an Anatomy of Educational Bodies, + and a Monograph on Virtue. + </p> + <p> + In looking forward to what remains to be done, my readers will perhaps + echo what my publishers say, "Please God to spare you!" I only ask to be + less tormented by men and things than I have hitherto been since I began + this terrific labor. I have had this in my favor, and I thank God for it, + that the talents of the time, the finest characters and the truest + friends, as noble in their private lives as the former are in public life, + have wrung my hand and said, Courage! + </p> + <p> + And why should I not confess that this friendship, and the testimony here + and there of persons unknown to me, have upheld me in my career, both + against myself and against unjust attacks; against the calumny which has + often persecuted me, against discouragement, and against the too eager + hopefulness whose utterances are misinterpreted as those of overwhelming + conceit? I had resolved to display stolid stoicism in the face of abuse + and insults; but on two occasions base slanders have necessitated a reply. + Though the advocates of forgiveness of injuries may regret that I should + have displayed my skill in literary fence, there are many Christians who + are of opinion that we live in times when it is as well to show sometimes + that silence springs from generosity. + </p> + <p> + The vastness of a plan which includes both a history and a criticism of + society, an analysis of its evils, and a discussion of its principles, + authorizes me, I think, in giving to my work the title under which it now + appears—<i>The Human Comedy</i>. Is this too ambitious? Is it not + exact? That, when it is complete, the public must pronounce. + </p> + <p> + PARIS, July 1842 + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Human Comedy, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HUMAN COMEDY *** + +***** This file should be named 1968-h.htm or 1968-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/6/1968/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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