Honoré de Balzac

Andrew Watts (University of Birmingham)
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Honoré Balzac was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, on 20 May 1799, the son of Bernard-François Balssa, a former Secretary to the King's Council, and Anne-Charlotte-Laure Sallambier, the daughter of Parisian haberdashers. After the premature death of their first child, the couple placed Honoré with a wet-nurse in the village of St-Cyr-sur-Loire, where he spent the first four years of his childhood. In 1800, he was joined by his sister, Laure, while in 1802 a second daughter, Laurence, was added to the family. His half-brother, Henry, was born in 1807, the result of an affair between Madame Balzac and a wealthy Tourangeau landowner, Jean de Margonne. Upon returning home, Honoré was tutored in Tours before being sent to board at the Collège de Vendôme in 1807. A prestigious school…

2860 words

Citation: Watts, Andrew. "Honoré de Balzac". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 September 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=237, accessed 19 March 2024.]

237 Honoré de Balzac 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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