Report on Honore de Balzac on history. Balzac, Honoré de – short biography
Honore de Balzac - famous French novelist, was born on May 20, 1799 in Tours, died on August 18, 1850 in Paris. At the age of five he was sent to primary school in Tours, and at age 7 he entered the Vendôme Jesuit College, where he stayed for 7 years. In 1814, Balzac moved with his parents to Paris, where he completed his education - first in private boarding schools, and then in Sorbonne, where I listened to lectures with enthusiasm Guizot, Cousin, Willeman. At the same time, he studied law to please his father, who wanted to make him a notary.
Honore de Balzac. Daguerreotype 1842
Balzac's first literary experience was the tragedy in verse "Cromwell", which cost him a lot of work, but turned out to be worthless. After this first failure, he abandoned tragedy and took up the novel. Prompted by material need, he began to write one after another very bad novels, which he sold for several hundred francs to various publishers. Such work for a piece of bread was extremely burdensome to him. The desire to get out of poverty as quickly as possible involved him in several commercial enterprises, which ended in complete ruin for him. He had to liquidate the business, taking on more than 50,000 francs in debt (1828). Subsequently, thanks to new loans to pay interest and other monetary losses, the amount of his debts increased with various fluctuations, and he languished under their burden all his life; Only shortly before his death he finally managed to get rid of his debts. In the early 1820s, Balzac met and became close friends with Madame de Bernis. This woman appeared as the kind genius of his youth during the most difficult years of struggle, hardship and uncertainty. By his own admission, she had a huge influence on both his character and the development of his talent.
Balzac's first novel, which was a resounding success and set him apart from other aspiring writers, was “The Physiology of Marriage” (1829). Since then, his fame has been growing continuously. His fertility and tireless energy are truly amazing. In the same year he published 4 more novels, the next – 11 (“The Thirty-Year-Old Woman”; “Gobsek”, “ Shagreen leather"etc.); in 1831 – 8, including “Country Doctor”. Now he works even more than before, finishing his works with extraordinary care, redoing what he wrote several times.
Geniuses and villains. Honore de Balzac
Balzac was more than once seduced by the role of a politician. In his political views, he was strict legitimist. In 1832, he stood as a candidate for deputy in Angoulême and on this occasion expressed the following program in one private letter: “The destruction of all nobility, with the exception of the House of Peers; separation of the clergy from Rome; natural borders of France; full middle class equality; recognition of true excellence; cost savings; increasing revenues through better tax distribution; education for all."
Having failed in the elections, he took up literature with renewed zeal. 1832 11 new novels were published, among other things: “Louis Lambert”, “The Abandoned Woman”, “Colonel Chabert”. At the beginning of 1833, Balzac entered into correspondence with Countess Hanska. From this correspondence arose a romance that lasted 17 years and ended in marriage a few months before the novelist's death. A monument to this novel is a voluminous volume of letters from Balzac to Madame Ganskaya, later published under the title “Letters to a Stranger.” During these 17 years, Balzac continued to work tirelessly, and in addition to novels, he wrote various articles in magazines. In 1835 he began to publish the magazine “Paris Chronicle” himself; this publication lasted for just over a year and as a result brought him a net deficit of 50,000 francs.
From 1833 to 1838 inclusive, Balzac published 26 stories and novels, among them “Eugenie Grande”, “Père Goriot”, “Seraphite”, “Lily of the Valley”, “Lost Illusions”, “Cesar Birotteau”. In 1838 he again left Paris for several months, this time for commercial purposes. He dreams of a brilliant enterprise that can immediately enrich him; he goes to Sardinia, where he plans to exploit the silver mines, known during Roman rule. This enterprise ends in failure, since a more clever businessman took advantage of his idea and blocked his path.
Until 1843, Balzac lived almost constantly in Paris, or in his estate Les Jardies, near Paris, which he bought in 1839 and turned into a new source of constant expenses for him. In August 1843, Balzac went to St. Petersburg for 2 months, where Mrs. Ganskaya was at that time (her husband owned extensive estates in Ukraine). In 1845 and 1846 he traveled twice to Italy, where she and her daughter spent the winter. Urgent work and various urgent obligations forced him to return to Paris and all his efforts were aimed at finally paying off his debts and organizing his affairs, without which he could not fulfill the cherished dream of his whole life - to marry the woman he loved. To a certain extent, he succeeded. Balzac spent the winter of 1847 - 1848 in Russia, on the estate of Countess Ganskaya near Berdichev, but a few days before the February Revolution, financial affairs called him to Paris. He remained, however, completely alien to the political movement and in the fall of 1848 he again went to Russia.
In 1849 - 1847, 28 new novels by Balzac appeared in print (“Ursula Mirue”, “The Country Priest”, “Poor Relatives”, “Cousin Pons”, etc.). Since 1848, he has been working little and publishing almost nothing new. A second trip to Russia turned out to be fatal for him. His body was exhausted by “excessive work; This was joined by a cold, which attacked the heart and lungs and turned into a long, protracted illness. The harsh climate also had a detrimental effect on him and interfered with his recovery. This condition, with temporary improvements, lasted until the spring of 1850. On March 14, the marriage of Countess Ganskaya to Balzac finally took place in Berdichev. In April, the couple left Russia and headed to Paris, where they settled in a small hotel bought by Balzac several years earlier and decorated with artistic luxury. The novelist's health, however, kept deteriorating and finally, on August 18, 1850, after a severe 34-hour agony, he died.
The importance of Balzac in literature is very great: he expanded the scope of the novel and, being one of the main founders realistic and naturalistic movements, showed him new paths, which in many ways he followed until the beginning of the 20th century. His basic view is purely naturalistic: he looks at every phenomenon as the result and interaction of certain conditions, a certain environment. According to this, Balzac's novels are not only a depiction of individual characters, but also a picture of the whole modern society with those basic forces that control him: the general pursuit of the blessings of life, the thirst for profit, honors, position in the world, with all the various struggles of large and small passions. At the same time, he reveals to the reader the entire behind-the-scenes side of this movement in the smallest detail, in his everyday life, which gives his books the character of burning reality. When depicting characters, he highlights one main, predominant trait. According to Faye’s definition, for Balzac, every person is nothing more than “some kind of passion, which is served by the mind and organs and which is counteracted by circumstances.” Thanks to this, his heroes receive extraordinary relief and brightness, and many of them became household names, like the heroes of Moliere: thus, Grande became synonymous with stinginess, Goriot with fatherly love, etc. Women occupy a large place in his novels. With all his merciless realism, he always puts a woman on a pedestal, she always stands above those around her, and is a victim of a man’s selfishness. His favorite type is a woman 30–40 years old (“Balzac age”).
The complete works of Balzac were published by himself in 1842 under the general title " Human Comedy”, with a preface where he defines his task as follows: “to give a history and at the same time a criticism of society, an investigation of its ills and a consideration of its beginnings.” One of the first translators of Balzac into Russian was the great Dostoevsky (his translation of “Eugenia Grande”, made before hard labor).
(For essays on other French writers, see the “More on topic” block below the article text.)
The father of the future writer was a peasant from Languedoc, who managed to make a career during the French bourgeois revolution and become rich. The mother was much younger than the father (even outlived his son) and also came from a wealthy family of a Parisian cloth merchant.
The surname Balzac was taken by the father of the future writer after the revolution; the real family name was the surname Balsa.
Education
The writer's father, who became an assistant to the mayor of the city of Tours, dreamed of making his son a lawyer. He sent him first to the College of Vendôme, and then to the Paris School of Law.
Honore didn't like it right away at Vendôme College. He studied poorly and could not establish contact with teachers. Contact with family during study was prohibited, and living conditions were excessively harsh. At the age of 14, Honore became seriously ill and was sent home. He never returned to college, graduating in absentia.
Even before his illness, Honore became interested in literature. He voraciously read the works of Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Holbach. Even after entering the Paris School of Law, Honore did not give up his dream of becoming a writer.
Early creativity
Since 1823, Balzac began to write. His first novels were written in the spirit of romanticism. The author himself considered them unsuccessful and tried not to remember them.
From 1825 to 1828, Balzac tried to get into publishing, but failed.
Success
According to a short biography of Honore de Balzac, the writer was a real workaholic. He worked 15 hours a day and published 5-6 novels per year. Gradually fame began to come to him.
Balzac wrote about what surrounded him: about the life of Paris and the French provinces, about the life of the poor and aristocrats. His novels were rather philosophical short stories, revealing the full depth of the social contradictions and severity that existed then in France. social problems. Gradually, Balzac combined all the novels he wrote into one large cycle, which he called the “Human Comedy”. The cycle is divided into three parts: “Etudes on Morals” (this part, for example, includes the novel “The Splendor and Poverty of Courtesans”), “Philosophical Etudes” (this part includes the novel “Shagreen Skin”), “Analytical Etudes” (this part the author included partly autobiographical works, such as “Louis Lambert”).
In 1845, Balzac was awarded the Legion of Honor.
Personal life
The writer’s personal life did not take shape until he entered into correspondence (at first anonymous) with the Polish aristocrat Countess Evelina Hanska. She was married to a very rich landowner who had large lands in Ukraine.
A feeling flared up between Balzac and Countess Ganskaya, but even after her husband’s death she did not dare to become the writer’s legal wife, because she was afraid of losing her husband’s inheritance, which she wanted to pass on to her only daughter.
Death of a Writer
Only in 1850, Balzac, who, by the way, stayed with his beloved for a long time, visiting Kyiv, Vinnitsa, Chernigov and other cities of Ukraine with her, and Evelina were able to officially get married. But their happiness was short-lived, since immediately upon returning to his homeland the writer fell ill and died of gangrene, which developed against the background of pathological vascular arthritis.
The writer was buried with all possible honors. It is known that during the funeral his coffin was carried in turn by all the prominent literary figures of France of that time, including Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.
Other biography options
- Balzac became very popular in Russia during his lifetime, although the authorities were wary of the writer’s work. Despite this, he was allowed to enter Russia. The writer visited St. Petersburg and Moscow several times: in 1837, 1843, 1848 -1850. He was received very warmly. At one of these meetings between the writer and readers, young F. Dostoevsky was present, who, after a conversation with the writer, decided to translate the novel “Eugenia Grande” into Russian. This was the first literary translation and the first publication made by the future classic of Russian literature.
- Balzac loved coffee. He drank about 50 cups of coffee a day.
Honore de Balzac (05/20/1799 – 08/18/1850) – French writer, an outstanding prose writer of the 19th century, is considered the founder of the realistic movement in literature.
Childhood
Balzac was born in the French city of Tours into a peasant family. His father was able to get rich during the revolutionary years, and later became the right hand of the local mayor. Their surname was originally Balsa. The father saw his son as a future lawyer. Balzac studied at college away from his family, was distinguished by bad behavior, for which he was constantly punished in a punishment cell. His parents took him home due to a serious illness that lasted five years. After his family moved to the capital in 2016, the young man recovered.
Balzac then studied at the Paris Law School. He began working as a scribe for a notary, but soon gave preference to literary activity. loved to read with early childhood, favorite authors were Montesquieu, Rousseau and others. As a boy he composed plays, but they have not survived. During his school years, his teacher did not like his “Treatise on the Will,” and he burned the work in front of the author.
Literary activity
The work “Cromwell” (1820) is considered his debut in literature. It, along with other early works of the author, was published, but was not successful. Subsequently, Balzac himself abandoned them. Seeing the failures of the aspiring writer, his parents deprived him of material support, so Balzac entered into an independent life.
Young Balzac
In 1825, Honoré decided to open a publishing business, which he pursued unsuccessfully for three years until he finally went bankrupt. Previously, his works were published under pseudonyms; in 1829, for the first time, he signed the novel “The Chouans” with his real name. Balzac himself considered the 1831 novel “Shagreen Skin” to be the starting point of his literary activity. This was followed by “Elixir of Longevity”, “Gobsek”, “Thirty-Year-Old Woman”. Thus began a period of recognition and success in the writer’s career. The greatest influence on his work was the writer V. Scott.
In 1831, Honoré plans to write a multi-volume book in which he wants to reflect artistic style French history and philosophy. He devotes most of his life to this work and calls it “The Human Comedy.” The epic, consisting of three parts and 90 works, includes both previously written and new creations.
The writer's style was considered original given the widespread spread of novelism in those days. In any novel main theme was a tragedy of the individual in bourgeois society, described by the new artistic method. The works were distinguished by deep realism; they very accurately reflected reality, which aroused admiration among readers.
Balzac worked at a strict pace, practically without looking up from his pen. I wrote mostly at night, very quickly, and never used drafts. Several works were published per year. During the first years of active writing, he managed to touch upon the most diverse spheres of life in French society. Balzac also wrote dramatic works, which were not as popular as his novels.
Recognition and recent years
Balzac was recognized as an outstanding literary figure during his lifetime. Despite his popularity, he was unable to become rich because he had many debts. His work was reflected in the works of Dickens, Zola, Dostoevsky and others famous writers. In Russia, his novels were published almost immediately after the Paris publications. The writer visited the empire several times, in 1843 he lived in St. Petersburg for three months. Fyodor Dostoevsky, who was fond of reading Balzac, translated the novel “Eugenia Grande” into Russian.
Balzac's wife E. Ganskaya
Balzac had a long-term affair with the Polish landowner Evelina Hanska. Having met in 1832, they corresponded for a long time, then met. Ganskaya was married, widowed, and then planned to pass on her husband’s inheritance to her daughter. They were able to get married only in 1850. After the wedding, the couple left for Paris, where Honore prepared for new family apartment, but there the writer was overtaken by a serious illness. His wife was with him until last day.
The writer’s work is still being studied to this day. The first biography was published by Balzac's sister. Later Zweig, Maurois, Wurmser and others wrote about him. Films were also made about his life and his works were adapted into films. There is more than one museum dedicated to his work, including in Russia. In many countries in different times Balzac's image was placed on postage stamps. In total, during his life he wrote 137 works and introduced the world to more than 4 thousand characters. In Russia, the first published collection of his works consisted of 20 volumes.
Honore de Balzac is a French writer, prose writer, and master of the realistic novel. Born on May 20, 1799 in the French city of Tours, into a peasant family. Most famous work writer - “Human Comedy”. It was a cycle of novels and stories about the life of French society at that time. Balzac's work influenced many others talented writers, including Dickens, Zola, Dostoevsky. From childhood, Balzac was prepared for a career as a lawyer. To do this, he studied at the College of Vendôme, at the Paris School of Law, and then worked as a scribe for a notary. However, he soon became bored with his legal career and devoted himself to literature.
The writer's first works appeared in the 1820s. These were novels in the spirit of romanticism. The publishing activity he began in 1825 was not successful. The first book signed with the name “Balzac” was published in 1829. It was historical novel"Chouans". After that, he wrote many essays and stories, which finally attracted the attention of critics. The next serious work, the novel “Shagreen Skin,” appeared in 1831. A year later, the partly biographical novel Louis Lambert was published.
Despite the fact that Balzac was unable to become rich as a writer, he continued to work hard and published several books a year. The main result of his work was the cycle of essays “The Human Comedy” on the topic of French life. The writer's creativity reached its greatest blossoming in the 1820s-1830s. During his life, Balzac visited Russia several times. In 1832, he met his future wife Evelina Ganskaya, a Polish landowner and Russian citizen. The last years of his life Honore de Balzac lived on his wife’s estate in Verkhovna in what is now Ukraine. He wrote about his impressions of his stay in Ukraine in the unfinished “Letter about Kyiv.” Died great writer in Paris on August 18, 1850.
Balzac Honore de (1799 – 1850)
French writer. Born into a family of peasants from Languedoc.
Waltz's original surname was changed by his father, starting his career as an official. The particle “de” was added to the name by the son, claiming noble origin.
Between 1819 and 1824 Balzac published half a dozen novels under a pseudonym.
The publishing and printing business involved him in large debts. For the first time, under his own name, he published the novel “The Last Shuat.”
Period from 1830 to 1848 devoted to an extensive series of novels and stories known to the reading public as the “Human Comedy.” Balzac devoted all his energy to creativity, but he also loved social life with its amusements and travels.
Overwork from colossal work, problems in his personal life and the first signs of a serious illness overshadowed recent years writer's life. Five months before his death, he married Evelina Ganskaya, whose consent to the marriage Balzac had to wait for many years.
His most famous works are “Shagreen Skin”, “Gobsek”, “An Unknown Masterpiece”, “Eugenia Grande”, “The Banker's House of Nucingen”, “Peasants”, “Cousin Pono”, etc.
