The two Analytical Studies, _Physiology of Marriage_ and _Petty
Troubles of Married Life_, belong quite apart from the action of the
_Comedie Humaine_, and can only be included therein by virtue of a
special dispensation on the part of their author, who made for them an
eighth division therein, thus giving them a local habitation and a
name. Although they come far down in the list of titles, their creation
belongs almost to the formative era. Balzac had just shaken his skirts
clear of the immature dust of the _Oeuvres de Jeunesse_, and by the
publication, in 1829, of _The Chouans_, had made his first real bow to
his larger public. In December of that same year appeared the
_Physiology of Marriage_, followed eleven months later by a few papers
belonging to _Petty Troubles of Married Life_. Meanwhile, between these
two Analytical Studies, came a remarkable novelette, _At the Sign of
the Cat and Racket_, followed soon after by one of the most famous
stories of the entire _Comedie_, _The Magic Skin_.
We are thus particular to place the two Analytical Studies in time and
in environment, that the wonderful versatility of the author may become
apparent—and more: that Balzac may be vindicated from the charge of
dullness and inaccuracy at this period. Such traits might have been
charged against him had he left only the Analytical Studies. But when
they are preceded by the faithful though heavy scene of military life,
and succeeded by the searching and vivid philosophical study, their
faults and failures may be considered for the sake of their company.
It is hard to determine Balzac’s full purpose in including the
Analytical Studies in the _Comedie_. They are not novels. The few,
lightly-sketched characters are not connected with those of the
_Comedie_, save in one or two remote instances. They must have been
included in order to make one more room in the gigantic mansion which
the author had planned. His seventh sense of subdivision saw here fresh
material to classify. And so these grim, almost sardonic essays were
placed where they now appear.
In all kindness, the Balzac novitiate is warned against beginning an
acquaintance with the author through the medium of the Analytical
Studies. He would be almost certain to misjudge Balzac’s attitude, and
might even be tempted to forsake his further cultivation. The mistake
would be serious for the reader and unjust to the author. These studies
are chiefly valuable as outlining a peculiar—and, shall we say,
forced?—mood that sought expression in an isolated channel. All his
life long, Balzac found time for miscellaneous writings —critiques,
letters, reviews, essays, political diatribes and sketches. In early
life they were his “pot-boilers,” and he never ceased writing them,
probably urged partly by continued need of money, partly through
fondness for this sort of thing. His _Physiology_ is fairly
representative of the material, being analysis in satirical vein of
sundry foibles of society. This class of composition was very popular
in the time of Louis Philippe.
The _Physiology of Marriage_ is couched in a spirit of
pseudo-seriousness that leaves one in doubt as to Balzac’s faith with
the reader. At times he seems honestly to be trying to analyze a
particular phase of his subject; at other times he appears to be
ridiculing the whole institution of marriage. If this be not the case,
then he would seem unfitted for his task—through the ignorance of a
bachelor—and adds to error the element of slander. He is at fault
through lack of intimate experience. And yet the flashes of keen
penetration preclude such a charge as this. A few bold touches of his
pen, and a picture is drawn which glows with convincing reality. While
here and there occur paragraphs of powerful description or searching
philosophy which proclaim Balzac the mature, Balzac the observant.
On the publication of _Petty Troubles of Married Life_ in _La Presse_,
the publishers of that periodical had this to say: “M. de Balzac has
already produced, as you know, the _Physiology of Marriage_, a book
full of diabolical ingenuity and an analysis of society that would
drive to despair Leuwenhoech and Swammerdam, who beheld the entire
universe in a drop of water. This inexhaustible subject has again
inspired an entertaining book full of Gallic malice and English humor,
where Rabelais and Sterne meet and greet him at the same moment.”
In _Petty Troubles_ we have the sardonic vein fully developed. The
whole edifice of romance seems but a card house, and all virtue merely
a question of utility. We must not err, however, in taking sentiments
at their apparent value, for the real Balzac lies deeper; and here and
there a glimpse of his true spirit and greater power becomes apparent.
The bitter satire yields place to a vein of feeling true and fine, and
gleaming like rich gold amid baser metal. Note “Another Glimpse of
Adolphus” with its splendid vein of reverie and quiet inspiration to
higher living. It is touches like this which save the book and reveal
the author.
_Petty Troubles of Married Life_ is a pendant or sequel to _Physiology
of Marriage_. It is, as Balzac says, to the _Physiology_ “what Fact is
to Theory, or History to Philosophy, and has its logic, as life, viewed
as a whole, has its logic also.” We must then say with the author, that
“if literature is the reflection of manners, we must admit that our
manners recognize the defects pointed out by the _Physiology of
Marriage_ in this fundamental institution;” and we must concede for
_Petty Troubles_ one of those “terrible blows dealt this social basis.”
The _Physiologie du Mariage, ou Meditations de philosophie eclectique
sur le bonheur et le malheur conjugal_ is dated at Paris, 1824-29. It
first appeared anonymously, December, 1829, dated 1830, from the press
of Charles Gosselin and Urbain Canel, in two octavo volumes with its
present introduction and a note of correction now omitted. Its next
appearance was signed, in 1834, in a two-volume edition of Ollivier. In
1846 it was entered, with its dedication to the reader, in the first
edition of _Etudes Analytiques_—the first edition also of the _Comedie
Humaine_—as Volume XVI. All the subsequent editions have retained the
original small division heads, called Meditations.
_Petites Miseres de la Vie Conjugale_ is not dated. Its composition was
achieved piecemeal, beginning shortly after its predecessor appeared.
But it was not till long after—in 1845-46—that its present two-part
form was published in a single octavo volume by Chlendowski. A break
had ensued between the first and second parts, the latter having
appeared practically in full in _La Presse_ of December, 1845. The
sub-headings have remained unchanged since the original printing.