Analytical Studies
Balzac, Honoré de 1799-1850
English
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Below is a summary of Analytical Studies
ANALYTICAL STUDIES
BY
HONORE DE BALZAC
DEDICATION
Notice the words: _The man of distinction to whom this book is
dedicated_. Need I say: "You are that man."--THE AUTHOR.
The woman who may be induced by the title of this book to open it,
can save herself the trouble; she has already read the work
without knowing it. A man, however malicious he may possibly be,
can never say about a woman as much good or as much evil as they
themselves think. If, in spite of this notice, a woman will
persist in reading the volume, she ought to be prevented by
delicacy from despising the author, from the very moment that he,
forfeiting the praise which most artists welcome, has in a certain
way engraved on the title page of his book the prudent inscription
written on the portal of certain establishments: _Ladies must not
enter_.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE
PETTY TROUBLES OF MARRIED LIFE
INTRODUCTION
The two Analytical Studies, _Physiology of Marriage_ and _Petty
Troubles of Married Life_, belong quite apart from the action of the
_Comedie Humaine_, and can only be included therein by virtue of a
special dispensation on the part of their author, who made for them an
eighth division therein, thus giving them a local habitation and a
name. Although they come far down in the list of titles, their
creation belongs almost to the formative era. Balzac had just shaken
his skirts clear of the immature dust of the _Oeuvres de Jeunesse_,
and by the publication, in 1829, of _The Chouans_, had made his first
real bow to his larger public. In December of that same year appeared
the _Physiology of Marriage_, followed eleven months later by a few
papers belonging to _Petty Troubles of Married Life_. Meanwhile,
between these two Analytical Studies, came a remarkable novelette, _At
the Sign of the Cat and Racket_, followed soon after by one of the
most famous stories of the entire _Comedie_, _The Magic Skin_.
We are thus particular to place the two Analytical Studies in time and
in environment, that the wonderful versatility of the author may
become apparent--and more: that Balzac may be vindicated from the
charge of dullness and inaccuracy at this period. Such traits might
have been charged against him had he left only the Analytical Studies.
But when they are preceded by the faithful though heavy scene of
military life, and succeeded by the searching and vivid philosophical
study, their faults and failures may be considered for the sake of
their company.
It is hard to determine Balzac's full purpose in including the
Analytical Studies in the _Comedie_. They are not novels. The few,
lightly-sketched characters are not connected with those of the
_Comedie_, save in one or two remote instances. They must have been
included in order to make one more room in the gigantic mansion which
the author had planned. His seventh sense of subdivision saw here
fresh material to classify. And so these grim, almost sardonic essays
were placed where they now appear.
In all kindness, the Balzac novitiate is warned against beginning an
acquaintance with the author through the medium of the Analytical
Studies. He would be almost certain to misjudge Balzac's attitude, and
might even be tempted to forsake his further cultivation. The mistake
would be serious for the reader and unjust to the author. These
studies are chiefly valuable as outlining a peculiar--and, shall we
say, forced?--mood that sought expression in an isolated channel. All
his life long, Balzac found time for miscellaneous writings
--critiques, letters, reviews, essays, political diatribes and
sketches. In early life they were his "pot-boilers," and he never
ceased writing them, probably urged partly by continued need of money,
partly through fondness for this sort of thing. His _Physiology_ is
fairly representative of the material, being analysis in satirical
vein of sundry foibles of society. This class of composition was very
popular in the time of Louis Philippe.
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