tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023956444265128672.post5988528818516364638..comments2024-03-29T04:12:48.987+08:00Comments on The Reading Life: The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac (1837)Mel uhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023956444265128672.post-35555022635896901832014-11-22T07:32:19.732+08:002014-11-22T07:32:19.732+08:00Fred. Yes very different writers. Writers often c...Fred. Yes very different writers. Writers often compete with each other so they lack objectivity and often are not broadly read.Mel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023956444265128672.post-39179232286366784802014-11-22T07:29:26.919+08:002014-11-22T07:29:26.919+08:00Amateur Reader (Tom). I guess what set me off was ...Amateur Reader (Tom). I guess what set me off was "tale having the merit of bringing one in contact with the titanically gasping figure of Balzac himself but totally without value as a comment on, or a projection, of life." He goes on to attack Balzac as having little direct knowledge of life and characterizes most of his work as a "Parisian Nights Entertainment"- to suggest no value as a comment on life just seems very incorrect, to me anyway. I guess Balzac wrote a lot of his work for quick sales somsye that is why Ford called it Parisian nights entertainment. To me that suggest a light insubstantial work of no lasting value. As to realism being a useful term, based on my very limited reading, I an see it useful or true to say the short fiction of Balzac is much more realistic then that of Stendhal but perhaps less than Zola's .<br /><br />Yeah I guess was way to hyperbolic in my remarks on Ford. Thanks very much for your input and guidance on Balzac!Mel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023956444265128672.post-43296605977884787362014-11-20T11:43:47.535+08:002014-11-20T11:43:47.535+08:00Ford was not attacking Balzac. He was arguing aga...Ford was not attacking Balzac. He was arguing against the received idea of Balzac as a realist. Perhaps too strongly. Creating a "Parisian Nights' Entertainment" is a <i>good</i> thing, an artistic achievement.<br /><br />Ford likely had read the entire <i>Comédie Humaine</i>, and in French. I have trouble seeing the role of "ignorance" in what looks like a difference of emphasis or interpretation.<br /><br />For the sake of disclosure, I go as far as Nabokov who calls <i>Madame Bovary</i> a "fairy tale" and have great doubts about the utility of the term "realism" in the context of literature, so perhaps that is why the point stands out to me. But going back to Ford's book, I see no viciousness, and really no attack. There's some criticism.<br />Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023956444265128672.post-49715317762638957002014-11-19T22:44:18.357+08:002014-11-19T22:44:18.357+08:00Mel u,
A classic example that shows why I general...Mel u,<br /><br />A classic example that shows why I generally ignore writers writing about other writers. I enjoy reading Balzac's fiction and Ford's fiction, but they are very different writers, which may account for Ford's disdain for Balzac. <br /><br />What is ironic here is that the Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau is the only novel by Balzac that I gave up on. I lost interest somewhere about 1/3 of the way through. I will try again some time, but right now, it is unique in that I couldn't finish it. Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.com