Treatise on Elegant Living

by Honoré de Balzac, Napoleon Jeffries (Translator)

Honore de Balzac's 1830 "Treatise on Elegant Living" was a keystone text on dandyism, preceding Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's "Anatomy of Dandyism" (1845) and Charles Baudelaire's "The Dandy" (in "The Painter of Modern Life," 1863), and marking an important shift from the early dandyism of the British Regency to the intellectual and artistic dandyism of nineteenth-century France. The "Treatise" is the first true philosophical expression of dandyism, and is full of well-crafted aphorisms: "Elegant living is, in the broad acceptance of the term, the art of animating repose," runs one classic definition of dandyism, and "One must have studied at least as far as rhetoric to lead an elegant life" asserts the importance of verbal pirouette and dexterous quipping to the dandy. Further embellished with anecdotes and historical and personal illustrations, Balzac's "Treatise" even features a fictitious encounter with the original dandy himself, Beau Brummell. Never before translated into English, this witty tract makes for an illuminating cornerstone to Balzac's "Human Comedy" (which was originally to have included a never-completed four-part philosophical "Pathology of Social Life"). Above all, it represents a decisive moment in the history of dandyism, and an entertaining exposition on the profundities of what lies deepest within all of us: our appearance.

Genres: Nonfiction, Fashion, France, Philosophy, Essays, French Literature, History

86 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1830

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.

Reviews

[شمس]

It is not enough to become or to be born rich to lead an elegant life: one must feel it.
__________
Studied elegance is to true elegance what a wig is to hair.

Clothing does not consist so much in clothes as in a certain manner of wearing them.

A multiplicity of colours will always be in bad taste.

__________
This is amateur hour.

Look out for my 10-Volume work on the subject which may or may not appear in as many years time . . .
__________
. . . renounced the “busy life” of production and utility, and instead turned his own life into a work of art. (Introduction)

Operated in accordance with laws of his own making, and for an audience that consisted of himself before anyone. (Introduction)

Modern customs have created three classes of beings:
The man who works;
The man who thinks
The man who does nothing.
For this we get three fairly complete formulas that can express any type of life, from the poetic and restless novel of the bohemian to the dreary and soporific history book of constitutional kings:
The busy life;
The artist’s life;
The elegant life.

There are no variations on the theme of the busy life. By working with his ten fingers, man renounces his destiny; he becomes a means . . .

Like steam engines, men enlisted by work all appear the same, with nothing individual about them.

The small retail dealer, the second lieutenant, the assistant editor: these are less degraded examples of the busy life, but their existence is still marked by vulgarity. It is still work, still the winch: only the mechanism is a little more intricate, and the intellect meshes with it parsimoniously.

The man accustomed to work cannot understand elegant living.

To be fashionable, one must enjoy repose without undergoing work: in other words, one must get the four winning numbers in a lottery, be the son of a millionaire, prince, sinecurist, or a holder of several remunerative positions.

Whether he lacks even twenty-five cents or throws around handfuls of gold—he is always the expression of a great thought and towers over society.

The artist is always great. He has an elegance and a life all his own, because everything about him mirrors his intelligence and his glory. There are as many lives characterised by new ideas as there are artists. With them, fashion must not be forced: these uncontrollable beings fashion everything as they please. If they take possession of a pile of money, it is in oder to transform it.
From this doctrine a Eurpoean aphorism can be inferred:
An artist lives as he wishes, or . . . as he can.

The development of grace and taste in everything that belongs to us and that surrounds us.

For the principles by which people with talent, power, or money conduct themselves and live shall never resemble those of the common herd.

Though elegance is less an art than a feeling, it is also the result of instinct and habit.

A banker who reaches the age of forty without having gone into voluntary liquidation, or who has more than thirty-six inches iii girth, is the damned soul of elegant living: he will see paradise without ever entering it.

There is one fact that towers over all others. Man dresses himself before acting, before speaking, before walking, and before eating; the actions belonging to fashion, deportment, conversation, etc., are always just the consequence of our clothes. —Brummell

The constituent principle of elegance is unity.

Unity is impossible without cleanliness, harmony, and relative simplicity.

Certain clothing announces a certain sphere of nobility and good taste.

The more perfect the whole is, the more noticeable will be a barbarism in it.

The most essential effect in elegance is the concealment of one’s means.

Anything that reveals thrift is inelegant.

Uncomfortable everywhere, they enjoy nothing.

The man of taste must enjoy everything that he owns.

Luxury is less expensive than elegance.

To receive a person into your home is to assume that he is worthy of dwelling in your sphere.

The man of taste must always know how to reduce need to a minimum.

Dandyism is a heresy of elegant life.

. . . must learn not only how to enjoy time, but to employ it in accordance with an extremely high order of ideas.

Negligence of clothing is moral suicide.

People who dress like a laborer, whose bodies blithely don the same filthy and foul-smelling outward appearance every day, are as numerous as those simpletons who mix with high society and see nothing in it, who die without having lived, who recognise neither fine cuisine nor the true allure of women, who never utter a witticism or a foolish remark. But my Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do!

The boor covers himself, the rich man or the fool adorns himself, and the elegant man gets dressed.

Clothing is at once a science, an art, a habit, and a sentiment.

To go beyond the limits of fashion is to become a caricature.

[Matthew Wilder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beau Brummellism as a political and existential philosophy. Balzac at his most zany and profound.

[Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because of art. I came across this little book at a beautifully curated hotel gift shop in Marfa, Texas, where I recently visited on an arts pilgrimage. The author caught my eye because Rodin has a statue of Balzac that I’ve seen many times.

Treatise on Elegant Living, written in 1830, is a short piece about how to dress and live an “elegant” life. It feels at once wise, ridiculous, and satirical. As far as I can tell, he’s serious, even when he proclaims that: “Retailers, businessmen, and teachers of the humanities fall outside the scope of elegant living.”

Or: “A man placed on the last rung of society has no more right to ask God for an explanation for his fate than does an oyster.”

Some of the sentiments contradict, like this aphorism in his study of elegance that, “Studied elegance is to true elegance what a wig is to hair.” Many of the cultural references are also lost on me. Despite all this, I landed on 3 stars for (a) the sheer number of quotable passages, (b) providing some context of 19th century thinking of the upper class, (c) making me laugh.


Some favorite quotes:

“Elegant living is, in the broad acceptance of the term, the art of animating repose.”

“The man accustomed to work cannot understand elegant living.”

“Elegant living is … Knowing how to honor oneself with one’s fortune.”

“For as long as societies have existed, a government has always by necessity been an insurance policy for the rich against the poor.”

“It was infinitely pleasant for a man or a woman to say to themselves when looking at their fellow citizens: ‘I am above them; I dazzle them, I protect them, I govern them.’”

“It is not enough to become or to be born rich to lead an elegant life: one must feel it.”

“The more things are subjected to the influence of thought, the more life’s details are ennobled, refined, and elevated.”

“A man becomes rich; he is born elegant.”

“But today, FASHION is no longer determined by a person’s wealth.”

“The fortune one acquires is in proportion to the needs one creates.”

“Elegance dramatizes life.”

“Anyone who does not frequently visit Paris will never be completely elegant.”

“Man dresses himself before acting, before speaking, before walking, and before eating … We are all under the influence of clothing.”

“Consider also, madame, that there are revolting perfections.”

“Good has but one style; evil a thousand.”

“The most essential effect in elegance is the concealment of one’s means.”

“Experts on elegant living do not lay out long paths of green cloth on their rugs…The man of taste must enjoy everything he owns.”

“Upkeep is the sine qua non of elegance.”

“The man of taste must always know how to reduce need to a minimum.”

“A profusion of ornament works against its intended effect.”

“The man who sees only fashion in fashion is a fool.”

“The boor covers himself, the rich man or the fool adorns himself, and the elegant man gets dressed.”

“Clothing does not consist so much in clothes as in a certain manner of wearing them.”

[David C Ward]

I won’t rate this since it’s fragments and aphorisms that are only of interest (and are only published) because they were notes written by Balzac. Has thoughts about the Dandy, leisure, class structure, French history that are not uninteresting but which don’t cohere. There’s something about writing about the Dandy that causes one to be indolent. Balzac was a social theorist in his novels, not in works like this.

[Oier Quincoces · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5. Un texto muy interesante por la forma en que presenta "la vida elegante", al esnob o al dandi como formas de distinguirse en sociedad y alcanzar un determinado estatus tras la caída del Antiguo Régimen y el auge de la burguesía.

"Un hombre se hace rico; elegante se nace".

[Maddelline · Rating 3 out of 5]

O lectură elegantă

[Çetineus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zarif bir yaşam üzerine, Balzac ın dönemin penceresinden insanın hayatı, eşyayı, giyimi daha nasıl akıllı, özenli hale getireceğini yer yer anlaşılması zor açıklamalarla, kurallarla, tavsiyelerle anlatmaya çalışıyor. Tavsiye edilir. Bakış açımı az da olsa genişletti

[José · Rating 3 out of 5]

«Ir más allá de la moda supone convertirse en caricatura».

Que se lo digan a aquella de los colorines.

Ensayo de Balzac que quedó incompleto a su muerte.

[Angela Natividad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun.

[Fanny Rubi]

Dos ensayos muy interesantes sobre la marcha, la armonía del movimiento, los gestos, las clases sociales, la sociedad parisina, las expresiones físicas de lo inmaterial (pensamiento, el alma, coraje). Balzac siempre un gran curioso y observador. Disfrute ambos ensayos.

"El andar. Es más que la palabra, es el pensamiento en acción. Un simple gesto, un involuntario temblor de los labios puede convertirse en el terrible desenlace de un drama entre dos corazones, oculto durante largo tiempo."

"El hombre que se limita a ver la moda en la moda es un tonto. La vida elegante no excluye ni la reflexión ni la ciencia: se consagra a ellas. No debe aprender solamente a disfrutar del tiempo, sino a emplearlo mediante un orden de ideas extremadamente elevado."

"omando el Andar como la expresión de los movimientos corporales y la Voz como la de los movimientos intelectuales, me pareció imposible hacer mentir al movimiento. Desde esta perspectiva, el conocimiento profundizado del andar se volvía una ciencia completa."

"La indumentaria es pues la más inmensa modificación experimentada por el hombre social y pesa en toda la existencia"

"Todo movimiento tiene una expresión que le es propia y que viene del alma. Los movimientos falsos dependen esencialmente de la naturaleza del carácter; los movimientos torpes vienen de los hábitos. "

"El movimiento lento es esencialmente majestuoso."

[Cecelia Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, I made it about half way through. Think ill of me for that if you like. I encountered this book left on a table in a communal space, where a friend picked it up and entertained us with a few randomly-chosen inanities. Then I started reading it to see if the whole thing was really that absurd--and stopped once I was pretty sure that, yes, it just keeps on going in the same vein.

I don't know enough about Balzac or the cultural context of the work to tell if it is meant seriously or not. On the face of it, it reads as an attempt to remake vacuous class arrogance into profundity. "The boor covers himself, the rich man or the fool adorns himself, and the elegant man gets dressed." That kind of line is good for a giggle with friends, but not much else. You can hope Balzac is in on the joke, but the prose is so self-important and apparently humorless that I doubt it. If you do read this book, you should at least pretend it's satire to avoid feeling too mean-spirited when you laugh at Balzac's buffoonery.

[Raven]

"Elegant living is, in the broad acceptance of the term, the art of animating repose."

"The artist is an exception: his idleness is work, and his work, repose; he is elegant and slovenly in turn; he dons, as he pleases, the plowman's overalls, and determines the tails worn by the man in fashion; he is not subject to laws: he imposes them."

"Both libertine and dandy considered cruelty to be most natural, virtue an artificial construct, and egoism the only law worth obeying. But the dandy differed from the libertine in that he did not embrace this conception of the natural state, and instead chose to celebrate the excesses of artifice."

"Anyone who does not frequently visit Paris will never be completely elegant."

"Nothing resembles a man less than a man!"

"Consider also, madame, that there are revolting perfections."

"Good has but one style; evil a thousand."

[Augusto de Lima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Balzac é mais conhecido por ter escrito a comédia humana.
Em o Tratado da vida elegante o autor faz uma sátira a comunidade parisiense de sua época, no entanto, ela ainda se aplica nos dias de hoje. Basicamente, o autor discute que a elegância é não somente o uso de roupas e adornos, mas uma forma de comportamento, um código social que esta vinculado a poder, econômico e político. A elegância não é acessível para todos e é uma linguagem que permite à classe alta distinguir-se. Dessa forma, a obra trás uma crítica a superficialidade da sociedade parisiense da época, uma análise irônica e com muito sarcasmo, onde a busca por elegância e status torna-se vazia, sem substância. A elegância então sai de seu papel mais profundo e da lugar a um disfarce para cobrir a falta de verdade, de substância, de autenticidade.

[La Pasión Inútil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un opúsculo que pertenece a los estudios analíticos de “La comedia humana” en el que analiza la elegancia como una forma poética de la vida. Contrario a lo que podría pensarse, el texto no es una apología del dandismo; al contrario el atildamiento de la moda se ve aquí también cuestionando, alzándose más bien una forma diferente de concebir lo elegante a partir de la visión unitaria de sencillez, armonía y limpieza. Una obra extraña, pero muy diciente acerca de la inveterada costumbre del hombre a vestirse y a juzgarse a partir del vestido.

[Angela Gomez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante ver como las situaciones perduran en el tiempo. El libro fue escrito como un tratado, como una colección de axiomas sobre la elegancia.
Menciona la todavía reinante división social, como quiénes son elegantes nacieron elegantes.
Identifica tres tipos de personas: los que trabajan, los que piensan y los que no hacen nada(quienes más tienen.)
Los artistas no siguen la moda, la crean.
La moda dramatiza la vida y los atuendos pesan sobre los hombres durante toda su existencia.

[Classic reverie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find Balzac's novels and short stories more worthy. This being the only thing left of his works that I have not read, I had a desire to read though in hindsight, thank goodness it was short. In reading many biographies on his life, he contradicts some of his statements, especially out spending and keeping out of debt and his sometimes many of dress.

[Ellie Catorce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Por fin he leído a Balzac.

[An · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tostón.

[EJ Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little read sparkling with Balzac's wit; alas that it is so short and unfinished.

[Danaé Lefebvre · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honoré de Balzac är en av de mer komplicerade författarna som jag har läst. Hans författarskap präglas otroligt mycket av den franska realismen och han är nog den allra främsta inom sin genre. Jag säger att han är komplicerad just på grund av hur svårt det måste vara att beskriva sin samtid utan att överdriva åt endera håll. Balzac hittade den där perfekta balansen som krävs för realismen och han var verklugen en mästare på att beskriva sitt samtida Frankrike.

Det kanske främsta exemplet på detta hittar vi i klassikern Pappa Goriot som handlar om juriststudenten Eugène de Rastignac som bor på ett förfallet pensionat i en förort till Paris. På det hör pensionatet möter läsaren en rad karaktärer som alla sett bättre dagar men nu måste finna sig i att deras liv tagit en sämre vändning. Balzacs kanske mest kända prestation är romansviten La Comédie Humaine, där Pappa Goriot för övrigt ingår, som beskriver Frankrike efter Julirevolutionen. Jag har bara läst två böcker i den här romansviten och bara de upplevelserna har varit mycket krävande. Tänk då på de +90 jag har kvar. Inte för att jag planerar att läsa dem men ändå.

Det jag främst associerar Balzac med är den lite halvsmutsiga realismen och just därför var det riktigt spännande att läsa Treatise on Elegant Living eftersom det nästan är dess direkta motsats. Treatise on Elegant Living är en form av manual för den aristokratiske mannen. I den lilla boken, på hela 84 sidor, får vi precisa instruktioner om hur en man ska vara och vad han ska spendera sin tid på. Dandyn, som denna aristokratiske mannen kan kallas, ska ta sig an allt som har med det eleganta livet att göra. Han ska till exempel vara arbetande, men aldrig med sina egna händer, och han ska klä sig i de bästa av kläder eftersom ”negligence of clothing is moral suicide”.

(Om ni inte vet vad en dandy är så tänk er Oscar Wilde. Han var en sann dandy).

Det är en fruktansvärt inaktuell bok men den ger en oerhört fascinerande bild av det franska samhället på 1800-talet. Det var en svårtläst liten bok med ett oerhört komplicerat språk och det tog ett bra tag innan jag faktiskt läste den. Och det är absolut inte en bok för alla. Jag tror faktiskt att det krävs ett ganska så smalt intresse av antingen klassiska författare eller dandyismen för att ta sig igenom detta.

[Narendra Jussien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Publi�� d'abord dans La Mode en octobre et novembre 1833, Le Trait�� de la vie ��l��gante fait partie de ces oeuvres dites mineures que Balzac a entreprises avant de se lancer dans l'��criture de La Com��die humaine. Il s'agit-l�� d'une s��rie de petits trait��s, d'un guide mi-railleur, mi-sceptique �� l'usage des dandys ou de ceux qui se d��sirent s'initier �� ce rude m��tier. Avec une rigueur toute philosophique, Balzac multiplie les d��finitions, les distinctions subtiles, les aphorismes et maximes pour ��tablir une v��ritable esth��tique de la vie mondaine par ce tableau de la vie parisienne. Dans ce livre d��routant et inachev��, Balzac, sociologue, observe avec acuit�� loeuniverselle pr��tention �� l����l��gance, cons��quence directe de la R��volution, ce d��bat entre la soie et le drap . Balzac, dandy, s��amuse aussi �� d��router le lecteur en l����garant sur les fausses pistes du s��rieux, �� l��amuser avec la fine pointe de son ironie, et �� le laisser sur sa faim. Enfin, Balzac, ��crivain, trace les lin��aments de la Com��die humaine, faisant ainsi de son Trait�� une petite oeuvre d��licieusement ap��ritive.

[Iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

So deliciously obnoxiously French. My favorites: NOTHING RESEMBLES A MAN LESS THAN A MAN. A MAN BECOMES RICH; HE IS BORN ELEGANT. A RIP IS A MISFORTUNE, A STAIN IS A VICE. LUXURY IS LESS EXPENSIVE THAN ELEGANCE. It would be absurd not to expect this book to feel outdated (I wonder who would/could write the updated version for the 21st century elegance, which I hope would include the requirements that people do not insert more than 3 HaHaHa -s when texting and one gets to write OMG only once in one's life, if one must), but the balzacian gems are there, shining through the dust.

[Jodi Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Negligence of clothing is moral suicide" - p 69. As a woman with 140 dresses but nearly zero pairs of pants, the last thing I need is this sort of encouragement. But with this encouragement's being wrapped up so prettily, well, one can't resist gobbling it up undaintily. Balzac is, naturally, amazing in his swirly rhythms and endearingly brilliant whit. He can be my enabler any day.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this less than Balzac's comedies or tragedies, but I guess I shouldn't hold the form of the work against it, ha. It's a good ... essay, or fraction of a collection of essays, I suppose. I enjoyed the aphorisms and found most of them to be quite true and relevant to the current times. Read this if you want a light and pleasant read and enjoy discourses on the aesthetic.

[Aaron Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a splendid little book. I've never been that concerned with "fashion" much but within a couple short "chapters" I'm surprised how much I've learned and how a couple simple rules will take you a long way.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cet ouvrage comporte à la fois les grandes règles de la "vie élégante" (et insiste notamment sur la démarche), mais aussi les discussions et recherches qui ont conduit à sa rédaction. Amusant et instructif.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Along the lines of Dick Hebdige's "Subculture," but written by Balzac partly about and partly in reaction to the dandy subculture. Read the intro and then skip to the section on clothing. The rest was meaningless flourish as far as I was concerned.

[Alethleia · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Cuanto más se han sometido las cosas a la influencia del pensamiento, más se han ennoblecido, depurado y ampliado los detalles de la vida." ... "Dado que la vida elegante es un hábil desarrollo del amor propio, todo lo que revela con demasiada fuerza la vanidad produce un pleonasmo."

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading these two books over and over and over again before I tell you how much I love them...