web analytics

Day: 24 May 2011

The Literary Laboratory of Honore Balzac Is Found in France

After Leonardo’s portrait discovered in 2009, and the imminent conclusion about what may be the remains of Mona Lisa, this is probably the next most important artistic discovery of the last few years. In France, a dedicated bibliophile Gérard Lhéritier, collector and founder of the Musée des lettres et manuscrits, has found the inedited manuscript, entitled Pensées, Sujets, Fragments, in the collection of Jacques Crépet, the most recent student of Balzac’s work. The manuscript contains notes, sketches, and phrases that had later found their way into the opus magnus of the celebrated French author – The Human Comedy by Honoré de Balzac. Mohammed Aissaoui reports.

I read Balzac’s biography by André Maurois, while still at school. Maurois, himself a great writer, has composed a powerful portrait of one of the greatest men-of-letters. His Balzac was a humorous chap, who dedicated himself entirely to his trade, spending days and nights in the attic, drinking extra-strong coffee to keep himself from sleeping, consumed by producing the most ambitious work literature has seen since the days of Dante, perhaps: a 140-pieces cycle of novels and novellas, under the common title La Comédie humaine. Out of those planned, Balzac managed to complete 90 different pieces in his lifetime, if my memory doesn’t fail me.

Maurois mentions the notepad with all the sketches, notes, and plans. Now we can see that it does contain a lot of information, written in the most tiny handwriting, to save the paper. 56 pages are covered with black, violet, and sepia ink. For instance, here is the plan for Father Goriot: “A brave man – boarding house – 600 francs of rent – gave everything to his daughters who both have 50,000 francs of pension – is dying like a dog”.  And this phrase eventually found its way into The Shagreen Skin (The Magic Skin): “Sometimes a crime may be a whole romance” (“Un grand crime, c’est quelquefois un poème“).

Apart from the literary notes, the notepad contains house plans, the list of names, checklists, and even sketches. Without a doubt, we now have one of the valuable insights into the artist’s “kitchen”, or “study”. It should be an inspiration to many of us.

Alexander Blok – Night, A Streetlight, A Street, A Chemist’s

Recently a Russian query has led to my blog: “и повторится все как встарь аптека улица”. So here is my English translation of a well-known poem by Alexander Blok, Night, a Streetlight, a Street, a Chemist’s, where the Russian line comes from. The poem studies the life’s ennui that is persistent despite time and place.

Night, a streetlight, a street, a chemist's,
All in a dim and useless light.
In the next twenty-five years
They'll still prevail, against one's plight.

And you may die, but then, returning,
You'll see again the same old night,
The icy canal's waters running,
The street, the chemist's, the streetlight.

The end of May is wonderful, mostly warm, sometimes windy, but ever so hopeful. I recall the moments when I felt down, and I smile because I have since well learnt the wisdom of Nietzsche, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Wherever I happen to be, is the best place on Earth – because I choose it to be. Manchester was good for many years, now it is Moscow, the place where I was born but that I seem to have barely known. Not to mention Russia – I don’t think I know it at all.

alexander-blok-night-streetlight-street-chemists
Alexander Blok – Night, a Streetlight, a Street, a Chemist’s

Everything I planned to do between February and May has been accomplished. Of the things I planned for May and June, I’m well on track to accomplish those, too. There’s still a lot more to do until the end of the year. Obviously, when you don’t have to worry about providing every single thing for yourself it becomes easier to do whatever you set your sights upon.

In France, they discovered the mysterious “carnet” of Balzac, with sketches and plans for the Human Comedy. More than ever before I agree with Picasso, it is futile and unnecessary and, in fact, dangerous to create something that is “beautiful”, especially today. Beauty is a compromise between the artist’s vision and the audience’s sensibilities. We are creating something that has good artistic taste; whether it is beautiful or not, is decided by a point of view.

I nearly wrote “no more statements”, but that’s a statement in itself. In one way or another, over the past few years, I managed to let life become too small, too complex, but it’s pointless to think, why, or how it happened. Perhaps, it had to happen. I do believe that certain things happen to us to teach us a lesson. The past months show that I’ve probably learnt mine.

You see, when you have so many gifts you have to carve your own niche in every field, even life itself is just another place to be different. So, it’s hard to be me, really. But I wouldn’t give up any of it.

More posts on Alexander Blok

 
error: Sorry, no copying !!