The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-09

| Public attention is being called to the
| fact that within the present year the
copyright will expire on the very last of
Balzac's novels. and we may expect n new
impetus to the revival which set in few
years since in favor of the observant Tou-
ranian. What is more Immediately inter-
esting than the prospect of cheap editions
of his works is the fact that NJ de Lou
venjcul. of Brussels. who has con-
tributed more than his part, per
| haps. toward stimulating the contro-
versy over the author of the Com
edie Humane has in his pos
session, aud threatens to publish, the
manuscripts of half dozen stories which
will make all the so-called defnitive edi-
lions now in existencc-and only one is
really worthy OF the name-appear strik-
ingly Incomplete. So far as this feature
is concerned, it is sincerely hoped that
the Belgian trustee has no purpose TO
spring upon us any OF the callow con-
ceits of Balzac's literary apprenticeship,
forty volumes of which he wisely con-
signed to the flames before his first ac-
knowledged work, The Choaans," ap-
peared in print.
BIT even this proposed publication must
yield in Importance TO two other consider
ations which are always called to mind
whenever the name of Balzac is mentioned
in the hearing of people who have broad
grasp of the secretary OF society's' life
and works. These considerations are not
academic or transcendental. They relate to
the daily life of the people, and Illustrate to
a large extent the very elements in Balzac's
own gigantic undertaking. which are des-
tined to perpetuate his name. II was,
first of all, his fidelity-his realism, ii you
please-whch made him truly great. He
painted the face of society with the mole.
extenuating nothing and setting down
naught in malice. 1t is ely through the
perspective of all his yolUmincus works
that a true appreciation OF this fact can
be obtained. The salacious features have
been unduly exaggerated by superficial
readers until in certain quarters his name
has become synonym of depravity and
wantonness. Nothing could be further from
the truth In the social conditions of his
day. and of the present day, for that mat
ter, there could be no Photographic repro
ducton OF manners and customs which did
not embody in the chiro-oscuro more of
the shadow than of the light. They AN
be seen in their just proportion only by
mastering his whole comprehensive design.
1t will then be discovered that he has but
given a due proportion to biographs OF vice
by which his romances fra attracted at
tent!on.
Still more important, however, is the les
son which his achievements convey. Re-
duced to their last analysis they signify
nothing but hard work. 1t was the only
genius" that Balzac had He realized that
to succeed he must live like hermit and
work a horse" and he did it.
1t is entirely probable that even when
the embargo has been lifted and the HUI
man Comedy" becomes accessible to the
general public, there will be no great num-
Der of recruits TO the ranks of BalZac's
readers: but the eighteen hours Of every
day which he spent for thirty years in the
midst of debt. poverty. and neglect, in or
der to work out the most stupendous plan
ever projected and carried to completion by
novelist cannot fail to stimulate the men
tai energies of everyone who studies Bal
Zac