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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Listings for Author:  

Honoré de Balzac

  

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Honore de Balzac : 

[Bennett] '. . .reread Balzac and de Maupassant and wondered whether he would be acccused of plagiarism.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Arnold Bennett      Print: Book

  

Honore de Balzac : Pere Goriot

'Did you ever read Pere Goriot by Balzac or La Messe de L'Athee they are very good and perfectly readable for ladies and clergymen'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Sydney Smith      Print: Book

  

Honore de Balzac : La Messe de l'Athee

'Did you ever read Pere Goriot by Balzac or La Messe de L'Athee they are very good and perfectly readable for ladies and clergymen'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Sydney Smith      Print: Book

  

Honore de Balzac : [unknown]

'In the late 1880s Gissing immersed himself in contemporary European fiction, as he had during previous periods of his life. Gissing's wide reading has been often noted but rarely assessed. Salient in any study of it would be his reading of Goethe and Heine in 1876 (and throughout his life), Eugene Sue and Henri Murger (in 1878 "Scenes de la Vie Boheme" was deepy influential), Comte (notably "Cours de Philosophie Positive" in 1878), Turgenev (in 1884 - but also constantly, for by the end of the decade he had read "Fathers and Sons" five times), Moliere, George Sand, Balzac, de Musset (whom he called indispensable" in 1885), Ibsen (in German, in the late 1880s), Zola, Dostoevski, the Goncourts (at least by the early 1890s). Gissing read with equal ease in French, German, Greek and latin, and these from an early age. Later he added Italian and late in life some Spanish'.

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: George Gissing      Print: Book

  

Honore de Balzac : [unknown]

'Gissing, probably more than any of his contemporaries, knew well the main trends of European literature at that time, for he continued to read widely in both French and German, as well as English. During the eighteen-eighties, he re-read George Sand and much of Balzac; read Zola for the first time; purchased cheap German editions of Turgenev and read them all; was famiiar with Daudet, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and later de Maupassant; and read Ibsen as his work became available and in the late eighties saw his plays when they were performed for the first time in London'.

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: George Gissing      Print: Book

  

Honoré de Balzac : [unknown]

'Pearl's conversation was always full of references to the works of the French novelists of the period, so I proceeded to read books by Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert, Anatole France and Colette. I had to read the Italian poets in translation. All this was a great joy to me, and, as I have said, a wonderful education.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Zoe Procter      Print: Book

  

Honore de Balzac : Wild Ass's Skin, The

'Balzac We were introduced by Henry M. Wallis to the novels of Balzac by an introduction to & readings from The Wild Asses Skin. A general discussion on the novel & the author followed and Mrs Unwin read some extracts from an article upon Balzac published some few years ago in 'Everyman'. [these extracts, summarising Balzac's career are quoted at length] Mrs Robson read from 'Le Pere Goriot' 'Old Goriot' Rosamund Wallis read 'Christ in Flanders' with its fine description of a ferryboat in a storm & the mysterious stranger who lead [sic] those who had faith walking over the waters to safety when the boat capsized'.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Henry Marriage Wallis      Print: Book

  

Honore de Balzac : Pere Goriot

'Balzac We were introduced by Henry M. Wallis to the novels of Balzac by an introduction to & readings from The Wild Asses Skin. A general discussion on the novel & the author followed and Mrs Unwin read some extracts from an article upon Balzac published some few years ago in 'Everyman'. [these extracts, summarising Balzac's career are quoted at length] Mrs Robson read from 'Le Pere Goriot' 'Old Goriot' Rosamund Wallis read 'Christ in Flanders' with its fine description of a ferryboat in a storm & the mysterious stranger who lead [sic] those who had faith walking over the waters to safety when the boat capsized'.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Robson      Print: Book

  

Honore de Balzac : Christ in Flanders

'Balzac We were introduced by Henry M. Wallis to the novels of Balzac by an introduction to & readings from The Wild Asses Skin. A general discussion on the novel & the author followed and Mrs Unwin read some extracts from an article upon Balzac published some few years ago in 'Everyman'. [these extracts, summarising Balzac's career are quoted at length] Mrs Robson read from 'Le Pere Goriot' 'Old Goriot' Rosamund Wallis read 'Christ in Flanders' with its fine description of a ferryboat in a storm & the mysterious stranger who lead [sic] those who had faith walking over the waters to safety when the boat capsized'.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Rosamund Wallis      Print: Book

  

Honoré de Balzac : La cousine Bette

'Left at 12.30 and reached Munich at 9, but the journey didn't seem at all long. Read Morelli and "La Cousine Bette". Stopped at the Hotel Belle Vue, supper and so to bed.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Gertrude Bell      Print: Book

  

Honoré de Balzac : La Recherche de l'Absolu

'Read till Dejeuner; sat opposite the Espieux. Afterwards finished the "Cathédral[e]" and talked to M. de Rival. Played chess with the bearded gentleman, finished "Paris", talked to the Belgian missionary. Had a conversation about beliefs with the Commandant. Temp 92. Began the "Recherche de l'Absolu". The Captain took me to see the little Ourang Outang — horrible. There is a baby very ill on board. It nearly died today. After dinner piquet.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Gertrude Bell      Print: Book

  

Honoré de Balzac : La Comédie Humaine

'I have spoken of his affection for Dickens. Trollope he liked. Thackeray I think not over much, though he had a due regard for such creations as Major Pendennis. Meredith's characters were to him "seven feet high," and his style too inflated. He admired Hardy's poetry. He always spoke with appreciation of Howells, especially of the admirable "Rise of Silas Lapham". His affectionate admiration for Stephen Crane we know from his introduction to Thomas Beer's biography of that gifted writer. Henry James in his middle period--the Henry James of "Daisy Miller", "The Madonna of the Future", "Greville Fane", "The Real Thing", "The Pension Beaurepas"--was precious to him. But of his feeling for that delicate master, for Anatole France, de Maupassant, Daudet, and Turgenev, he has written in his "Notes on Life and Letters". I remember too that he had a great liking for those two very different writers, Balzac and Mérimée. Of philosophy he had read a good deal, but on the whole spoke little. Schopenhauer used to give him satisfaction twenty years and more ago, and he liked both the personality and the writings of William James.'

Century: 1850-1899 / 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Joseph Conrad      Print: Book

  

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