Great piece on Balzac! I thought at first that it would be a photo of the room where H.B. wrote his novels (dear Dave Lull sent me a great shot of David Hare's writing room) and drank himself to death -- with *coffee*!
But this is equally fascinating. Much as I love Flaubert and Zola, Balzac is truly The Man when it comes to the 19th-century French novel. No writer can beat _Cousine Bette_ -- not even Wm. Makepeace Thackeray, who stole Valerie de Marneffe and recast her as Becky Sharp in _Vanity Fair_.
Great piece on Balzac! I thought at first that it would be a photo of the room where H.B. wrote his novels (dear Dave Lull sent me a great shot of David Hare's writing room) and drank himself to death -- with *coffee*!
ReplyDeleteBut this is equally fascinating. Much as I love Flaubert and Zola, Balzac is truly The Man when it comes to the 19th-century French novel. No writer can beat _Cousine Bette_ -- not even Wm. Makepeace Thackeray, who stole Valerie de Marneffe and recast her as Becky Sharp in _Vanity Fair_.