Human Comedy, Volume 23

Author: (French) Balzac (Balzac/H.) / Zhang Guanyao et al
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1997-08-01
Features: Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was a great 19th-century French critical realist writer, the founder and outstanding representative of European critical realist literature. In his lifetime, he created 96 long, medium, and short stories and essays, collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. His representative works include Eugénie Grandet and Père Goriot. For over 100 years, his works have spread worldwide, exerting a profound influence on the development of world literature and human progress. Marx and Engels praised him as "a superior novelist" and "a master of realism." Balzac was born on May 20, 1799, into a bourgeois family that had become wealthy after the French Revolution. After graduating from law school, he rejected the respected legal career chosen for him by his family and aspired to become a writer. To secure material support for an independent life and creative work, he tried his hand at business and became involved in publishing and printing, but both ventures ended in bankruptcy. All of this provided him with extremely valuable raw material for understanding and depicting society. He continuously pursued and explored, delving deeply into fields such as philosophy, economics, history, natural sciences, and theology, accumulating vast knowledge. In 1829, Balzac completed the novel Les Chouans, a work drawn from real life that brought him great reputation and laid a foundation stone for French critical realist literature. Balzac named Les Chouans and the planned 140-150 novels collectively La Comédie Humaine and wrote a Preface to it, explaining his methods and principles of realistic creation, thereby laying a theoretical foundation for French critical realist literature. Long-term labor severely damaged Balzac's health, and by the time he was just past 50, he was plagued by serious illness. Even as Balzac's life was nearing its end, he remained immersed in the world he had created. He begged his doctors to prolong his life so that he could write another work. On the night of August 18, 1850, at half past 11, Balzac closed his eyes that saw all, ending his life of tireless labor.
Balzac achieved great artistic success. In his novelistic structure, he was ingenious, employing diverse and unconventional designs. He skillfully combined generalization with precise description, using techniques such as reflecting inner essence through external appearance to shape characters. He was also adept at depicting the spirit of the times through meticulous and vivid environmental descriptions. Engels praised Balzac's La Comédie Humaine for portraying the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of the bourgeoisie, providing rich, vivid details and historical material across all social fields. He even wrote, "In the economic details (such as the redistribution of movable and immovable property after the revolution), I have learned more from you than from all the professional historians, economists, and statisticians of the time combined" (Engels to Martha Harkness). Through his own creations, Balzac erected an immortal monument in the history of world literature.