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XXVII. Is Rene Boylesve a Disciple of Balzac?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Aaron Schaffer
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Extract

That René Boylesve is descended in a direct line from Balzac has for years been a commonplace with critics. As long ago as 1906, Henri Gheon styled Boylesve a “fils direct de Balzac.” Jules Bertaut, after pointing out that Boylesve's characters, like himself, are very “sensibles,” and that the provincials among them, having been forced to suppress their individualities, experience violent emotional crises when, for one reason or another, they tear themselves loose, adds this comment: “Le grand Balzac le savait bien, lui qui a dressé ses plus belles figures de grand passionnés dans d'inertes chefs-lieux de canton!” Pierre Lasserre says of la Becquée that it has “de fortes ressemblances avec un chef-d'œuvre balzacien.” Similarly, Winifred Stephens, in her essay on Boylesve, sees in his work “the minuteness of a Balzac,” and Mme Mary Duclaux, compares Boylesve's Touraine novels to the Scènes de la vie de province of the Comédie humaine. Indeed, the work of Boylesve almost inevitably calls up the name of Balzac. It is the purpose of the present paper to determine whether this resemblance is anything more than a superficial one and, if it is not, to see wherein lies the originality of Boylesve.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 1926 , pp. 488 - 496
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1926

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References

1 In a review of le Bel avenir published in l'Ermitage for January 15, 1906 (p. 61).

2 In an essay on Boylesve included in his les Romanciers du nouveau siècle (Paris, Sansot, 1912, pp. 34-64).

3 In a footnote to a review of Madeleine jeune femme reprinted in Portraits et discussions (Paris, Gamier frères, no date, p. 214).

4French Novelists of Today: Second Series, London and New York, 1915, p. 229.

5 Twentieth Century French Writers: Reviews and Reminiscences, New York, 1920, p. 117.

6 “Les Marges,” Gazette littéraire, No. 5, Oct. 1904, pp. 161-3.

7 January 1923, pp. 109-16.

8 Œuvres completes, ed. Bouteron et Longmon—the edition cited in the present paper—Vol. XXV, cf. especially, pp. 24-27.

9 Since there is, as yet, no édition définitive of the Oeuvres complètes of Boylesve, his novels referred to in this paper are of various editions and dates. The following is the list of the novels in the order in which they are here mentioned, with the publishers and dates of the first edition: le Bel avenir (Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1905); Madeleine jeune femme (Calmann-Lévy, 1912); Mademoiselle Cloque (Paris, Editions de la Revue blanche, 1899) ; la Becquée (Revue blanche, 1901); l'Enfant à la balustrade (Calmann-Lévy, 1903); la Jeune fille bien élevée (Floury, 1909) ; la Leçon d'amour dans un parc (Revue blanche, 1902) ; Mon amour (Calmann-Lévy, 1908); Souvenirs du jardin détruit (Paris, Ferenczi, 1924); Ah! Plaisez-moi (Paris, Nouvelle revue française, 1922); Je vous ai désirée un soir (Paris, Fayard, 1924); Nouvelles leçons d'amour dans un parc (Paris, Editions du Livre, 1924); le Médecin des dames de Néans (Paris, Ollendorff 1896); le Meilleur ami (Paris, Fayard, 1909).

10 Balzac par Emile Faguet, Paris, 1913. Cf. especially chapters VI and VII.