Balzac - One of the Top Ten World Writers

Author: Tong Yiqiu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features:
1. A Tragic Childhood
Bernard Fran?ois Balzac, the father of Honoré de Balzac, was born on June 22, 1746, in a dilapidated stone house near the village of Canet-Napoule. At that time, many people with the surname Balzac lived there, and Bernard Fran?ois was among them. Then, one of these Balzacs achieved a bit of fame, but this fame was truly cause for great concern. In 1819, when Honoré left university, his father's fifty-four-year-old brother was arrested for allegedly murdering a pregnant village girl. After a sensational trial, he was executed the following year. Balzac longed to distance himself as much as possible from this notorious uncle, and perhaps it was this desire that gave him the initial motivation: to add a noble prefix to his surname and to fabricate a different background.
Bernard Fran?ois Balzac was the eldest of eleven children. His father, an ordinary farmer, decided that he would serve in the church. The village priest taught him to read and write, and even taught him some Latin. However, this strong, energetic, and ambitious young man had no interest in tonsuring his head and taking a vow of chastity. For a time, he wandered around the local village, sometimes working as a clerk for a notary, sometimes laboring in vineyards, and sometimes farming. But at the age of twenty, he left his hometown and never returned. He displayed the stubborn perseverance of a countryman—his son would later describe this spirit brilliantly in many of his novels—and plunged into the capital, Paris. At first, he was unremarkable, just another young man among countless others who hoped to achieve success in Paris but were unsure of the means or profession that would bring them wealth. He claimed—later, he became a well-known figure in the province—that he had served as a secretary to the royal court under Louis XVI and even as a royal lawyer. This was nothing more than the boastful talk of an old man who liked to exaggerate; it had long been disproven by the facts. In fact, no royal almanac mentioned a Balzac or a Balza having held such positions. The Revolution, like many others, swept the son of the proletariat into the fray; he secured a minor position in the Paris revolutionary municipal council—a post the future military envoy would later keep secret. Yet, this position clearly brought him many connections, and combined with the greedy instinct for money that he would pass on to his son, he found himself in a lucrative military department during the war: the Quartermaster General's Office. From this military department, inextricable threads inevitably led to usurers and bankers.
After thirty years of somewhat dubious professions and dealings, Bernard Fran?ois made another drastic change, reappearing in Paris as the chief secretary of the Daniel Duhamel Bank. At the age of fifty, the old Balzac finally achieved a great transformation—this great transformation his son would describe countless times—a transformation from a penniless but never-satisfied, ambitious man into a respectable citizen, into a relatively honest and upright member of "high society." By then, he had acquired some wealth and a stable position. Only then could he take the necessary step to elevate himself from a small bourgeoisie to a large bourgeoisie, and then to the final level he fervently desired—a gentleman. He wanted to marry, and to marry a wealthy girl of bourgeois standing and good family. At fifty-one, he was healthy, good-looking, and skilled at flattery and flirting; at this time, he set his sights on the daughter of a superior at the bank. Anne Charlotte Sarrazac, though thirty-two years younger than him and somewhat romantic, was a well-mannered and devout daughter of the bourgeoisie, and finally yielded to her parents' advice. Her parents explained that the much older Balzac, though wealthy and adept at managing finances, was an honest and upright man.
As soon as he married, the old Balzac felt that working as a mere employee under someone else was undignified and offered little profit. With Napoleon in power, the old Balzac saw war as a source of quicker and greater wealth. Therefore, he began to leverage his old connections, backed by his wife's dowry, and moved to Tours, becoming the director of the Quartermaster General's Office for the 22nd Division. During this time, their eldest son, Honoré, was born (May 20, 1799), and the old Balzac and his wife already possessed considerable wealth, having risen to the upper echelons of the bourgeois society in Tours through their respected status. The Quartermaster General's Office seemed to bring the family substantial income, as they had always been frugal and speculative but now began to live extravagantly. As soon as Honoré was born, they moved from the narrow Italian barracks to a house of their own. Until 1814, when the golden age of Napoleon's wars continued, they enjoyed the luxurious life of a small town, owning a carriage and a large retinue of servants. Prominent figures in high society, even nobles, frequently visited them, associating closely with this former peasant and former red Parisian council member. Among them was the senator Clément de Rességuier, whom Balzac would later describe in detail in "A Case for a Headless Corpse"; there was also the Baron de Pommereul and Monsieur de Marquand, who later provided support and assistance to the struggling writer Balzac. The old Balzac was even invited to participate in municipal affairs, managing the city hospital, and his opinions were always respected in any major decision. Despite his humble origins and the lack of research into his ancestors, during this period of rapid rise and fortune in this turbulent, transforming era, he became an impeccable and highly respected man.
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