Honoré de Balzac: His Life and Writings | Page 2

books, and assisted
me with advice, I engaged in the task of writing this book. It is not
intended to add to the mass of criticism of Balzac's novels, being
merely an attempt to portray the man as he was, and to sketch correctly

a career which has been said to be more thrilling than a large proportion
of novels.
I must apologise for occasional blank spaces, for when Balzac is with
Madame Hanska, and his letters to her cease, as a general rule all our
information ceases also; and the intending biographer can only glean
from scanty allusions in the letters written afterwards, what happened at
Rome, Naples, Dresden, or any of the other towns, to which Balzac
travelled in hot haste to meet his divinity.
The book has been compiled as far as possible from original sources; as
the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul--whose collection of
documents relating to Balzac, Gautier, and George Sand is unique,
while his comprehensive knowledge of Balzac is the result of many
years of study--has most kindly allowed me to avail myself of his
library at Brussels. There, arranged methodically, according to some
wonderful system which enables the Vicomte to find at once any
document his visitor may ask for, are hundreds of Balzac's autograph
writings, many of them unpublished and of great interest. There, too,
are portraits and busts of the celebrated novelist, letters from his
numerous admirers, and the proofs of nearly all his novels--those sheets
covered with a network of writing, which were the despair of the
printers. The collection is most remarkable, even when we remember
the large sums of money, and the patience and ability, which have for
many years been focussed on its formation. It will one day be deposited
in the museum at Chantilly, near Paris, where it will be at the disposal
of those who wish to study its contents.
The Vicomte has kindly devoted much time to answering my questions,
and has shown me documents and autograph letters, the exact words of
which have been the subject of discussion and dispute, so that I have
been able myself to verify the fact that the copies made by M. de
Spoelberch de Lovenjoul are taken exactly from the originals. He has
warned me to be particularly careful about my authorities, as many of
Balzac's letters--printed as though copied from autographs--are
incorrectly dated, and have been much altered.
He has further added to his kindness by giving me several illustrations,
and by having this book translated to him, in order to correct it
carefully by the information to which he alone has access. I gladly take
this opportunity of acknowledging how deeply I am indebted to him.

I cannot consider these words of introduction complete without again
expressing my sense of what I owe to Dr. Reich, to whom the initial
idea of this book is due, and without whose energetic impetus it would
never have been written. He has found time, in the midst of a very busy
life, to read through, and to make many valuable suggestions, and I am
most grateful for all he has done to help me.
I must finish by thanking Mr. Curtis Brown most heartily for the
trouble he has taken on my behalf, for the useful hints he has given me,
and for the patience with which he has elucidated the difficulties of an
inexperienced writer.
MARY F. SANDARS.

HONORE DE BALZAC

CHAPTER I
Balzac's claims to greatness--The difficulty in attempting a complete
Life--His complex character--The intention of this book.
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 dared to claim the interest of the world for ordinary
men and women solely on the ground of a common humanity. Thus he
was the first to embody in literature the principle of Burns that "a man's
a man for a' that"; and though this fact has now become a truism, it was
a discovery, and an important discovery, when Balzac wrote. He
showed that, because we are ourselves ordinary men and women, it is
really human interest, and not sensational circumstance which appeals
to us, and that material for enthralling drama can be found in the life of
the most commonplace person--of a middle-aged shopkeeper
threatened with bankruptcy, or of an elderly musician with a weakness
for good dinners. At one blow he destroyed the unreal ideal of the
Romantic School, who degraded man by setting up in his place a
fantastic and impossible hero as the only theme worthy of their pen;
and thus he laid the foundation of the modern novel.

His own