"Balzac created life. He did not copy it." [Oscar Wilde, `The Decay of Lying'].
Do you agree?
I partially agree with Wilde's statement, however I believe that the first part of the statement is essentially complimentary and serves only to qualify the second. I don't believe that Wilde thought that Balzac actually created life in the literal sense of the term. I believe that it was said in order to emphasize the fact that Balzac didn't copy life. To what extent Balzac imitated real life is debatable. In the preface to the Comedie Humaine Balzac writes:
"Chance is the greatest novelist in the world: one has only to study it in order to be fertile. French society was to be the historian, I had only to be the secretary... A writer could, if he adopted this method of rigorously, literal reproduction, become a more or less, faithful, happy, patient, or courageous painter of human types ... but if I was to deserve the praises which any artist must aspire to, I must need study the causes or central cause of these social facts, and discover the meaning hidden in that immense assembly of faces, passions and events" (Preface to La Comedie Humaine, 1842).
This opening statement from Balzac depicts him as a social and natural historian, however Balzac's emphasis seems to be on studying life rather than copying it. According to Martin Kanes, Balzac may have copied more than Wilde thinks, stating, "We know that behind the novel was a supposed real-life incident now lost to us ... but Balzac's remark thoroughly confuses the real and the fictional. Is this fiction? Is this history?" (Kanes p.53). Pere Goriot is historically accurate insofar as it mentions historical figures such as Napoleon or Genghis K...
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...ends of the moral spectrum. Now Eugene's melodramatic consciousness is fully functional he sees Paris as more like Vautrin's "mudhole" than the Duchess de Langeais' "heights".
In the preface to Pere Goriot, Balzac stated that "All is true", maybe this is not a claim to social realism but an introduction to the melodrama that is to follow. Brooks takes this to be "an active solicitation of the reader to enter into the highly drama played out behind the banalities of quotidian existence" (Brooks p.152). So to conclude, I agree that Balzac created life only insofar as he did not directly copy it. The sheer scale of the melodrama inherent in the novel makes whatever Balzac did copy (in the case of the alleged real-life incident) obscure and the historical and geographical accuracy, inconsequential.
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Perhaps the most evident display of transformation comes in the form of Isabelle’s social and moral evolution which is stimulated by her illicit relationship with Stephen in Part 1 of Faulks’ naturalistic novel. Isabelle’s husband, Azaire is a symbol of the “old wealth” in the Belle Époque era; he is a factory owner and enjoys an important social presence within Amiens: “There would have been no doubt that this was a property of a substantial man”...
Michel de Montaigne was one of the most influence writers of the French Renaissance. He is famous for inventing the essay. He compiled 107 of his essays in to the book entitled Essays. In the introduction to his book, Montaigne says "I am myself the subject of my book." (Goebel, ed 179) Many of his essays are about himself, however, in some cases he strives to understand the world around him. In Of Cannibals, Montaigne seeks to understand the "barbarians" of the New World.
Wing,N. (1986). The Limits of Narrative: Essays on Baudelaire, Flaubert, Rimbaudand Mallarme . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press . p57.
In the short story “An Adventure in Paris” by Guy De Maupassant an unnamed woman seeks for adventure, love, and excitement. An unnamed narrator starts to explain the inner nature and curiosity of a woman. The story transitions to the point of view of an unnamed lawyer’s wife which allows us to see her deepest desire to travel to Paris and be part of the lavishing life she has seen in the magazines. To escape her regular routine she makes a plan to go to Paris; however, her family members are only middle class and cannot help her fulfill her desire to live the life of a celebrity, fame, and fashion. Just when her trip seems to be monotonous she comes across the chance to live the life of an extravagant person. This chance happens when she meets Jean Varin, a wealthy author, in a store wanting to purchase a Japanese figurine. When Varin decides that the figurine is too expensive the lawyer’s wife steps up to buy the figurine which causes Varin to notice her. She flirtatiously invites herself into Varin’s daily activities which intrigue Varin. As the day closes she invites herself to Varin’s house and has an affair with Varin; however, she doesn’t feel she is satisfied because of his many needs. She anxiously waits till morning to come so that she can leave which only confuses Varin. When Varin asks her why she is leaving after all they have been through she states that she wanted to know what depravity felt like; however, it was not what she expected. The central idea of the story is about a woman’s psychological desire for romance, adventure, and an opulent lifestyle that leads to curiosity and the immoral act of adultery.
Guy, Josephine M. "Self-Plagiarism, Creativity and Craftsmanship in Oscar Wilde." English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, vol. 41, no. 1, Jan. 1998, pp. 6-23.
Baudelaire, Charles. The Parisian Prowler. Trans. Edward K. Kaplan. 2nd ed. Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1997.
Existentialism, a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness, isolation and freedom upon and individual is a major theme in John Fowles’, The French Lieutenants Woman. Is our life ordained by the superior, or do we power our future? In chapter 13, Fowles interrupts the narration and notes the natural aspects of writing as a novelist, the freedom of the characters that he has created, and the time and structure o f the novel itself. Though awkward to incorporate the authors visions in their own literature, it is manipulated fiction, meta-fiction that is, which perhaps is a subject of major interest amongst the readers of The French Lieutenants Woman. At first, in chapter 13, it becomes evident that he himself, Fowles, is uncertain of his writings, “I do not know” he immediately confirms. By the third paragraph he has repeated the word “perhaps” five times, demonstrating Fowles puzzlement of whether he restrains his characters, or, they control him? Fowles addresses on behalf of all novelists, and comments on the natural features of writing, that a novelist has no predetermined illustration from chapter one.
Gustave Flaubert incorporates and composes a realistic piece of literature using realistic literature techniques in his short story, “A Simple Heart.” Flaubert accomplishes this through telling a story that mimics the real life of Félicité, and writing fiction that deliberately cuts across different class hierarchies; through this method, Flaubert
Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays of Montaigne. Trans. DonaldM. Frame. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1958.
Spontaneous Generation thought to be the Origin of Life until the 1850's. Through a Science Fair that was sponsored by the French Academy of Science, it was Louis Pasteur who was responsible for disapproving this myth.
Gustave Flaubert incorporates and composes a realistic piece of literature using realistic literaryature techniques in his short story, “A Simple Heart.” Flaubert accomplishes this through telling a story that mimics the real life of Félicité, and writing fiction that deliberately cuts across different class hierarchies; through this method, Flaubert is able to give the reader a clear understanding of the whole society. Flaubert makes the unvarnished truth about simple hearts clear by exposing a clear replica of a realistic story, therefore, allowing the reader to clearly understand the society and the different classes of characters.
Historically, Wilde was a staunch—even notorious—advocate of Aestheticism: a doctrine popular throughout Europe in the late nineteenth century which held that “art exists for the sake of its beauty alone, and that it need serve no political, didactic, or other purpose” (Britannica). Indeed, David Cooper in his Companion to Aesthetics argues that the doctrine “asserts not merely that a work of art should be judged only on ...
Gibbs, Beverly Jean. "Impressionism as a Literary Movement." The Modern Language Journal 36.4 (1952): 175-83. JSTOR. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
Impressionism is the name given to the art movement that changed art forever. Starting in France in the 1860's, Impressionism was considered a radical break from tradition.1 Through the work of artists including Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Edgar Degas impressionism was born. Impressionists painted outside and focused greatly on light and its reflection. They painted quickly on primed white canvas with short visible brushstrokes and placed separate colours side by side letting the viewer’s eyes mix them. (Techniques uncommon to art at this time) Regarding their subject they again broke with tradition and painted anything they wanted including the modernity of Paris and the everyday life of its citizens. This new found freedom regarding subject along with unconventional techniques greatly displeased the L’École des Beaux-Arts where academic artists would have worked on subjects such as history, royalty and mythology.2 In contrast to the impressionists their work had a smooth varnished finish, showing little to no evidence of the artist’s presence. Having introduced Impressionism, I aim to in this essay analyse why the city of Paris is at the heart of the impressionist movement. Firstly by looking at how Paris helped create the impressionist movement and secondly how Paris fuelled it.
This passage in Honorè de Balzac’s novel Père Goriot describes the ultimatum Rastignac gives to himself after experiencing a harsh transition of luxury to filth, as he sees it. Before Rastignac enters his meek lodgings he has a life altering discussion with Madame de Beausèant. They talked about the price he would have to pay to gain acceptance into Parisian high society. The contrast he experiences ultimately fuels his greed and reckless behavior. This drives him further on to his mission of making his fortune. In a close reading of this passage the narrator takes turns of telling Rastignac’s point of view and his own. The adjectives used to describe Rastignac’s actions and thoughts add to the sense of urgency he feels. The sharp contrast between the elegant and the common is made more prevalent in Rastignac’s eyes.