Essays on literary works - 2024

The brilliant author of “The Human Comedy” (Honoré de Balzac)

Honore de Balzac, the towering figure of 19th-century French literature, stands as a preeminent exponent of critical realism. His monumental work, "The Human Comedy," conceived as an encyclopedia of human existence akin to Dante's "Divine Comedy," encompasses nearly a hundred works. Balzac sought to encapsulate "the entirety of social reality, leaving no aspect of human life unexplored."

Born in southern France, Balzac attended a Catholic institution before completing his secondary education in Paris. His father, a former peasant who rose to become a military official under the Empire, instilled in young Honore a profound sense of ambition. Determined to pursue his literary dreams, Balzac left his family for Paris.

The vibrant and contrasting tapestry of Parisian life captivated the young writer. In his short story "Facino Cane," Balzac recalls beginning his "study of the manners, inhabitants, and characters of the suburbs" even in his youth. Immersing himself in the working-class districts of Paris, he "felt their rags upon my back, walked in their wooden shoes." He recognized the suburbs as "a practical school of revolution."

"The Human Comedy" is inaugurated by the philosophical novel "The Search for the Absolute," which serves as a prelude to the series. Balzac writes, "’The Search for the Absolute’ is the starting point of my endeavor." The novel chronicles the tale of Raphael, a young scholar who, despairing of achieving success through honest labor, contemplates suicide. Balzac introduces a fantastical element: a piece of shagreen leather said to grant its owner's desires. As each wish is fulfilled, the leather shrinks, symbolizing the diminishing lifespan of its owner. Raphael, captivated by the talisman's promise, sells his life for worldly gains.

What awaits the young man who has escaped poverty at such a cost? Balzac reveals a gradual, agonizing death and a complete moral degeneration. Peering into the depths of his soul, Raphael discovers "that it was gangrenous, that it was rotting..." In this allegorical tale, Balzac explores the destructive consequences of selling one's soul to the materialistic society.

Beneath the allegorical surface of Balzac's philosophical novels lies a profound realism. The author's quest for artistic synthesis is evident not only in the content but also in the composition of his works. Many of his novels feature two equally significant storylines. For example, in "Father Goriot," both the aging Goriot and the ambitious Rastignac vie for the role of protagonist. The similarly complex structure is evident in Balzac's masterpiece, "Gobsek."

In "Gobsek," Balzac weaves together the stories of diverse characters. In the background, we encounter Camille, the daughter of the Vicomtesse de Granlieu, and the impoverished aristocrat Ernest de Restaud, whose love is supported by the lawyer Der vil. While sitting in Madame de Granlieu's salon, Der vil reveals unknown details about the tragic history of the Comte de Restaud and the role played by the usurer Gobsek.

Ernest's father, the Comte de Restaud, married Anastasie, the daughter of Goriot. A woman of bourgeois origins and formidable character, Anastasie squandered her husband's fortune on a life of luxury and extravagance. Der vil, a young lawyer at the time, managed to salvage a portion of the Comte de Restaud's estate for his son. This, however, is only one facet of the narrative. The true protagonist of the novel is Gobsek, the embodiment of the corrupting power of money.

Having grown to trust Der vil, Gobsek shared his innermost thoughts. His philosophy, though consistent, was chilling in its candor and cynicism. It was a worldview that readily revealed the underlying principles of the bourgeois world. "Of all earthly goods," Gobsek asserted, "there is only one sufficiently reliable to be worth pursuing. That is... gold."

Gobsek had no faith in human decency. "Man is the same everywhere," he declared. "Everywhere there is a struggle between the rich and the poor, and it is inevitable. It is better to be the oppressor than the oppressed."

To the naive Der vil, Gobsek's words seemed blasphemous. Der vil believed in the nobility of human nature; he had recently fallen in love with a seamstress named Fanny Malvo. Unbeknownst to him, she was one of Gobsek's many "clients." It was from Gobsek that Der vil learned the harsh truth about the ruthless struggle for power and wealth that characterized bourgeois society, a truth that the young Rastignac would later discover from the convict Vautrin in "Father Goriot." The scenes of the Restaud family's downfall, which Der vil witnessed firsthand, filled him with a profound sense of tragedy.

Moral decay, self-interest, and predatory instincts — these were the lessons Der vil learned from his encounters with Gobsek. Observing the usurer, with his cynical frankness, fleecing his clients, Der vil understood the sinister reason for Gobsek's dominance over so many people. He also grasped the true cause of their tragedies, which were invariably rooted in the same fundamental conflict: one person taking money from another. "Can everything really be reduced to money?" he exclaimed. This, precisely, was the message Balzac sought to convey in his work.

In the dynamics of money, Balzac saw the "nerve of life" in his era, the "spiritual essence of contemporary society." Money, a new deity, a fetish, a idol, was warping human lives, separating children from parents, and wives from husbands. Behind each episode in "Gobsek" lie these universal problems. Anastasie, who had moved her dead husband's body from the bed to search for his business papers, was, for Balzac, the embodiment of the destructive passions ignited by financial greed.

The novel's conclusion, depicting Gobsek's death, is particularly striking. In his manic attachment to money, which had "bordering on madness" in his final days, Gobsek refused to "part with the smallest fraction of his wealth." His home became a repository of rotting food. A man who had always calculated every risk and never compromised his gains, Gobsek had failed to consider one crucial fact: accumulation cannot be the sole purpose of a meaningful human life.

Balzac would return to this theme repeatedly, in novels such as "Eugénie Grandet," "The History of the Grandeur and Decline of César Birotteau," and "The Peasants." Subsequent writers of the 20th century would also explore this topic. However, it is remarkable that Balzac had already delivered his verdict on bourgeois society during its heyday.

In "Gobsek," Balzac demonstrates his ability to create a diverse cast of characters. Each character speaks with a distinctive voice. When Balzac describes Gobsek rubbing his hands together in satisfaction at the end of a successful day, and "smoke seemed to rise from the deep wrinkles that furrowed his face," he achieves a vividness comparable to the works of the old masters.

In "Eugénie Grandet," Balzac's monumental prose style is particularly evident. The novel is built upon meticulously crafted portraits of the inhabitants of the French town of Saumur. Balzac's contemporaries compared his character portraits to the paintings of Rembrandt, emphasizing their realism and depth. When discussing Balzac's satirical talent, they often drew comparisons to the engravings of Daumier.

The primary characteristic of Balzac's portraits is their typicality and precise historical grounding. Grandet, the "good man," is a miser of the same ilk as Gobsek. However, he is still connected to the land, having been a vintner and cooper in his youth. He amassed his fortune by purchasing properties from the clergy during the French Revolution. Like Gobsek, gold was the old man's sole passion, his ultimate measure of all things. In this sense, Grandet, according to Balzac, was a quintessential product of his time. "Misers do not believe in the afterlife," Balzac writes, "for them, everything is in the present. This thought casts a dreadful light on our modern era, where more than at any other time, money reigns supreme over laws, politics, and morals."

The monotonous existence of old Grandet, his wife, and his daughter is disrupted by the arrival of Charles Grandet, Eugénie's cousin, who has recently lost his father in a financial ruin. Charles represents a branch of the family less tainted by mercenary interests. Spoiled by his parents, he revels in the pleasures of high society. Unlike the strong-willed Eugénie, Charles has squandered "the pure gold sown in his heart by his mother."

Eugénie's sudden love for Charles, his departure for the West Indies, and his subsequent marriage to the daughter of the Marquis d'Obrion form the narrative arc of the novel.

However, the novel is not merely a tale of love, loyalty, and infidelity. Balzac is primarily interested in the dramatic interplay of material interests, which, as he demonstrates, govern human behavior. Eugénie Grandet is not merely a victim of her father's tyranny. The pursuit of wealth has also robbed her of Charles, who has not hesitated to engage in the slave trade in the West Indies. Upon his return, Charles spurns Eugénie's love, the love that had become the "fabric of her life" during his seven-year absence. Moreover, Charles has made a poor bargain, for Eugénie, as her father's sole heir, is far wealthier than his new bride.

Balzac wrote this novel to champion genuine human relationships. However, the world he observed was filled with perversions of these ideals. "Eugénie Grandet" is groundbreaking because it unflinchingly portrays "life as it is."

Many great writers who followed in his footsteps learned from Balzac's ability to depict a milieu and to narrate with leisurely detail. Fyodor Dostoevsky, before embarking on his own creative projects, translated "Eugénie Grandet" into Russian in 1843.

Politically, Balzac was a monarchist. While exposing the bourgeoisie, he idealized the French "patriarchal" aristocracy, whom he viewed as selfless. His contempt for bourgeois society led him, after 1830, to collaborate with the Legitimists, supporters of the Bourbon monarchy. Balzac himself referred to this party as "detestable," but he nonetheless aligned himself with their cause, hoping that an absolute monarchy and an enlightened aristocracy would save France from the bourgeois "knights of fortune."

Balzac's Legitimist leanings are reflected in his work. In the preface to "The Human Comedy," he even misrepresented his entire oeuvre, declaring, "I write under the light of two eternal truths: monarchy and religion."

However, Balzac's literary genius ultimately prevailed over his political convictions. His relentless pursuit of truth triumphed over his Legitimist beliefs.