Balzac intends to dedicate his "Analytical Studies" to the disclosure of the principles upon which the various public institutions are based. (among which his attention attracts first the marriage union). Taking into account the original Human Comedy project, the reader got the impression that Balzac had the intention of writing a new collection of tales similar to "Thousand and One Night." The author himself understands that his novel series could be compared to the legendary series of ancient tales, so he initially thought of naming him "Thousand and One Nights in the West."

image source

Balzac is the discoverer of the socially committed novel, exploring in depth the problems of the formation of France after the Great Revolution (1789-1893) of civil society. During the nineteenth century and most of the twentieth century, European novelists self-defined their poetics, almost comparing it with the Balzac novel's strategy. It is precisely Balzac that introduces the systemic study of human nature and the social changes in the novel, and opposes the romantic romanticist's approach to track the evolution of the individual fate of a protagonist concentrated primarily on the upbringing of emotions within himself. Balzac declared as a new commitment to the novelist his intention to link the fictional world of the novel with the latest research and achievements in the social and human sciences. He shares the idea that an inventory and classification of human species should be made, taking into account the achievements of the chemist Quouvie and the natural scientist Geoffroy, to thoroughly describe and subdivide the chemical elements and animal species. It is guided by the belief that the social system is organized under the same rules and laws as the hierarchy of the animal world. Balzac is confident that in the creative arsenal the writer must necessarily include the two fundamental operations that characterize the work of the scientist - the detailed description and the in-depth explanation: "Society should contain the cause of its development", he says in the preface of "Human Comedy".

Even in his early creative years, when he shares some of the attitudes of the romantic, Balzac understands that after the Great Revolution, every man, great or ordinary, is a compelling traveler on the ship of history. As a well-known novelist he shares the belief that history necessarily shapes the boundaries in which the life-struggle of each of us unfolds. It predisposes and prompts people to make their choices in life - an act that is often considered an entirely individual undertaking. It evolves forward, in its development there is a certain direction: the description of the past helps to explore the present, serves the anticipation of the future. The story, perceived as a mosaic of artistic-analytical texts, is the ultimate goal to which Balzac, the novelist and narrator, has been oriented as a researcher and narrator. This writer is portrayed as "a complete and faithful historian of truth, as more a historian than a novelist." He is convinced that he will always be successful, even when the story goes down: "I have done much more than the historian, because I am far more free of him," Balzac says. He argues that his ambition as a novelist is to make a detailed inventory of the morals, social groups, professional circles and institutions of the French society as his conscientious "secretary".

---

Part 1

Part 2

part 3

Part 4