奥诺雷·德·巴尔扎克，法国批判现实主义作家，被誉为“法国现代小说之父”。
Balzac's fame is very loud, but his life is very unhappy, he ignored the opposition of his family, wrote novels alone, and lived a lifetime of poverty and died young.
Balzac was born on 20 May 1799 in Tours, central France, to a middle-class family whose father was an upstart during the Revolution and whose mother was a fortune-earner.
Balzac's mother, unknowingly, married the elder Balzac, who was many years older and behaved rudely.
The frustration of marriage left Balzac's mother depressed, and when she was depressed, she could only read poems to her son.
Balzac loved to listen to his mother read poetry since he was a child, and he loved the beautiful words in the poems.
But the elder Balzac did not appreciate the verses, and for the glory of the family, he hoped that his son would study law and become a good lawyer in the future.
The couple's long-term disagreement caused Balzac's mother to gradually lose interest in the child, she no longer read poetry to her son, and even felt that the child was a burden to herself.
When Balzac reached school age, his parents sent him to boarding school.
Children who are not accompanied by their parents are lonely, and Balzac looks forward to the arrival of his parents every day in school, but every time he feels extremely disappointed.
In 1814, the elder Balzac was transferred to Paris, where, as before, Balzac was sent to a Catholic boarding school.
The school's harsh and rigid education made Balzac miserable, and he did not understand why his parents did not want him.
Balzac, in solitude, could only rely on poetry, and his literary dream may have been planted at this time.
1816年，巴尔扎克尊从父命，到法律学校学习。
At school, Balzac was at odds with his classmates, he didn't like boring legal knowledge, and he wanted to be a famous writer.
Balzac loved to write novels, and was often busy sneaking around and publishing works, and although those works were not appreciated, he was still very happy.
Balzac's father was very angry at his son's behavior, and in the eyes of this old and self-interested old man, his son's writing was not a proper job, there was no way out.
For the sake of writing, the father and son did not know how many times they quarreled, and finally the elder Balzac gave a two-year deadline, and if after two years, the son did not become a writer, he must go home to study law, otherwise all financial support would be cut off.
Balzac packed his bags, left his home, which did not love him, and moved out alone.
Balzac was so confident in his writing ability that he frantically wrote a 5-act poetic tragedy, Cromwell, but the work went unnoticed.
Two years later, Balzac's father cut off financial support, and Balzac's life was in trouble.
Balzac, who had no income, was reluctant to give in, and he was convinced that he could write a masterpiece.
The French Revolution destroyed the feudal dynasty, the bourgeoisie was able to rise, and society was filled with strong money worship.
Balzac hated this social atmosphere deeply, and he wrote many works critical of reality, but every time he submitted, he always fell into the sea.
Balzac was so sad that he vowed to write better.
But a person living in society needs money all the time, and Balzac, even if he is proud, has to write some unpopular novels to make a living.
These unpopular novels naturally could not sell for a good price, and in order to survive, Balzac could only keep piecing together, continuously lying on the table and climbing the grid.
Balzac worked 18 hours a day, so tired, he drank a cup of coffee to refresh his mind, he did not know what he was writing, only that such a day had emptied his body.
Is this his literary dream?
A distressed Balzac said this in a letter to his sister———
"I want to get rich from these novels, how depraved! Why don't I have 1500 francs so that I can work decently? But I ultimately need to be independent, and for this I can only resort to this abomination. ”
But what is the significance of such a writing career?
It was at this time that Balzac met his wife, who was 22 years older than himself.
Your wife had a good conversation with Balzac, and she also gave Balzac a sum of money for his business.
Balzac had a hot head and took the money to become a businessman.
During this time, he ran businesses and publishing houses, but these businesses failed without exception.
Balzac was a romantic writer who knew nothing about business, and with his passion, how could he gain a foothold in the deceitful mall?
Instead of making a penny, Balzac, who failed to invest, also owed a bunch of debts and became a complete poor egg.
Although Balzac was very bad at business, this experience enriched his life experience and brought a lot of material for his future writing.
负债累累的巴尔扎克决定重新规划人生，他到处收集整理素材，终于在1829年完成了长篇小说《朱安党人》。
The juan version of "The Party" achieved good results, and Balzac, who was encouraged, continued to work hard and published many novels that criticized realism.
1831年出版的《驴皮记》使得巴尔扎克名声大震，从而奠定了他“法国现代小说之父”的地位。
Although "The Party of Juan" and "Donkey Skin" made Balzac famous, they still did not change his embarrassing state of life.
Repeated urging by creditors forced Balzac to give up his rest and write day and night.
Balzac gave his whole body and mind to writing, he had no wife, no children, no pleasure, just tiredness and ideals.
In April 1842, Balzac's The Comedy of Man was published.
Considered by later generations to be Balzac's greatest work, the Comedy of Man is a magnificent work of 96 novels.
The most well-known of these are "The Tall Old Man" and "Eugenie Grande".
In these works, Balzac profoundly criticized the ugliness of human nature in capital society and the value of the supremacy of money.
The two daughters in "The Tall Old Man" ignore their dying fathers just to attend a lavish ball, because the dance party can bring them money and status, and the elderly father can no longer get oil and water.
In order to keep his property, the old Grande in "Eugenie Grande" destroyed his daughter's lifelong happiness and forced his sick wife to die...
It turns out that money is so evil that it can make people unrecognizable, and it can make people abandon their dignity.
Balzac angrily wrote about the injustices of the world, and he wanted to write everything he saw in his work...
Years of overdrafting, excessive coffee drinking to refresh, this unhealthy life made Balzac physically and mentally exhausted.
"I'm going to die from 30,000 cups of coffee."
Balzac, who knew that he would not have much to come, wrote even more desperately, but the debts snowballed more and more, as if they would never be finished.
On August 18, 1850, Balzac, exhausted his last stance, left, and the author of The Comedy of Man left a world full of tragedy.
Balzac lived only 51 years, and for the first three years of his death he was still working hard for debt.
At Balzac's funeral, many mourners came, and his good friend, the famous French writer Victor Hugo, said with emotion -
"Among the greatest men, Balzac is at the top; among the best, Balzac is one of the best."
Hugo also made a prediction about Balzac's work —
"The name Balzac will remain in our time and will be passed on to future generations..."
Hugo's prophecy became a reality in the years that followed, and Balzac's novels swept the world, reprinted innumerable editions.
Unfortunately, Balzac can no longer be seen, but his name is like a star in the sky, forever engraved in people's hearts and will not disappear.
About the Author: A woman who likes to read, is obsessed with history, and loves to write articles. What is a good article, I don't know. I only know that writing an article is writing what I want to say, what I want to write. This is me, a layman in the world, who worries about the deep valley and the sky, and the fragrance of Youlan!