Balzac

Saltus, Edgar, 1855-1921Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 262K words
Chapters: 27

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Balzac by Edgar SaltusAuthor: Saltus, Edgar, 1855-1921,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Sep 16, 2014

Editor's review

This book is a critical biography of Balzac by Edgar Saltus, a public-domain work in the Project Gutenberg free eBook collection. Saltus was an American writer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; in an essayistic style he sketches Balzac's life and creative profile. It is not a scholarly work of documentary research but a literary commentary with a personal touch. For readers who want to understand Balzac and his work from the perspective of an English-language writer of his own or a slightly later era, this short biography offers an accessible entry point. The prose is literary in bent and helps readers form an initial impression of Balzac's times and literary standing. It works well as background reading before or after The Human Comedy, and is also suitable for casual reading by those interested in the history of nineteenth-century French literary criticism. Note that this is an English public-domain eBook, bearing the ideas and stylistic traces of its era; it should not be treated as a contemporary authoritative biography.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary enthusiasts who want to learn about Balzac's life from an English writer's perspective
Readers who need background material before or after reading The Human Comedy
Readers interested in nineteenth-century French literature and the critical biography as a form
Those accustomed to public-domain English eBooks who prefer an essayistic style

Not a good fit for

Researchers who need a contemporary authoritative scholarly biography or detailed documentary research
Readers who are not comfortable reading in English and expect a Chinese translation
Tool-oriented readers who want a systematic chronology and complete analysis of the works

Reading tips

Read one or two of Balzac's major works first, then read this critical biography to compare with your own impressions.
Treat it as an essayistic guide; there is no need to read every chapter closely—skip around according to interest.
Mark evaluations that refer to specific works as you read, so you can look back at the originals.
If the English is difficult, read it alongside a Chinese-language Balzac biography for comparison.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a work written by Balzac himself?

No. It is a critical biography of Balzac written by Edgar Saltus; Balzac is the subject, not the author. The book discusses Balzac's life and work; it does not include the text of Balzac's own novels.

Is this book suitable as a main reference for Balzac studies?

It is not suitable as a main reference. It is an early essayistic critical biography with the author's personal perspective and the style of its era, and it lacks the notes and documentary apparatus of modern scholarship. It is better suited to introductory background reading or supplementary browsing.

What language skills are needed to read this book?

This is an English public-domain eBook and requires some English reading ability. The book involves nineteenth-century French literary background and personal and place names; readers with a basic knowledge of Balzac's life will find it easier to follow.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free public-domain eBooks. This edition is the English electronic text released on that platform, easy to obtain and search free of charge on a computer or e-reader. The text is based on public-domain content and contains no modern introduction or scholarly notes.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Saltus, Edgar, 1855-1921 Author

Edgar Saltus (1855–1921) was an American writer whose life and education are poorly documented in publicly available sources; the library currently holds fifteen of his works. His subject matter is notably varied. He produced popular cultural histories built around broad themes, such as Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern and The Lords of the Ghostland: A History of the Ideal, as well as Imperial Purple, a work centered on the Roman Empire, and essays with a speculative, pessimistic bent in The Philosophy of Disenchantment. His novels, including The Truth About Tristrem Varick, Eden: An Episode and Mr. Incoul's Misadventure, often draw on upper-class society and combine satire with sensational incident in an ornate, faintly decadent style. The library classifies him under inspirational and personal growth, but his work is in fact a blend of popular history, reflective essay and plot-driven fiction, suited to readers interested in late nineteenth-century American popular genres.