Le Père Goriot

French literary realism emerged in the mid-19th century as a response to the Romanticism that had dominated European literature for decades. Where Romanticism emphasized emotion, individualism, and idealized views of the world, Realism sought to depict life as it truly was: ordinary, unembellished, and often harsh. The rise of Realism in French literature was closely tied to the social and political transformations of the time. The aftermath of the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Bourbon Restoration had fundamentally altered French society. The Industrial Revolution brought about rapid urbanization and significant changes in the social fabric, leading to the growth of the middle class and a new awareness of the struggles of the working class. These changes fostered a literary movement that rejected the escapism of Romanticism and instead turned its focus to the real conditions of human life.

Honoré de Balzac is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of French literary Realism. Although Balzac’s early works were influenced by Romanticism, he gradually developed an emphasis on verisimilitude, culminating in his creation of La Comédie Humaine. One of the central themes in Balzac’s work is the exploration of social class and the ambitions that drive individuals to rise or fall within it. In novels like Père Goriot, Balzac examines how characters navigate Wealth and Class in Restoration France, as well as The Hypocrisy of 19th-Century French Society. The pursuit of wealth, power, and status often leads to moral compromise and personal tragedy, reflecting the harsh realities of a capitalist society. Balzac’s Realism also displays a keen awareness of the power of money in shaping human relationships and societal structures. In Eugénie Grandet, for example, the protagonist’s father, Félix Grandet, is portrayed as a miser whose obsession with wealth destroys the lives of those around him. Balzac shows how money can corrupt individuals and distort their values, making it a central force in the dynamics of social and personal life.

Balzac was one of the first writers to focus extensively on urban life, particularly the city of Paris, which he depicted as a microcosm of broader French society. His novels often explore the alienation, ambition, and moral decay associated with life in the modern city. The urban environment in Balzac’s works is both a place of opportunity and a site of deep social stratification and conflict. Another hallmark of Balzac’s Realism is his portrayal of the interconnectedness of society. Characters reappear across different novels, creating a web of relationships that mirrors the complexity of real social networks. This technique allows Balzac to show how individual actions and decisions resonate across different layers of society, influencing events and outcomes in often unexpected ways.

Balzac’s work laid the foundation for later French realists like Gustave Flaubert and Émile Zola. Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1857) and Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart series are both indebted to Balzac’s depiction of the complexities of social life. Flaubert admired Balzac’s ability to render the minutiae of everyday life with precision, while Zola, a founding figure of the subgenre of Realism known as Naturalism, expanded on Balzac’s themes by incorporating a more explicit focus on social determinism and the influence of environment and heredity on human behavior. Balzac’s works also influenced writers across Europe and beyond, including Charles Dickens in England, Fyodor Dostoevsky in Russia, and William Dean Howells in the United States. Dickens in particular was inspired by Balzac’s ability to create memorable, multifaceted characters and by his keen social critique.