Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-11-14
Notes Of Interest In the Life of
the Great Composer BaIXac.

The energy of will and patience ex-
pended upon twenty years of mcessant
composition exhausted a naturally ro-
bust constitution, At various periods
of his life he denied himself both food
and sleep with a persistence that could
not fail to tell fatally upon the strong
est physical powers and however fer
tile the brain which could produce
between the years 1927 and 1913 nine
ty-seven novels, and this without the
assistance of secretary or any help in
the correction of proofs, it is a fact,
although apparently a contradiction,
that the work of composition was with
De Balzac extremely difficult and
laborious. 1t was not possible to him
to unite literary industry with a nor
NAL and necessary amount of rest.
For whole months together he would
deprive himself of fresh air, writing
steadily for sixteen or seventeen hours
out of the twenty-four, his door closed
to his most intimate friends, and every
letter set aside unopened, until such
time as the work upon which he was
engaged should be completed. His
manner of composition was somewhat
peculiar. Before writing a single line Of
his book he had arranged eyerythingin
his head-subject, plot, incidents,
episodes. He had fixed upon the spot
where the scene was to be laid, and
infinitely settled how it was to be de-.
seribed. He had fixed everything in
his mind with a tact peculiar to HIM
self. 1t was his creation, solely his
and he would embellish it with exclu-
sively jealous care. He had already
drawn the likeness of all the person
ages who lived in his imagination, and
had endowed them with characteristic
traits. He placed, dressed, adorned
them-makipg them act according to
the role which he had assigned to
each. All this before he had taken
up a pen. Doubtless the work was
uniformed, but it existed. The pen
with him was only a tool, a mere agent
employed for matters Of detail. AT
last he wrote; his rapid hand few
over the paper, and all in q breath he
arrived at the end of his work. II
was not yet the work itself, but it was
a highly finished sketch.
! Upon this sketch he then began the
! toll of corrections and alterations
more hborious han it is possible tC
conceive, Not only erasures in words
! and sentences, but whole chapters
changed or suppressed to make way
! for other chapters, or new ones sup
piled which he might judge necessar,
to lead up to a change Of the incident
or to explain q passage which nigh.
: otherwise he obscure. In his toll with
e out end the pages would become
q sort of shuttle al cards, which may b.
Systematically arranged by a skillfc
e hand while apparently mixing then
= together. A chapter, prepared Origi
d nally for the middle or the end of tn
work, would be transferred to the be
ginning; while various others woul
II undergo a contrary arrangement. Me-
Ie passages would have TO be written i
order to adjust these alterations in tn
chase croisee of material. Fragment
Of incontestable value would be put i
le the background to make room fc
D others which had been primarily dii
s missed. Such a description Of seen,
q traced with excessive labor and car,
u would be cut to pieces or pared ava
70 like bits of Observation-Disclosures
as callcd-then definitely abandoned,