“French society would be the historian; I was only to be the secretary.” So Honoré de Balzac humbly characterized his sprawling, multi-volume panorama of French geography and social life. But as the Dantesque title of his Human Comedy suggests, Balzac was more a commentator—a Virgilian guide—than a copyist. By analyzing how historical forces and social […]
Source : Altars of Novelty and Profit
