CHAPTER IV

BEYLE AND BALZAC 133

Beyle: his peculiarity--_Armance_--_La Chartreuse de Parme_--The Waterloo episode--The subject and general colour--_L'Abbesse de Castro_, etc.--_Le Rouge et le Noir_--Beyle's masterpiece, and why--Julien Sorel and Mathilde de la Mole--The resuscitated work: _Lamiel_--The _Nouvelles Inedites_--_Le Chasseur Vert_--Beyle's place in the story--Balzac: conditions of the present dealing--Limitations of subject--And of Balzac himself--Balzac's "general ideas"--Abstinence from abstract--The _Oeuvres de Jeunesse_--_Les Chouans_--_La Peau de Chagrin_--The short stories--The _Contes Drolatiques_--Notes on select larger books: _Eugenie Grandet_--_Le Pere Goriot_ and _Les Parents Pauvres_--Others: the general "scenic" division--"Balzacity": its constitution--Its effect on successors--And its own character--The "occult" element--Its action and reaction--Peculiarity of the conversation--And of the "story" interest.