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Balzac's Literary Reputation in Victorian Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Clarence R. Decker
Clarence R. Decker*
Affiliation:
Illinois Wesleyan University
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Extract

The history of the controversy over naturalism in England centered about the translations of the writings of Zola, and the trial in 1888 of the publisher Henry Vizetelly. The first translations of Zola's writings appeared in 1884, and almost immediately aroused a storm of criticism. These writings, however, were not the first to call the attention of the English public to French naturalism. Just as in France Balzac, Baudelaire, Flaubert, and others had prepared the way for Le Roman Expérimental, so also in England translations of Balzac's novels, Baudelaire's influence on Swinburne, and Saintsbury's articles on French writers had helped to prepare the way for Zola translations. English critics of the Victorian era recognized Balzac as the father of French realism, and as one who anticipated in many ways the theories of the naturalists. The reaction of the English critics to the work of Balzac is an interesting commentary on changing literary fashions, and an important expression of Victorian literary taste.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 47 , Issue 4 , December 1932 , pp. 1150 - 1157
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1932

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References

1 “French Novels,” Quarterly Review (April, 1836), lvi, 69.

2 “The Philosophy of Fiction,” Westminster Review (April, 1838), xxxi, 92.

3 “Balzac's Sketches of Country Life,” Monthly Review (Sept., 1840), cliii, 111. See also p. 292.

4 “Novels,” Monthly Review (Dec., 1844), clxvi, 549.

5 “Balzac and George Sand,” Foreign Quarterly (July, 1844), xxxiii, 265–299.—See also (April, 1843), xxx, 182–8, and Monthly Review, (May, 1844), clxv, 23 for other articles on Balzac for this period.

6 “Balzac and his Writings,” Westminster Review (July, 1853), lx, 207. See also pp. 199–215.

7 “The Last of the Regenerators,” Irish Quarterly Review (July, 1858), viii, 433.

8 “Honoré de Balzac,” Bentley's Miscellany, xlvi, 157.

9 “A Triad of French Writers,” Dublin University Magazine (Sept., 1864), lxiv, 330. See also “The Style of Balzac and Thackeray,” lxiv, 621, and “Balzac—His Literary Labours,” lxx, 529.

10 “Balzac at Home,” St. Paul's Magazine (July, 1868), ii, 430.

11 “Some Recent English Novels,” Fortnightly Review (June, 1871), xv, 736. See also “Beauty and Realism,” pp. 723–731.

12 “Balzac's Novels,” Fortnightly Review (Jan., 1871), xv, 38.

13 “Honoré de Balzac,” Galaxy (Dec., 1875), xx, 820.

14 “Letter to Joseph Knight,” Nov. 28, 1875. Reprinted in Letters of Algernon C. Swinburne (London: Heinemann, 1919), i, 222.

15 “Balzac,” Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (March, 1877), cxxi, 300–324.

16 “Honoré de Balzac,” Temple Bar (Dec., 1878), liv, 535.

17 “Balzac,” Gentleman's Magazine (Dec., 1878), xxi, 617–632.

18 “The Correspondence of M. de Balzac,” Edinburgh Review (Oct., 1878), cxlix, 532.

19 “The Age of Balzac,” Contemporary Review (June, 1880), xxxvii, 1004–45.

20 “Balzac,” Cornhill Magazine (April, 1886), liii, 471.

21 “Honoré de Balzac,” Spectator (Sept., 1886), lix, 1180.

22 “The Novels of Balzac,” Temple Bar (Oct., 1886), lxxviii, 199.

23 Ibid., p. 392.

24 “A Realist at Work,” Belgravia (Jan., 1890), lxxi, 32.

25 “Balzac,” Academy (Mar., 1890), xxxvii, 144.

26 “The Realism of Balzac,” Gentleman's Magazine (June, 1894), lii, 596–607.

27 “Balzac,” Fortnightly Review (May 1, 1899), lxxi, 745.

28 Ibid.