French Novelist Honoré de Balzac: His Life and Works

On August 18, 1850, Honoré de Balzac, French novelist, died at the age of 51. An excerpt from the article:

"The novels in this series were notable for their realism, particularly when it came to their characters. Rather than writing characters who were paragons of good or evil, Honoré depicted people in a much more realistic, nuanced light; even his minor characters were shaded with different layers. He also gained a reputation for his naturalistic depictions of time and place, as well as driving narratives and intricate relationships.

Honoré’s writing habits were the stuff of legend. He could write for fifteen or sixteen hours a day, with copious amounts of coffee to fuel his concentration and energy. In many instances, he became obsessed with perfecting the smallest details, often making change after change. This didn’t necessarily stop when the books were sent off to the printers, either: he frustrated many a printer by rewriting and editing even after the proofs were sent to him.

Social and Family Life

Despite his obsessive work life, Honoré managed to have a thriving social life. He was popular in society circles for his storytelling prowess, and he counted other famous figures of the day – including fellow novelist Victor Hugo – among his acquaintance. His first love was Maria Du Fresnay, a fellow writer who was unhappily married to a much older man. She bore Honoré’s daughter, Marie-Caroline Du Fresnay, in 1834. He had also had an earlier mistress, an older woman by the name of Madame de Berny, who had saved him from financial ruin prior to his novelistic success.

Honoré’s great love story, though, began in a way that seems like something from a novel. He received an anonymous letter in 1832 that criticized the cynical depictions of faith and of women in one of his novels. In response, he posted an advertisement in a newspaper to attract his critic’s attention, and the pair began a correspondence that lasted fifteen years. The person on the other side of these letters was Ewelina Hanska, a Polish countess. Honoré and Ewelina were both highly intelligent, passionate people, and their letters were full of such topics. They first met in person in 1833.

Her much-older husband died in 1841, and Honoré traveled to St. Petersburg, where she was staying, in 1843 to meet her again. Because they both had complicated finances, and Ewelina’s family was mistrusted by the Russian tsar, they were unable to marry until 1850, by which time they were both suffering health issues. Honoré had no children with Ewelina, although he did father children from other earlier affairs.

Death and Literary Legacy
Honoré only enjoyed his marriage for a few months before he fell ill. His mother arrived in time to say goodbye, and his friend Victor Hugo visited him on the day before his death. Honoré de Balzac died quietly on August 18, 1850. He is buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, and a statue of him, the Balzac Monument, sits at a nearby intersection.

The greatest legacy Honoré de Balzac left behind was the use of realism in the novel. The structure of his novels, in which the plot is presented in sequential order by an omniscient narrator and one event causes another, was influential for many later writers. Literary scholars have also focused on his exploration of the links between social standing and character development, as well as a belief in the strength of the human spirit that has endured to this day."