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Novelist · Writer · Journalist
A 19th century French novelist who depicted the desires and classes of modern society through his ``Human Comedy.'' We observed urban life from the Restoration to the July Monarchy. He is a representative of understanding realist literature.
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Birth
Paris
Work
La Comedie humaine
1829–1848
Book
Map: Natural Earth (PD)
Born in Tours, he studied law and aspired to become a writer. Even though he was in debt after failing in his publishing business, he observed the Parisian social and publishing world and used it as material for his works.
He envisioned a ``human comedy'' that would interconnect numerous novels, and depicted a wide range of characters, including aristocrats, bourgeois, bureaucrats, and journalists. A novel that analyzes human relationships in modern capitalist society.
Balzac is famous for the anecdote that he wrote for long hours while drinking large amounts of coffee. The excessive amount of writing was also a sign of modern writers who were supported by serialization and the publishing market.
When you study Balzac, you realize that literature became a social analysis that depicts not only the emotions of individuals, but also cities, class, money, marriage, and competition for advancement. It is also important as a literary source for reading about nineteenth-century European society.
