BALZAC, HONORE DE

Additional reading Charles V. Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, Histoire des oeuvres de Honor de Balzac, 3rd rev. ed. (1888, reprinted 1968), is still indispensable for Balzacian research. See also William H. Royce, A Balzac Bibliography: Writings Relative to the Life and Works of Honor de Balzac (1929, reprinted 1969). There are many excellent editions of Balzac's complete works. A complete, compact collection of Balzac's letters consists of Roger Pierrot (ed.), Correspondence, 5 vol. (196069), and Lettres Madame Hanska, 4 vol. (196771). Biographies include V.S. Pritchett, Balzac (1973, reprinted 1983), a concise introduction; Andr Maurois, Prometheus: The Life of Balzac (1965, reissued 1983); Herbert J. Hunt, Honor de Balzac (1957, reprinted 1969); Thophile Gautier, Honor de Balzac (1859, reissued 1980); and Ferdinand Brunetire, Honor de Balzac: 17991850 (1906, reprinted 1970). Among general works are Diana Festa-McCormick, Honor de Balzac (1979), an introductory critical survey; Christopher Prendergast, Balzac: Fiction and Melodrama (1978), a comparative study of his novels; Samuel Rogers, Balzac and the Novel (1953, reissued 1969), a thoughtful work; Herbert J. Hunt, Balzac's Comdie Humaine (1959, reprinted 1964), a complete historical and analytical study that shows the work's expansion; Jules Bertaut (ed.), Balzac (1959), including an interesting tribute by Michel Butor; Philippe Bertault, Balzac and The Human Comedy (1963, originally published in French, 1946), a judicious general study by a great Balzacian scholar; Frederick W.J. Hemmings, Balzac: An Interpretation of La Comdie Humaine (1967), a perceptive analysis of Balzac in relation to his times; and Stefan Zweig, Balzac, 2nd ed. (1970; originally published in German, 1946), an assessment.