Honore de Balzac - 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 - wild adventures, mysterious circumstances, difficulties and bright achievements.

On May 20, 1799, in France (the city of Tours), a child was born into a simple family, who later became the father of a naturalistic novel. Father Bernard Francois Balssa had a legal education and was engaged in business, reselling the lands of the poor and bankrupt nobles. This type of business brought him profit, so Francois decided to change his family name in order to become “closer” to the intelligentsia. Balssa chose the writer Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac as his “relative.”

Honore's mother, Anne-Charlotte-Laure Salambier, had aristocratic roots and was 30 years younger than her husband, adored life, fun, freedom and men. Love affairs I didn’t hide it from my husband. Anna got bastard, to whom she began to show more care than to the future writer. Honore was cared for by a wet nurse, and after that the boy was sent to live in a boarding house. The novelist’s childhood can hardly be called kind and bright; the problems and stress he experienced later manifested themselves in his works.

His parents wanted Balzac to become a lawyer, so their son studied at Vendôme College with a legal focus. 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 acquired a reputation as a robber and slob.

At the age of 12, Honore de Balzac wrote his first children's work, which was laughed at by his classmates. The little writer read books by French classics, composed poems and plays. Unfortunately, his children’s manuscripts could not be preserved, school teachers forbade the child’s literary development, and one day, in front of Honore’s eyes, one of his first works, “Treatise on the Will,” was burned.

Difficulties associated with communication among peers, with teachers, and lack of attention contributed to 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. He spent several years in this state, but still got out

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

Francois promised him funding for two years. During this period, Honore must prove his ability to make money doing what he loves. Until 1823, Balzac created about 20 volumes of works, but most of them were expected to fail. His first tragedy "" was subjected to severe criticism, and later Balzac himself called young creativity wrong.

Literature

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

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

1. Romanticism of the individual, 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 and find something new. "IN leading role» his works began to appear not heroic personality, and society as a whole. In this case, the modern bourgeois society of his native state.

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

In 1834, Honore created a work aimed at showing the “picture of morals” 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 France, i.e. what the country became after surviving the revolution.

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

1. “Etudes on Morals” (6 sections).
2. “Philosophical Studies” (22 works).
3. “Analytical research” (1 work instead of 5 intended by the author).

This book can easily be called a masterpiece. It describes simple people, the professions of the heroes of the works and their role in society are noted. “The Human Comedy” is filled with non-fictional facts, everything from life, everything about the human heart.

Works

Honoré de Balzac finally formed life positions in the field of creativity after writing the following works:

• "Gobsek" (1830). Initially, the work had a different title - “The Dangers of Dissipation.” The qualities are clearly displayed here: greed and avarice, 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 life questions and possible solutions.
• "Woman of Thirty" (1842). main character the writer has far from the best character traits, leads a life that is condemned from the point of view of society, thereby pointing out to readers mistakes that have a destructive effect on other people. Here Balzac wisely expresses his thoughts about human essence.

• “Lost Illusions” (publication in three parts, 1836-1842). In this book, Honore, as always, managed to approach every detail, creating a picture moral life French citizens. Vividly reflected in the work: human egoism, passion for power, wealth, self-confidence.
• “The brilliance 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”.
• The work and biography of Honore de Balzac is included in the compulsory study of materials in schools around the world according to the educational program.

Personal life

You can write a separate novel about the personal life of the great Honore de Balzac, but it cannot be called happy. As a child, the little writer did not receive enough mother's love and throughout his conscious life he looked 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 can be seen from the photo. But he had exquisite eloquence, charm, and knew how to conquer arrogant young ladies in a simple monologue with just one remark.

His first woman was Mrs. Laura de Bernis. She was 40 years old. She was old enough to be a mother to young Honore, and, perhaps, managed to replace her, becoming a faithful friend and adviser. After the breakup of their romance ex-lovers saved friendly relations, maintained correspondence until his 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, admired by the talent of a genius. Her subsequent letters turned out to be clear declarations of love. For some time, Honore corresponded with a foreigner, and then they met in Switzerland. The lady turned out to be married, which did not bother the writer at all.

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

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

When Wenceslav Gansky (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 51 years old and was the most happy man in the world, but they failed to live a married life.

Death

A talented writer could have died at the age of 43, when he began to be overcome various diseases, 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 Honora 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 to pay them off and went with her daughter to Paris. There, the widow took guardianship 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).
• Banking house of Nucingen (1838).
• Beatrice (1839).
• The Constable's Wife (1834).
• Salvation cry (1834).
• The Witch (1834).
• Perseverance of Love (1834).
• Bertha's Repentance (1834).
• Naivety (1834).
• Facino Canet (1836).
• The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan (1839).
• Pierre Grassu (1840).
• The Imaginary Mistress (1841).

). Balzac's father became rich by buying and selling confiscated noble lands during the revolution, and later became an assistant to the mayor of Tours. No relation to the French writer Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (1597-1654). Father Honore changed his last name and became Balzac, and later bought himself the particle “de”. Mother Anne-Charlotte-Laure Salambier (1778-1853) was much younger than her husband and even outlived her son. She came from the family of a Parisian cloth merchant.

The father prepared his son to become a lawyer. In -1813, Balzac studied at the College Vendôme, at the Paris School of Law, and at the same time worked as a scribe for a notary; however, he abandoned his legal career and devoted himself to literature. The parents did not do much with their son. He was placed at the Collège Vendôme against his will. Meetings with family were prohibited there all year round, excluding Christmas holidays. During the first years of his studies, he had to be in a punishment cell many times. In the fourth grade, Honore began to come to terms with school life, but he didn’t stop ridiculing the 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, Marechal-Duplessis, wrote in his memoirs about Balzac: “Starting from the fourth grade, his desk was always full of writings...”. Honore with early years He was fond of reading, and he was especially attracted to the works of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Holbach, Helvetius and other French educators. He also tried to write poetry and plays, but his children's manuscripts have not survived. His essay “Treatise on the Will” was taken away by his teacher and burned before his eyes. Later his childhood years in educational institution the writer will describe in the novels “Louis Lambert”, “Lily in the Valley” and others.

His hope of becoming rich had not yet been realized (he was weighed down by debt - the result of his unsuccessful business ventures) when fame began to come to him. Meanwhile, he continued to lead a hard working life, working at a desk for 15-16 hours a day, and publishing three, four and even five, six books annually.

In those created in the first five to six years of it writing activity works depict the most diverse areas of contemporary French life: village, province, Paris; various social groups: merchants, aristocracy, clergy; various social institutions: family, state, army.

Awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor (1845).

He died of gangrene, which developed after he injured his leg on the corner of the bed. However fatal disease was only a complication of several years of painful illness associated with the destruction of blood vessels, presumably arteritis.

He was buried in Paris at the Père Lachaise cemetery. " All the writers of France came out to bury him." From the chapel where they said goodbye to him to the church where he was buried, pallbearers included Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.

The composition of "The Human Comedy"

Balzac departs from both the novel of personality and the historical novel of Walter Scott. He strives to show an "individualized type." The center of his creative attention, according to a number of Soviet literary scholars, is not heroic or outstanding personality, and modern bourgeois society, France, July Monarchy.

“Studies on Morals” unfolds the picture of France, paints the life of all classes, everything social conditions, all social institutions. Their leitmotif is the victory of the financial bourgeoisie over the landed and clan aristocracy, the strengthening of the role and prestige of wealth, and the associated weakening or disappearance of many traditional ethical and moral principles.

Honoré de Balzac in the Russian Empire

Balzac's work found recognition in Russia during the writer's lifetime. Much has been published separate publications, as well as in Moscow and St. Petersburg magazines, almost immediately after the Parisian publications - during the 1830s. However, some works were banned.

The first collected works of Balzac in Russian, in twenty volumes, were published in 1896-1899.

Honore de Balzac and Evelina Ganskaya

In 1832, Balzac met in absentia Evelina Ganskaya, who entered into correspondence with the writer without revealing her name. Balzac met Evelina in Neuchâtel, where she arrived with her husband, the owner of vast estates in Ukraine, Wenceslaus Hansky. In 1842, Wenceslav Gansky died, but his widow, despite a long-term affair with Balzac, did not marry him, as she wanted to pass on her husband’s inheritance to her only daughter (by marrying a foreigner, Ganskaya would have lost her fortune). In 1847-1850, Balzac stayed at the Hanska Verkhovnya estate (now a village in the Ruzhinsky district of the Zhitomir region, Ukraine). Balzac married Evelina Ganskaya on March 2, 1850 in the city of Berdichev, in the Church of St. Barbara; after the wedding, the couple left for Paris. Immediately upon arriving home, Balzac fell ill, and Evelina cared for her husband until his last days.

In the unfinished “Letter about Kyiv” and private letters he left mentions of his stay in the Ukrainian towns of Brody, Radzivilov, Dubno, Vishnevets and others. He visited Kyiv in 1847, 1848 and 1850.

Memory

Cinema

Feature films and television series have been shot about the life and work of Balzac, including:

• - “The Mistake of Honore de Balzac”, USSR, director Timofey Levchuk.
• - « Big love Balzac”, Poland-France, director Wojciech Solazh.
• - “Balzac”, France-Italy-Germany, director Jose Dayan.

Museums

There are several museums dedicated to creativity writer, including in Russia. In France there is a house museum in Paris and a Balzac museum in the Chateau de Sachet of the Loire Valley.

Philately and numismatics

• Postage stamps from many countries around the world were issued in honor of Balzac.

Collected works

• Oeuvres complètes, 24 vv., P., - , Correspondence, 2 vv., P.,
• Lettres à l’Étrangère, 2 vv.; P., -
• Collection cit., vol. 1-24. - M., ;

Works

Novels

• Beatrice (1839)
• Screwtape (1842) / La Rabouilleuse (French) / Black sheep (en) / alternative titles: “Black Sheep” / “A Bachelor’s Life”
• Lost Illusions (I, 1837; II, 1839; III, 1843)
• Peasants (1844)

Novels and stories

• Marriage contract (1830)
• Goodbye! (1830)
• Country Ball (1830)
• Conjugal Consent (1830)
• Sarrasine (1830)
• Red Hotel (1831)
• Abandoned Woman (1832)
• Belle of the Empire (1834)
• Involuntary Sin (1834)
• The Devil's Heir (1834)
• The Constable's Wife (1834)
• Salvation cry (1834)
• The Witch (1834)
• Perseverance of Love (1834)
• Bertha's Repentance (1834)
• Naivety (1834)
• The Marriage of the Beauty of the Empire (1834)
• Forgiven Melmoth (1835)
• Mass of the Atheist (1836)
• Pierre Grassu (1840)
• The Imaginary Mistress (1841)

Film adaptations

• Colonel Chabert (Le Colonel Chabert, 1994, France)
• The Mistake of Honoré de Balzac (USSR, 1968)
• Balzac's Great Love - Polish-French television series, 1973
• Don't touch the ax (France-Italy), based on the story "The Duchess of Langeais"

see also

• Bernard, Charles de - friend and student of Balzac.

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Notes

Literature

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• // Encyclopedic Lexicon: In 17 volumes. - St. Petersburg. : Type. A. Plushara, 1835. - T. IV: B-BAR. - P. 177.
• Dezhurov A. S. Art world O. de Balzac (based on the novel “Père Goriot”) // Foreign literature XIX century Workshop for undergraduates, graduate students, philological teachers and high school students of humanitarian schools. - M., . - P. 278-303.
• Maurois A. Prometheus, or the life of Balzac. - M., 1967.
• Oblomievsky D. D. Main stages creative path Balzac. - M., 1957.
• Reizov B. G. Balzac. - L., 1960;
• Cyprio P. Balzac without a mask. - M.: Young Guard. (Series “ZhZL”). - 2003. - ISBN 5-235-02516-4.
• Sukhotin P.S. Balzac - 1934. - 368 p. (Series “ZhZL”).
• Chernyshevsky N. G. // Chernyshevsky N. G. Complete collection works: in 15 volumes - M., 1947. - T. 3. - pp. 369–386.
• Zweig S., Balzac, 2nd ed. - M., 1962;

The article is based on materials from the Literary Encyclopedia 1929-1939. The article uses the text of Isaac Nusinov, which has passed into the public domain.

Scenes privacy Scenes of provincial life Scenes of life in Paris Scenes of political life Scenes of military life Scenes of village life Philosophical studies Analytical studies

Excerpt characterizing Balzac, Honore de

- Where is he? – she asked again, addressing everyone.
“He’s downstairs, Natasha is with him,” Sonya answered, blushing. - Let's go find out. I think you are tired, princess?
Tears of annoyance came to the princess's eyes. She turned away and was about to ask the countess again where to go to him, when light, swift, seemingly cheerful steps were heard at the door. The princess looked around and saw Natasha almost running in, the same Natasha who she had not liked so much on that long-ago meeting in Moscow.
But before the princess had time to look at this Natasha’s face, she realized that this was her sincere companion in grief, and therefore her friend. She rushed to meet her and, hugging her, cried on her shoulder.
As soon as Natasha, who was sitting at Prince Andrey’s bedside, found out about Princess Marya’s arrival, she quietly left his room with those quick, as it seemed to Princess Marya, seemingly cheerful steps and ran towards her.
On her excited face, when she ran into the room, there was only one expression - an expression of love, boundless love for him, for her, for everything that was close to her loved one, an expression of pity, suffering for others and a passionate desire to give herself all for in order to help them. It was clear that at that moment there was not a single thought about herself, about her relationship to him, in Natasha’s soul.
The sensitive Princess Marya understood all this from the first glance at Natasha’s face and cried with sorrowful pleasure on her shoulder.
“Come on, let’s go to him, Marie,” Natasha said, taking her to another room.
Princess Marya raised her face, wiped her eyes and turned to Natasha. She felt that she would understand and learn everything from her.
“What...” she began to ask, but suddenly stopped. She felt that words could neither ask nor answer. Natasha's face and eyes should have spoken more and more clearly.
Natasha looked at her, but seemed to be in fear and doubt - to say or not to say everything that she knew; She seemed to feel that before those radiant eyes, penetrating into the very depths of her heart, it was impossible not to tell the whole, the whole truth as she saw it. Natasha's lip suddenly trembled, ugly wrinkles formed around her mouth, and she sobbed and covered her face with her hands.
Princess Marya understood everything.
But she still hoped and asked in words she didn’t believe in:
- But how is his wound? In general, what is his position?
“You, you... will see,” Natasha could only say.
They sat downstairs near his room for some time in order to stop crying and come to him with calm faces.
– How did the whole illness go? How long ago has he gotten worse? When did it happen? - asked Princess Marya.
Natasha said that at first there was a danger from a fever and from suffering, but at Trinity this passed, and the doctor was afraid of one thing - Antonov’s fire. But this danger also passed. When we arrived in Yaroslavl, the wound began to fester (Natasha knew everything about suppuration, etc.), and the doctor said that suppuration could proceed properly. There was a fever. The doctor said that this fever is not so dangerous.
“But two days ago,” Natasha began, “suddenly it happened...” She held back her sobs. “I don’t know why, but you will see what he has become.”
- Are you weak? Have you lost weight?.. - asked the princess.
- No, not that, but worse. You will see. Oh, Marie, Marie, he's too good, he can't, can't live... because...

When Natasha opened his door with her usual movement, letting the princess pass first, Princess Marya already felt ready sobs in her throat. No matter how much she prepared or tried to calm down, she knew that she would not be able to see him without tears.
Princess Marya understood what Natasha meant with the words: this happened two days ago. She understood that this meant that he had suddenly softened, and that this softening and tenderness were signs of death. As she approached the door, she already saw in her imagination that face of Andryusha, which she had known since childhood, tender, meek, touching, which he so rarely saw and therefore always had such a strong effect on her. She knew that he would say quiet, tender words to her, like those her father had told her before his death, and that she would not bear it and would burst into tears over him. But, sooner or later, it had to be, and she entered the room. The sobs came closer and closer to her throat, while with her myopic eyes she discerned his form more and more clearly and looked for his features, and then she saw his face and met his gaze.
He was lying on the sofa, covered with pillows, wearing a squirrel fur robe. He was thin and pale. One is thin, transparent white hand He was holding a handkerchief; with the other, with quiet movements of his fingers, he touched his thin, overgrown mustache. His eyes looked at those entering.
Seeing his face and meeting his gaze, Princess Marya suddenly moderated the speed of her step and felt that her tears had suddenly dried up and her sobs had stopped. Catching the expression on his face and gaze, she suddenly became shy and felt guilty.
“What is my fault?” – she asked herself. “The fact that you live and think about living things, and I!..” answered his cold, stern gaze.
There was almost hostility in his deep, out-of-control, but inward-looking gaze as he slowly looked around at his sister and Natasha.
He kissed his sister hand in hand, as was their habit.
- Hello, Marie, how did you get there? - he said in a voice as even and alien as his gaze. If he had screamed with a desperate cry, then this cry would have terrified Princess Marya less than the sound of this voice.
– And did you bring Nikolushka? – he said also evenly and slowly and with an obvious effort of recollection.
– How is your health now? - said Princess Marya, herself surprised at what she was saying.
“This, my friend, is something you need to ask the doctor,” he said, and, apparently making another effort to be affectionate, he said with just his mouth (it was clear that he did not mean what he was saying): “Merci, chere amie.” , d'etre venue. [Thank you, dear friend, for coming.]
Princess Marya shook his hand. He winced slightly when she shook her hand. He was silent and she didn't know what to say. She understood what happened to him in two days. In his words, in his tone, especially in this look - a cold, almost hostile look - one could feel the alienation from everything worldly, terrible for a living person. He apparently now had difficulty understanding all living things; but at the same time it was felt that he did not understand the living, not because he was deprived of the power of understanding, but because he understood something else, something that the living did not and could not understand and that absorbed him completely.
- Yes, that’s how strange fate brought us together! – he said, breaking the silence and pointing at Natasha. - She keeps following me.
Princess Marya listened and did not understand what he was saying. He, the sensitive, gentle Prince Andrei, how could he say this in front of the one he loved and who loved him! If he had thought about living, he would not have said this in such a coldly insulting tone. If he didn’t know that he would die, then how could he not feel sorry for her, how could he say this in front of her! There was only one explanation for this, and that was that he didn’t care, and it didn’t matter because something else, something more important, was revealed to him.
The conversation was cold, incoherent and interrupted constantly.
“Marie passed through Ryazan,” said Natasha. Prince Andrei did not notice that she called his sister Marie. And Natasha, calling her that in front of him, noticed it herself for the first time.
- Well, what? - he said.
“They told her that Moscow was completely burned down, as if...
Natasha stopped: she couldn’t speak. He obviously made an effort to listen, but still could not.
“Yes, it burned down, they say,” he said. “This is very pathetic,” and he began to look forward, absentmindedly straightening his mustache with his fingers.
– Have you met Count Nikolai, Marie? - Prince Andrei suddenly said, apparently wanting to please them. “He wrote here that he really liked you,” he continued simply, calmly, apparently unable to understand all the complex meaning that his words had for living people. “If you fell in love with him too, it would be very good... for you to get married,” he added somewhat more quickly, as if delighted by the words that he had been looking for for a long time and finally found. Princess Marya heard his words, but they had no other meaning for her, except that they proved how terribly far he was now from all living things.
- What to say about me! – she said calmly and looked at Natasha. Natasha, feeling her gaze on her, did not look at her. Again everyone was silent.
“Andre, do you want...” Princess Marya suddenly said in a shuddering voice, “do you want to see Nikolushka?” He thought about you all the time.
Prince Andrei smiled faintly for the first time, but Princess Marya, who knew his face so well, realized with horror that it was not a smile of joy, not tenderness for her son, but of quiet, gentle mockery of what Princess Marya used, in her opinion. , the last resort to bring him to his senses.
– Yes, I’m very happy about Nikolushka. He is healthy?

When they brought Nikolushka to Prince Andrei, who was looking at his father in fear, but was not crying, because no one was crying, Prince Andrei kissed him and, obviously, did not know what to say to him.
When Nikolushka was taken away, Princess Marya went up to her brother again, kissed him and, unable to resist any longer, began to cry.
He looked at her intently.
– Are you talking about Nikolushka? - he said.
Princess Marya, crying, bowed her head affirmatively.
“Marie, you know Evan...” but he suddenly fell silent.
- What are you saying?
- Nothing. There’s no need to cry here,” he said, looking at her with the same cold gaze.

When Princess Marya began to cry, he realized that she was crying that Nikolushka would be left without a father. With great effort he tried to return to life and was transported to their point of view.
“Yes, they must find it pathetic! - he thought. - How simple it is!
“The birds of the air neither sow nor reap, but your father feeds them,” he said to himself and wanted to say the same to the princess. “But no, they will understand it in their own way, they will not understand! What they cannot understand is that all these feelings that they value are all ours, all these thoughts that seem so important to us are that they are not needed. We can't understand each other." - And he fell silent.

Prince Andrei's little son was seven years old. He could barely read, he didn't know anything. He experienced a lot after this day, acquiring knowledge, observation, and experience; but if he had then possessed all these later acquired abilities, he could not have understood better, more deeply the full meaning of that scene that he saw between his father, Princess Marya and Natasha than he understood it now. He understood everything and, without crying, left the room, silently approached Natasha, who followed him out, and shyly looked at her with thoughtful, beautiful eyes; his raised, rosy upper lip trembled, he leaned his head against it and began to cry.
From that day on, he avoided Desalles, avoided the countess who was caressing him, and either sat alone or timidly approached Princess Marya and Natasha, whom he seemed to love even more than his aunt, and quietly and shyly caressed them.
Princess Marya, leaving Prince Andrei, fully understood everything that Natasha’s face told her. She no longer spoke to Natasha about the hope of saving his life. She alternated with her at his sofa and did not cry anymore, but prayed incessantly, turning her soul to that eternal, incomprehensible, whose presence was now so palpable over the dying man.

Prince Andrei not only knew that he would die, but he felt that he was dying, that he was already half dead. He experienced a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being. He, without haste and without worry, awaited what lay ahead of him. That formidable, eternal, unknown and distant, the presence of which he never ceased to feel throughout his entire life, was now close to him and - due to the strange lightness of being that he experienced - almost understandable and felt.
Before, he was afraid of the end. He experienced this terrible, painful feeling of fear of death, of the end, twice, and now he no longer understood it.
The first time he experienced this feeling was when a grenade was spinning like a top in front of him and he looked at the stubble, at the bushes, at the sky and knew that death was in front of him. When he woke up after the wound and in his soul, instantly, as if freed from the oppression of life that held him back, this flower of love, eternal, free, independent of this life, blossomed, he was no longer afraid of death and did not think about it.
The more he, in those hours of suffering solitude and semi-delirium that he spent after his wound, thought about the new beginning that was open to him eternal love Moreover, without feeling it himself, he renounced earthly life. Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not loving anyone, meant not living this earthly life. And the more he was imbued with this principle of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he destroyed that terrible barrier that, without love, stands between life and death. When, at first, he remembered that he had to die, he said to himself: well, so much the better.
But after that night in Mytishchi, when the one he desired appeared in front of him in a semi-delirium, and when he, pressing her hand to his lips, cried quiet, joyful tears, love for one woman imperceptibly crept into his heart and again tied him to life. Both joyful and anxious thoughts began to come to him. Remembering that moment at the dressing station when he saw Kuragin, he now could not return to that feeling: he was tormented by the question of whether he was alive? And he didn't dare ask this.

His illness took its own physical course, but what Natasha called: this happened to him happened to him two days before Princess Marya’s arrival. This was the last moral struggle between life and death, in which death won. It was the unexpected consciousness that he still valued the life that seemed to him in love for Natasha, and the last, subdued fit of horror in front of the unknown.
It was in the evening. He was, as usual after dinner, in a slight feverish state, and his thoughts were extremely clear. Sonya was sitting at the table. He dozed off. Suddenly a feeling of happiness overwhelmed him.
“Oh, she came in!” - he thought.
Indeed, sitting in Sonya’s place was Natasha, who had just entered with silent steps.
Since she began following him, he had always experienced this physical sensation of her closeness. She sat on an armchair, sideways to him, blocking the light of the candle from him, and knitted a stocking. (She learned to knit stockings since Prince Andrei told her that no one knows how to take care of the sick like old nannies who knit stockings, and that there is something soothing in knitting a stocking.) Thin fingers quickly fingered her from time to time the clashing spokes, and the pensive profile of her downcast face was clearly visible to him. She made a movement and the ball rolled off her lap. She shuddered, looked back at him and, shielding the candle with her hand, with a careful, flexible and precise movement, she bent, raised the ball and sat down in her previous position.
He looked at her without moving, and saw that after her movement she needed to take a deep breath, but she did not dare to do this and carefully took a breath.
In the Trinity Lavra they talked about the past, and he told her that if he were alive, he would forever thank God for his wound, which brought him back to her; but since then they never spoke about the future.
“Could it or could it not have happened? - he thought now, looking at her and listening to the light steel sound of the knitting needles. - Was it really only then that fate brought me so strangely together with her that I might die?.. Was the truth of life revealed to me only so that I could live in a lie? I love her more than anything in the world. But what should I do if I love her? - he said, and he suddenly groaned involuntarily, according to the habit that he acquired during his suffering.
Hearing this sound, Natasha put down the stocking, leaned closer to him and suddenly, noticing him glowing eyes, walked up to him with a light step and bent down.
- You are not asleep?
- No, I’ve been looking at you for a long time; I felt it when you came in. No one like you, but gives me that soft silence... that light. I just want to cry with joy.
Natasha moved closer to him. Her face shone with rapturous joy.
- Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything else.
- And I? “She turned away for a moment. - Why too much? - she said.
- Why too much?.. Well, what do you think, how do you feel in your soul, in your whole soul, will I be alive? What do you think?
- I'm sure, I'm sure! – Natasha almost screamed, taking both his hands with a passionate movement.

(French Honoré de Balzac, May 20, 1799, Tours - August 18, 1850, Paris) - French writer. Real name - Honore Balzac, the particle “de” means belonging to noble family, began to be used around 1830.
Biography
Honore de Balzac was born in Tours, into a family of peasants from Languedoc. In 1807–1813 he studied at the College of Vendôme, in 1816–1819 - at the Paris School of Law, and at the same time worked as a scribe for a notary; abandoned his legal career and devoted himself to literature.
Since 1823, he published a number of novels under various pseudonyms in the spirit of “frantic romanticism.” In 1825–28, B. was engaged in publishing, but failed.
In 1829, the first book signed with the name “Balzac” was published - the historical novel “The Chouans” (Les Chouans). 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, 1830–31, a variation on the theme of the legend of Don Juan); the story Gobseck (Gobseck, 1830) attracted widespread attention from readers and critics. In 1831 Balzac published his. philosophical novel“Shagreen Skin” and begins the novel “The Thirty-Year-Old Woman” (La femme de trente ans). In the cycle “Mischievous Stories” (Contes drolatiques, 1832–1837), Balzac ironically stylized Renaissance short stories. In part autobiographical novel“Louis Lambert” (Louis Lambert, 1832) and especially in the later “Seraphîta” (Séraphîta, 1835) reflected B.’s passion for the mystical concepts of E. Swedenborg and Cl. de Saint Martin. If his hope of becoming rich has not yet been realized (since he is burdened by a huge debt - the result of his unsuccessful commercial ventures), then his hope of becoming famous, his dream of conquering Paris and the world with his talent, has been realized. Success did not turn Balzac's head, as it did with many of his young contemporaries. He continued to lead a hard working life, sitting at his desk for 15–16 hours a day; working until dawn, publishing three, four and even five, six books every year.
The works created in the first five or six years of his writing career depict the most diverse areas of contemporary French life: the village, the province, Paris; various social groups: merchants, aristocracy, clergy; various social institutions: family, state, army. Great amount artistic facts, which was contained in these books, required its systematization.
Innovation Balzac
The end of the 1820s and the beginning of the 1830s, when Balzac entered literature, was the period of greatest flowering of the work of romanticism during French literature. Great novel V European literature By the time Balzac arrived, he had two main genres: the novel of the individual - an adventurous hero (for example, Robinson Crusoe) or a self-absorbed, lonely hero (The Sorrows of Young Werther by W. Goethe) and a historical novel (Walter Scott).
Balzac departs from both the novel of personality and the historical novel of Walter Scott. He strives to show the “individualized type”, to give a picture of the whole society, the whole people, the whole of France. Not a legend about the past, but a picture of the present, artistic portrait bourgeois society is at the center of his creative attention.
The standard-bearer of the bourgeoisie is now a banker, not a commander; its shrine is the stock exchange, not the battlefield.
Not a heroic personality and not a demonic nature, not a historical act, but modern bourgeois society, France of the July Monarchy - this is the main literary theme era. In place of the novel, the task of which is to give in-depth experiences of the individual, Balzac puts a novel about social mores, in place historical novels - artistic history post-revolutionary France.
“Studies on Morals” unfolds the picture of France, depicts the life of all classes, all social conditions, all social institutions. The key to this story is money. Its main content is the victory of the financial bourgeoisie over the landed and tribal aristocracy, the desire of the entire nation to serve the bourgeoisie, to become related to it. Thirst for money - main passion, the ultimate dream. The power of money is the only indestructible force: love, talent, family honor, family hearth, and parental feelings are submissive to it.

Balzac Honore de (1799 – 1850)
French writer. Born into a family of peasants from Languedoc.

Waltz's original surname was changed by his father, starting his career as an official. The particle “de” was added to the name by the son, claiming noble origin.

Between 1819 and 1824 Balzac published half a dozen novels under a pseudonym.

The publishing and printing business involved him in large debts. For the first time, under his own name, he published the novel “The Last Shuat.”

Period from 1830 to 1848 dedicated to an extensive series of novels and stories known to the reading public as the “Human Comedy.” Balzac devoted all his strength to creativity, but he also loved social life with her amusements and travels.

Overwork from colossal work, problems in his personal life and the first signs of a serious illness overshadowed last years writer's life. Five months before his death, he married Evelina Ganskaya, whose consent to the marriage Balzac had to wait for many years.

His most famous works- “Shagreen skin”, “Gobsek”, “ An unknown masterpiece", "Eugenia Grande", "The Banker's House of Nucingen", "The Peasants", "Cousin Pono", etc.

Honore de Balzac (05/20/1799 – 08/18/1850) - French writer, an outstanding prose writer of the 19th century, considered the founder realistic direction in literature.

Childhood

Balzac was born in the French city of Tours in peasant family. His father was able to get rich in revolutionary years, and later became right hand local mayor. Their surname was originally Balsa. The father saw his son as a future lawyer. Balzac studied at college away from his family, was distinguished bad behavior, for which he was constantly punished in a punishment cell. His parents took him home due to a serious illness that lasted five years. After his family moved to the capital in 2016, the young man recovered.

Balzac then studied at the Paris Law School. He began working as a scribe for a notary, but soon gave preference to literary activity. loved to read with early childhood, favorite authors were Montesquieu, Rousseau and others. As a boy he composed plays, but they have not survived. IN school years The teacher did not like his “Treatise on the Will,” and he burned the work in front of the author.

Literary activity

The work “Cromwell” (1820) is considered his debut in literature. It, along with other early works of the author, was published, but was not successful. Subsequently, Balzac himself abandoned them. Seeing the failures of the aspiring writer, his parents deprived him of material support, so Balzac entered into independent life.

Young Balzac

In 1825, Honoré decided to open a publishing business, which he pursued unsuccessfully for three years until he finally went bankrupt. Previously, his works were published under pseudonyms; in 1829, for the first time, he signed the novel “The Chouans” with his real name. Balzac himself considered the 1831 novel “Shagreen Skin” to be the starting point of his literary activity. This was followed by “Elixir of Longevity”, “Gobsek”, “Thirty-Year-Old Woman”. Thus began a period of recognition and success in the writer’s career. The greatest influence on his work was the writer V. Scott.

In 1831, Honoré plans to write a multi-volume book in which he wants to reflect artistic style French history and philosophy. He devotes most of his life to this work and calls it “ A human comedy" The epic, consisting of three parts and 90 works, includes both previously written and new creations.

The writer's style was considered original given the widespread spread of novelism in those days. In any novel main theme was a tragedy of the individual in bourgeois society, described by the new artistic method. The works were distinguished by deep realism; they very accurately reflected reality, which aroused admiration among readers.

Balzac worked at a strict pace, practically without looking up from his pen. I wrote mostly at night, very quickly, and never used drafts. Several works were published per year. During the first years of active writing of books, he managed to touch upon the most various areas life French society. Balzac also wrote dramatic works, which were not as popular as his novels.

Recognition and recent years

Balzac was recognized as an outstanding literary figure during his lifetime. Despite his popularity, he was unable to become rich because he had many debts. His work was reflected in the works of Dickens, Zola, Dostoevsky and others famous writers. In Russia, his novels were published almost immediately after the Paris publications. The writer visited the empire several times, in 1843 he lived in St. Petersburg for three months. Fyodor Dostoevsky, who was fond of reading Balzac, translated the novel “Eugenia Grande” into Russian.

Balzac's wife E. Ganskaya

Balzac had a long-term affair with the Polish landowner Evelina Hanska. Having met in 1832, they corresponded for a long time, then met. Ganskaya was married, widowed, and then planned to pass on her husband’s inheritance to her daughter. They were able to get married only in 1850. After the wedding, the couple left for Paris, where Honore prepared for new family apartment, but there the writer was overtaken by a serious illness. His wife was with him until last day.

The writer’s work is still being studied to this day. The first biography was published by Balzac's sister. Later Zweig, Maurois, Wurmser and others wrote about him. Films and works were also made about his life. There is more than one museum dedicated to his work, including in Russia. In many countries in different time Balzac's image was placed on stamps. In total, during his life he wrote 137 works and introduced the world to more than 4 thousand characters. In Russia, the first published collection of his works consisted of 20 volumes.