BALZAC (Balzac) Honore de (1799-1850), French writer. The epic "The Human Comedy" of 90 novels and stories is connected by a common idea and many characters: the novel "The Unknown Masterpiece" (1831), "Shagreen Skin" (1830-31), "Eugene Grande" (1833), "Father Goriot" (1834 -35), "Caesar Birotto" (1837), "Lost Illusions" (1837-43), "Cousin Betta" (1846). Balzac's epic is a realistic picture of French society, grandiose in scope.

BALZAC (Balzac) Honore de (May 20, 1799, Tours - August 18, 1850, Paris), French writer.

Origin

The writer's father, Bernard Francois Balssa (later changed his surname to Balzac), came from a wealthy peasant family, served in the military supply department. Taking advantage of the similarity of surnames, Balzac at the turn of the 1830s. began to trace his origins to the noble family of Balzac d "Entregues and arbitrarily added the noble particle "de" to his surname. Balzac's mother was 30 years younger than her husband and cheated on him; the younger brother of the writer Henri, his mother's "favorite", was the natural son of the owner of a neighboring Many researchers believe that the attention of Balzac the novelist to the problems of marriage and adultery is explained not least by the atmosphere that prevailed in his family.

Biography

In 1807-13 Balzac was a college boarder in the city of Vendôme; the impressions of this period (intense reading, a feeling of loneliness among classmates distant in spirit) were reflected in the philosophical novel "Louis Lambert" (1832-35). In 1816-19 he studies at the School of Law and serves as a clerk in the office of a Parisian lawyer, but then refuses to continue his legal career. 1820-29 - years of searching for oneself in literature. Balzac publishes action-packed novels under various pseudonyms, composes moralistic "codes" of secular behavior. The period of anonymous creativity ends in 1829, when the novel Chouans, or Brittany in 1799 is published. At the same time, Balzac was working on short stories from modern French life, which, starting in 1830, were published in editions under the general title Scenes of Private Life. These collections, as well as the philosophical novel Shagreen Skin (1831), brought Balzac great fame. The writer is especially popular among women who are grateful to him for penetrating into their psychology (in this Balzac was helped by his first lover, a married woman 22 years older than him, Laura de Berni). Balzac receives enthusiastic letters from readers; one of these correspondents, who wrote him a letter in 1832 signed "Foreigner", was the Polish countess, Russian citizen Evelina Ganskaya (nee Rzhevuska), who became his wife 18 years later ., his life was not calm. The need to pay off debts required intensive work; every now and then Balzac started commercial adventures: he went to Sardinia, hoping to buy a silver mine there on the cheap, bought a country house, for which he did not have enough money to maintain, twice founded periodicals that did not have commercial success. Balzac died six months after his main dream came true, and he finally married the widowed Evelina Ganskaya.

"The Human Comedy" Aesthetics

Balzac's extensive heritage includes a collection of frivolous short stories in the "Old French" spirit "Mischievous Tales" (1832-37), several plays and a huge number of journalistic articles, but his main creation is "The Human Comedy". Balzac began to combine his novels and stories into cycles as early as 1834. In 1842, he began to publish a collection of his works under the title "The Human Comedy", within which he singles out sections: "Etudes on Morals", "Philosophical Studies" and "Analytical Studies". All works are united not only by "cross-cutting" heroes, but also by the original concept of the world and man. Following the model of natural scientists (primarily E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire), who described animal species that differ from each other in external features formed by the environment, Balzac set out to describe social species. He explained their diversity by different external conditions and differences in characters; each of the people is ruled by a certain idea, passion. Balzac was convinced that ideas are material forces, peculiar fluids, no less powerful than steam or electricity, and therefore an idea can enslave a person and lead him to death, even if his social position is favorable. The history of all the main Balzac heroes is the history of the collision of the passion that owns them with social reality. Balzac is an apologist for the will; only if a person has a will, his ideas become an effective force. On the other hand, realizing that the confrontation of egoistic wills is fraught with anarchy and chaos, Balzac relies on the family and the monarchy - social institutions that cement society.

"The Human Comedy" Themes, plots, characters

The struggle of individual will with circumstances or another, equally strong passion, form the plot basis of all the most significant works of Balzac. Shagreen Skin (1831) is a novel about how the selfish will of a person (materialized in a piece of skin that shrinks with each fulfilled desire) devours his life. "Search for the Absolute" (1834) - a novel about the search for the philosopher's stone, to which the naturalist sacrifices the happiness of his family and his own. "Father Goriot" (1835) - a novel about paternal love, "Eugenia Grande" (1833) - about the love of gold, "Cousin Betta" (1846) - about the power of revenge that destroys everything around. The novel "The Thirty-Year-Old Woman" (1831-34) is about love, which has become the lot of a mature woman (the concept of "a woman of Balzac's age" that has become entrenched in the mass consciousness is connected with this theme of Balzac's work).

In the society as Balzac sees and portrays it, either strong egoists achieve the fulfillment of their desires (such is Rastignac, a cross-cutting character who first appears in the novel "Father Goriot"), or people animated by love for their neighbor (the main characters of the novels "Country Doctor", 1833, "Country Priest", 1839); weak, weak-willed people, such as the hero of the novels "Lost Illusions" (1837-43) and "Shine and Poverty of Courtesans" (1838-47) Lucien de Rubempre, do not stand the test and perish.

French epic 19th century

Each work of Balzac is a kind of "encyclopedia" of a particular class, a particular profession: "The History of the Greatness and Fall of Caesar Biroto" (1837) - a novel about trade; "The illustrious Godissard" (1833) - a short story about advertising; "Lost Illusions" - a novel about journalism; Nucingen's Banking House (1838) is a novel about financial scams.

Balzac drew in the "Human Comedy" an extensive panorama of all aspects of French life, all strata of society (for example, "Studies on Morals" included "scenes" of private, provincial, Parisian, political, military and rural life), on the basis of which later researchers began classify his work as realism. However, for Balzac himself, the apology of will and strong personality was more important, bringing his work closer to romanticism.

Honore de Balzac (fr. Honoré de Balzac). Born May 20, 1799 in Tours - died August 18, 1850 in Paris. French writer, one of the founders of realism in European literature.

The largest work of Balzac is a series of novels and short stories "The Human Comedy", which paints a picture of the life of a modern writer of French society. Balzac's work was very popular in Europe and during his lifetime earned him a reputation as one of the greatest prose writers of the 19th century. The works of Balzac influenced prose, Faulkner and others.

Honoré de Balzac was born in Tours in the family of a peasant from Languedoc, Bernard Francois Balssa (Balssa) (06/22/1746-06/19/1829). Balzac's father made a fortune by buying and selling confiscated noble lands during the years of the revolution, and later became assistant to the mayor of the city of Tours. Has no relation to the French writer Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (1597-1654). Honore's father changed his surname and became Balzac, and later bought himself a de particle. Mother was the daughter of a Parisian merchant.

The father prepared his son for advocacy. In 1807-1813, Balzac studied at the College of Vendome, in 1816-1819 - at the Paris School of Law, at the same time he worked as a scribe for a notary; however, he abandoned his legal career and devoted himself to literature. Parents did little for their son. He was placed at the College Vendôme against his will. Meetings with relatives there were forbidden all year round, with the exception of the Christmas holidays. During the first years of his studies, he repeatedly had to be in a punishment cell. In the fourth grade, Honore began to come to terms with school life, but he did not stop mocking teachers ... At the age of 14, he fell ill, and his parents took him home at the request of the college authorities. For five years, Balzac was seriously ill, it was believed that there was no hope of recovery, but soon after the family moved to Paris in 1816, he recovered.

After 1823, he published several novels under various pseudonyms in the spirit of "violent romanticism". Balzac strove to follow the literary fashion, and later he himself called these literary experiments "real literary disgust" and preferred not to think about them. In 1825-1828 he tried to engage in publishing activities, but failed.

In 1829, the first book signed with the name "Balzac" was published - the historical novel "Chuans" (Les Chouans). The formation of Balzac as a writer was influenced by the historical novels of Walter Scott. Balzac's subsequent works: "Scenes of Private Life" (Scènes de la vie privée, 1830), the novel "The Elixir of Longevity" (L "Élixir de longue vie, 1830-1831, a variation on the themes of the legend of Don Juan); the story "Gobsek" ( Gobseck, 1830) attracted the attention of the reader and critics.In 1831, Balzac published his philosophical novel La Peau de chagrin and began the novel La femme de trente ans (La femme de trente ans). stories "(Contes drolatiques, 1832-1837) - an ironic stylization of Renaissance novelistics. In part autobiographical novel" Louis Lambert "(Louis Lambert, 1832) and especially in the later" Seraphite "(Séraphîta, 1835) reflected Balzac's fascination with the mystical concepts of E Swedenborg and Cl. de Saint-Martin.

His hope of getting rich had not yet materialized (heavy debt is the result of his unsuccessful business ventures) when fame began to come to him. Meanwhile, he continued to lead a diligent working life, working at his desk for 15-16 hours a day, and annually publishing three, four and even five, six books.

The end of the 1820s and the beginning of the 1830s, when Balzac entered literature, was the period of the greatest flowering of Romanticism in French literature. The big novel in European literature by the arrival of Balzac had two main genres: a novel of personality - an adventurous hero (for example, Robinson Crusoe) or a self-deepening, lonely hero (The Suffering of Young Werther by W. Goethe) and a historical novel (Walter Scott).

Balzac departs from both the novel of personality and the historical novel. He aims to show the "individualized type". In the center of his creative attention, according to a number of Soviet literary critics, is not a heroic or outstanding personality, but modern bourgeois society, the France of the July Monarchy.

"Studies on Morals" unfold the picture of France, paint the life of all classes, all social conditions, all social institutions. Their leitmotif is the victory of the financial bourgeoisie over the landed and tribal aristocracy, the strengthening of the role and prestige of wealth, and the weakening or disappearance of many traditional ethical and moral principles associated with this.

In the works created in the first five or six years of his writing activity, the most diverse areas of contemporary French life are depicted: the village, the provinces, Paris; various social groups: merchants, aristocracy, clergy; various social institutions: family, state, army.

In 1832, 1843, 1847 and 1848-1850. Balzac visited Russia, St. Petersburg.

From August to October 1843, Balzac lived in Titov's house at 16 Millionnaya Street in St. Petersburg.

In the unfinished "Letter about Kyiv", private letters left mention of his stay in the Ukrainian towns of Brody, Radzivilov, Dubno, Vyshnevets and others. Kyiv visited in 1847, 1848 and 1850.

He was buried in Paris at the Pere Lachaise cemetery.

"The Human Comedy"

In 1831, Balzac had the idea to create a multi-volume work - a "picture of manners" of his time, a huge work, later entitled by him "The Human Comedy". According to Balzac, The Human Comedy was supposed to be the artistic history and artistic philosophy of France as it developed after the revolution. Balzac works on this work throughout his subsequent life, he includes in it most of the works already written, and specially reworks them for this purpose. The cycle consists of three parts: "Etudes on Morals", "Philosophical Studies" and "Analytical Studies".

The most extensive is the first part - "Etudes on Morals", which includes:

"Scenes of Private Life"
"Gobsek" (1830), "Thirty-year-old woman" (1829-1842), "Colonel Chabert" (1844), "Father Goriot" (1834-35), etc.;
"Scenes of Provincial Life"
"Turkish Priest" (Le curé de Tours, 1832), "Eugénie Grandet" (Eugénie Grandet, 1833), "Lost Illusions" (1837-43), etc.;
"Scenes of Parisian Life"
trilogy "History of the Thirteen" (L'Histoire des Treize, 1834), "Caesar Birotto" (César Birotteau, 1837), "The Banking House of Nucingen" (La Maison Nucingen, 1838), "Shine and Poverty of the Courtesans" (1838-1847) etc.;
"Scenes of Political Life"
"A case from the time of terror" (1842), etc.;
"Scenes of military life"
Chouans (1829) and Passion in the Desert (1837);
"Scenes of village life"
"Lily of the Valley" (1836), etc.

Subsequently, the cycle was replenished with the novels Modeste Mignon (Modeste Mignon, 1844), Cousin Bette (La Cousine Bette, 1846), Cousin Pons (Le Cousin Pons, 1847), and also, summing up the cycle in its own way, the novel The Reverse Side of Modern History (L'envers de l'histoire contemporaine, 1848).

"Philosophical studies" are reflections on the patterns of life: "Shagreen leather" (1831), etc.

The greatest "philosophy" is inherent in "Analytical Etudes". In some of them, for example, in the story "Louis Lambert", the volume of philosophical calculations and reflections many times exceeds the volume of the plot narrative.

Personal life of Honore de Balzac

In 1832 he met Evelina Hanska (widowed in 1842), whom he married on March 2, 1850 in the city of Berdichev, in the church of St. Barbara. In 1847-1850. lived in the possessions of his beloved in Verkhovna (now - a village in the Ruzhinsky district of the Zhytomyr region, Ukraine).

The novels of Honore de Balzac

Chouans, or Brittany in 1799 (1829)
Shagreen leather (1831)
Louis Lambert (1832)
Eugenia Grande (1833)
History of Thirteen (1834)
Father Goriot (1835)
Lily of the Valley (1835)
Nucingen Banking House (1838)
Beatrice (1839)
Country Priest (1841)
Balamutka (1842)
Ursula Mirue (1842)
Thirty Years Old Woman (1842)
Lost Illusions (I, 1837; II, 1839; III, 1843)
Peasants (1844)
Cousin Betta (1846)
Cousin Pons (1847)
The Luster and Poverty of the Courtesans (1847)
MP for Arcee (1854)

Novels and short stories by Honore de Balzac

House of a Cat Playing Ball (1829)
Marriage Contract (1830)
Gobsek (1830)
Vendetta (1830)
Goodbye! (1830)
Country Ball (1830)
Marital Consent (1830)
Sarrazin (1830)
Red Inn (1831)
Unknown Masterpiece (1831)
Colonel Chabert (1832)
The abandoned woman (1832)
Belle of the Empire (1834)
Involuntary Sin (1834)
The Devil's Heir (1834)
The constable's wife (1834)
Shout of salvation (1834)
Witch (1834)
The Persistence of Love (1834)
Bertha's Remorse (1834)
Naivete (1834)
The Marriage of the Belle of the Empire (1834)
Forgiven Melmoth (1835)
Mass of the Godless (1836)
Facino Canet (1836)
Secrets of the Princess de Cadignan (1839)
Pierre Grasse (1840)
The Imaginary Mistress (1841)

Screen adaptations of Honore de Balzac

Glitter and Poverty of Courtesans (France; 1975; 9 episodes): director M. Kaznev
Colonel Chabert (film) (fr. Le Colonel Chabert, 1994, France)
Don't touch the ax (France-Italy, 2007)
Shagreen leather (fr. La peau de chagrin, 2010, France)


). Balzac's father made a fortune by buying and selling confiscated noble lands during the years of the revolution, and later became assistant to the mayor of the city of Tours. Has no relation to the French writer Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (1597-1654). Father Honore changed his surname and became Balzac. Mother Anna-Charlotte-Laura Salambier (1778-1853) was much younger than her husband and even outlived her son. She came from a family of a Parisian cloth merchant.

The father prepared his son for advocacy. In -1813, Balzac studied at the College of Vendôme, in - - at the Paris School of Law, at the same time he worked for a notary as a scribe; however, he abandoned his legal career and devoted himself to literature. Parents did little for their son. He was placed at the College of Vendôme against his will. Meetings with relatives there were forbidden all year round, with the exception of the Christmas holidays. During the first years of his studies, he repeatedly had to be in a punishment cell. In the fourth grade, Honore began to come to terms with school life, but he did not stop mocking teachers ... At the age of 14, he fell ill, and his parents took him home at the request of the college authorities. For five years, Balzac was seriously ill, it was believed that there was no hope of recovery, but soon after the family moved to Paris in 1816, he recovered.

The director of the school, Maréchal-Duplessis, wrote in his memoirs about Balzac: "Starting from the fourth grade, his desk was always full of writings ...". Honore was fond of reading from an early age, he was especially attracted by the work of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Holbach, Helvetius and other French enlighteners. He also tried to write poetry and plays, but his childhood manuscripts have not been preserved. His essay "Treatise on the Will" was taken away by the teacher and burned before his eyes. Later, the writer will describe his childhood years in an educational institution in the novels “Louis Lambert”, “Lily in the Valley” and others.

His hope of getting rich had not yet materialized (heavy debt is the result of his unsuccessful business ventures) when fame began to come to him. Meanwhile, he continued to work hard, working at his desk for 15-16 hours a day, and annually publishing 3 to 6 books.

In the works created during the first five or six years of his writing activity, the most diverse areas of contemporary French life are depicted: the village, the province, Paris; various social groups - merchants, aristocracy, clergy; various social institutions - family, state, army.

In 1845, the writer was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.

Honore de Balzac died on August 18, 1850, at the age of 52. The cause of death is gangrene, which developed after he injured his leg on the corner of the bed. However, the fatal illness was only a complication of several years of excruciating ailment associated with the destruction of blood vessels, presumably arteritis.

Balzac was buried in Paris, in the Père Lachaise cemetery. " All the writers of France came out to bury him". From the chapel where they said goodbye to him, and to the church where he was buried, among the people carrying the coffin were

Honore de Balzac - French writer, prose writer, master of the realistic novel. Born May 20, 1799 in the French city of Tours, in a peasant family. The most famous work of the writer is The Human Comedy. It was a cycle of novels and stories on the theme of the life of the French society of that time. Balzac's work influenced many other talented writers, including Dickens, Zola, Dostoyevsky. 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 got bored with his legal career and devoted himself to literature.

The first works of the writer appeared in the 1820s. These were novels in the spirit of romanticism. The publishing activity, which he took up in 1825, was not successful. The first book signed with the name "Balzac" was published in 1829. It was the historical novel "Chuans". 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 could not get rich as a writer, he continued to work hard and published several books a year. The main result of his work was the series of essays "The Human Comedy" on the theme of French life. The writer's work reached its peak in the 1820-1830s. During his life, Balzac visited Russia several times. In 1832, he met his future wife, Evelina Ganskaya, a Polish landowner and Russian subject. The last years of his life, Honore de Balzac lived on his wife's estate in Verkhovna, on the territory of modern Ukraine. He wrote about his impressions of his stay in Ukraine in the unfinished Letter on Kyiv. The great writer died in Paris on August 18, 1850.

Honore de Balzac is a French writer and one of the best prose writers. The biography of the founder of realism is similar to the plots of his own works - stormy adventures, mysterious circumstances, difficulties and outstanding achievements.

On May 20, 1799, in France (the city of Tours), a child was born in a simple family, who later became the father of the naturalistic novel. Father Bernard Francois Balssa had a law degree, was engaged in business, reselling the lands of the poor and ruined nobles. This way of doing business brought him profit, so Francois decided to change his native surname in order to become “closer” to the intelligentsia. As a "relative" Balssa chose the writer - Jean-Louis Gez de Balzac.

Mother Honore, Anne-Charlotte-Laure Salambier, had aristocratic roots and was 30 years younger than her husband, adored life, fun, freedom and men. She did not hide her love affairs from her husband. Anna had an illegitimate child, to whom she began to show more concern than to the future writer. Care for Honore lay on the nurse, and after the boy was sent to live in a boarding house. The childhood of the novelist can hardly be called kind and bright, the problems and stresses experienced later manifested themselves in the works.

Parents wished Balzac to become a lawyer, so their son studied at Vendôme College with a legal bias. The educational institution was famous for its strict discipline, meetings with loved ones were allowed only during the Christmas holidays. The boy rarely adhered to local rules, for which he gained a reputation as a robber and sloven.


At the age of 12, Honore de Balzac wrote the first children's work, which was laughed at by classmates. The little writer read books by French classics, composed poems and plays. Unfortunately, it was not possible to save his children's manuscripts, school teachers forbade the child to develop literary, and one day, in front of Honore, one of his first essays, A Treatise on the Will, was burned.

Difficulties associated with communication among peers, with teachers, lack of attention served as the appearance of diseases in the boy. At the age of 14, the family took the seriously ill teenager home. There was no chance of recovery. In this state, he spent several years, but still got out


In 1816, Balzac's parents moved to Paris, where the young novelist continued his studies at the School of Law. Together with the study of science, Honore got a job as a clerk in a notary's office, but did not get pleasure from this. Literature attracted Balzac like a magnet, then the father decided to support his son in the direction of writing.

François promised him funding within two years. During this period, Honore must prove the ability to earn money on his favorite business. Until 1823, Balzac created about 20 volumes of works, but most of them were expected to fail. His first tragedy "" was severely criticized, and later Balzac himself called the young work erroneous.

Literature

In the first works, Balzac tried to follow the literary fashion, wrote about love, was engaged in publishing, but unsuccessfully (1825-1828). The subsequent works of the writer were influenced by books written in the spirit of historical romanticism.


Then (1820-1830) writers used only two main genres:

  1. Personal romanticism, aimed at heroic achievements, for example, the book "Robinson Crusoe".
  2. The life and problems of the hero of the novel associated with his loneliness.

Rereading the works of successful writers, Balzac decided to move away from the novel of personality, to find something new. "In the main role" of his works began to play not a heroic personality, but society as a whole. In this case, the modern bourgeois society of his native state.


Draft of the story "Dark matter" by Honore de Balzac

In 1834, Honoré created a work aimed at showing the "picture of manners" of that time and worked on it throughout his life. The book was later called The Human Comedy. Balzac's idea was to create an artistic philosophical history of France, i.e. what the country has become after the revolution.

The literary edition consists of several parts, including a list of various works:

  1. "Etudes on Morals" (6 sections).
  2. "Philosophical Investigations" (22 works).
  3. "Analytical research" (1 work instead of 5 planned by the author).

This book can safely be called a masterpiece. It describes ordinary people, marks the professions of the heroes of the works and their role in society. "The Human Comedy" is filled with true facts, all from life, all about the human heart.

Artworks

Honore de Balzac finally formed his life position in the field of creativity after writing the following works:

  • "Gobsek" (1830). Initially, the composition had a different name - "The Dangers of Debauchery." The qualities are clearly displayed here: greed and greed, as well as their influence on the fate of the heroes.
  • Shagreen Leather (1831) - this work brought success to the writer. The book is imbued with romantic and philosophical aspects. It describes in detail the vital issues and possible solutions.
  • "Thirty-year-old woman" (1842). The main character of the writer has far from the best properties in character, leads a life that is condemning from the point of view of society, which indicates to readers the mistakes that have a destructive effect on other people. Here Balzac wisely expresses thoughts about the human essence.

  • "Lost Illusions" (publication in three parts 1836-1842). In this book, Honoré, as always, managed to approach every detail, creating a picture of the moral life of French citizens. Vividly displayed in the work: human egoism, passion for power, wealth, self-confidence.
  • "Shine and poverty of courtesans" (1838-1847). This novel is not about the life of Parisian courtesans, as its title initially suggests, but about the struggle between secular and criminal society. Another brilliant work, included in the "multi-volume" "Human Comedy".
  • Creativity and biography of Honore de Balzac are among the materials required for study in schools around the world according to the educational program.

Personal life

One can write a separate novel about the personal life of the great Honore de Balzac, which cannot be called happy. As a child, the little writer did not receive maternal love and conscious life was looking for care, attention and tenderness in other women. He often fell in love with ladies much older than himself.

The great writer of the 19th century was not handsome, as you can see from the photo. But he had exquisite eloquence, charm, knew how to conquer arrogant young ladies in a simple monologue with just one remark.


His first woman was Mrs. Laura de Berni. She was 40 years old. She was suitable for young Honore as a mother, and, perhaps, managed to replace her, becoming a faithful friend and adviser. After the breakup of their romance, the former lovers maintained friendly relations, maintained correspondence until their death.


When the writer achieved success with readers, he began to receive hundreds of letters from different women, and one day Balzac came across a sketch of a mysterious girl admiring the talent of a genius. Her subsequent letters turned out to be clear declarations of love. For some time, Honore corresponded with a stranger, and after that they met in Switzerland. The lady turned out to be married, which did not embarrass the writer at all.

The stranger's name was Evelina Ganskaya. She was smart, beautiful, young (32 years old) and immediately liked the writer. After Balzac awarded this woman the title of the main love in his life.


The lovers rarely saw each other, but often corresponded, made plans for the future, because. Evelina's husband was 17 years older than her and could have passed away at any moment. Having sincere love in his heart for Hanskaya, the writer did not restrain himself from wooing other women.

When Wenceslas of Hansky (husband) died, Evelina pushed Balzac away, because a wedding with a Frenchman threatened her with separation from her daughter Anna (threat), but a few months later she invited her to Russia (her place of residence).

Only 17 years after they met, the couple got married (1850). Honore was then at the age of 51 and was the happiest man in the world, but they did not manage to live a married life.

Death

A talented writer could have died at the age of 43, when various diseases began to overcome him, but thanks to the desire to love and be loved by Evelina, he held on.

Literally immediately after the wedding, Ganskaya turned into a nurse. Doctors gave Honore a terrible diagnosis - cardiac hypertrophy. The writer could not walk, write or even read books. The woman did not leave her husband, wanting to fill his last days with peace, care and love.


On August 18, 1950, Balzac died. After himself, he left his wife an unenviable inheritance - huge debts. Evelina sold all her property in Russia in order to pay them off and went with her daughter to Paris. There, the widow took custody of the prose writer's mother and devoted the remaining 30 years of her life to perpetuating the works of her lover.

Bibliography

  • Chouans, or Brittany in 1799 (1829).
  • Shagreen leather (1831).
  • Louis Lambert (1832).
  • Nucingen Banking House (1838).
  • Beatrice (1839).
  • The constable's wife (1834).
  • Salvation Shout (1834).
  • Witch (1834).
  • The Persistence of Love (1834).
  • Bertha's Repentance (1834).
  • Naivete (1834).
  • Facino Canet (1836).
  • Secrets of the Princess de Cadignan (1839).
  • Pierre Grasse (1840).
  • The Imaginary Mistress (1841).