Balzac's Human Comedy

Honnore？ De? Balzac (1799 May 20th? 1August 850 18), 19 th century French great critical realism writer, the founder and outstanding representative of European critical realism literature, and one of the highest achievements of French realistic literature. His human Comedy (com? Dead human) ***9 1 novel, wrote more than 2400 words. It fully shows the social life of France in the first half of the19th century, is a rare literary monument in the history of human literature, and is known as French society? Encyclopedia.

The novel The Last Cool Party, published in 1829, initially established its position in the literary world. 183 1 published the novel The Story of Donkey's Skin, which won him a reputation and became one of the most famous French writers. He has long had the idea of connecting his works into an organic whole. 184 1 year, inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, he officially named his work "Human Comedy" and published it in? Human comedy? In the preface, I declared that I wanted to do social history? Secretary? ; I think the social environment edifies people, so I want to focus? Material representation of characters and their thoughts? ; Require writers to have. See through? And then what? Imagination? ; Pay attention to the accurate description of geographical environment and graphics. From 1829? From 65438 to 0849, Balzac wrote 96 works for human comedy, including novels, novellas, short stories and essays, which were divided into three parts: custom research, philosophical research and analytical research. The novel Eugénie? Grand (1833), Gao Laotou (1834), disillusioned (1837? 1843), farmer (1845), aunt Bei (1846).

Balzac is a great French writer of critical realism. During his writing career of more than 20 years, he wrote 9 1 immortal works. In these works, he created more than 2,400 different types of characters, leaving precious artistic treasures for future generations. People can't help asking, how did Balzac create so many world famous works in such a short time? Balzac has a creative schedule: working from midnight to noon the next day, that is, sitting in a chair for twelve hours, concentrating on revising manuscripts and writing. Then, read all kinds of newspapers and magazines from noon to four o'clock in the afternoon, eat at five o'clock, go to bed at half past five, and get up at midnight to continue working. A French biographer introduced: Balzac's ink bottle needs to be changed every three days, and it takes ten pens. ? Every time Balzac creates a work, he always saves the original manuscript and the revised manuscript, and finally binds it into a thick big book as a precious gift for his intimate friends. The number of these revisions is quite large. If he writes a 200-page novel, the revised manuscript is equivalent to the original 10 times. As we all know, Balzac left more than 160 works for the world in his life, among which 96 comedies on earth were completed in less than 20 years. Every time he writes a book, he revises it several times at least and fifteen or sixteen times at most. As you can imagine, Balzac devoted much effort in his creative career.

Balzac's film of the same name

? It is my life's effort and the fulcrum of aesthetics. ? 1898, Rodin just finished the creation of Balzac statue, and his joy is beyond words. At the same time, the French Writers' Association, which entrusted Rodin with this creation, angrily rejected it and refused to allow it to stand on any street corner of Paris, the capital of art. Balzac of Rodin spent 4 1 year on the inauguration ceremony in the summer of 1939. However, the corner where it was placed in Yale, Raspe and panas was still unsatisfactory, because Rodin's wild and avant-garde handling of this talented writer made the masses nervous. Everyone is puzzled. Why can't Rodin let the novelist hold a quill pen, but let him strut in a bathrobe? He seems to have stepped back from the traffic, turned his head away and seemed to be panting.

Rodin found a male model in Dulan, but the model disappeared again. He first created a large number of nude portraits of Balzac, and then dressed him, first in robes and then in famous bathrobes. He got a real robe, starched it, put it in plaster, studied plaster, and constantly changed the details of lapels and sleeves. The hairstyle and inclination of the head have been adjusted again and again; The face was realistic at first, then blurred, and finally rough became the roar of desperate genius. Of course, Rodin's creation is also late. At this point, zola is no longer the chairman of the writers association. His heir threatened to sue, and another sculptor tried to take the task and paint Balzac as a sphinx with neat wings. Rodin compromised with the Association and paid 65,438+00,000 francs in advance, which was kept by a third party, and promised to produce the best works as soon as possible. Zola encouraged him to say: Balzac is waiting, and his honor should not be affected by your legitimate consideration of your honor. ?

At that time, someone had seen Balzac before his death. After a long search, Rodin still has no intention of creating a portrait. His? Balzac? Creators like him, not brains. Molding intellectuals is not Rodin's strong point. His failure to create a portrait was fatal, it was just a pile of gray materials. And his "thinker" is obviously not worthy of the name. He is an energetic athlete and has no thoughts in his beautiful body. ) Maybe he knew he would get into trouble when he exhibited the finished gypsum statue in the salon of 1898, because he also exhibited his amazing marble statue "Kiss" and invited friendly reporters in advance to prevent accidents.

A reporter saw Rodin's Balzac? The craze for sipping and breathing human comedy? Another reporter said, what was the first statue you saw? A square, a stone, a boulder? Gradually, people saw the shape under the package, with a strong man's fast and light gait and a unique way of Balzac moving his center of gravity, which was well described by Lamartin? .

Everything is going well. Then the public came out. ? Salt stone in the bathtub? ,? A seal? A bag of plaster? ,? A snowman in a bathrobe, with empty sleeves reminiscent of a bundle suit worn by a madman? Here are some comments. The Writers' Association rejected the statue.

Rodin wrote in a letter to Monet:? I was savagely attacked, just like when you invented painting air in landscape painting. ? Baudelaire praised Balzac statue? A civilization full of war, ideals and anger? . Rilke believes that Balzac embodies the pride and arrogance of creation, as well as dizziness and intoxication. Private collectors began to bid, and an open contract to buy Balzac began, Toulouse? Lautrec, Mayol, Kerry Duhamel Du Monceau, Debussy, Monet, Anatoly? Francois signed * * *, but Zola didn't. That year, his "I Accuse" just came out, and Rodin did not participate in Dray's public election.

However, after 10 years, the veto continued, so Rodin began to work for his Balzac. 1908, Balzac Museum was completed, and he donated a plaster statue. He also invited 28-year-old American photographer Edward? Stezen came to Mondang to shoot Balzac in the moonlight. Stezen worked for two nights, and Rodin paid him 1000 francs. Rodin compared these images to Christ walking in the desert and said to Stetzen. Your work will let the whole world know Balzac. ?

Rodin died in 19 17. 1937, held in Paris? Commemorate the mistake? Exhibition, showing the decoration of public places in Paris? Baroque lard garbage? And works like Balzac should have been put in those places. The proposal to cast the statue into bronze, signed by the public, is in progress (the curator of Rodin Museum gave 50 francs miserly and the French gave 500 francs). Once the proposal that bronze statues should be put in public places is accepted, there will be a debate about where to put them, because there is no place in Paris that can accommodate too many * * *.

1 939 July1day, the unveiling ceremony was held in panas, Mongolia. Soon the war broke out and the statues were collected in case of robbery. 1898, that is, 4 1 years ago, a young man who claimed to be a 20-year-old artist wrote a passionate letter of encouragement to Rodin, calling him a master performer. He said that one day, this statue will stand in the center of Paris, break through stupidity, fallacy and hatred, and get high respect from future generations.

& ltHr extended reading Balzac and human comedy

1829 In the summer, a 30-year-old young man was sitting at a low table in a five-story attic at No.9 Letgeyer Street, a slum in San Anton. He frowned and thought hard, and his face showed pain and despair. At this moment, there was a knock at the door. Startled, the young man said to himself, these nasty creditors have a good sense of smell. They found this remote place like dogs. I will open the door for them, or they will send me to prison. ?

The door opened and the young man shouted in surprise. Margaret, what are you doing here? I don't want to see you in a place like this. But come on in. ?

? God, why do you live in such a place! I said never mind, it's like a kennel here! ? It turned out to be a girl, as soon as she came in. ? Yes, it's good for your brother to live in a place like this. My kind sister, if you hadn't sent me money often, maybe I would have starved to death. ? I always save the pocket money my father gave me and send it to you. ? The girl said happily that she was proud to help her brother.

? I'm desperate, Margaret. The printing factory closed down again. ?

? Are you in debt again? ?

? Do you have to ask? To tell the truth, I owe sixty thousand francs now. Those creditors chased me all day. Looks like I'm going to jail. ? Go back to your father for help, as long as you are willing to go back to the law firm, maybe.

? No, I can't give in He would laugh at me and kick me out of the house. Sixty thousand francs, that's a lot of money. He will never come up with the money. ?

? So what do you do? ?

? What shall we do? I don't know. That's what I thought when you knocked at the door. ? The young man walked uneasily around the attic, and the wooden floor creaked under his tread.

? Then borrow money to set up a factory! Maybe I can lend you some money. ? No, no, it seems that I am not suitable for business. Besides, who else is willing to lend me a lot of money? I have to write. I have to be a writer? ? The young man had an idea and said firmly.

? But haven't you failed in this field before? ?

? This time is different. I won't write those literary rubbish again this time, but I will write great works, such as Homer's epic! ? The young man suddenly became wild, and there was a * * * burning in his heart. Look, what is this? ? As he spoke, he took out a portrait from his desk and handed it to his sister.

? Napoleon. ?

? Yes, Napoleon. The whole world shook before him. I want to finish what he didn't finish with his sword with a pen! ? The girl is missing. The young man picked up the portrait of Napoleon again and looked at it carefully. His eyes sparkled strangely.

This ambitious young man's name is Honnore Balzac, who later became a master of realism in the history of world literature, was honored as? The father of modern novels. ?

Honnore？ Balzac, 1799 was born in Moore, a small town in southern France, on May 20th. His father used to be a farmer, but later he made a fortune by digging wells skillfully during the Great Revolution and became an upstart. Balzac never liked his parents since he was a child. He was sent to the police home for foster care at the age of 2, and he didn't get the love of his parents. At the age of eight, Balzac was sent to a local church school. The school environment is dirty and closed, the teachers are cold and cruel, the study is monotonous, and the system is strict and rigid. Balzac is lively and active by nature, and he feels depressed. He only looks for his favorite books every day and doesn't care what the teacher says. So Balzac did badly in every exam. In a Latin exam, he ranked 32nd among 35 students in his class. Neither parents nor teachers gave him any hope, thinking that he would have no future.

18 16? 18 19, Balzac entered the law department of the university and worked as a lawyer in the firm of lawyer Maiville and notary Bass. Later Balzac called these firms? The most terrible cave in Paris. ? This life familiarized Balzac with the complicated litigation business. Through the office window, he saw the strange Paris society for the first time and enriched his life experience.

After graduating from college, he should have entered a law firm, but suddenly announced to his family that he wanted to be a writer.

? Honore, are you crazy? ? His father Bernard asked in surprise. ? I'm not crazy, father. I want to write and become a writer. ? Balzac is determined. ? Be a writer! Be a writer! Listen, this is really inexplicable and whimsical! ? Bernard jumped with anxiety.

? I will succeed, father. ?

? Success! I don't believe you will succeed at all. You won't succeed in any case. You are a complete idiot. The great poet began to write poetry at the age of 8, and you 16 couldn't even write a composition well! Now you tell me that you want to be a writer! The devil must have given you this idea. I don't want to hear your nonsense. Go away, go away and enter the law firm honestly! ? Bernard shrugged his shoulders, waved his hand for a while, and wandered around the room, not listening to what his son said.

Balzac left without saying a word, and Bernard thought his son had given in. Two weeks later, Balzac still didn't go to the law firm or even go home. The relationship between father and son is getting more and more tense.

? If Honnore doesn't give up the idea of becoming a writer, I will stop the economic supply and leave him hungry and awake. ? Bernard announced to his family.

The threat of his father did not crush Balzac's will, and Bernard could do nothing about his son's stubbornness. Finally, Balzac was promised a two-year probation period. If Balzac didn't show enough talent and make convincing achievements during this period, he would have to return to the firm.

1820 At the end of April, Balzac wrote a poetic tragedy Cromwell after several months of hard work.

He held a recitation at home, and everyone who listened fell asleep.

The failure of the first creation did not shake Balzac's determination. He found that he lacked the talent for tragic creation and decided to turn to writing novels, but he also failed. 182 1 year. After two years of probation, Balzac didn't write a decent work, but he still stuck to his ideas. Bernard decided to punish his son and cut off his financial resources.

Balzac, who lost family financial support, immediately fell into poverty. In a letter to his sister Margaret, he said: Your brother, who is destined to enjoy great honor, eats and drinks like a big shot, that is to say, he is starving. ? During this period, Balzac's life became more and more difficult, forcing him to consider money.

182 1 year? During the period of 1824, he cooperated with others to get rid of economic poverty and wrote many fantasy novels that catered to the vulgar social atmosphere at that time, with rough content and absurd plot. He once co-published the novel The Heiress of Bilag with a tradesman named Villarreal Gray. This book brought him 800 francs, but it didn't change his situation at all.

He is bitter about this writing career. He said in a letter: I expect to make a fortune from these novels, which is simply depravity! Why don't I have an annuity of 1500 francs to ensure my decent writing? However, in order to be independent, I have to use this shameful method: polluting paper and reputation. ? Later, it was simply called "the heiress of Bilag"? Real literary rubbish. ?

Writing failed, and he made various plans to get rich. He first cooperated with the publishing house and wanted to make money by publishing the Complete Works of Pocket Edition, a famous ancient writer.

The original plan included Moliere and La? Feng Dan's works. After more than a year of hard work, the book was finally published. He personally wrote a preface with beautiful illustrations, and the result was very disappointing. The first edition printed 65,438+0,000 copies, but only 20 copies were sold. Balzac owed 65,438+10,000 francs for this.

Later, he ran a lettering factory and a printing factory. As a result, the two factories closed at the end of 1828, and Balzac owed 60,000 francs.

This experience made Balzac really understand French society. In order to avoid debt, he often went to slums, where he learned about the poor life of the lower classes. He is ragged, scrawny and informal, almost like a slum worker. He mingled with them, watched them do business, watched them quarrel and talked with them, and often felt their inner pain.

During this period, Balzac deeply realized the cold money relationship between people in capitalist society, which became the most important theme in his later novels. The failure of business brought Balzac back to literary creation. 1March, 829, he published the novel "Juan Party" and began to become a noticeable writer. Since then, his works have been published. Balzac engaged in creative work for about 20 years with amazing perseverance and speed in 1930s and 1940s of19th century.

He often works 18 hours every day, regardless of day and night. Whenever he is tired, he drinks strong black coffee to refresh himself. It is said that he drank 50 thousand cups at a time. His schedule is as follows: from midnight to noon the next day, that is to say, sitting in a chair 12 hours; Modify the certificate from noon to 4 pm, go to bed at 5: 30, and get up in the middle of the night to work again.

His writing speed is also quite amazing. Sometimes he writes two short stories in one night, a novella in three days and a long story in two weeks. Of course, it is not shoddy to write too much. Balzac is very serious, revising it over and over again and striving for perfection.

Balzac takes time and never relaxes. His friend Gautier once wrote interestingly:? Sometimes, he comes to my room early in the morning, complaining and exhausted. The fresh air dazzled him, just like a statue of Vulcan who had just left the steel plant. He collapsed on the sofa and worked all night, making him hungry. He mashed sardines and butter and spread them on bread to eat. I fell asleep as soon as I finished eating, but asked me to wake him up an hour later and then close my eyes. I didn't take his request to heart, but I was careful not to make any noise in the room so as not to disturb my deserved sleep. Finally, when he woke up and saw the gloomy shadows in the sky, he jumped up and swore at me, calling me a traitor, bandit and murderer, which cost him 654.38 million francs, because if he woke up earlier, he would have conceived a novel and should have earned so much money, even though the second and third editions might be published temporarily. I caused him the most terrible disaster and the most unimaginable trouble. I made him miss his date with the financial tycoon, publisher and duchess. This terrible sleep cost him millions? I am glad to see that his face is rosy and his color has improved. ?

Balzac often enters his own imaginary world when he creates, and regards novels as reality. Once, a friend came to see him and heard him crying inside. When my friend came in, he was surprised and asked him what was going on. He replied:? Lao Gaoman just died. ?

184 1 year, Balzac made a grand creative plan and decided to write 137 novels, which were divided into three parts: custom research, philosophical research and analytical research. The total name is Human Comedy, which comprehensively reflects the social life of France in the19th century and writes a history of French social customs. By the time Balzac died, 9 1 novel had been completed in human comedy. The most famous of these novels is Eugénie? Grandet and old man Gao.

Eugénie? Grandet mainly talks about how a greedy and stingy old man ruined the happiness of his daughter's life. Old Grandet used to be a carpenter. During the Great Revolution, he made a fortune because of his quick thinking and good speculation. He robbed money by hook or by crook and became a millionaire. Although he is rich, he never gives up spending money, and his family lives in poverty. Even his own stairs are broken and he doesn't repair them. He used his daughter as bait to lure those who proposed to his daughter to profit from it. His daughter Eugénie is immaculate. She fell in love with her cousin Charlie, but Grandet drove Charlie away from home and punished her for locking Eugénie in the attic. Every day, she is only allowed to drink cold water, eat inferior bread, and don't make a fire in winter. Later, the old man passed away. He left his daughter/kloc-0.8 million francs, but her daughter lost her youth, love and happiness.

"Gao Laotou" mainly tells the story of a retired flour merchant, Gao Leo. He has two daughters, one is married to big noble, and the other is the wife of a banker. When the daughters got married, Lao Gaoman gave all his money to his two daughters as dowry. But after her daughter got married, she abandoned her father and ignored him. Lao Gao got seriously ill in a rage. When he died, he hoped to see his daughter, but both daughters went to the dance. After Lao Gaoman died, the two daughters didn't even pay for the coffin, and didn't even come to see it. It was a poor college student named Rasty Nie who tried to bury him.

Both of these novels show the mercenary and selfish interests of the bourgeoisie and expose the naked money relationship between people in capitalist society.

Long-term hard work has seriously damaged Balzac's health. Just over 50 years old, he was seriously ill. On his deathbed, Balzac was still immersed in the world he created. He begged the doctor to prolong his life so that he could write another work. He's been calling for his role? Gaurio, Grandet, Pirodeau.

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1850 August 18 evening 1 1: 30, Balzac closed his eyes forever, ending his hard life.