HONORÉ DE BALZAC
Tours, 1799--Paris, 1850
Because of his father's circumstances Balzac was at an early age placed in a law office; this work was especially irksome to him, and he soon went over to literature. For a long time he suffered hardships from want of money, which seems to have strongly colored much of his work. In 1850 he married a wealthy Polish lady, Madame Hanska, but he never was able to enjoy the life of ease to which he had been looking forward for many years; his death occurred a few months after his marriage. Balzac's chief work is to be found in his Comédie Humaine, a collection of stones filling some forty volumes. It is divided into: (1) Scènes de la Vie Privée, (2) Scènes de la Vie de Province, (3) Scènes de la Vie Parisienne, (4) Scènes de la Vie Politique, (5) Scènes de la Vie Militaire, (6) Scènes de la Vie de Campagne, (7) Études Philosophiques, (8) Études Analytiques. These novels are often connected by the reappearance of certain characters, and especially by the analysis of character which is always intimately connected with Balzac's name. Of a robust, exuberant and vulgar nature, his style is poor; he lacked an artistic sense and he was without poetic genius. He was unable to depict a gentleman or a lady; but he excelled in the analysis of character, especially among the middle and lower classes, and in the descriptions of their surroundings; it is thus that he stands at the head of the Realists.
Important works: To the Comédie Humaine (1829-1850) above mentioned should be added the Contes Drolatiques (in which he imitates the style and the language of the sixteenth century) and several volumes of Contes. In the Comédie Humaine the following volumes should be especially mentioned: Le Père Goriot, Le Colonel Chabert, Le Lys dans la Vallée, Ursule Mirouet, Eugénie Grandet, Le Curé de Tours, Illusions Perdues, César Birotteau, Les Paysans, Le Curé de Village. Un Drame au Bord de la Mer (written in 1834) is taken from the Études Philosophiques (published in 1835)
Edltlon: Calmann Lévy, in 24 vols. and in 45 vols. (his works have been published in several other editions).
UN DRAME AU BORD DE LA MER
[222.]--7. conceptions premières. Numerals precede their nouns; when premier follows its noun, as here, the idea conveyed is "conceptions which form the basis of other conceptions."
12. durant. According to Littré, this preposition differs from pendant in that it means "during the entire time," whereas pendant may mean "at a certain point during the time": durant la campagne les ennemis se sont enfermés dans leurs places, and c'est pendant la campagne que s'est livrée la bataille dont vous parlez.
[227.]--27. sans mot dire. Note the position of mot in this phrase; cf. sans rien dire.
[229.]--4. faquir. The fakirs or ascetic Mohammedan monks comprise various classes and orders; Balzac apparently has in mind those known as yogis, who assume and maintain for a long time various unnatural postures, their belief being that this will effect a union of the human soul with the Supreme Being, whereby further migration will be avoided (this is known as the yoga system of philosophy).
6. si le voulait la mer. Notice the inversion.
[230.]--24. mon cher oncle. A detailed account of Balzac's family can be found in E. Biré, Honoré de Balzac.
[232.]--28. bestiaux. This word is now used as the plural of bétail; it is, however, etymologically not the plural of bétail, but of the adjective bestial; the latter singular form is not now used as a substantive in the literary language, although it occurs in works of the seventeenth century and is still used in Normandy, meaning "all the cattle" (cf. Nyrop, Grammaire historique de la langue française, vol. II, sec. 292, 2, remark).
[235.]--22. anachorètes. Anchorites differ from hermits in that they live in the most absolute solitude and subject themselves to the greatest privations.
[237.]--4. il ne se serait pas sacré comme ça, que la frayeur ...That is, quand même il ne se serait pas sacré comme ça, la frayeur... (the principal clause expresses a concession, and the que clause the conclusion).
11. qu'est. A popular error already noted (see note to p. 92, l. 29).
18. qué qui te dit. For qu'est-ce qu'il te dit; qu'elle répond (l. 19), an example of the superfluous que used by the uneducated; qu'a dit (l. 21) = qu'elle dit = dit-elle.
31. défunt ma mère. Défunt, as also the adjective feu, does not agree with its noun when the latter follows.
[238.]--5. qu'a écouté. For qu'elle a écouté. 22. plus du temps. For plus que le temps.
[239.]--20. fallait des espèces. Popular omission of il.
26. mette. The dialects often other examples of the survival of Old French words; métal is the modern word for "metal," it is sometimes used in slang for "money."
[240.]--27. des cent écus, des cent francs. For des centaines d'écus, des centaines de francs.
[241.]--3. la fille au cadet. Popular for la fille du cadet, another example of the survival of an Old French construction among the common people.
10. qu'avait. For qui avait.
27. pour. Incorrect use of pour without an object; the other popular phrases have already been noted.
[243.]--18. malin. The feminine of this adjective, maligne, is only apparently irregular; the Latin etyma are malignum and malignam (French words, except those used in address, are derived from the Latin accusative), these give regularly malin and maligne, because final Latin vowels fall except a which becomes e and final gn is reduced to n, whereas gn between vowels gives the modern French sound.
30. il pleurait du sang. Compare the English phrase "to sweat blood."
[244.]--18. il savait plus. Popular omission of ne.