{"id":71698,"date":"2014-02-25T15:48:35","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T04:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/?p=71698"},"modified":"2014-02-25T14:27:58","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T03:27:58","slug":"musees-de-paris-la-maison-de-balzac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/2014\/02\/25\/musees-de-paris-la-maison-de-balzac\/","title":{"rendered":"La maison de Balzac: discover the life of France’s greatest workaholic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maison<\/a>Paris is a true French treasure trove of small museums and literary haunts. This time we follow in Balzac\u2019s footsteps, exploring the <\/b>Maison de Balzac<\/b><\/a> in the 16th<\/sup> arrondissement.<\/b><\/p>\n

In his relatively short life (1799-1850), French author Honor\u00e9 de Balzac produced around 90 works. And while many of them are in fact novellas in his epic anthology \u2018La Com\u00e9die Humaine\u2019<\/i>, I still take much longer to get through them than most other books.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed \u2018Le P\u00e8re Goriot\u2019<\/i>, and I stumbled through \u2018Le Lys Dans la Vall\u00e9e\u2019<\/i> at university, but I must say he\u2019s far from my favourite author.\u00a0But that\u2019s not to say I don\u2019t admire him.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s greatest workaholic<\/h3>\n

What\u2019s so fascinating to me about Balzac isn\u2019t so much his writing, but his work ethic. Goodness, that man could apply himself!<\/p>\n

Balzac once claimed that he wrote for a 48-hour period on just three hours\u2019 sleep. He adopted bizarre sleeping patterns and would write fanatically throughout the night, editing and reediting even the minutest phrase until it was perfect.<\/p>\n

\"Maison<\/a><\/p>\n

Immense debts and creditors nipping at his heels saw him produce a mammoth body of work in a relatively short period of time. Reports vary, but it is said he drank up to 40 cups of coffee a day (although apparently Voltaire<\/a> drank 60!) He dipped in and out of society, at times frequenting the Paris salons<\/i> by night, but often reverting to a reclusive state. One thing was for sure, though: when inspiration struck, this French man became a writing machine.<\/p>\n

How French 19th Century writers lived<\/h3>\n

Of all the French residences Balzac occupied throughout his life, the Maison de Balzac is the only one left standing. It lies in a surprisingly peaceful corner of Paris, down a steep stone staircase on an unassuming residential street. If you didn\u2019t know to visit, you would never find it. But that\u2019s part of the charm.<\/p>\n

Balzac occupied the house under a false name in the 1840s, when his debts were piling up. His writing room remains intact, and much focus is placed on his writing desk and materials. You\u2019ll also find a fair amount of letters and photographs documenting the French writer\u2019s life and career.<\/p>\n

\"Maison<\/a><\/p>\n

But the highlight of the French museum is the room dedicated to Balzac\u2019s handwritten manuscripts. These pages upon pages of frenzied scribbles, criss-crossed with annotations, provide a real insight into the obsessive way in which he worked.<\/p>\n

You can almost feel that caffeine haze as you read through some of his more frenetic scrawl. It\u2019s incredible how much an author\u2019s handwriting and visible self-revision can give you an idea of their creative process.<\/p>\n

Interested in discovering more of Paris’ hidden treasures? Why not take a look at the Gustave Moreau Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

France dedicates museums to many of its famed writers and artists. Who is your favourite French author? <\/b>Let us know in the comments below.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n
All images courtesy of Gemma King.<\/span><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paris is a true French treasure trove of small museums and literary haunts. This time we follow in Balzac\u2019s footsteps, exploring the Maison de Balzac in the 16th arrondissement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1690,"featured_media":71827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[1118,561],"tags":[237,253,281,366,368,384,436,569,107,172,213,220,236],"class_list":["post-71698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture-guides","category-arts-and-culture","tag-french-history","tag-french-thread","tag-in-english","tag-paris","tag-paris-guide","tag-places-to-go","tag-things-to-do","tag-advice","tag-author","tag-culture","tag-france","tag-french","tag-french-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}