History of the Comedie humaine Honore de Balzacs

In 1842, when Honoré de Balzac began to compile a collection of all his published novels entitled La comédie humaine – which included famous works such as La Peau de chagrin or Le père Goriot –, it was less the metaphysical order of the Divina Commedia Dante Alighieris that he had in mind, and more physical thinking in “milieus” – an idea taken from the current scientific theory of the age. This exploration of milieus in French society after 1789 was simultaneously both a sociological and a biological project. For Balzac, a hat, the pattern of a frock coat, or the color of a glove held the same importance as the vertebra of a dinosaur to the paleontologist Georges Cuvier – for him they were elements with which one could reconstruct a person’s social status, just by looking at the clothing of a typical individual. The work Comédie humaine became a source of literature that advanced new life sciences in France in the first half of the 19th century.

This lecture will be delivered in German by the German Romance Philologist and literary scholar Marc Föcking. Invitation extended by Prof. Dr. Kirsten Dickhaut, Institute of Literary Studies.

This event is supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation, with funding from the DVA Foundation.