MARIA—HELENE—LOUISE
"To Maria:
"May your name, that of one whose portrait is the noblest ornament of this work, lie on its opening page like a branch of sacred box, taken from an unknown tree, but sanctified by religion, and kept ever fresh and green by pious hand to protect the home.
"DE BALZAC."
Just who is the "Maria" to whom the dedication of /Eugenie Grandet/ is addressed is a question that in the opinion of the present writer has never been satisfactorily answered. The generally accepted answer is that of Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, who thought that "Maria" was the girl whom Balzac described as a "poor, simple and delightful /bourgeoise, . . . the most naïve creature that ever was, fallen like a flower from heaven," and who said to Balzac: "Love me a year, and I will love you all my life."
Even admitting that this much disputed letter of October 12, 1833, was written by Balzac, though it does not bear his signature, the name "Maria" does not appear in it, so it is no proof that she is the woman to whom Balzac dedicated one of his greatest and probably the most popular of his works, /Eugenie Grandet/, although the heroine has some of the characteristics of the woman referred to in that letter in that she is a "naïve, simple, and delightful /bourgeoise/." But in reviewing the women to whom Balzac dedicated his stories in the /Comedie humaine/, one does not find any of this type. Either they are members of his family, old family friends, literary friends, rich people to whom he was indebted, women of the nobility, or women whom he loved for a time at least, and all were women whom he could respect and recognize in society, while the woman referred to in the letter of October 12, 1833, does not seem to have had this last qualification.
In reply to his sister Laure's criticism that there were too many millions in /Eugenie Grandet/, he insisted that the story was true, and that he could create nothing better than the truth. In investigating the truth of this story, it has been found that Jean Niveleau, a very rich man having many of the traits of Grandet, lived at Saumur, and that he had a beautiful daughter whom he is said to have refused to give in marriage to Balzac. Whether this be true or not, the novelist has screened some things of a personal nature in this work.
Although the book is dated September, 1833, he did not finish it until later. It was just at this time that he met Madame Hanska, and visited her on two different occasions during the period that he was working on /Eugenie Grandet/. As he was pressed for money, as usual, his /Predilecta/ offered to help him financially; this he refused, but immortalized the offer by having Eugenie give her gold to her lover.
In declining Madame Hanska's offer, he writes her:
"Beloved angel, be a thousand times blessed for your drop of water, for your offer; it is everything to me and yet it is nothing. You see what a thousand francs would be when ten thousand a month are needed. If I could find nine, I could find twelve. But I should have liked, in reading that delightful letter of yours, to have plunged my hand into the sea and drawn out all its pearls to strew them on your beautiful black hair. . . . There is a sublime scene (to my mind, and I am rewarded for having it) in /Eugenie Grandet/, who offers her fortune to her cousin. The cousin makes an answer; what I said to you on that subject was more graceful. But to mingle a single word that I have said to my Eve in what others will read!—Ah! I would rather have flung /Eugenie Grandet/ into the fire! . . . Do not think there was the least pride, the least false delicacy in my refusal of what you know of, the drop of gold you have put angelically aside. . . ."