honoré de balzac the unknown masterpiece

He created a cast of over two thousand individual and identifiable characters, some of whom reappear in different novels. In more than ninety novels, he set forth French society and life as he saw it. Honoré De Balzac (1799-1850) is generally credited as the inventor of the modern realistic novel. The story, which has served as an inspiration to artists as various as Cezanne, Henry James, Picasso, and New Wave director Jacques Rivette, is, in critic Dore Ashton's words, a 'fable of modern art.' Published here in a new translation by poet Richard Howard, 'The Unknown Masterpiece' appears, as Balzac intended, with 'Gambara,' a grotesque and tragic novella about a musician undone by his dreams. No wonder Cézanne was so moved by it that he declared “I am Frenhofer.One of Honore de Balzac's most celebrated tales, 'The Unknown Masterpiece' is the story of a painter who, depending on one's perspective, is either an abject failure or a transcendental genius-or both. These are only a few of the questions that arise in this 160-page story. One can also focus on the exploration of the relation between the male painter and the female nude. One can read it as the difficulty of distinguishing between the authentically new and a mad obsession. When his Frenhofer claims that there are no outlines in nature, Balzac seems to be anticipating the Impressionists by 30 years. The implication that Balzac predicted the evolution of modern art is irresistible. One can read it running forward anachronistically. The novella is open to various interpretations. Undone by the incomprehension of his colleague, Frenhofer sets fire to his studio and dies amid his whole production. It is the story of a fictional 17th-century painter, Frenhofer, who spends 10 years on the portrait of a woman and ends up with what a young Nicolas Poussin, (in his text, Balzac mixes fictional and historical characters) describes as nothing but confused masses of color contained by a multitude of strange lines, forming a high wall of paint out of which emerges a delightful foot. This summer, I went back to a Balzac novella, The Unknown Masterpiece.

When I want to branch out, I simply abandon the great, classical novels of my three geniuses and turn to their short stories. I am an obsessive re-reader: since my adolescence Balzac, Tolstoy, and Proust have been my constant companions.

Honoré de balzac the unknown masterpiece