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Balzac's Interior Descriptions as an Element in Characterization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Ray P. Bowen
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Extract

Much has been said about Balzac's interior descriptions and their intrinsic value in his character portraitures, of his “oyster-and-its-shell” theory, as it is called, but very little exact analysis has been given them. Monsieur H. Clouzot's interesting article, L'Ameublement dans la Comédie Humaine d'Honoré de Balzac, is the only one which treats the subject at any length. Even here the author does not show how Balzac worked to obtain his effects, nor does he succeed in proving that a particular setting is as nearly indispensable to a complete rendering of the characterization as Balzac hoped and as his admirers have supposed.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 1925 , pp. 289 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1925

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References

1 Gobseck, p. 278. (All references are to the Calmann-Lévy edition.)

2 Revue de la Semaine, 2 déc., 1921, no. 48, pp. 25-52.

3 Clouzot declares: “Un peu plus et vous reconstituriez l'habitant rien qu'à la vue de sa demeure, et c'est en effet ce que cherche l'auteur.” Cf. Taine: “L'homme intérieur laisse son empreinte dans sa vie extérieure, dans sa maison, dans ses meubles.” (Nouveaux essais de critique et d'histoire, Balzac, p. 69).

4 Les Œuvres Complètes, V. I, 3.

5 P. 166. Cf. Gobseck, p. 278, “Sa maison et lui se ressemblaient.” Cf. also, Béatrix, p. 15.

6 Eugénie Grandet, p. 8.

7 Ibid., p. 22.

8 Le père Goriot, p. 10.

9 See Avant propos, p. 15.

10 César Birotteau, p. 251.

11 Ibid., p. 228.

12 La Cousine Bette, p. 53.

13 Ibid., p. 333.

14 Un Grand Homme de Province, p. 344.

15 Le Curé de Tours, p. 245.

16 La Cousine Bette, p. 34. A common feature, however, in the habitats of the two old maids consists in “le logement particulier où il n'était permis à personne de pénétrer.”

17 César Birotteau, p. 214. Cf. also the Séchard abode (Les deux Poètes, p. 9).

18 E. A. Poe, The Philosophy of Furniture, (1840), Stone and Kimball ed., IX, 180.

19 La Recherche de l'Absolu, p. 14.

20 Le Cousin Pons, p. 174.

21 Cf. Château du Gaisnic (Béatrix, p. 10); the house of Dr. Benassin (Le Médecin de Campagne, p. 62); the Grandet house (Eugénie Grandet, p. 24); the home of Ursule Mirouet (Ursule Mirouet, p. 111); the apartment of Florine (Une Fille d'Eve, p. 271); the Vauquer pension (Le Père Goriot, p. 7); Pons' apartment (Le Cousin Pons, p. 56).

22 A notable exception is the piano in the room of Mlle. Birotteau (César Birotteau, p. 46). Cf. Le Cousin Pons, p. 277, where Schmucke plays for the dying Pons. Cf. also note 26.

23 Cf. what Balzac says about constructing the frame first and then painting in the portrait (Beatrix, p. 15).

24 Un Cœur Simple.

25 Un Grand Homme de Province, p. 225.

26 Le Curé de Tours, p. 209.

27 Un Ménage de Garçon, p. 7.

28 Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées, p. 7.

29 The apartment of Mme. Leseigneur (La Bourse, p. 150) may be cited as a striking exception. There we find the unifying traits of which Professor Dargan speaks (Modern Philology, XVII, 114), even to the name of Leseigneur. In spite of the apparent poverty of the two ladies, their rooms revealed their aspirations and the respect they held for the career and rank of M. Leseigneur. There were pictures of “les Batailles d'Alexandre par Le Brun,” and another of “un militaire.” The chairs showed “des cicatrices aussi nombreuses que celles des vieux sergents de la garde impériale.” Over the fireplace hung “une longue-vue magnifiquement ornée, suspendue au-dessus de la petite glace verdâtre.” The bulk of the furniture, however, was of the usual run: a clock, candlesticks, Sèvres china and a card table.

30 St. Julien L'Hospitalier. Cf. also in Un Cœur Simple the description of the country road as Félicité trudged along carrying her dead parrot.

31 La Cousine Bette, p. 153.

32 Ibid., p. 88. This would seem to say more about Hulot than Bette.

33 Un Grand Homme de Province, p. 269.

34 La Cousine Bette, p. 6. Cf. also Finot's office as viewed by Lucien (Un Grand Homme de Province, p. 247) ; Mme. Leseigneur's apartment as described by young Schinner (Loc. cit.) ; Pons' reaction toward the Camusot home (Le Cousin Pons, p. 28); Gobseck's rooms as seen by Derville (Gobseck, p. 277).

35 Cf. the following where Balzac thinks that setting reveals character, personality and customs: Mlle. Cormon's home (La Vieille Fille, pp. 243 ff); the apartment of Abbé Chapeloud (Le Curé de Tours, p. 209) which was “si bien en rapport avec la gravité des mœurs ecclésiastiques”; M. Marneff's bedroom which contained articles as worn and faded as himself (La Cousine Bette, p. 52). In Gobseck, p. 285, we learn that “la figure de la comtesse Restaud ressemblait à cette chambre parsemée des débris d'une fête.” The salon at d'Esgrignon Balzac thought was especially adapted to be a proper setting for dowagers (Le Cabinet des antiques, p. 14).

36 Causeries du lundi, II, 448, 454, 455.

37 Clouzot, op. cit.

38 Les Deux Poètes, loc. cit., note 17.

39 Le Cousin Pons, loc. cil., note 20.

40 La Cousine Bette, p. 52.

41 La Vieille Fille, p. 36.

42 Ibid., p. 53.

43 Le Lys dans la vallée, p. 35.

44 P. 22.

45 Le Père Goriot, pp. 5 ff.

46 Cf. also the description of Mme. Leseigneur's apartment: “Pour un observateur il y avait je ne sais quoi de désolant dans le spectacle de cette misère fardée comme une vieille femme qui veut faire mentir son visage” (La Bourse, p. 152). Note also Lousteau's room where, “Là, cette misère était sinistre” (Un Grand Homme de Province, p. 208). Compare also Gigonnet's lodgings in which we find monastic austerity, and an atmosphere like that of a cellar (César Birotteau, loc. cit., note 10).

47 Cf. Flaubert's claim that he wrote novels in definite tone colors in Le Journal des Goncourt, I (17 mars, 1861).

48 P. 4.

49 Pp. 148ff. Cf. also the Château de Clochegourde (Le Lys dans la Vallée, p. 35); the house of Rogron (Pierrette, p. 45); the apartment of Mme. Moreau (Le Début dans la vie, p. 225); Dr. Poulain's rooms (Le Cousin Pons, p. 192).

50 Le Lys dans la Vallée, loc. cit., note 49.

51 Gobseck, p. 101.

52 Cabinet des Antiques, p. 14. Cf. also Mme. Claës in her heavily panelled dark “parloir” with her black hair and eyes, and olive complexion, dressed in white percale, sitting in the light shining through the red curtains (La Recherche de l'Absolu, loc. cit., note 19).

53 P. S.

54 Le Cousin Pons, loc. cit., note 20.

55 Ibid., p. 189.

56 Ibid., p. 338.

57 Les Deux Poètes, p. 168. Cf., however, the blue and white bedroom of Mme. Camusot (Cabinet des antiques, p. 152).

58 Le Cousin Pons, p. 190.

59 César Birotteau, p. 251.

60 Ibid., p. 105.

61 Un Grand Homme de Province, II, 79.

62 Ibid., p. 82.

63 Gobseck, p. 280. In describing the Grandet house Balzac limited the color green to a “voÛte verdâtre” and “une glace verdâtre” (Eugénie Grandet pp. 23, 24).

64 Eugénie Grandet, p. 25.

65 Un Grand Homme de Province, p. 344. Cf. also the personal habits of Dr. Rouget and his son contrasted with their beautiful home: “Entre les deux croisées il existait une riche console venue d'un château et sur le marbre de laquelle s'élevait un immense pot de la Chine ou le docteur mettait son tabac.” “On crachait sur un foyer d'une exquise délicatesse dont les moulures dorées étaient jaspées de vert de gris” (Un Ménage de Garçon, p. 147). See, too, “la maison Claës” so superbly dignified which brings out in relief its owner, an untidy, shabby man, with long unkempt hair (La Recherche de l'Absolu, p. 20).

66 Un Grand Homme de Province, II, 87.

67 Cf. Taine: “le commun des lecteurs demeure respectueusement la bouche béante, implorant tous bas le secours d'une vignette ou d'un portrait” (op. cit., p. 68).