Balzac

by Henri Troyat

Enthousiaste, tonitruant, vêtu avec extravagance et la tête bouillonnante de projets mirifiques, tel Balzac apparaît à ses contemporains et tel il surgit, criant de vérité, dans la biographie qu'Henri Troyat lui consacre aujourd'hui. Destin chaotique, car l'auteur de La Comédie humaine ne se contente pas d'être un "galérien des lettres" qui anime des centaines de personnages, noue et dénoue des écheveaux d'intrigues et collectionne les succès de librairie, il veut, de surcroît, jouir de l'existence, réussir en amour et gagner une fortune dans les affaires. Travaillant nuit et jour, assoiffé de mondanités, courant d'une femme à l'autre, se ruinant en objets de luxe, poursuivi par les créanciers malgré tout l'argent qu'il ramasse, il souffre encore de n'être pas salué par l'ensemble de la presse comme un écrivain de génie et soupire désespérément après Mme Hanska, "l'Étrangère" inaccessible, avec laquelle il correspond à longueur d'année. Au vrai, Balzac s'est toujours trompé sur lui-même. Son énorme naïveté qui le sert si bien dans la peinture de ses héros, le dessert dans la vie quotidienne. Maître de l'univers quand il a une plume à la main, il vacille tel un enfant dès qu'il met un pied devant l'autre. Mais n'est-ce pas justement à la faillite de son aventure terrestre que nous devons l'impérissable monument de son oeuvre ?

Genres: Biography

459 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1995

About the author

Troyat was a French author, biographer, historian and novelist.

Troyat was born Levon Aslan Torossian in Moscow to parents of Armenian descent. His family fled Russia in anticipation of the revolution. After a long exodus taking them to the Caucasus on to Crimea and later by sea to Constantinople and then Venice, the family finally settled in Paris in 1920, where young Troyat was schooled and later earned a law degree. The stirring and tragic events of this flight across half of Europe are vividly recounted by Troyat in 'Tant que la terre durera'.

Troyat received his first literary award, Le prix du roman populaire, at the age of twenty-four, and by twenty-seven, he was awarded the Prix Goncourt.

Troyat published more than 100 books, novels and biographies, among them those of Anton Chekhov, Catherine the Great, Rasputin, Ivan the Terrible and Leo Tolstoy.

Troyat's best-known work is La neige en deuil, which was adapted as an English-language film in 1956 under the title The Mountain.

He was elected as a member of the Académie française in 1959. At the time of his death, Troyat was the longest serving member of the Academy.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Natia Morbedadze]

ბალზაკი იყო იდეებით მოვაჭრე, კალმისა და მელნის ტყვე, "ადამიანური კომედიის" შემოქმედი. სხვა დანარჩენი - ოჯახი, ქალები, ცხოვრების გზაზე შემხვედრი ცნობილი და უცნობი ადამიანები, დაუსრულებელი ვალები, დამარცხებები, ავადმყოფობა - მხოლოდ ისტორიაა (თუმცა მათ გარეშე არ იქნებოდნენ პერსონაჟები, წიგნები), რომელსაც ასე საინტერესოდ გვიამბობს ანრი ტრუაია (ბიოგრაფიების ისე გადმოცემა, რომ წამითაც არ იყოს მოსაწყენი, ნამდვილად მისი საქმეა).

[Erica]

Very interesting book.

[Aline]

Balzac was such a great man!

[Erik]

Splendid biography of Balzac!