The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-21
arw CIVILIZATIONS.
BALzAC's PLACE IN LITERATURE.
Managers,
Madison Square South, New York

Did ever one author pay q higher tribute
to another h Paul Bourget has paid to
Balzac2 1t was thirty years ago, he tells
us, that he read his first Balzac novel
through. He was then 10 years old. On .
Sunday afternoon he visited u little read
ing room in Paris and asked by chance for
the first volume Of "Pere Goriot." What
his impressions were we will let Paul
Bourget relate for himself:
at was z o'clock" he says, when I
found myself back on the sidewalk of Rue
Souti1ot, having read the entire book. The
impression 1t made on me was 40 strong
that l was literally trembling. The state
of mind into which Balzac had plunged me
was analogous to that produced by alcohol
or opium. / stood still for a few minutes
in order to reaccustom myself to the reality
OF things about me and to my own identity.
This phenomenon of extreme mental slim
ulation was accompanied by such n COM
pletc lack of power to direct my movements
that II took me a quarter of an hour to
reach the College. Sainte-Barbe, where I
was to dine, and there were only 800 yards
to go. No book had ever before transported
me to such II condition of eXaltation. Mono
has ever done IL since
Bourget goes on to tell us "My vocation
as a writer dates from that period" 1t 10
impossible, he says, to compare BalZac with
others. 81 have loved him too much" he
continues; 81 love him too much still, not
to feel toward him as toward an artist to
whom one owes emotions that are incom-
parable"
1t is by Balzac's droll stories-and who
that has read them has not done so with
admiration-that thisg great French writer
is perhaps best known to English.speaking
people. But the droll stories are to Bal
Zac's more elaborate works only what tho
sonnets of Shakespeare are to the great
dramatists tragedies and comedies. To
know Balzac il Is necessary to read his
tI'nDGip ppng " 11phrp lIrint " - IN ('nnSiDa
Bette, "1llusion Pcrdues," "Peau de Cha.
grin" and, in fact, the entire series of
novels that 20 to make up the Com die HUI
maine. Just as it is necessary to read Ham:
The Merchant of Venice" and A You
Like It," and Shakespcale's other dramas In
order to understand Shakespeare. Of Bal.
Zac it may be said, as of Shakespeare, that
there is no human emotion that he has not
sounded, no passion that lie has not por-
traycd. Like Shakespeare, too, he seems to
possess "A knowledge OF every profession and
every vocation, SO that his novels are as
faithful to life in all its many phases as arc
Shakcspcare's dramas.
Balzac was to prose- what Shakespeare
was to poetry, and he expressed all thai
prose may speak just as Shakespeare eI'
pressed all that poetry may sing.
All who desire to form til" acquaintanco
OF Balzac can now do 50 through the mo-
dunn of the English language. The new
edition, besides being il faithful ~transla-
ton, IL as complete as the publishers, who
are famous for the elegance OF their pro-
ductions, can make H.. II Is printed ON
handmade paper, with beautiful %illustra-
tons, and is hound IN the highest style OF
he boOkbinder's art, with deckled edges
The work il translated under the direct
supervision of George Saintsbury, tho
greatest living "BalHuc scholar, aud this
is n sufficient guarantee that none OF the
effects in the original are lost in the trans
lation. Besides "Ihc Comedy Of Human