Balzac died in Paris, August 18, 1850, at the height of his fame; but he was hardly appreciated at his true value until the epoch-making study of Taine (1865) showed him to be truly classic, one of the world's greatest creators in imagina tive literature. The dominant trait in his style, imagination, and thought is exuberant virility. He has the animal and the intellectual intem perance of a romantic realist. He observes with minute accuracy, but it is with a poet's vision. He is of his world, yet be dominates it. No depths, no heights, of human nature seem foreign to him. His qualities become his defects. He is embarrassed at once by his wealth of ideas and of words. At his best his style is admirable, but it often staggers and occasionally falls under over-elaboration. In construction the stories lack proportion, hut in character-drawing he stands next to Shakespeare. Here are the money grubbers and the money-spenders, studied realis tically and in symbolic types; cynics who mock the pleasures they pursue; parasites of social disease; fresh young girls: restless 'women of thirty'; poor relatives; philanthropists; saints —a social microcosm. Here is a novelist who tried to see life steadily and whole, to correlate all the material, moral, and social factors of modern society. With Shakespeare and Saint Simon. says Taine, Balzac is "the greatest store
house of documents that we have on human nature!' Balzac's works: 24 vols, fiction separately; Human Comedy, 47 vols.; Droll Stories, 3 vols.; Drama, 2 vols.; Correspondence, 2 vols.; Let ters to Madame Hanska, I vol. The youthful Works are published in 10 vols.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The more essential books for Bibliography. The more essential books for a study of Balzac are Louvenjoul, Histoire des ‘Eurre; de Honore de Bahoc (Paris, 18S6) ; Cerfbeer and Christophe. Repertoire de la Conte die Burnable (Paris, l8S7), a dictionary of characters. For abstracts of plots consult Bar riere, L'fL'arre de Balzac (Paris, 1890) ; for criticism. Louvenjoul, La Genese (Fun roman de Bakate: Les Paysans (Paris, 1901) ; the essays of Table, Sainte-Tleuve. Fagnet, Zola, Paul Flat, Domnic, and Wells, Century of French Fiction; for biography: Wormley, Memoir of Bakac (Boston, 1892; defective) ; Ferry. Bakae et ses Antis (Paris, 1888) ; Leiner, Dakar, sa Vie et scs Durres (Paris, 1892). Translations, fairly complete and satisfactory, of the Human Conz edy are published in London, Boston, Philadel phia, and New York. The last contains valuable editorial and critical continent by W. P. Trent. Saltus, Value (Boston, 1888) has a good bibli ography,