TO M. CHAPELAIN, PHYSICIAN.
Paris,May, 1832.
Sir,—I am attracted by the power of somnambulism, and wonder why you have not sought to obtain from some lucid subject the causes of this disaster.[12]
Science is interested therein, and its discovery would be an eternal honor to us.
Had I not been ill for a week past I would have ascended to the honors of practice, and endeavored to convince myself whether the power of a somnambulist was limited or infinite.
The second extract is from a letter addressed to his mother a year later:—
“I send you herewith two pieces of flannel which I have worn on the body. Take them toM. Chapelain,and when he has examined the first, ask of him the cause and position of the malady[13]and how it should be treated. See that everything is clearly explained. Then with the second piece ask the why and wherefore of the blister ordered in the precedent consultation.
“Be careful to keep the flannels well wrapped up, that the emanations may not be disturbed.”
Balzac’s hatred of journalists was intense, and fromSainte-Beuvedown to the most insignificant penny-a-liner all were enveloped in the same superb contempt.
No branch of the profession was exempt from this antipathy, and critics andfeuilletonistesshared alike in his wholesale condemnation:—
“They want my scalp, do they, these Mohicans of the press! Bah! I will drink out of their skulls.”
Drink he did, indeed, and long delicious draughts, at that; and in picking up with the point of his pen the venality, envy, and petty spites of the trade, he drew in the “Illusions Perdues,” in whichJules Janinfigures in the transparent disguise ofÉtienne Lousteau,a picture of journalism which was as faithfully unpleasant as it was pitying and contemptuous. In this respect, however, it is well to state that no one was as indifferent to the opinion of the press as Balzac himself. He rarely, if ever, read the criticisms on his books, and left them, in the consciousness of their worth, to find their level unaided.
One of the causes of his disdain of everything which smacked of journalism was this: He had engaged to write “Séraphita” for the“Revue des Deux Mondes,” and shortly after the story had been delivered he learned that it was published at St. Petersburg. Thinking, as was but natural, that the editor had been the victim of some audacious theft, he hastened to tell him what he had heard; and his astonishment may be readily imagined when he was informed that the Russian edition had appeared with the sanction of the editor himself, who not only insisted that he had a perfect right to do as he pleased with the manuscript, but positively refused to make any indemnity. Thereupon, Balzac, in spite of the remonstrances of his friends, who pointed out that any contest with the “Revue,” whose word was law, would inevitably result in the closing of its columns to him, began a lawsuit, alleging that, independent of the pecuniary loss which he suffered, a precedent of this kind, once established, would in the future be highly prejudicial, not only to him, but to all his confrères. Much to his amazement, however, the defendant appeared in court with a list of signatures of almost all of those whom he had sought to defend at his own risk and peril, who attested that from a literary as well as from an ethical standpoint they considered the action of the editor of the “Revue des Deux Mondes” as eminently right and proper.
The law was, none the less, perfectly clear.Balzac won the suit, and with it a host of enemies, whose hatred was so vigorous that it barely abated, even after his death. Their insults delighted him. “Fire away,” he would say; “the armor is strong. Your abuse is an advertisement; your praise would lull the public to sleep, but your diatribes wake them up. Besides, you hit the mark sometimes, and every fault you signalize I correct, which in the end is so much gained.”
Among the host of enemies thus aroused were those who, not content with denying his genius, advanced their artillery into private life, and painted him in the possession of every vice in the criminal statutes; and it is from the falsehoods of these guerrilleros that all the stupidities which have been told concerning him found their primal gestation. Not only his morality, his honesty, his sobriety, were attacked, but even his name was denied to him. Thedewas declared not only an affectation, but a theft; and when some one said to him, in allusion thereto, “But you are no connection of the De Balzac d’Entragues,” “Ah! am I not?” he answered placidly. “Well, then, so much the worse for them.”
[1]
Balzac, byMadame de Surville. Calmann Lévy, Paris.
Balzac, byMadame de Surville. Calmann Lévy, Paris.
[2]
Correspondance de H. de Balzac.Calmann Lévy, Paris, 1877.
Correspondance de H. de Balzac.Calmann Lévy, Paris, 1877.
[3]
The present title isJane la Pâle.
The present title isJane la Pâle.
[4]
Les Rivalités..
Les Rivalités..
[5]
Le Médecin de Campagne.
Le Médecin de Campagne.
[6]
Ursule Mirouët.
Ursule Mirouët.
[7]
Gobseck.
Gobseck.
[8]
Le Père Goriot.
Le Père Goriot.
[9]
Honoré de Balzac, par Théophile Gautier. Un volume in-18, chez Poulet-Malanis, 1859.
Honoré de Balzac, par Théophile Gautier. Un volume in-18, chez Poulet-Malanis, 1859.
[10]
La Fille aux Yeux d’Or.
La Fille aux Yeux d’Or.
[11]
SeeLa Canne de M. de Balzac, par Madame de Girardin. Dumont, 1838.
SeeLa Canne de M. de Balzac, par Madame de Girardin. Dumont, 1838.
[12]
The cholera.
The cholera.
[13]
Stomachic disorders, caused by the abuse of coffee.
Stomachic disorders, caused by the abuse of coffee.