Um Episódio do Terror/Um Caso Tenebroso/O Deputado de Arcis/Z. Marcas/A Bretanha em 1799 /Uma Paixão no Deserto

by Honoré de Balzac, Vidal de Oliveira (translator), Paulo Rónai (Preface)

HONOR� DE BALZAC (1799-1850), est le fils de Bernard-Fran�ois Balssa, secr�taire au Conseil du roi, directeur des vivres, adjoint au maire et administrateur de l'hospice de Tours, et d'Anne-Charlotte-Laure Sallambier, issue d'une famille de passementiers du Marais. Bernard-Fran�ois Balssa transforma le nom originel de la famille en Balzac, par une d�marche faite � Paris entre 1771 et 1783. Balzac est l�auteur d�une grande s�rie de 91 romans interconnect�s et coordonn�s, intitul�e Com�die humaine, �crite entre 1827 et 1847. Dans la pr�face de 1842, Balzac utilise pour la premi�re fois ce titre et manifeste son dessein de livrer une repr�sentation globale de la soci�t� fran�aise des derni�res ann�es du XVIII�me si�cle et de la premi�re moiti� du XIX�me. L��crivain r�clame pour ce travail la m�thode scientifique susceptible de lui donner ordre et rigueur, pr�cision et port�e intellectuelle. Selon ce projet, les romans sont classifi�s en trois grands axes: �tudes de moeurs (la cat�gorie la plus large, comprenant plusieurs aspects: la vie priv�e, la vie provinciale, Paris, des mati�res militaires et politiques), �tudes philosophiques et �tudes analytiques. Dans la Com�die humaine sont recens�s plus de deux mille caract�res, parmi lesquels surnage le g�nie criminel Vautrin ou le pr�teur Gobseck, apparaissant, comme les autres, � diff�rents niveaux de leur carri�re. Balzac est int�ress� par le surnaturel, particuli�rement dans les �tudes philosophiques, par le fonctionnement des passions, le r�le de l�argent dans la formation de l�individu et des relations sociales, d�terminant l�effet de l�environnement ou de l��nergie et l�ambition. Le cousin Pons (1847). Le roman pr�sente deux centres d�int�r�t; d�une part, le personnage principal lui-m�me, un anachronisme qui vit en constant d�calage par rapport � son temps et dont le narrateur s�amuse � dresser la caricature; d�autre part, l�avidita� d�mesur�e d�une certaine couche de la soci�t� qui d�ailleurs ne manque pas de moyens, mais dont toute leur vie est fond�e sur une seule valeur: l�argent.

Genres: Classics

605 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1835

About the author

French writer Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac), a founder of the realist school of fiction, portrayed the panorama of society in a body of works, known collectively as La comédie humaine .

Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.

Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.

An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.

Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.