JEAN

See also:

• LOUIS
• LOUIS (804–876)
• LOUIS (893–911)
• LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
• LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian

LOUIS GUEZ DE

See also:

• BALZAC, HONORS DE (1790-1850)
• JEAN LOUIS GUEZ DE BALZAC (1594-1654)

BALZAC (1594-1654)  , French author, was born at Angou.leme in 1594 . At the age of eighteen he travelled in Holland with Theophile de Viand, with whom he later exchanged bitter recriminations . He was early befriended by the duc d'Epernon and his son Louis, Cardinal de la Valette, who took him to Rome . His letters written to his acquaintances and to many who held a high position at the French court gained for him a great reputation . Compliments were showered upon him, he became an habitue of the Hotel de Rambouillet, and his head appears to have been turned a little by his success . Richelieu was lavish of praise and promises, but never offered Balzac the preferment he expected . In 1624 a collection of his Lettres was published, and was received with great favour . From the chateau of Balzac, whither he had retired, he continued to correspond with Jean Chapelain, Valentin Conrart and others . In 1634 he was elected to the Academy . He died at Angouleme on the 18th of February 1654 . His fame rests chiefly upon the Lettres, a second collection of which appeared in 1636 . Recueil de nouvelles lettres was printed in the next year .

His letters, though empty and affected in

matter, show a real mastery of style, introducing a new clearness and precision into French prose and encouraging the development of the language on national lines by emphasizing its most idiomatic elements . Balzac has thus the credit of executing in French prose a reform parallel to Maiherbe's in verse . In 163r he published an eulogy of Louis XIII. entitled Le Prince; in 1652 the Socrate chretien, the best of his longer works; Aristippe ou de la Cour in 1658; and several dissertations on style . His Euvres were collected (2 vols.) in 1665 by Valentine Conrart . There are numerous English translations from Balzac, dating from the 17th century .