Le Diable a Paris
Il portait un costume qui jurait avec tout élégance, habit étriqué sur un corps colossa pilet débraillé, linge ,1,- gros chanvre, lias bleus souliers qui creusaient 1,- tapis, apparence d'u neca qui a grandi pendant l'anné et dont la taille fait éclater le vêtement, voil l'homme qui valait à lui s,-ul une bibliothèque 'i son siècle.
Tho spectacle of such a monster poeinj as arb mtiarum of Paria is an amusin;
ono ; but how typical of Balzac, whos
clothes, rding t,> anothor eyo-witnosi
wore always too smull or too largo, to
narrow or too wide. 'Lia' charlatanism i
Balzac, his " olegant " protonsions, are m
onlv dooply eharactoristic of liis montalit
and lus work, they are symbolical of h
age — in which war profiteers ami retlirne
exiles vainly aped tho distinction of tl
ancien régime. And ail this sham mixil
with Balzac'a sterling gonius, his swif
probing intelli vos ono a little coi
fuse I aboul t ho purposo of tins
tho At timoa tins purpot|
M'oins satirical in an almosl revolutionai
sonse, when he saya that ail govornmem
n insurance contrael between tho rie
nul when he doclaroa h
ist for " los préjugés qui amènent h
imes a passer los uns près dos autres i
• \ liant comn But thse
and simil r oxpressions are merely lie
normal disL'ust of tho individual for tho
tivo follics ho is unablo tu alto or
ape ; Balzac had too kca a
o of reality, too sharp an anjoj ont • •f tho expensive things of life, to be reformer. Ile is not o satirist, ho ia a rclist. Observing thaï tho world is dividedinto tlie l'ow who lead the expenaivo or " clo-nt,
lift» and the inany who contribute towan it. he smiplv made up his mind to be oi of the few ; and so he plunged, actual as woll as theoretically, into his " élégances Werdet, ono of his publishers, 1ms loft r amusing accounl of Balzac's display on tl evening of tho publication of his "Xiiv: Mystique." Werdel found him dressed a liL'ht blue coat with chasod gold button black trousors fastonod under tl white piqué waistcoat on which shone tl links of a microscopic gold chain, black --i stockings, patent lea&her shoes, very tu linen (" irreproachably white <»> tl< «on"!), fresh buttor-coloured gli
i hat of io il and h
famous stick. Théj drove t,> the mo fashionable restaurant of tho dey. ai thonco to tho théâtre in "■ il cou]
mu' the arms of Balzac d'Enti drivon by a colossal coachman braided «n gold and ci ion, le. I by an imporceptib i • ri les de la fashion la pli observées.
ipiritod proie •
the i radi ; t il mie of n ,,f in ter
but. alas ! we know too woll tho fearf toll Balzac paid for it. and tOO many « i Cis( of the faillira to maint. un ut " standard. Of ail tl
aplu o l through tins treatis
« lu, -h rings w ■ 1 1 1 a | eculiar tone
i - the gixl h : " l'n artiste vu
il t eut . ou t . . comme il poul Pot
, ' (.hiuilnis Flostrin e nu n ni il."
i il brainless game. Il<u\ tan a man w ln> ii.' fourteon liours a daj keep his trousersl rfcrtly creased ? Balzac i< iml the Srstl tist, intoxicatod by succoss, to i>hmgel wild effort to rival the wealthv;' tt the enthusiasm of liis attempt, thoj ergy ho put into it, the rulcs which tliis mphlot shows lie made for himself, andl e grotesque failure o£ it ail — that is| ilzac.
M. Vareze complains that analysis of thèse latises is almost impossible beeause they - SO " touffus." That is stating the diffieulty lier mildly. As a matter of faet, they are 3alzaciau chaos, in spite of the affectation method, the numbered aphorisms, and s like. One of those wide surveys of conaporary society in which Balzac delighted well in the opening pages of " La i Elégante," but somehow fails to deop. Some interesting remarks on what should eall the snobbery of Restoration iety are unfoi tunately eut short by a y journalistic " interview " with Beau îmmell, who (oneis shoeked to contemplate still draeged on a precarious existenee Boulogne. Whenever Balzac tires of an a, lie interjects a few more aphorisms 1 starts off on a new traek, only to interit himself agam : the resuit is strangely ppy : profound remarks are jammed in ween an ineptitude and a flashy anece. The "Théorie de la Démarche," which i natural pendant to the élégant life, is lost equally discursive and unplarmed.
is really a device for setting off a séries character sketches made from a café of
Boulevards, much as a élever draughts- !i might invent some thème to hold| atfaer a set of studies. There is
eharacteristic anecdote of " M. S ,
îiiste et capitaliste, profond observateur
grand philosophe," and "M. O ,
spéculateur, un homme d'Etat." And re are " reflections " in the true Baian vein. What is really remarkable he ext.'nt to which thèse two pamphlets, i dashed off in a couple of days probably, r the mark of their creator what!
French call the " griffe de maître. "j re thèse pièces printed without the author' ictlieywould at once be attributed te tac and to no other.
/^. :^èï
in 2011 with funding from
University of Toronto
http://www.archive.org/details/lediableparisparOOsand
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