Women in the Life of Balzac

by Juanita Helm Floyd

As a New Year's greeting for 1844, Balzac dedicated to Madame Hanska /Les Bourgeois de Paris/, later called /Les petits Bourgeois/, saying that the first work written after his brief visit with her should be inscribed to her. This dedication is somewhat different from the one published in his OEuvres:

"To Constance-Victoire:[*]

"Here, madame and friend is one of those works which fall, we know not whence, into an author's mind and afford him pleasure before he can estimate how they will be received by the public, that great judge of our time. But, almost sure of your good-will, I dedicate it to you. It belongs to you, as formerly the tithe belonged to the church, in memory of God from whom all things come, who makes all ripen, all mature! Some lumps of clay left by Moliere at the base of his statue of Tartufe have been molded by a hand more audacious than skilful. But, at whatever distance I may be below the greatest of humorists, I shall be satisfied to have utilized these little pieces of the stage-box of his work to show the modern hypocrite at work. That which most encouraged me in this difficult undertaking is to see it separated from every religious question, which was so injurious to the comedy of /Tartufe/, and which ought to be removed to-day. May the double significance of your name be a prophecy for the author, and may you be pleased to find here the expression of his respectful gratitude.

"DE BALZAC.
"January 1, 1844."

[*] /Constance/ was either one of Madame Hanska's real names, or one given her by Balzac, for he writes to her, in speaking of Mademoiselle Borel's entering the convent: "My most sincere regards to /Soeur Constance/, for I imagine that Saint Borel will take one of your names." Although Balzac hoped at one time to have /Les petits Bourgeois/ completed by July 1844, it was left unfinished at his death, and was completed and published in 1855.

During the winter of 1844, Madame Hanska wrote a story and then threw it into the fire. In doing this she carried out a suggestion given her by Balzac several years before, when he wrote her that he liked to have a woman write and study, but she should have the courage to burn her productions. She told the novelist what she had done, and he requested her to rewrite her study and send it to him, and he would correct it and publish it under his name. In this way she could enjoy all the pleasure of authorship in reading what he would preserve of her beautiful and charming prose. In the first place, she must paint a provincial family, and place the romantic, enthusiastic young girl in the midst of the vulgarities of such an existence; and then, by correspondence, /make a transit/ to the description of a poet in Paris. A friend of the poet, who is to continue the correspondence, must be a man of decided talent, and the /denouement/ must be in his favor against the great poet. Also the manias and the asperities of a great soul which alarm and rebuff inferior souls should be shown; in doing this she would aid him in earning a few thousand francs.

Her story, in the hands of this great wizard, grew like a mushroom, without pain or effort, and soon developed into the romantic novel, /Modeste Mignon/. She had thrown her story into the fire, but the fire had returned it to him and given him power, as did the coal of fire on the lips of the great prophet, and he wished to give all the glory to his adored collaborator.

When reading this book, Madame Hanska objected to Balzac's having made the father of the heroine scold her for beginning a secret correspondence with an author, feeling that Balzac was disapproving of her conduct in writing to him first, but Balzac assured her that such was not his intention, and that he considered this /demarche/ of hers as /royale and reginale/. Another trait, which she probably did not recognize, was that just as the great poet Canalis was at first indifferent to the letters of the heroine, and allowed Ernest de la Briere to answer them, so was Balzac rather indifferent to hers, and Madame Carraud—as already stated—is supposed to have replied to one of them.

There is no doubt that Balzac had his /Louloup/ in mind while writing this story, for in response to the criticism that Modest was too clever, he wrote Madame Hanska that she and her cousin Caliste who had served him as models for his heroine were superior to her. He first dedicated this work to her under the name of /un Etrangere/, but seeing the mistake the public made in ascribing this dedication to the Princesse Belgiojoso, he at a later date specified the nationality, and inscribed the book:

"To a Polish Lady: