Honore de Balzac, Author

French Novelist, Playwright and Novelist, of La Comédie Humaine

May 20, 2008
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Biography and works of French novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac, one of the creators of realism in literature, famous for The Human Comedy.

Balzac, best-known for La Comédie humaine was a great French novelist and playwright of the 19th century, one of the creators of realism in literature. His works had a huge influence on the development of the modern novel, with his colorful life that has become part of literary legend.

Early Life of Balzac

Honoré de Balzac was born on May 20, 1799, in the French city of Tours. His prosperous, middle-class family moved to Paris when he was 15, and he was forced by his father to study law, but eventually after he completed it in 1819, he promptly began to write fiction and persuaded his family to support him so that he could be a writer.

From the age of 22, Balzac wrote tirelessly. He worked very long hours regularly producing stories, magazine articles and plays. But his first plays and novels were not very good and earned him no money.

Balzac the Novelist

When he was 30 years old, he produced his first novel, The Chouans, which tells about the peasants during the French Revolution. Wanting to get more money to support his writing, he undertook various business ventures, most of them incurred him more debts. But he persisted and for the rest of his life he was pursued by creditors. This was also primarily because he insisted on living beyond his means. His appetite for food, wine and frolic was legendary.

Balzac The Human Comedy

In his mid-30s, Balzac began organizing his novels and plays in a more systematized form under the collective title La Comédie humaine (The Human Comedy), which he wrote between 1842 and 1848. It's considered his greatest work, which suggests complementary to Dante's Divina Commedia. The word 'comedy' also meant 'story' in Balzac's time. This work is Balzac's attempt to create a complete picture of the French society in terms of its human behavior and specific conditions, including military and political life.

Literary Contribution

In terms of realism in his novels, he is regarded a great influence of English author Arnold Bennett. When Balzac died on August 17, 1850, at the age of 51, Balzac completed nearly 100 books in the series, many of them individual masterpieces. There were over 2000 characters from all sections of society, some of whom appeared at different stages of their lives.

Books by Honoré de Balzac