Apropos of remarks made by Sainte-Beuve and Brunetiere regarding Balzac’s admission to the higher circles of society, Emile Faguet has this to say:
“I would point out that the duchesses and viscountesses at the end of the Restoration were known neither to Sainte-Beuve nor to Balzac, the former only having begun to frequent aristocratic drawing-rooms in 1840, and Balzac, in spite of his very short liaison with Madame de Castries, having become a regular attendant only a few months before that date. Sainte-Beuve himself has told us that the Faubourg Saint-Germain was closed to men of letters before 1830, and since it had to spend a few years becoming accustomed to their admittance, Sainte-Beuve’s testimony is not at all valid as regards the great ladies of the Restoration, even at the end.”
Perhaps it is due partly to the above statement and partly to the fact that Balzac tried to give the impression that he led a sort of monastic life, that it is generally believed the novelist never had access to the aristocratic society of his time, and never had an opportunity of observing the great ladies or of frequenting the marvelous balls and receptions that fill so large a place in his writings. Whether he made a success of such descriptions is not the question here, but the following pages will at least furnish proof that he not only had many social opportunities, but that his presence was sought by many women belonging to high life and the nobility.
In presenting in the following pages a somewhat imposing list of duchesses, countesses and women of varying degrees of nobility, it is not intended to picture Balzac as a preux chevalier, for he was far from being one. Even in the most refined of salons, he displayed his Rabelaisian manners and costume, and remained the typical author of the Contes drolatiques; but to maintain that he never knew women of the upper class or never even entered their society, involves a misapprehension of the facts. Neither would the present writer give the impression that this was the only class of women he knew or associated with, for he certainly was acquainted with many of the bourgeoisie and of the peasant class; but here it is difficult to make out a case, since his letters to or about women of these classes are rare, and literary men of his day have not given many details of his association with them.
From Balzac’s youth, his most intense longings were to be famous and to be loved. At times it might almost be thought that the second desire took precedence over the first, but it was not the ordinary woman that this future Napoleon litteraire was seeking. His desire was to win the affection of some lady of high standing, and when urged by his family to consider marriage with a certain rich widow of the bourgeoisie, it can be imagined with what a sense of relief he wrote his mother that the bird had flown. An abnormal longing to mingle with the aristocracy remained with him throughout his life; and during his stay at Wierzchownia, after having all but made the conquest of a very rich lady belonging to one of the most noted families of Russia, he flattered himself by exaggerating her greatness.
Not being crowned from the first with the success he desired, Balzac needed encouragement in his work. For this he naturally turned to women who would give him of their time and sympathy. In his early years, he received this encouragement and assistance from his sister Laure, from Madame de Berny, Madame d’Abrantes, Madame Carraud and others, and in his later life he was similarly indebted to Madame Hanska. They gave him ideas, corrected his style, conceived plots, furnished him with historical background, and criticized his work in general. Is it surprising then that, having received so much from women, he should have accorded them so great a place in his writings as well as in his personal life?
While Balzac did not, as is often stated, create the “woman of thirty,” this characteristic type having already appeared in Madame de Stael’s Delphine, in Benjamin Constant’s Adolphe, and in Stendhal’s Le Rouge et le Noir, he must be credited with having magnified her charms and presented her advantages and superiority to a much higher degree than had been done before. Women indeed play in general an important role in his work, many of his novels bear their names; about one-third of the stories of La Comedie humaine are dedicated to women; and while not quite so large a proportion of the characters created are women, they are numbered among the most important personages of his prolific fancy.
If we are to believe his own testimony, his popularity among women was by no means limited to his Paris environment, for he writes: “Fame is conveyed to me through the post office by means of letters, and I daily receive three or four from women. They come from the depths of Russia, of Germany, etc.; I have not had one from England. Then there are many letters from young people. It has become fatiguing. . . .”
It was only a matter of justice that women should show their appreciation thus, for Balzac rendered them a gracious service in prolonging, by his enormous literary influence, the period of their eligibility for being loved. This he successfully extended to thirty years, even to forty years; with rare skill he portrayed the charm of a declining beauty — as one might delight in the glory of a brilliant autumn or of a setting sun. At the same time, and on the one hand, he depicted the young girl of various types, and women of the working and servant class. And since his own life is so reflected throughout his work, it is of interest to become acquainted with the inner and intimate side of his genius, which has left us some of the greatest documents we possess concerning human nature.
Balzac knew many women, and to understand him fully one should study his relations with them. If he has portrayed them well, it is because he loved them tenderly, and was loved by many in return. These feminine affections formed one of the consolations of his life; they not only gave him courage but helped to soften the bitterness of his trials and disappointments.
While an effort has been made in the following work to solve the questions as to the identity of the Sarah, Maria, Sofka, Constance-Victoire, Louise, Caroline, and the Helene of Balzac’s dedications, and to show the role each played, no attempt has here been made to lift the tightly drawn veil which has so long enveloped one side of Balzac’s private life. Whoever wishes to do this may now consult the recent publication of the late Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, or the Mariage de Balzac by the late Count Stanislas Rzewuski. It is far more pleasant — even if the charges be untrue — to think as did the late Miss K. P. Wormeley, that no supporting testimony has been offered to prove anything detrimental to the great author’s character. Though doubtless much overdrawn, one prefers the delightful picture of him traced by his old friend, George Sand.
CHAPTER I. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF BALZAC
In the delightful city of Tours, the childhood of Honore de Balzac was spent in the midst of his family. This consisted of an original and most congenial old father, a nervous, business-like mother, two younger sisters, Laure and Laurentia, and a younger brother, Henri. His maternal grandmother, Madame Sallambier, joined the family after the death of her husband.
At about the age of eight, Honore was sent to a semi-military college. Here, after six years of confinement, he lost his health, not on account of any work assigned to him by his teachers, for he was regarded as being far from a brilliant student, but because of the abnormal amount of reading which he did on the outside. When he was brought home for recuperation, his old grandmother alternately irritated him with her “nervous attacks” and delighted him with her numerous ways of showing her affection. At this time he wandered about in the fresh air of the province of Touraine, and learned to love its beautiful scenery, which he has immortalized in various novels.
After he had spent a year of this rustic life, his family moved to
Paris in the fall of 1814. There he continued his studies with M.
Lepitre, whose Royalist principles doubtless influenced him. He
attended lectures at the Sorbonne also, strolling meanwhile about the
Latin Quarter, and in 1816 was placed in the law office of M. de
Guillonnet-Merville, a friend of the family, and an ardent Royalist.
After eighteen months in this office, he spent more than a ye
ar in the
office of a notary, M. Passez, who was also a family friend.
It was probably during this period of residence in Paris that he first met Madame de Berny, she who was later to wield so great an influence over him and who held first place in his heart until their separation in 1832. Probably at this same period, too, he met Zulma Tourangin, a schoolmate of his sister Laure, and who, as Madame Carraud, was to become his life-long friend. Of all the friendships that Balzac was destined to form with women, this with Madame Carraud was one of the purest, longest and most beautiful.
Having attained his majority and finished his legal studies, Balzac was requested by his father to enter the office of M. Passez and become a business man, but the life was so distasteful to him that he objected and asked permission to spend his time as best he might in developing his literary ability, a request which, in spite of the opposition of the family, was finally granted for a term of two years. He was accordingly allowed to establish himself in a small attic at No. 9 rue Lesdiguieres, while his family moved to Villeparisis.
His father’s weakness in thus giving in to his son was most irritating to Balzac’s mother, who was endowed with the business faculties so frequently met with among French women. She was convinced that a little experience would soon cause her son to change his mind. But he, on his part, ignored his hardships. He began to dream of a life of fame. In his garret, too, he began to develop that longing for luxury which was to increase with the years, and which was to cost him so much. At this time, he took frequent walks through the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise around the graves of Moliere, La Fontaine and Racine. He would occasionally visit a friend with whom he could converse, but he usually preferred a sympathetic listener, to whom he could pour out his plans and his innermost longings. Otherwise his life was as solitary as it was cloistered. He confined himself to his room for days at a time, working fiercely at the manuscript of the play, Cromwell, which he felt to be a masterpiece.
This work he finished and took to his home for approval in April, 1820. What must have been his disappointment when, certain of success, he not only found his play disapproved but was advised to devote his time and talents to anything except literature! But his courage was not daunted thus. Remarking that tragedies appeared not to be in his line, he was ready to return to his garret to attempt another kind of literature, and would have done so, had not his mother, seeing that he would certainly injure his health, interposed; and although only fifteen months of the allotted two years had expired, insisted that he remain at home, and later sent him to Touraine for a much needed rest.
During his stay at home, he was to suffer another disappointment. His sister Laure, to whom he had confided all his secrets and longings, was married to M. Surville in May, 1830, and moved to Bayeux. He was thus deprived of her congenial companionship. The separation is fortunate for posterity, however, since the letters he wrote to her reveal much of the family life, both pleasant and otherwise, together with a great deal concerning his own desires and struggles. Thus early in life, he realized that his was a very “original” family, and regretted not being able to put the whole group into novels. His correspondence gives a very good description of their various eccentricities, and he has later immortalized some of these by portraying them in certain of his characters.
Continually worried by his irritable mother, feeling himself forced to make money by writing lest he be compelled to enter a lawyer’s office, he produced in five years, with different collaborators, a vast number of works written under various pseudonyms. He tutored his younger and much petted brother Henri, but found his pleasures outside of the family circle. It was arranged that he should give lessons to one of the sons of M. and Mme. de Berny, and thus he had an opportunity of seeing much of Madame de Berny, whose patience under suffering and sympathetic nature deeply impressed him. On her side, she took an interest in him and devoted much time in helping and indeed “creating” him. Unhappy in her married life, she must have found the companionship of Balzac most interesting, and realizing that the young man had a great future, she acted as a severe critic in correcting his manuscripts, and cheered him in his hours of depression. Her mother having been one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting, the Royalist principles previously instilled in the mind of the young author were reinforced by this charming woman, as well as by her mother, who could entertain him indefinitely with her exciting stories of imprisonment and hairbreadth escapes.
After a few years of life at Villeparisis, Balzac removed to Paris. He had met an old friend, M. d’Assonvillez, whom he told of the conflict between his family and himself over his occupation, and this gentleman advised him to seek a business that would make him independent, even offering to provide the necessary funds. Balzac took the advice, and with visions of becoming extremely rich, launched into a publishing career, proposing to bring out one-volume editions of various authors’ complete works, commencing with La Fontaine and Moliere. As he did not have the necessary capital for advertising, however, his venture resulted in a loss. His friend then persuaded him to invest in a printing-press, and in August, 1826, he made another beginning. He did not lack courage; but though he later manipulated such wonderful business schemes in his novels he proved to be utterly incapable himself in practical life.
A second time he was doomed to failure, but with his indomitable will he resolved that inasmuch as he had met with such financial disasters through the press, he would recover his fortunes in the same way, and set himself to writing with even greater determination than ever. Now it was that Madame de Berny showed her true devotion by coming to his aid in his financial troubles as well as in his literary ones; she loaned him 45,000 francs, saw to it that the recently purchased type-foundry became the property of her family, and, with the help of Madame Surville, persuaded Madame de Balzac to save her son from the disgrace of bankruptcy by lending him 37,000 francs. Thus, after less than two years of experience, he found himself burdened with a debt which like a black cloud was to hang over him during his entire life. Other friends also came to his rescue. But if Balzac did not have business capacity, his experience in dealing with the financial world, of which he had become a victim, furnished him with material of which he made abundant use later in his works.
In September, 1828, after this business was temporarily out of the way, Balzac went to Brittany to spend a few weeks with some old family friends, the Pommereuls. There he roved over the beautiful country and collected material for Les Chouans, the first novel which he signed with his own name. Notwithstanding the fact that before he had reached his thirtieth year, he was staggering under a debt amounting to about 100,000 francs, Balzac with his never-failing hope in the future and his ever-increasing belief in his destiny, cast aside his depression, and fought continually to attain the greatness which was never fully recognized until long after his death.
He had entered on what was indeed a period of struggle. Establishing himself in Paris in the rue de Tournon, and later in the rue de Cassini, he battled with poverty, lacking both food and clothing; but his courage never wavered. Drinking black coffee to keep himself awake, he wrote eighteen hours a day, and when exhausted would run away to the country to relax and visit with his friends. The Baron de Pommereul was only one of a rather numerous group. He frequently visited Madame Carraud at her hospitable home at Frapesle, and M. de Margonne in his chateau at Sache on the Indre. Often he would spend many weeks at a time with the latter, where he made himself perfectly at home, was treated as one of the family, and worked or rested just as he wished. Leading the hermit’s life by preference, he needed the quietude of the country atmosphere in order to recover from the great strain to which he subjected himself when the fit of authorship was upon him. Thus it happened that several of his works were written in the homes of various friends.
Les Chouans and other novels met with success. Balzac’s reputation now gradually rose, so that by 1831 he was attracting much favorable attention. Among the younger literary set who sou
ght his acquaintance was George Sand with whom he formed a true friendship which lasted throughout his life. Now, too, though he was not betrayed into neglecting his work for society, he accepted invitations, won by his growing reputation, to some of the most noted salons of the day, among them the Empire salon of Madame Sophie Gay, where he met many of the literary and artistic people of his time, including Delphine, the daughter of Madame Gay, who, as Madame de Girardin, was to become one of his intimate friends. Here he met Madame Hamelin and the Duchess d’Abrantes, who was destined to play an important role in his life, and also the tender and impassioned poetess, Madame Desbordes-Valmore. The beautiful Madame Recamier invited him to her salon, too, and had him read to her guests, and he was also a frequent visitor in the salon of the Russian Princess Bagration, where he was fond of telling stories. Besides the salons, he was invited to numerous houses, dining particularly often with the Baron de Trumilly, who took a great interest in his work.
As his fame increased, letters arrived from various part of Europe. Some of these were anonymous, and many were from women. Several of the latter were answered, and early in 1832 Balzac learned that one of his unknown correspondents was the beautiful Marquise de Castries (later the Duchess de Castries). Throwing aside her incognito, she invited him to call, and he, anxious to mingle with the exclusive society of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, gladly accepted and promptly became enraptured with her alluring charm. It was doubtless owing to the influence of her relative, the Duc de Fitz-James, that he became active in politics at this time.
Works of Honore De Balzac Page 1528