Balzac's biography. Balzac Honore de - biography, facts from life, photos, background information Honore de balzac full biography

French novelist, considered the father of the naturalistic novel, Honoré de Balzac was born on May 20, 1799 in Tours (France). Father Honoré de Balzac - Bernard François Balsa (some sources indicate the name of Waltz) - a peasant who got rich during the years of the revolution by buying and selling confiscated noble lands, and later became an assistant to the mayor of Tours. Having entered the service in the department of military supplies and found himself among the officials, he changed his "native" surname, considering it plebeian. At the turn of the 1830s. Honoré, in turn, also changed his surname, adding to it the noble particle "de" without permission, justifying this by the invention of his origin from the noble family of Balzac d "Entregues. Honore Balzac's mother was 30 years younger than his father

which, in part, was the reason for her betrayal: the father of Honore's younger brother, Henri, was the owner of the castle.

Courtyard of the Vendome College, where the mother assigned the eight-year-old Honoré. The upbringing here was harsh. He will spend six years in this "dungeon of knowledge", only twice during this time he met with his parents. Photo Library of the Museums of Paris / House-Museum of Balzac / Spadem, 1995.

In 1807-1813 Honore studied at the College of the city of Vendome; in 1816-1819 - at the Paris School of Law, serving at the same time as a clerk in a notary office. The father strove to prepare his son for advocacy, but Honoré decided to become a poet. At the family council, it was decided to give him two years to make his dream come true. Honore de Balzac writes the drama "Cromwell", but the newly convened family council recognizes the work as useless and the young man is denied material assistance. This was followed by a streak of material hardships. Balzac's literary career began around 1820, when, under various pseudonyms, he began to publish action-packed novels and wrote moralistic "codes" of secular behavior.

Later, some of the first novels came out under the pseudonym Horace de Saint-Aubin. The period of anonymous creativity ended in 1829 after the publication of the novel "Chouans, or Brittany in 1799". Honore de Balzac called the novel "Shagreen Skin" (1830) "the starting point" of his work. From 1830, under the general title "Scenes of Private Life", short stories from contemporary French life began to be published.

In 1834, the writer decided to link the common heroes already written since 1829 and future works, combining them into an epic, later called "The Human Comedy" (La comedie humaine).

Honore de Balzac considered Moliere, François Rabelais and Walter Scott to be his main literary teachers.

From left to right: Victor Hugo, Eugene Sue, Alexandre Dumas and Honore de Balzac. "Condors of Thought and Style". Caricature by Jerome Paturo. Photo Library of the Museums of Paris / House-Museum of Balzac / Spadem, 1995.

Twice the novelist tried to make a political career, nominating himself in the Chamber of Deputies in 1832 and 1848, but failed both times. In January 1849, he also failed in the elections to the French Academy.

The writer was popular among women, grateful to Honoré for his emotional descriptions. His first love Laura de Bernie, who was a married woman, and the difference in their age was twenty-two years, helped a lot in this.
Louise-Antoinette-Laura de Bernie, his first love, named by him Dilekta. He felt filial respect for her and the mad passion of a lover. Portrait by Van Gorp. Jean-Loup Charmé.

Honore de Balzac constantly received letters from his readers, so one of these letters changed his life. In 1832 he received a letter from "Inostranka", a Polish countess, a Russian subject, Evelina Ganskaya, who became his wife eighteen years later.

Balzac bought a mansion on rue Fortuné in anticipation of the arrival of Hanska, who finally agreed to become his wife. Photo Library of the Museums of Paris / House-Museum of Balzac / Spadem, 1995.

Balzac's coffee pot. Photo Library of the Museums of Paris / House-Museum of Balzac / Spadem, 1995.

But fate turned out to be not at all favorable to the great writer, conqueror of women's souls, Honoré de Balzac, literally five months after his marriage, on August 18, 1850, while his wife was sleeping in the next room in their Paris apartment, he died.

Balzac - winged expressions

This is how men are arranged: they can resist the smartest arguments and not resist one single glance.

To argue that it is impossible to always love the same woman is as meaningless as to believe that a famous musician needs different violins to perform different melodies.

The one who can be her lover will not be a woman's friend.

All human skill is nothing more than a mixture of patience and time.

To doubt is to lose strength.

A woman who laughs at her husband can no longer love him.

Everything comes in due time for those who know how to wait.

Don't hang your beliefs on the wall.

Circumstances change, principles never.

Slander is indifferent to nonentities.

The key to all science is the question mark.

To doubt God is to believe in him.

Our conscience is an infallible judge until we kill her.

A noble heart cannot be wrong.

Indifference to the fair sex in old age is a punishment for the fact that he knew how to be liked too much in his youth.

Looking for variety in love is a sign of powerlessness.

We recognize as a person only one whose soul dreams in love as much about spiritual pleasure as about bodily pleasure.

Jealousy in a man is made up of selfishness, driven to hell, from pride taken by surprise, and irritated false vanity.

A marriage cannot be happy if the spouses, before entering into an alliance, have not perfectly learned each other's morals, habits and characters.

Never provide services that are not asked for.

People are afraid of cholera, but wine is much more dangerous than it.

Envy is one of the most potent elements of hatred.

Cruelty and fear shake hands with each other.

Drinking the cup of pleasure to the bottom, we find there more gravel than pearls.

Name: Honore de Balzac

Age: 51 years

Activity: Writer

Family status: was married

Honore de Balzac: biography

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 vivid achievements.

On May 20, 1799, in France (city of Tours), a child was born into a simple family, who later became the father of a naturalistic novel. Father Bernard François Balssa had a law degree, was engaged in business, reselling land to beggars and ruined nobles. This business was profitable for him, so François decided to change his own surname in order to become "closer" to the intelligentsia. As a "relative" Balssa chose the writer - Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac.

Honoré's mother, 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 care than to the future writer. Honore was taken care of by 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 appeared in the works.

Parents wished that Balzac received the profession of a lawyer, so their son studied at the Vendome 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 acquired a reputation as a robber and slob.

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

Difficulties associated with communication among peers, with teachers, and lack of attention led 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. 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, Honoré got a job as a clerk in a notary office, but did not get pleasure from it. Literature attracted Balzac like a magnet, then the father decided to support his son in the writing direction.

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

Literature

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

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

1. The romanticism of the personality 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. The “main role” of his works began to be played not by a heroic person, but by society as a whole. In this case, the modern bourgeois society of his native state.

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

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

1. "Studies on morals" (6 sections).
2. "Philosophical Research" (22 works).
3. "Analytical research" (1 work instead of 5 conceived by the author).

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

Artworks

Honore de Balzac finally formed his 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." Here the qualities are clearly displayed: greed and greed, as well as their influence on the fate of the heroes.
• "Shagreen Skin" (1831) - this work brought success to the writer. The book is imbued with romantic and philosophical aspects. It describes in detail life issues and possible solutions.
• "Woman of Thirty" (1842). The main character of the writer has far from the best properties in her character, leads a life that condemns 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 nature.

• Lost Illusions (published in three parts, 1836-1842). In this book, Honore, as always, managed to approach every detail, creating a picture of the moral life of French citizens. Vividly reflected in the work: human egoism, passion for power, wealth, self-confidence.
• "Splendor and poverty of courtesans" (1838-1847). This novel is not about the life of Parisian courtesans, as its name originally implies, but about the struggle between secular and criminal society. Another brilliant work, included in the "multivolume" "Human Comedy".
• The creativity and biography of Honore de Balzac is among the mandatory materials for studying in schools around the world according to the educational program.

Personal life

A separate novel can be written 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 his 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 Madame Laura de Bernie. 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 an essay by a mysterious girl, admired by the talent of a genius. Her subsequent letters turned out to be a clear declaration of love. For some time Honore corresponded with a stranger, 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 immediately liked the writer. After Balzac gave this woman the title of the main love in his life.

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

When Wenceslas Hansky (husband) died, Evelina pushed Balzac away, because the wedding with the Frenchman threatened her with separation from her daughter Anna (threat), but after a few months she invited him 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 person 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 plague 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 diagnosed Honore with a terrible diagnosis - heart 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.

Balzac died on August 18, 1950. After himself, he left his wife an unenviable legacy - 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 formalized guardianship over the mother of the prose writer and devoted the remaining 30 years of her life to perpetuating the works of her beloved.

Bibliography

• Chouans, or Brittany in 1799 (1829).
• Shagreen leather (1831).
• Louis Lambert (1832).
• Nucingen Banking House (1838).
• Beatrice (1839).
• The Constable's Wife (1834).
• The Rescue Cry (1834).
• The Witch (1834).
• The Persistence of Love (1834).
• Bertha's Repentance (1834).
• Naivety (1834)
• Facino Canet (1836).
• Secrets of the Princess de Cadignan (1839).
• Pierre Grasse (1840).
• The Imaginary Lover (1841).

It is difficult to find a person as versatile as this writer was. He combined talent, irrepressible temperament and love of life. In his life, great ideas and achievements were combined with petty ambition. Excellent knowledge of highly specialized fields allowed him to boldly and reasonably talk about many problems of psychology, medicine and anthropology.

The life of any person is the addition of many laws. The life of Honore de Balzac will be no exception.

Short biography of Honore de Balzac

The father of the writer was Bernard François Balsa, born into a poor family of peasants. He was born on June 22, 1746 in the village of Nougueira in the department of Tarn. His family had 11 children, of which he was the oldest. The family of Bernard Balsse predicted a spiritual career for him. However, the young man, with an extraordinary mind, love of life and activity, did not want to part with the temptations of being, and wearing a cassock was not at all part of his plans. The life credo of this person is health. Bernard Balssa had no doubt that he would live to be a hundred years old, he enjoyed the country air and entertained himself with love intrigues until old age. This man was eccentric. He became rich thanks to the French Revolution, selling and buying up the confiscated land of the nobles. He later became assistant to the mayor of the French city of Tours. Bernard Balssa changed his last name, thinking it was plebeian. In the 1830s, his son Honore will also change his surname by adding to it a noble particle "de", he will justify this act by the version of his noble origin from the Balzac d'Antreg family.

At fifty, Balzac's father married a girl from the Salambier family, receiving with her a decent dowry. She was younger than her fiancé by as much as 32 years and had a penchant for romance and hysteria. Even after his marriage, the writer's father led a very free lifestyle. Mother Honoré was a sensitive and intelligent woman. Despite her penchant for mysticism and resentment towards the whole wide world, she, like her husband, did not shun romance on the side. She loved her illegitimate children more than her firstborn Honore. She constantly demanded obedience, complained of non-existent diseases and grumbled. This poisoned Honoré's childhood and affected his behavior, affection and creativity. But the execution of his uncle, his father's brother, for killing a pregnant peasant woman was also a big blow to him. It was after this shock that the writer changed his last name in the hope of getting away from such a relationship. But his belonging to the noble family has not yet been proven.

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Childhood years of the writer. Education

The writer's childhood years passed outside the parental home. Until the age of three, he was looked after by a nurse, and after that he lived in a boarding house. After he got into the Vendome College of the Oratorian Fathers (he stayed there from 1807 to 1813). The time that he spent within the walls of the college is painted with bitterness in the memory of the writer. Honoré suffered a severe mental trauma due to the total absence of any freedom, drill and corporal punishment.

The only consolation at this time for Honore is books. The librarian of the Higher Polytechnic School, who taught him mathematics, allowed him to use them indefinitely. For Balzac, reading supplanted real life. Due to immersion in dreams, he often did not hear what was happening in the classroom, for which he was punished.

Honore was once subjected to such a punishment as "wooden pants." They put pads on him, which caused him to have a nervous breakdown. After that, the parents returned their son home. He began to wander like a somnambulist, slowly answered some questions, it was difficult for him to return to real life.

It is still not clear whether Balzac was being treated at this time, but Jean-Baptiste Naccard observed his entire family, including Honore. Later, he became not only a friend of the family, but especially a friend of the writer.

From 1816 to 1819, Honore studied at the Paris School of Law. His father predicted the future of a lawyer for him, but the young man studied without enthusiasm. After graduating from an educational institution without obvious success, Balzac began working as a clerk in the office of a Parisian solicitor, but this did not fascinate him.

Later life of Balzac

Honoré decided to become a writer. He asked his parents for financial help for his dream. The family council decided to help his son for 2 years. Honore's mother initially opposed this, but soon she was the first to understand the hopelessness of attempts to contradict her son. As a result, Honore began his work. He wrote the drama Cromwell. The work read at the family council was declared useless. Honoré was denied further material support.

After this failure, Balzac began a difficult period. He was doing "day work", he wrote novels for others. It is still unknown how many such works and under whose name he created.

Balzac's writing career began in 1820. Then, under a pseudonym, he releases action-packed novels and is engaged in writing "codes" of secular behavior. One of his pseudonyms is Horace de Saint-Aubin.

The writer's anonymity ended in 1829. It was then that he published the novel "Chouans, or Brittany in 1799". The works began to be published under their own name.

Balzac had his own rather tough and very peculiar daily routine. The writer went to bed no later than 6-7 pm and got up to work at 1 am. The work lasted until 8 am. After that, Honoré went to bed again for an hour and a half, followed by breakfast and coffee. After that he was at his desk until four o'clock in the afternoon. Then the writer took a bath and sat down to work again.

The difference between the writer and his father was that he did not intend to live long. Honoré was very frivolous about his own health. He had dental problems, but he did not go to the doctors.

The year 1832 was critical for Balzac. He was already famous. Novels were created that brought him popularity. Publishers are generous and pay advances for works not yet finished. All the more unexpected was the writer's illness, the origins of which probably go back to childhood. Honoré has verbal impairments, auditory and even visual hallucinations began to appear. The writer has a symptom of paraphasia (incorrect pronunciation of sounds or replacement of words with similar ones in sound and meaning).

Paris began to be full of rumors about the strangeness in the behavior of the writer, about the incoherence of his speech and incomprehensible pensiveness. In an attempt to stop this, Balzac goes to Sasha, where he lives with old acquaintances.

Despite the illness, Balzac retained his intellect, thought and consciousness. His illness did not affect the person himself.

Soon the writer began to feel better, confidence returned to him. Balzac returned to Paris. The writer again began to drink a huge amount of coffee, using it as a doping. For four years Balzac experienced physical and mental health.

During a walk on June 26, 1836, the writer felt dizzy, unsteady and unsteady in his gait, blood rushed to his head. Balzac fell unconscious. The fainting spell did not last long; the very next day the writer felt only some weakness. After this incident, Balzac often complains of headaches.

This fainting was a confirmation of hypertension. For the next year, Balsa worked with his feet in a bowl of mustard water. Dr. Nakkar gave the writer recommendations that he did not follow.

After graduating from another work, the writer returned to society. He tried to regain lost acquaintances and connections. Biographers say that he made a strange impression, being dressed out of fashion and measure with unwashed hair. But as soon as he joined the conversation, as those around him turned their eyes to him, ceasing to notice the strangeness of his appearance. No one was indifferent to his knowledge, intelligence and talent.

Over the next years, the writer complained of shortness of breath and anxiety. Balzac had wheezing in his lungs. In the 40s, the writer suffered from jaundice. After that, he began to experience twitching of the eyelids and stomach cramps. In 1846, the disease relapsed. Balzac suffered from memory impairment, there were complications in communication. Forgetting nouns and names of objects has become frequent. Since the end of the 40s, Balzac suffered from diseases of the internal organs. The writer suffered a Moldavian fever. He was ill for about 2 months, and having recovered, he returned to Paris.

In 1849, heart weakness began to increase, and shortness of breath appeared. He began to suffer from bronchitis. Due to hypertension, retinal detachment began. There was a short-term improvement, which again gave way to a worsening of the condition. Heart hypertrophy and edema began to develop, fluid appeared in the abdominal cavity. Gangrene and intermittent delusions soon followed. Friends visited him, including Victor Hugo, who left very tragic notes.

The writer was dying in agony in the arms of his mother. Balzac's death occurred on the night of August 18-19, 1850.

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Personal life of the writer

Balzac was very timid and awkward by nature. And he felt timid even when a pretty young lady approached him. Next to him lived the de Berny family, who held a higher position. The writer had a passion for Laura de Bernie. She was 42 years old and had 9 children, while Balzac had just passed the milestone of 20 years. the lady did not immediately surrender to Honore, but was one of his first women. She revealed to him the secrets of a woman's heart and all the delights of love.

His other Laura was the Duchess d'Abrantes. She appeared in the fate of the writer a year after Madame de Bernie. She was an aristocrat unattainable for Balzac, but she too fell before him after 8 months.

Few ladies were able to resist Honore. But such a highly moral woman was also found. Her name was Zulma Karro. It was a Versailles girlfriend of his sister Laura de Surville. Honoré had a passion for her, but she was only a mother's tenderness for him. The woman firmly said that they can only be friends.

In 1831 he received an anonymous letter, which turned out to be 35 years old from the Marquise de Castries. the writer was fascinated by her title. She refused to become the writer's mistress, but was a charming flirt.

On February 28, 1832, he received a letter mysteriously signed "Outlander." It turned out to be sent by Evelina Ganskaya, nee Rzhevusskaya. She was young, beautiful, wealthy and married to an old man. Honoré confessed his love to her in his third letter. Their first meeting was in October 1833. After that, they parted for 7 years. after measuring Evelina's husband, Balzac thought about marrying her.

But their marriage took place only in 1850, when the writer was already mortally ill. There were no invitees. After the newlyweds arrived in Paris, and on August 19, Honore passed away. The death of the writer was accompanied by the obscenity of his wife. There is a version that in his last hours she was in the arms of Jean Gigoux, an artist. But not all biographers trust this. Later, Evelina became the wife of this artist.

The work of Honore de Balzac and the most famous works (list)

The first independent novel was Chuan, published in 1829. Fame was also brought to him by the following "Physiology of marriage". Further were created:

· 1830 - "Gobsek";

· 1833 - "Eugene Grande";

· 1834 - "Godis-Sar";

· 1835 - "Forgiven Melmot";

· 1836 - "The Dinner of the Atheist";

· 1837 - "Museum of Antiquities";

· 1839 - "Pierre Grasse" and many others.

This also includes "Mischievous Tales". The real fame of the writer was brought by "Shagreen leather".

Throughout his life, Balzac wrote his main work, "a picture of morals", called "The Human Comedy". Its composition:

· "Studies on morals" (devoted to social phenomena);

· "Philosophical studies" (play of feelings, their movement and life);

· "Analytical studies" (about morals).

Writer innovation

Balzac moved away from the novel of the personality of the historical novel. His desire is to designate an "individualized type." The central figure of his works is bourgeois society, not the individual. He outlines the life of estates, social phenomena, society. The line of works in the victory of the bourgeoisie over the aristocracy and the weakening of morality.

Quotes by Honore de Balzac

· "Shagreen Skin": "He understood what a secret and unforgivable crime he committed against them: he eluded the power of mediocrity."

· "Eugenia Grande": "True love is given by foresight and knows that love evokes love."

· "Chuanas": "To forgive insults, you need to remember them."

· "Lily of the Valley": "People are more forgiven for a secret blow than for an offense inflicted in public."

Balzac's life was not ordinary, and neither was his mind. The works of this writer have conquered the whole world. And his biography is as interesting as his novels.

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

The father was preparing his son for advocacy. In -1813 Balzac studied at the Vendome College, in - - at the Paris School of Law, at the same time he worked as a scribe with a notary; however, he gave up a legal career and devoted himself to literature. Parents did little to do with their son. In the Vendome College, he was placed against his will. Meetings with relatives there were prohibited all year round, except for the Christmas holidays. During the first years of his studies, he had to be in the punishment cell many times. In the fourth grade, Honore began to come to terms with school life, but he did not stop making fun of the teachers ... At the age of 14 he fell ill, and his parents took him home at the request of the college administration. 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: "From the fourth grade on, his desk was always full of writings ...". Honore was fond of reading from an early age, he was especially attracted by the works of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Holbach, Helvetius and other French enlighteners. He also tried to write poetry and plays, but his children's manuscripts have not survived. His work "A 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 hopes of getting rich had not yet materialized (debt gravitates - the result of his failed 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 from 3 to 6 books.

In the first five to six years of his writing, the works depicted the most diverse areas of contemporary life in France: the countryside, 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.

Honoré 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 malaise associated with the destruction of blood vessels, presumably arteritis.

Balzac was buried in Paris, at the Pere 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

The father of the future writer was a peasant from Languedoc, who managed to make a career during the French bourgeois revolution and become rich. The mother was much younger than her father (even outlived her son) and also came from a wealthy family of a Parisian cloth merchant.

The surname Balzac was taken by the father of the future writer after the revolution, the real family name was the surname of Balsa.

Education

The writer's father, who became an assistant to the mayor of the city of Tours, dreamed of making his son a lawyer. He sent it first to the Vendome College, and then to the Paris Law School.

In Vendome College, Honore did not like it right away. He studied poorly and could not establish contact with teachers in any way. Contact with family during school was prohibited, and living conditions were extremely harsh. At the age of 14, Honoré fell seriously ill and was sent home. He never returned to college, completing it in absentia.

Even before his illness, Honore became interested in literature. He avidly read the works of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Holbach. Even after entering the Paris School of Law, Honoré did not give up his dream of becoming a writer.

Early creativity

From 1823 Balzac began to write. His first novels were written in the spirit of romanticism. The author himself considered them unsuccessful and tried not to remember them.

From 1825 to 1828, Balzac tried to take up publishing, but failed.

Success

According to the short biography of Honore de Balzac, the writer was a real workaholic. He worked 15 hours a day and published 5-6 novels a year. Gradually, fame began to come to him.

Balzac wrote about his surroundings: about the life of Paris and the French provinces, about the life of the poor and aristocrats. His novels were rather philosophical novels, revealing the full depth of the social contradictions that existed then in France and the severity of social problems. Gradually Balzac combined all the novels he wrote into one large cycle, which he called "The Human Comedy". The cycle is divided into three parts: "Studies on Morals" (this part, for example, includes the novel "Glitter and Poverty of Courtesans"), "Philosophical Studies" (this includes the novel "Shagreen Skin"), "Analytical Studies" (this part the author has included partly autobiographical works, such as, for example, "Louis Lambert").

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

Personal life

The writer's personal life did not develop until he entered into a correspondence (at first anonymous) with the Polish aristocrat Countess Evelina Hanska. She was married to a very wealthy landowner who had large land plots in Ukraine.

A feeling flared up between Balzac and the Countess of Hanska, but even after the death of her husband, she did not dare to become the writer's lawful wife, as she was afraid of losing her husband's inheritance, which she wanted to pass on to her only daughter.

Death of a writer

Only in 1850 Balzac, who, by the way, stayed with his beloved for a long time, visiting Kiev, Vinnitsa, Chernigov and other cities of Ukraine with her, and Evelina were able to officially get married. But their happiness was short-lived, since immediately upon returning to his homeland, the writer fell ill and died of gangrene, which developed against the background of pathological vascular arthritis.

The writer was buried with all possible honors. It is known that his coffin during the funeral was carried in turn by all the prominent literary men of that time, including Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.

Other biography options

• Balzac became very popular in Russia during his lifetime, although the authorities were wary of the writer's work. Despite this, he was allowed to enter Russia. The writer visited St. Petersburg and Moscow several times: in 1837, 1843, 1848-1850. He was received very warmly. Young F. Dostoevsky attended one of these meetings between the writer and his readers. After a conversation with the writer, he decided to translate the novel “Eugene Grande” into Russian. This was the first literary translation and the first publication made by the future classic of Russian literature.
• Balzac loved coffee. He drank about 50 cups of coffee a day.