Human Comedy, Volume 11

Author: (French) Balzac/H. (Multiple Authors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-08-01
Features: Honoré Balzac (1799–1850) was one of the greatest novelists of the 19th century, a master of creating typical characters, and a universally recognized master of realism. Through 20 years of dedicated work, he created the miracle of literary history, La Comédie Humaine. He united over 90 novels of varying lengths into a complete and all-encompassing social portrait, providing an "excellent realism history of French society, especially the upper class of Paris,"① transforming novels, once seen as mere entertainment, into works of documentary value. Balzac's entire oeuvre demonstrates his original and innovative practice and development of realist literary theory, greatly enriching and perfecting the art of the novel, ultimately elevating it beyond the realm of mere storytelling to become a highly expressive and entirely new art form.
Balzac lived during the historical turning point in France's transition from a feudal to a capitalist society, personally experiencing major historical phases such as the Napoleonic Empire, the Bourbon Restoration, and the July Monarchy, as well as significant events like the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. The complex contradictions and rapid, sustained social upheavals of this period brought unprecedented intellectual ferment, fostering the prosperity and development of 19th-century French literature while also exerting a decisive influence on Balzac's creative work. All great writers reflect their era in their works, but Balzac's ambition was to fully recreate his time. He was not satisfied with depicting a mere social facet oring a few typical characters but sought to complete "a series of works on 19th-century France," where "each chapter is a novel, and each novel represents an era." He brought thousands of characters to life on the page, forming a complete society and vividly recreating the entire history of France from the French Revolution to the complete dominance of the bourgeoisie by 1848. According to his own account, this was "a customs history that many historians had overlooked."
Balzac boldly broke through traditional artistic boundaries and methods, almost infinitely expanding the subject matter of literature, allowing everything in social life that seemed alien to its poetic essence to the novel: financial and monetary affairs, debt litigation, bank bankruptcies, and store inventory settlements—all were poetically depicted in his works. Characters from all walks of life and social strata could be found in La Comédie Humaine. Thus, it was not without exaggeration to say: "The more complex society is, the more complex the content of La Comédie Humaine; the richer life is, the richer its scenes."
Moreover, Balzac sought to further explore the causes of these social phenomena, analyzing their essence and significance. Early in his life, Balzac possessed a strong desire to understand, comprehend, and explain everything. Before becoming a novelist, he aspired to be a philosopher; when deciding to use fiction to reflect contemporary history, he first thought of studying human society as comprehensively as Buffon studied the animal world. For Balzac, writing was a means of researching and explaining the world. Therefore, beginning in 1830, he published his novels under titles such as "Private Life Scenes," "Philosophical Studies," and "Customs Studies." In 1841, inspired by Dante's The Divine Comedy (literally The Comedy of God), he decided to title his entire work La Comédie Humaine, metaphorically likening all the struggles and joys of human existence to theatrical performances.
In the La Comédie Humaine published starting in 1842, Balzac divided the work into three parts: "Customs Studies," "Philosophical Studies," and "Analytical Studies." According to his own explanation, "Customs Studies" depicted the contemporary social customs of France; "Philosophical Studies" explored the causes of these social phenomena, seeking the hidden meanings within the multitude of characters, passions, and events; and "Analytical Studies" analyzed the essence and roots of these causal relationships from the perspective of "the natural laws of humanity." Among these three parts, "Customs Studies" was the most extensive and significant. Based on the categories of subject matter, Balzac further divided it into six scenes: "Private Life," "Provincial Life," "Parisian Life," "Political Life," "Military Life," and "Rural Life." Balzac originally planned to write over 140 novels under the overarching title of La Comédie Humaine, but he completed only 96, most of which belonged to "Customs Studies" and were primarily concentrated in the first three scenes. While not all 96 novels were masterpieces, as a whole, they formed a magnificent and grand structure. In the history of French and European literature, no second such monumental work exists.
The protagonist of Le Père Goriot, Rapha?l, once said, "I feel a certain idea I must express, a certain system I must establish, and a certain doctrine I must elucidate." This was precisely Balzac's state of mind as he wrote La Comédie Humaine. To achieve the height he aspired to, he voraciously read vast amounts of philosophical, social sciences, and natural sciences literature throughout history, constantly comparing, analyzing, and synthesizing; he delved into every corner of social life, uncovering people's inner secrets, observing the political and economic structures, the distribution of power and wealth, the mysteries of law, and the efficacy of religion with the meticulousness of a philosopher and scientist, dissecting people's emotions, desires, and the motivations behind their actions, patiently exploring the internal connections of various social phenomena. In this turbulent and restless society, he discovered an uncontrollable law of nature: the rising dominance of the bourgeoisie and the decline and collapse of the aristocracy. Such a historical trend was the essential force governing all social life at the time. All conflicts, struggles, upheavals, and crimes in society, as well as the tragedies and comedies in family and personal life, were closely tied to this specific historical process.
Thanks to his comprehensive understanding of society, Balzac was able to grasp the essential historical content from the scattered, individual, and phenomena, successfully depicting the profound changes in social life and the deep impact on people's destinies and souls during France's transition from a feudal to a capitalist society. Thus, Balzac's works surpassed those of his contemporaries not only in breadth but also in depth, earning him high praise from Marx and Engels. What set Balzac apart from ordinary writers was his dual identity as a philosopher and a historian of literature. His works transcended personal experiences and emotions, incorporating a comprehensive analysis of society. In his novel La Défaite de l'Extrême-Orient, Balzac stated that "the highest art is to incorporate ideas into images," and that "a single word should contain countless thoughts, and a single scene should summarize an entire philosophy." Thus, he elevated the novel to the level of historical philosophy, achieving a depth that general literary works could not match.
As a customs historian, Balzac was more powerful than true historians because he did not rely on abstract concepts but appealed to images. Everything that historians explained with concepts, he guided readers to feel through numerous typical characters and events. Therefore, the history he depicted with images often left a more profound and compelling impression than the history written by historians, making it more persuasive. Engels once said that from La Comédie Humaine, he learned "even more about economic details (such as the redistribution of movable and immovable property after the revolution) than from all the professional historians, economists, and statisticians of the time combined." Creating images and portraying typical characters in typical environments were Balzac's primary means of summarizing and refining life, and also his main contribution to realist art. By combining character development with profound historical content, he established the most magnificent gallery of characters in the history of French literature. Balzac allowed his characters to reveal their personalities through action, making the plot and setting serve skillfully the shaping of character. Even minor characters in his works were vivid and lifelike, though somewhat exaggerated, yet firmly grounded in reality, making them appear utterly convincing and lifelike.
Boris Pasternak once marveled at the numerous characters and personalities in Balzac's novels, none of which were entirely identical. émile Zola admiringly remarked that in the face of Balzac's vivid and realistic characters, "ancient and Roman figures seemed pale and trembled, medieval figures lay prostrate like toy lead soldiers." Balzac possessed the sharp insight of an artistic master, able to quickly delve into people's inner lives and capture their essential characteristics through brief encounters. This extraordinary artistic talent was fully developed by his rich life experiences. Born into a family that had risen from peasantry to the bourgeoisie, with relatives who were mostly middle- and lower-class old merchants, he became familiar with this class from a young age. After becoming a writer, he was accepted by the "upper class," giving him more opportunities to study the customs and traditions of the aristocracy. During his time studying law at university, he worked as an apprentice in a law firm and notary office, gaining insight into the darker side of Parisian society. More importantly, during the decade before he gained fame, he engaged in various trades, experiencing countless struggles and failures, enduring the pains of business, bankruptcy, closures, liquidations, and debts, and suffering the harassment of bill collectors and the exploitation of usurers. Among his contemporaries, no one had a more direct and profound experience of the torment of money and the dominance of materialism. In terms of accumulated life experience, none were as rich as he. Like some of the geniuses he portrayed, he had "lived, struggled, and felt" in the crucible of Paris. He was not only the author of La Comédie Humaine but also an actor on this grand stage. Baudelaire called him one of the "most peculiar, interesting, and romantic characters"① among the many figures in La Comédie Humaine," as well as "the most poetic."② In La Comédie Humaine, he depicted not only his observations but also his experiences and feelings, and it was these personal experiences and feelings that the most brilliant chapters of the work.
Imagination is an indispensable quality for an artist, and it was one of Balzac's strongest talents. He was not only an exceptionally clear-eyed observer but also possessed an ardent and abundant imagination. The ideas he formed through observation and reflection were quickly transformed into a variety of characters. These characters acted according to the logic of life in the writer's mind, seemingly not under his subjective control. Balzac often lived in a world of hallucinations, constantly interacting with the characters he had created, to the point where they