Category: Biographies
At a time when the so-called Realistic School is in the ascendant among novelists, it seems strange that little authentic information should have been published in the English language about the great French writer, Honore de Balzac. Almost alone among his contemporaries, he d...
According to Theophile Gautier, herculean jollity was the most striking characteristic of the great writer, whose genius excels in sombre and often sordid tragedy. George Sand,...
3. Chapter 3Balzac's tutors and law studies--His youth, as pictured in the "Peau de Chagrin"--His father's intention of making him a lawyer --He begs to be allowed to become a writer--Is al...
13. Chapter 13Pamela Giraud--Balzac again attempts to become member of the Academie Francaise--Mlle. Henriette Borel's reception into a religious house--Comte Georges Mniszech--"Les Paysans"...
10. Chapter 10Balzac starts the _Chronique de Paris_--Balzac and Theophile Gautier--Lawsuit with the _Revue de Paris_--Failure of the _Chronique_--Strain and exhaustion--Balzac travels in Ita...
8. Chapter 8Advertisement in the _Quotidienne_--Letters between Balzac and Madame Hanska--His growing attachment to her--Meeting at Neufchatel--Return to Paris--Work--"Etudes de Moeurs au X...
12. Chapter 12"Vautrin"--_La Revue Parisienne_--Societe des Gens-de-Lettres --Balzac leaves Les Jardies, and goes to the Rue Basse, Passy --Death of M. de Hanski--"Les Ressources de Quinola"-...
11. Chapter 11"Louise"--Drawing-room in Rue des Batailles--The "Cheval Rouge" --Balzac's second visit to Italy--Conversation with Genoese merchant--Buys Les Jardies at Sevres--Travels to Sard...
16. Chapter 16Peace renewed between Balzac and his family--He thinks of old friends--Madame Hanska's continued vacillations--Dr. Knothe's treatment--Madame Hanska's relations with Balzac, and...
14. Chapter 14Balzac buys a house in the Rue Fortunee--Madame Hanska's visit to Paris--Balzac burns her letters--Final breach with Emile de Girardin--Balzac's projects for writing for the the...
5. Chapter 5Life in the Rue de Tournon--Privations and despair--Friendships --Auguste Borget--Madame Carraud--The Duchesse d'Abrantes--George Sand, etc.--Balzac writes "La Peau de Chagrin"...
15. Chapter 15Description of interior of house in the Rue Fortunee--"La Maratre" --Projected plays--"Le Faiseur"--Balzac seeks admission for the last time to the Academie Francaise--He return...
9. Chapter 9In the Salon of 1837 appeared a portrait of Balzac by Boulanger,[*] of which Theophile Gautier gave the following description in _La Presse_: "M. de Balzac is not precisely beau...
7. Chapter 7Crisis in Balzac's private life--"Contes Drolatiques"--Madame Hanska's life before she met Balzac--Description of her appearance --"Louis Lambert"--Disinterested conduct on the...
6. Chapter 6Work and increasing fame--Emile de Girardin--Balzac's early relations with the _Revue de Paris_ and quarrel with Amedee Pinchot--First letters from Madame Hanska and the Marquis...
17. Chapter 17Balzac's ill-health--Theophile Gautier and Victor Hugo--Balzac's grief about the unfinished "Comedie Humaine"--His interview with the doctor--Victor Hugo's account of his death-...
4. Chapter 4Reading of "Cromwell"--Balzac is obliged to live at home --Unhappiness--Writes romantic novels--Friendship with Madame de Berny--Starts in Paris as publisher and afterwards as p...
1. Chapter 1At a time when the so-called Realistic School is in the ascendant among novelists, it seems strange that little authentic information should have been published in the English l...