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While writing La Comédie Humaine - 92 books and many more unfinished, from 1829 to 1850 - Balzac is said to have started his days around midnight. He would writ
by GuiA 7y ago
While writing La Comédie Humaine - 92 books and many more unfinished, from 1829 to 1850 - Balzac is said to have started his days around midnight. He would write till 8am, with some breaks for walks, rest for an hour, then write again till 4p. At that time he would bathe, receive friends for dinner, and go to bed at 6p or 7p. He drank a lot of coffee.
- LeoTinnitus 7y agoHe had the dream job back in the 1800's
- burntoutfire 7y agoHe's a fascinating figure - I recommend his biography by Zweig. Regarding the "dream job", he was thoroughly jealous of aristocracy and their prestige and wealth and saw writing mostly as a way to accumulate similar wealth and join their ranks - which was impossible because writers didn't make that much and even if they did, the aristocracy would shun the nouveau-riche anyway. Interestingly, aristocracy was fascinated by his writing and wanted to rub elbows with him, which he completely missed (which is hilarious, given that he was a master of social observation) and so he spent all his earning on expensive furniture and such (which of course couldn't make any impression of the rich - they had the same trinkets, only better). He also once hired a team of writers to write him book on a tight deadline. IIRC, the deadline was 48 hours and each writer was supposed to deliver a chapter of the novel, with little coordination of plot and characters. You can imagine the results... Another interesting tidbit was that he spend multiple years wooing a bored Polish aristocrat, convincing her to abandon her husband and marry him instead. Of course, it was just another plot to get to the riches. There was also investing into silver mines in Corsica. He would make a great character in his novels...