The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1898-09-24
A Growing Appreciation.

Many students Of literature have I'M
til lately neglected in their course of
deep reading, the Of study iIonore De
BalZac's works, but a great deal OF in
terest has of late been awakened
through agents of the Gebbie Publishing
Co., who have recently been MAXIM
thorough canvass of the United States,
and placing the complete set of books
within the reach of one and all. The
entire series numbers thirty volumes of
about 400 pages, is printed upon parch-
ment paper and is well bound
The French Shakespeare" as he Is
called, covered almost every condition
of life-social, political, patriotic, and
religious-and did his work so true to
life as to make his characters picture
the inner thought and history of the
times in which he wrote. He was so
wise and precise in his analysis Of char
acter and the great movements Of the
period that eminent writer's have de-
clared De BalZac the GibbOn and Ma
Cauav Of daily life, in boudoir and gar
ret" De Baizac was born at Tours,
May 20. 1893. He was educated at the
College Of Nendome, and stuuied law
| at the SorbOune. In 1919 he left Tours
to seek his fortune as an author in
Paris, and for the succe eding ten years
he led life Of great privation, yet of
lncessant industry. His earlier stories
met with little favor, and not until the
publication of Les Dernier Chouans"
| (lS3Ol did he first taste success. Soon
| after he formed the design Of present
ing in the "Comedie Humane" com
| plete picture OF modern civilization,
and III the attempt produced what is al
most IN itself literature.
The "Comedie Humane" under
which De BalZac classified his work,
covers philosophical studies, scenes
| from military life, scenes from country
| life, scenes from private life, scenes
tIom provincial life, scenes from Paris
ian lie. and scenes from political life"
| Ills philosophical studies, scenes from
! private life, and Partisan life, are evil
| dences of his finest work. They are in
| themselves fine epitome history of
| France in the first half ofth nineteenth
century. 1t was not until 1880 he met
with any large favor in the literary
world, and he was then in his thirtv-
| first year. But honors followed swift
and sure from the literary men Of the
day.
Victor Hugo said: THE name of
Balzac will blend with the luminous
trace which our epoch will leave in the
future. VI. Balzac ap was one Of the
first among the great, one Of the highest
among the best. All his books form
but one book, living, luminous, pro-
found. i'll which one sees all our con-
temporary civilization come and go,
move and advance, with something
wild and terrible blended with the
| real"
Charles Dickens said of him: :" lie
ranks as one of the few great genuses
! who appear by ones and twos in cen
turv after century of authorship, and
who leave their mark intellectually on
the literature of their age"
Theophile Gautier says: Since Mol
iere, no one, to our mind, has sustained
character more strongly, and since
Shakespeare no one has given to the
| world such a prodigiou5 lumber of
people, each with his manner of speak
ing, his jest, and his ineffaceable habit
These types are stamped with such
strong vitality that we confound them
with real being"
George Moore says: Gas Shakespeare
seems to have expressed all ideas that
poetry may sing, SO does Balzac seem to
| have expressed ali the ideas that prose
may speak"
Julian liaWthOrc says: "Balzac is as
French as Turguenietf is Russian, and
yet, while Turguenieff is essentially the
novelist of Russia land of one aspect Of
RUSSIA, Balzac is essentially the novel
| list of the world"
The amount Of his work was phc-
| nomenal. For more than twenty five
years he laborcI from fifteen to eigh-
teen hours per day. In May, 1870, when
| broken down in health, he married a
rich Polish lady. Three months later
lie died, at the elimination of his fame,
and at hat seemed to be the beginning
of the period of rest to which he al
ways looked forward.