The Human Comedy [17]
and the diversion of the author to other work, the /Comedie/ is the production, and not the sole production, of some seventeen or eighteen years at most. Not a volume of it, for all that failure to reach the completest perfection in form and style which has been acknowledged, can be accused of thinness, of scamped work, of mere repetition, of mere cobbling up. Every one bears the marks of steady and ferocious labor, as well as of the genius which had at last come where it had been so earnestly called and had never gone away again. It is possible to overpraise Balzac in parts or to mispraise him as a whole. But so long as inappropriate and superfluous comparisons are avoided and as his own excellence is recognized and appreciated, it is scarcely possible to overestimate that excellence in itself and for itself. He stands alone; even with Dickens, who is his nearest analogue, he shows far more points of difference than of likeness. His vastness of bulk is not more remarkable than his peculiarity of quality; and when these two things coincide in literature or elsewhere, then that in which they coincide may be called, and must be called, Great, without hesitation and without reserve.
GEORGE SAINTSBURY.
APPENDIX
THE BALZAC PLAN OF THE COMEDIE HUMAINE
The form in which the Comedie Humaine was left by its author, with the exceptions of /Le Depute d'Arcis (incomplete) and /Les Petits Bourgeois/, both of which were added, some years later, by the Edition Definitive.
The original French titles are followed by their English equivalents. Literal translations have been followed, excepting a few instances where preference is shown for a clearer or more comprehensive English title.
COMEDIE HUMAINE
SCENES DE LA VIE PRIVEE SCENES FROM PRIVATE LIFE
La Maison du Chat-qui Pelote AT the Sign of the Cat and Racket
Le Bal de Sceaux The Ball at Sceaux
La Bourse The Purse
La Vendetta The Vendetta
Mme. Firmiani Madame Firmiani
Une Double Famille A Second Home
La Paix du Menage Domestic Peace
La Fausse Maitresse The Imaginary Mistress Paz
Etude de femme A Study of Woman
Autre etude de femme Another Study of Woman
La Grande Breteche La Grand Breteche
Albert Savarus Albert Savarus
Memoires de deux Jeunes Mariees Letters of Two Brides
Une Fille d'Eve A Daughter of Eve
La Femme de Trente Ans A Woman of Thirty
La Femme abandonnee The Deserted Woman
La Grenadiere La Grenadiere
Le Message The Message
Gobseck Gobseck
Le Contrat de Mariage A Marriage Settlement A Marriage Contract
Un Debut dans la vie A Start in Life
Modeste Mignon Modeste Mignon
Beatrix Beatrix
Honorine Honorine
Le Colonel Chabert Colonel Chabert
La Messe de l'Athee The Atheist's Mass
L'Interdiction The Commission in Lunacy
Pierre Grassou Pierre Grassou
SCENES DE LA VIE PROVINCE SCENES FROM PROVINCIAL LIFE
Ursule Mirouet Ursule Mirouet
Eugenie Grandet Eugenie Grandet
Les Celibataires: The Celibates: Pierrette Pierrette
Le Cure de Tours The Vicar of Tours
Un Menage de Garcon A Bachelor's Establishment The Two Brothers The Black Sheep
Les Parisiens en Province: Parisians in the Country: L'illustre Gaudissart Gaudissart the Great The Illustrious Gaudissart
La Muse du departement The Muse of the Department
Les Rivalites: The Jealousies of a Country Town: La Vieille Fille The Old Maid
Le Cabinet des antiques The Collection of Antiquities
Le Lys dans la Vallee The Lily of the Valley
Illusions Perdues:--I. Lost Illusions:--I. Les Deux Poetes The Two Poets
Un Grand homme de province a Paris, 1re partie A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Part 1
Illusions Perdues:--II. Lost Illusions:--II. Un Grand homme de province, 2e p. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Part 2
Eve et David Eve and David
SCENES DE LA VIE PARISIENNE SCENES
GEORGE SAINTSBURY.
APPENDIX
THE BALZAC PLAN OF THE COMEDIE HUMAINE
The form in which the Comedie Humaine was left by its author, with the exceptions of /Le Depute d'Arcis (incomplete) and /Les Petits Bourgeois/, both of which were added, some years later, by the Edition Definitive.
The original French titles are followed by their English equivalents. Literal translations have been followed, excepting a few instances where preference is shown for a clearer or more comprehensive English title.
COMEDIE HUMAINE
SCENES DE LA VIE PRIVEE SCENES FROM PRIVATE LIFE
La Maison du Chat-qui Pelote AT the Sign of the Cat and Racket
Le Bal de Sceaux The Ball at Sceaux
La Bourse The Purse
La Vendetta The Vendetta
Mme. Firmiani Madame Firmiani
Une Double Famille A Second Home
La Paix du Menage Domestic Peace
La Fausse Maitresse The Imaginary Mistress Paz
Etude de femme A Study of Woman
Autre etude de femme Another Study of Woman
La Grande Breteche La Grand Breteche
Albert Savarus Albert Savarus
Memoires de deux Jeunes Mariees Letters of Two Brides
Une Fille d'Eve A Daughter of Eve
La Femme de Trente Ans A Woman of Thirty
La Femme abandonnee The Deserted Woman
La Grenadiere La Grenadiere
Le Message The Message
Gobseck Gobseck
Le Contrat de Mariage A Marriage Settlement A Marriage Contract
Un Debut dans la vie A Start in Life
Modeste Mignon Modeste Mignon
Beatrix Beatrix
Honorine Honorine
Le Colonel Chabert Colonel Chabert
La Messe de l'Athee The Atheist's Mass
L'Interdiction The Commission in Lunacy
Pierre Grassou Pierre Grassou
SCENES DE LA VIE PROVINCE SCENES FROM PROVINCIAL LIFE
Ursule Mirouet Ursule Mirouet
Eugenie Grandet Eugenie Grandet
Les Celibataires: The Celibates: Pierrette Pierrette
Le Cure de Tours The Vicar of Tours
Un Menage de Garcon A Bachelor's Establishment The Two Brothers The Black Sheep
Les Parisiens en Province: Parisians in the Country: L'illustre Gaudissart Gaudissart the Great The Illustrious Gaudissart
La Muse du departement The Muse of the Department
Les Rivalites: The Jealousies of a Country Town: La Vieille Fille The Old Maid
Le Cabinet des antiques The Collection of Antiquities
Le Lys dans la Vallee The Lily of the Valley
Illusions Perdues:--I. Lost Illusions:--I. Les Deux Poetes The Two Poets
Un Grand homme de province a Paris, 1re partie A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Part 1
Illusions Perdues:--II. Lost Illusions:--II. Un Grand homme de province, 2e p. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Part 2
Eve et David Eve and David
SCENES DE LA VIE PARISIENNE SCENES