Chapter 52 Balzac and his "Human Comedy"

Balzac and his "Human Comedy" In the history of literature, Balzac's name is always glorious.Because the nineteenth century NUS writer, not only his works are loved and praised by the world, but also his overflowing genius, Energetic energy for struggle, sympathy for justice in the world, and the money he received in his life The ordeal made people who love literature and art respect and sympathize with him. The name of Balzac is inseparable from his "Human Comedy".this is him for himself A general title for the title of a novel planned to be written.In his writing plan, this "Human World"

Comedy will consist of 144 novels, with 4,000 characters scheduled to appear in the book above.Although he did not complete this plan later, when he died, he had written There are more than 60 works, and more than 2,000 typical characters have been created under his pen.just this Literary achievements, few people in history can match him. The origin of the title "Human Comedy" is due to the Italian poet Dante's masterpiece "Divine Comedy". hint.In April 1842, Balzac concluded a contract with a publisher, carte blanche publish his work.He has sorted out the published reprints and is preparing to continue writing the planned works.

Taste.Both himself and the publisher felt that titles like "Complete Works" were too mundane, and he wanted to give All my novels have a meaningful title.I've been thinking about it for a long time but I can't think of a suitable one. Because his writing project is to describe a whole era, the various aspects and activities of this era. Every typical character in this era is included in his analysis and criticism.Then by chance there was A friend who came back from a trip to Italy, talked with him about Italian literature and the great poet Dante's "God" song".Balzac suddenly had an idea, and at this moment he thought of the title "Human Comedy".because

The meaning of the original title of Dante's "Divine Comedy" is God's comedy (Note: Dante's original title is as follows Therefore, China translated it as "Divine Comedy", which has been used for a long time, so it will not be changed here), the described It is all kinds of things in hell, heaven and heaven of purification.Then, the psalms describing the heavens can be called "God The Comedy of Human Beings", his novels about the present world can naturally be titled "Human Comedies". Balzac liked this title very much, and he wrote a long preface to explain it

release. Balzac's writing plan for his "Human Comedy" is scheduled to include the The characters and stories described, as well as their backgrounds, are grouped into arrays, entitled Private Lives, Provincial Life life, and Parisian life and so on.Several of them dealt with children and young men and women, some Some write about the life of country people and provincials, and some write about the corrupt and sinful life of Parisians.In addition There are sub-departments for military life, political life and philosophical studies.The so-called "philosophical research" is still

It is published in the form of a novel, and its purpose is to analyze the basic factors that determine the forms and characters of various characters in society. This factor.In the final part of his project "The Comedy of Human Beings", Balzac also drew up the "social life" Living Pathology", "Improving the Philosophical and Political Dialogue of the Nineteenth Century", etc., these It is also not a thesis, and it is all expressed in the form of novels with character stories.In short, according to According to the original plan of Balzac's "Human Comedy", he wanted to write the whole French society into his novel

Inside. In the preface to the famous "Human Comedy", Balzac clarified the outline of his plan in this way: "The part about private life scenes should describe childhood and youth, the kind of unsatisfactory experience they experienced. reliable journey.The scenes of provincial life will show the passions, calculations, Selfishness and ambition stage.The part of the life scene of the Parisians describes various tastes and crimes The development of the country, and all kinds of misconduct without restraint, because this is what all style and moral character of city life.Here, a fierce struggle between good and evil is inevitable.

fight. "Having completed these three sectors of social life, I still have unfinished work to express present certain types of people living in special situations who are representative of certain life interests Or collectives, and these people stand outside the law.For these, therefore I To write about the scenes of political life.When I finish the big picture of this department of social life Finally, I can't help but describe its most ferocious appearance in exerting its function, which is That is to say, the sight of it stepping forward for the purpose of self-defense or conquest.this scene,

I will be included in my 'Military Life Scene'.Finally, I'll write 'Country Life Scene' Elephant, which will be the last part of this social drama that I am writing.At this In a part of my works, my purest characters will appear, and my love for order, politics and application of the highest principles of morality". Balzac is obviously very conceited about his writing project, calling it an unprecedented "human Class taxonomy", which must express every type of social life and characters at that time without omission. Come out, each role represents a typical character, each episode represents a side of social life,

And all of these are not independently independent, but inseparable and related to each other, constituting the Complete the entire appearance of the entire social life: "To complete a complete history of social life, each chapter Represented by a novel, each novel represents an era". At the end of his preface to "Human Comedy", he said: "The scope of this incomparable project must not only include a history of the present society and Criticism, but also to engage in the analysis of its evils, as well as the basic principles of what should be clarify.All this will signify the general title I now propose for my works: The World

Comedy, would be quite appropriate.Is that a little too boastful?Does it really live up to its name? When the whole work is published, I wait for the wise judgment of the public readers." As already mentioned, when Balzac died in August 1850, he did not come to the He did not have time to complete his entire plan for "Human Comedy", but he has already written more than sixty novels. Say.Some of these are long stories, some are composed of several novella and short stories, and they are published successively. They are different, but they are all part of the "Human Comedy" he plans to write.we today His works that I have read, such as "Old Goriot", "Cousin Burns", "Eucine Grand The Earth, and many short stories, all belong to the works of "Human Comedy". Balzac was born in 1799 and died in 1850 at the age of fifty-one.this A great gifted writer, his talent and energy are extraordinary, so he is also in writing and life plan. With amazing ambitions, he is engaged in writing while investing in various enterprises.he lives There is an open space near the house, and he even drew up a plan to use this open space to grow phoenix tail It is expected that pears will soon become the "king of pineapple pears" in France.Needless to say, his business Career plans have failed one after another, so all his income from writing has been consumed. Abandoning these plans is not enough to lose money, but also to be in debt for many years.Even his "Happiness in the World" The drafting of the plan of "The Drama" is also an effort to pay off the pressing debt. In private life, Balzac completely showed the appearance of a genius, his appetite was astonishing, I once ate a hundred oysters, twelve lamb chops, a whole duck, a pair of pheasants and a fish. He used to write at midnight, drinking strong coffee, and didn't stop writing until dawn.His original manuscript was revised and He changed it, sometimes twenty or thirty times, so that the final draft and his first draft were completely two articles.