Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac was born in 1799 in Tours, France. He was sent away to boarding school and later studied law in Paris, working as a clerk in a law office, but he decided to become a writer. His early novels, written under pen names, were unsuccessful, and his ventures as a publisher and printer left him heavily in debt, which drove him to work enormous hours, often at night, fueled by strong coffee. His first success under his own name was The Chouans (1829). He went on to write about ninety novels and stories, which he grouped as La Comédie humaine, The Human Comedy, a vast portrait of French society after Napoleon, with characters who reappear from book to book. Father Goriot (1835) tells of an old man who sacrifices everything for his ungrateful daughters, and of the ambitious young Eugène de Rastignac. Other novels include Eugénie Grandet and Lost Illusions. His detailed realism influenced many later novelists. In 1850 he married the Polish countess Ewelina Hańska, with whom he had corresponded for years, and he died in Paris months later.

Honoré de Balzac is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: A Catholic who admired the Catholic Church throughout his life. Source: Wikipedia