An Old Maid

Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and dramatist who lived from 1799 to 1850. One of the most significant writers of the 19th century, he is regarded as such. Many people believe La Comédie Humaine, his masterwork, to be his finest work. His mother was Anne-Charlotte-Laure Sallambier, and his father was Bernard-François Balssa. He was the Balzacs' second child. Honoré Balzac spent his first two years of life living with a wet nurse after being abandoned as a newborn. From the age of 10, Balzac attended the Oratorian grammar school in Vendôme. "Look at the beautiful ones we sent the academy back!" was how his grandma put it. On a bridge over the River Loire, he attempted suicide. Balzac wrote El Verdugo shortly after his father died. It is the story of a 30-year-old man who kills his father (Balzac was 30 years old at the time). This was Honoré de Balzac's first piece of work. After courting her for five years, Balzac wed Countess Eve de Balzac (formerly Countess Haska) in Ukraine in 1850. On Sunday, August 18, 1850, five months after his wedding, Balzac died in the company of his mother; Eve de Balzac (previously Countess Haska) having retired to bed. Balzac is buried in Paris' Père Lachaise Cemetery.