Message on the author Honore de Balzac. Brief biography of Balzac. "Scenes of Private Life"

fr. Honore de Balzac

French writer, one of the founders of realism in European literature

short biography

The French writer, "the father of the modern European novel", was born on May 20, 1799 in the city of Tours. His parents did not have a noble origin: his father came from peasants with a good commercial streak, and later changed his surname from Balsa to Balzac. The particle "de", indicating belonging to the nobility, is also a later acquisition of this family.

The ambitious father saw his son as a lawyer, and in 1807 the boy, against his will, was sent to Vendôme College, an educational institution with very strict rules. The first years of study turned into a real torment for the young Balzac, he was a regular in the punishment cell, then he gradually got used to it, and his inner protest resulted in parodies of teachers. Soon, the teenager was overtaken by a serious illness, which forced him to leave the college in 1813. The forecasts were the most pessimistic, but five years later the disease receded, allowing Balzac to continue his education.

From 1816 to 1819, while living with his parents in Paris, he worked as a clerk in a judicial office and at the same time studied at the Paris School of Law, but did not want to associate his future with jurisprudence. Balzac managed to convince his father and mother that a literary career was exactly what he needed, and from 1819 he took up writing. In the period up to 1824, the novice author published under pseudonyms, giving out, one after another, frankly opportunistic novels that did not have great artistic value, which he himself later defined as “real literary disgusting”, trying to recall as rarely as possible.

The next stage in the biography of Balzac (1825-1828) was associated with publishing and printing activities. His hopes to get rich did not materialize, moreover, huge debts appeared, which forced the failed publisher to pick up the pen again. In 1829, the reading public learned about the existence of the writer Honore de Balzac: the first novel, Chouans, signed by his real name, was published, and in the same year it was followed by The Physiology of Marriage (1829) - a manual written with humor for married people men. Both works did not go unnoticed, and the novel "The Elixir of Longevity" (1830-1831), the story "Gobsek" (1830) caused quite a wide response. 1830, the publication of "Scenes of Private Life" can be considered the beginning of work on the main literary work - a cycle of stories and novels called "The Human Comedy".

For several years the writer worked as a freelance journalist, but his main thoughts until 1848 were devoted to composing works for the "Human Comedy", which included a total of about a hundred works. Schematic features of a large-scale canvas depicting the life of all social strata of contemporary France, Balzac worked in 1834. The name for the cycle, replenished with more and more new works, he came up with in 1840 or 1841, and in 1842 the next edition came out already with new heading. Fame and honor outside the homeland came to Balzac during his lifetime, but he did not think to rest on his laurels, especially since the amount of debt left after the failure of publishing was very impressive. The tireless novelist, correcting the work once again, could significantly change the text, completely reshape the composition.

Despite the intense activity, he found time for secular entertainment, trips, including abroad, did not ignore earthly pleasures. In 1832 or 1833 he began an affair with Evelina Hanska, a Polish countess, who at that time was not free. Beloved gave Balzac a promise to marry him when she became a widow, but after 1841, when her husband died, she was in no hurry to keep him. Mental anguish, impending illness and great fatigue caused by many years of intense activity made the last years of Balzac's biography not the happiest. His wedding with Hanska nevertheless took place - in March 1850, but in August, Paris, and then the whole of Europe, spread the news of the writer's death.

Balzac's creative heritage is huge and multifaceted, his talent as a narrator, realistic descriptions, ability to create dramatic intrigue, convey the most subtle impulses of the human soul, put him among the greatest prose writers of the century. Both E. Zola, M. Proust, G. Flaubert, F. Dostoevsky, and prose writers of the 20th century experienced his influence.

Biography from Wikipedia

Born in Tours in the family of a peasant from Languedoc Bernard Francois Bals (Balssa) (06/22/1746-06/19/1829). Balzac's father made a fortune by buying and selling confiscated noble lands during the years of the revolution, and later became assistant to the mayor of the city of Tours. Has no relation to the French writer Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (1597-1654). Father Honore changed his surname and became Balzac. Mother Anna-Charlotte-Laura Salambier (1778-1853) was much younger than her husband and even outlived her son. She came from a family of a Parisian cloth merchant.

The father prepared his son for advocacy. In 1807-1813, Balzac studied at the College of Vendome, in 1816-1819 - at the Paris School of Law, at the same time he worked as a scribe for a notary; however, he abandoned his legal career and devoted himself to literature. Parents did little for their son. He was placed at the College Vendôme against his will. Meetings with relatives there were forbidden all year round, with the exception of the Christmas holidays. During the first years of his studies, he repeatedly had to be in a punishment cell. In the fourth grade, Honore began to come to terms with school life, but he did not stop mocking teachers ... At the age of 14, he fell ill, and his parents took him home at the request of the college authorities. For five years, Balzac was seriously ill, it was believed that there was no hope of recovery, but soon after the family moved to Paris in 1816, he recovered.

The director of the school, Maréchal-Duplessis, wrote in his memoirs about Balzac: "Starting from the fourth grade, his desk was always full of writings ...". Honore was fond of reading from an early age, he was especially attracted by the work of Montesquieu, Holbach, Helvetius and other French enlighteners. He also tried to write poetry and plays, but his childhood manuscripts have not been preserved. His essay "Treatise on the Will" was taken away by the teacher and burned before his eyes. Later, the writer will describe his childhood years in an educational institution in the novels “Louis Lambert”, “Lily in the Valley” and others.

After 1823, he published several novels under various pseudonyms in the spirit of "violent romanticism". Balzac strove to follow the literary fashion, and later he himself called these literary experiments "real literary disgust" and preferred not to think about them. In 1825-1828 he tried to engage in publishing activities, but failed.

In 1829, the first book signed with the name "Balzac" was published - the historical novel "Chuans" (Les Chouans). The formation of Balzac as a writer was influenced by the historical novels of Walter Scott. Balzac's subsequent works: "Scenes of Private Life" (Scènes de la vie privée, 1830), the novel "The Elixir of Longevity" (L "Élixir de longue vie, 1830-1831, a variation on the themes of the legend of Don Juan); the story "Gobsek" ( Gobseck, 1830) attracted the attention of the reader and critics.In 1831, Balzac published his philosophical novel La Peau de chagrin and began the novel La femme de trente ans (La femme de trente ans). stories "(Contes drolatiques, 1832-1837) - an ironic stylization of Renaissance short stories. In part autobiographical novel" Louis Lambert "(Louis Lambert, 1832) and especially in the later" Seraphite "(Séraphîta, 1835) reflected Balzac's fascination with the mystical concepts of E Swedenborg and Cl. de Saint-Martin.

His hope of getting rich had not yet materialized (heavy debt is the result of his unsuccessful business ventures) when fame began to come to him. Meanwhile, he continued to work hard, working at his desk for 15-16 hours a day, and annually publishing 3 to 6 books.

In the works created during the first five or six years of his writing activity, the most diverse areas of contemporary French life are depicted: the village, the province, Paris; various social groups - merchants, aristocracy, clergy; various social institutions - family, state, army.

In 1845, the writer was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.

Honore de Balzac died on August 18, 1850, at the age of 52. The cause of death is gangrene, which developed after he injured his leg on the corner of the bed. However, the fatal disease was only a complication of several years of excruciating ailment associated with the destruction of blood vessels, presumably arteritis.

Balzac was buried in Paris, at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. " All the writers of France came out to bury him". From the chapel where he was said goodbye to the church where he was buried, among the people carrying the coffin were Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.

Balzac and Evelina Ganskaya

In 1832, Balzac met Evelina Ganskaya in absentia, who entered into correspondence with the writer without revealing her name. Balzac met with Evelina in Neuchâtel, where she arrived with her husband, the owner of vast estates in Ukraine, Wenceslas of Gansky. In 1842, Wenceslas Gansky died, but his widow, despite many years of romance with Balzac, did not marry him, because she wanted to pass on the inheritance of her husband to her only daughter (having married a foreigner, Ganskaya would have lost her fortune). In 1847-1850, Balzac stayed at the estate of Ganskaya Verkhovnya (in the village of the same name in the Ruzhinsky district of the Zhytomyr region, Ukraine). Balzac married Evelina Hanska on March 2, 1850 in the city of Berdichev, in the church of St. Barbara, after the wedding the couple left for Paris. Immediately upon arrival home, the writer fell ill, and Evelina looked after her husband until his last days.

In the unfinished "Letter about Kyiv" and private letters, Balzac left mention of his stay in the Ukrainian towns of Brody, Radzivilov, Dubno, Vyshnevets visited Kyiv in 1847, 1848 and 1850.

Creation

Composition of The Human Comedy

In 1831, Balzac had the idea to create a multi-volume work - a "picture of manners" of his time - a huge work, later entitled by him "The Human Comedy". According to Balzac, The Human Comedy was supposed to be the artistic history and artistic philosophy of France - as it developed after the revolution. Balzac worked on this work throughout his subsequent life; he includes in it the majority of already written works, specially for this purpose he reworks them. The cycle consists of three parts:

"Etudes on Morals"
"Philosophical Studies"
"Analytical Studies".

The most extensive is the first part - "Etudes on Morals", which includes:

"Scenes of Private Life"

"Gobsek" (1830),
"Thirty-year-old woman" (1829-1842),
"Colonel Chabert" (1844),
"Father Goriot" (1834-35)

"Scenes of Provincial Life"

"Turkish priest" ( Le curé de Tours, 1832),
Evgenia Grande "( Eugenie Grandet, 1833),
"Lost Illusions" (1837-43)

"Scenes of Parisian Life"

trilogy "The Story of Thirteen" ( L'Histoire des Treize, 1834),
"Caesar Birotto" ( Cesar Birotteau, 1837),
Nucingen Banking House ( La Maison Nucingen, 1838),
"Shine and poverty of courtesans" (1838-1847),
"Sarrasin" (1830)

"Scenes of Political Life"

"A case from the time of terror" (1842)

"Scenes of military life"

"Chuans" (1829),
"Passion in the Desert" (1837)

"Scenes of village life"

"Lily of the Valley" (1836)

Subsequently, the cycle was replenished with the novels "Modesta Mignon" ( Modeste Mignon, 1844), "Cousin Betta" ( La Cousine Bette, 1846), "Cousin Pons" ( Le Cousin Pons, 1847), as well as, in its own way summing up the cycle, the novel The Reverse Side of Modern History ( L'envers de l'histoire contemporaine, 1848).

"Philosophical Studies"

They are reflections on the patterns of life.

"Shagreen Skin" (1831)

"Analytical Studies"

The cycle is characterized by the greatest "philosophy". In some works - for example, in the story "Louis Lambert", the volume of philosophical calculations and reflections many times exceeds the volume of the plot narrative.

Balzac's innovation

The end of the 1820s and the beginning of the 1830s, when Balzac entered literature, was the period of the greatest flowering of Romanticism in French literature. The big novel in European literature by the arrival of Balzac had two main genres: a novel of personality - an adventurous hero (for example, Robinson Crusoe) or a self-deepening, lonely hero (The Suffering of Young Werther by W. Goethe) and a historical novel (Walter Scott).

Balzac departs both from the novel of personality and from the historical novel of Walter Scott. He aims to show the "individualized type". In the center of his creative attention, according to a number of Soviet literary critics, is not a heroic or outstanding personality, but modern bourgeois society, the France of the July Monarchy.

"Studies on Morals" unfold the picture of France, paint the life of all classes, all social conditions, all social institutions. Their leitmotif is the victory of the financial bourgeoisie over the landed and tribal aristocracy, the strengthening of the role and prestige of wealth, and the weakening or disappearance of many traditional ethical and moral principles associated with this.

In the Russian Empire

Balzac's work found its recognition in Russia during the life of the writer. Much was published in separate editions, as well as in Moscow and St. Petersburg magazines, almost immediately after the Paris publications - during the 1830s. However, some works were banned.

At the request of the head of the Third Department, General A.F. Orlov, Nicholas I allowed the writer to enter Russia, but with strict supervision..

In 1832, 1843, 1847 and 1848-1850. Balzac visited Russia.
From August to October 1843, Balzac lived in St. Petersburg, in Titov's house on Millionnaya Street, 16. That year, a visit by such a famous French writer to the Russian capital caused a new wave of interest in his novels among local youth. One of the young people who showed such interest was Fyodor Dostoevsky, a 22-year-old second lieutenant of the St. Petersburg engineering team. Dostoevsky was so delighted with the work of Balzac that he decided immediately, without delay, to translate one of his novels into Russian. It was the novel "Eugene Grande" - the first Russian translation, published in the magazine "Pantheon" in January 1844, and the first printed publication of Dostoevsky (although the translator was not indicated during publication).

Memory

Cinema

Feature films and television series have been made about the life and work of Balzac, including:

1968 - "Mistake of Honore de Balzac" (USSR): director Timofey Levchuk.
1973 - Balzac's Great Love (TV series, Poland-France): director Wojciech Solyazh.
1999 - "Balzac" (France-Italy-Germany): director José Diane.

Museums

There are several museums dedicated to the writer's work, including in Russia. In France they work:

house museum in Paris;
Balzac Museum in the Chateau Sacher of the Loire Valley.

Philately and numismatics

In honor of Balzac, postage stamps from many countries of the world were issued.

Postage stamp of Ukraine, 1999

Postage stamp of Moldova, 1999

In 2012, the Paris Mint as part of the numismatic series “Regions of France. Famous people”, minted a 10 euro silver coin in honor of Honore de Balzac, representing the Center region.

Bibliography

Collected works

in Russian

Collected works in 20 volumes (1896-1899)
Collected works in 15 volumes (~ 1951-1955)
Collected works in 24 volumes. - M.: Pravda, 1960 ("Spark" Library)
Collected works in 10 volumes - M .: Fiction, 1982-1987, 300,000 copies.

in French

Oeuvres completes, 24 vv. - Paris, 1869-1876, Correspondence, 2 vv., P., 1876
Letters à l'Étrangère, 2 vv.; P., 1899-1906

Artworks

Novels

Chouans, or Brittany in 1799 (1829)
Shagreen leather (1831)
Louis Lambert (1832)
Eugenia Grande (1833)
The History of Thirteen (Ferragus, leader of the devorants; Duchess de Langeais; Golden-eyed girl) (1834)
Father Goriot (1835)
Lily of the Valley (1835)
Nucingen Banking House (1838)
Beatrice (1839)
Country Priest (1841)
Balamutka (1842) / La Rabouilleuse (fr.) / Black sheep (en) / alternative titles: Black Sheep / Bachelor's Life
Ursula Mirue (1842)
Thirty Years Old Woman (1842)
Lost Illusions (I, 1837; II, 1839; III, 1843)
Peasants (1844)
Cousin Betta (1846)
Cousin Pons (1847)
The Luster and Poverty of the Courtesans (1847)
MP for Arcee (1854)

Novels and stories

House of a Cat Playing Ball (1829)
Marriage Contract (1830)
Gobsek (1830)
Vendetta (1830)
Goodbye! (1830)
Country Ball (1830)
Marital Consent (1830)
Sarrazin (1830)
Red Inn (1831)
Unknown Masterpiece (1831)
Colonel Chabert (1832)
The abandoned woman (1832)
Belle of the Empire (1834)
Involuntary Sin (1834)
The Devil's Heir (1834)
The constable's wife (1834)
Shout of salvation (1834)
Witch (1834)
The Persistence of Love (1834)
Bertha's Remorse (1834)
Naivety (1834)
The Marriage of the Belle of the Empire (1834)
Forgiven Melmoth (1835)
Mass of the Godless (1836)
Facino Canet (1836)
Secrets of the Princess de Cadignan (1839)
Pierre Grasse (1840)
The Imaginary Mistress (1841)

Screen adaptations

Shine and Poverty of Courtesans (France; 1975; 9 episodes): director M. Kaznev. Based on the novel of the same name.
Colonel Chabert (film) (fr. Le Colonel Chabert, 1994, France). Based on the story of the same name.
Don't Touch the Ax (France-Italy, 2007). Based on the story "The Duchess de Langeais".
Shagreen leather (French La peau de chagrin, 2010, France). Based on the novel of the same name.

Data

In the story of K. M. Stanyukovich "A Terrible Disease" the name of Balzac is mentioned. The protagonist Ivan Rakushkin, an aspiring writer with no creative talent and doomed to failure as a writer, is comforted by the thought that Balzac wrote several bad novels before he became famous.

Categories:

Honoré de Balzac - famous French novelist, born May 20, 1799 in Tours, died August 18, 1850 in Paris. For five years he was sent to an elementary school in Tours, and at the age of 7 he entered the Jesuit College of Vendôme, where he stayed for 7 years. In 1814, Balzac moved with his parents to Paris, where he completed his education - first in private boarding schools, and then in Sorbonne where he enthusiastically listened to lectures Gizo, Cousin, Willeman. At the same time, he was studying law to please his father, who wanted to make him a notary.

Honore de Balzac. Daguerreotype 1842

Balzac's first literary experience was the tragedy in verse "Cromwell", which cost him a lot of work, but turned out to be worthless. After this first failure, he abandoned tragedy and turned to romance. Motivated by material need, he began to write one after another very bad novels, which he sold for several hundred francs to various publishers. Such work because of a piece of bread was extremely burdensome for him. The desire to get out of poverty as soon as possible involved him in several commercial enterprises that ended in complete ruin for him. He had to liquidate the business, taking on more than 50,000 francs of debt (1828). Subsequently, thanks to new loans for the payment of interest and other monetary losses, the amount of his debts increased with various fluctuations, and he languished under their burden all his life; only shortly before his death did he finally manage to get rid of his debts. In the early 1820s, Balzac met and became close friends with Madame de Berny. This woman was the good genius of his youth in the most difficult years of struggle, deprivation and uncertainty. By his own admission, she had a huge influence both on his character and on the development of his talent.

Balzac's first novel, which was a resounding success and put him forward among other novice writers, was The Physiology of Marriage (1829). Since then, his fame has been growing continuously. His fertility and tireless energy are truly amazing. In the same year, he published 4 more novels, the next - 11 ("Thirty-year-old Woman"; "Gobsek", "Shagreen Skin", etc.); in 1831 - 8, including the "Country Doctor". Now he works even more than before, with extraordinary care he finished his works, several times redoing what he had written.

Geniuses and villains. Honore de Balzac

Balzac was more than once tempted by the role of a politician. In his political views, he was strict legitimist. In 1832, he put forward his candidacy for deputies in Angouleme and on this occasion expressed the following program in one private letter: “The destruction of all nobility, with the exception of the chamber of peers; separation of the clergy from Rome; the natural frontiers of France; complete equality of the middle class; recognition of true superiority; cost savings; increasing revenues through better distribution of taxes; education for all".

Having failed in the elections, he took up literature with new zeal. 1832 11 new novels were published, among other things: "Louis Lambert", "Abandoned Woman", "Colonel Chabert". At the beginning of 1833, Balzac entered into a correspondence with Countess Hanska. From this correspondence arose a romance that lasted 17 years and ended in marriage a few months before the death of the novelist. A monument to this novel is the voluminous volume of Balzac's letters to Mrs. Ganskaya, later published under the title Letters to a Stranger. During these 17 years, Balzac continued to work tirelessly, and in addition to novels, he wrote various articles in magazines. In 1835 he began publishing the Paris Chronicle himself; this edition lasted for a little over a year and as a result brought him 50,000 francs of a net deficit.

From 1833 to 1838 inclusive, Balzac published 26 stories and novels, among them "Eugenia Grande", "Father Goriot", "Seraphite", "Lily of the Valley", "Lost Illusions", "Caesar Biroto". In 1838 he again left Paris for a few months, this time for a commercial purpose. He dreams of a brilliant enterprise that can immediately enrich him; he goes to Sardinia, where he is going to exploit the silver mines, known since the days of Roman rule. This venture ends in failure, as a more dexterous businessman took advantage of his idea and interrupted his path.

Until 1843, Balzac lived almost without a break in Paris, or in his estate Les Jardies, near Paris, which he bought in 1839 and turned into a new source of constant expenses for him. In August 1843, Balzac went to St. Petersburg for 2 months, where Mrs. Ganskaya was at that time (her husband owned vast estates in Ukraine). In 1845 and 1846 he twice traveled to Italy, where she spent the winter with her daughter. Urgent work and various urgent obligations forced him to return to Paris and all his efforts were aimed at finally paying off his debts and arranging his affairs, without which he could not fulfill his cherished dream of his life - to marry his beloved woman. To a certain extent, he succeeded. Balzac spent the winter of 1847 - 1848 in Russia, at the estate of Countess Hanskaya near Berdichev, but a few days before the February Revolution, money matters called him to Paris. However, he remained completely alien to the political movement and in the autumn of 1848 he again went to Russia.

In 1849 - 1847, 28 new novels by Balzac appeared in print (Ursula Mirue, The Country Priest, Poor Relatives, Cousin Pons, etc.). Since 1848, he has been working little and publishing almost nothing new. The second trip to Russia turned out to be fatal for him. His body was exhausted by “excessive work; this was joined by a cold that fell on the heart and lungs and turned into a long drawn-out illness. The harsh climate also had a detrimental effect on him and interfered with his recovery. This state, with temporary improvements, dragged on until the spring of 1850. On March 14, the marriage of Countess Ganskaya with Balzac took place in Berdichev. In April, the couple left Russia and went to Paris, where they settled in a small hotel bought by Balzac a few years before and decorated with artistic luxury. The health of the novelist, however, was deteriorating, and finally, on August 18, 1850, after a severe 34-hour agony, he died.

The significance of Balzac in literature is very great: he expanded the scope of the novel and, being one of the main founders realistic and naturalistic trends, showed him new paths, along which in many ways he went until the beginning of the 20th century. His basic view is purely naturalistic: he looks at every phenomenon as the result and interaction of certain conditions, a known environment. According to this, Balzac's novels are not only an image of individual characters, but also a picture of the entire modern society with the main forces that govern it: the general pursuit of the blessings of life, the thirst for profit, honors, position in the world, with all the various struggles of large and small passions. At the same time, he reveals to the reader the entire behind-the-scenes side of this movement in the smallest detail, in its everyday life, which gives his books the character of a burning reality. When describing characters, he highlights one main, predominant feature. According to Fai, for Balzac every person is nothing more than "some kind of passion, which is served by the mind and organs and which is counteracted by circumstances." Thanks to this, his heroes receive extraordinary relief and brightness, and many of them have become household names, like the heroes of Moliere: thus, Grande became synonymous with stinginess, Goriot - fatherly love, etc. Women occupy a large place in his novels. With all his merciless realism, he always puts a woman on a pedestal, she always stands above the environment, and is a victim of the egoism of a man. His favorite type is a woman of 30-40 years old (“Balzac age”).

The complete works of Balzac were published by himself in 1842 under the general title " human comedy”, with a preface where he defines his task as follows: “to give a history and at the same time a criticism of society, an investigation of its ailments and an examination of its beginnings.” One of the first translators of Balzac into Russian was the great Dostoevsky (his translation of "Eugenie Grande", made even before hard labor).

(For essays on other French writers, see the "More on the topic" section below the text of the article.)

France

Citizenship (citizenship) Occupation novelist Years of creativity With Direction realism Language of works French Awards (1845) Autograph Media files at Wikimedia Commons Quotations on Wikiquote

The father prepared his son for advocacy. In -1813, Balzac studied at the College of Vendôme, in - - at the Paris School of Law, at the same time he worked for a notary as a scribe; however, he abandoned his legal career and devoted himself to literature. Parents did little for their son. He was placed at the College of Vendôme against his will. Meetings with relatives there were forbidden all year round, with the exception of the Christmas holidays. During the first years of his studies, he repeatedly had to be in a punishment cell. In the fourth grade, Honore began to come to terms with school life, but he did not stop mocking teachers ... At the age of 14, he fell ill, and his parents took him home at the request of the college authorities. For five years, Balzac was seriously ill, it was believed that there was no hope of recovery, but soon after the family moved to Paris in 1816, he recovered.

The director of the school, Maréchal-Duplessis, wrote in his memoirs about Balzac: "Starting from the fourth grade, his desk was always full of writings ...". Honore was fond of reading from an early age, he was especially attracted by the work of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Holbach, Helvetius and other French enlighteners. He also tried to write poetry and plays, but his childhood manuscripts have not been preserved. His essay "Treatise on the Will" was taken away by the teacher and burned before his eyes. Later, the writer will describe his childhood years in an educational institution in the novels Louis Lambert, Lily in the Valley and others.

In 1845, the writer was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.

Honore de Balzac died on August 18, 1850, at the age of 52. The cause of death is gangrene, which developed after he injured his leg on the corner of the bed. However, the fatal illness was only a complication of several years of excruciating ailment associated with the destruction of blood vessels, presumably arteritis.

Balzac was buried in Paris, in the Père Lachaise cemetery. " All the writers of France came out to bury him". From the chapel where he was said goodbye to the church where he was buried, among the people carrying the coffin were Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.