巴尔札克(1799～1850年)
Balzac, Honoré de，原名Honoré Balssa。
法国作家。十六岁左右开始在巴黎担任办事员。最初曾尝试经商，结果负债累累，使他花了数十年时间改善恶化的经济状况。1829年开始，他的小说和故事集开始取得一些成就，接下来产生了几部早期的杰出作品。他结集的一大系列作品集《人间喜剧》（The Human Comedy）中，约有九十部长篇小说和中篇小说，巴尔札克想要以呈现各种不同的人性本质来描绘当时所有的社会现象。其着名作品有：《欧也妮.葛朗台》（Eugénie Grandet, 1833）、《高老头》（Père Goriot, 1835）、《幻灭》（Lost Illusions, 1837～1843）、《不分贵贱的妓女》（A Harlot High and Low, 1843～1847）以及《贝姨》（Cousin Bette, 1846）等。其小说值得称道之处在於文笔优美的叙述，大量生动而不同的出场人物，以及对生活各方面所表现出的极大关注和审视。最着名的故事集为《滑稽故事》（Droll Stories，三卷，1832～1837）。由於债台高筑和几乎不间断的操劳使他过着不安宁的生活，他经常一口气写作十五个小时不辍（他的死因就是因过度劳累和过度饮用咖啡导致的）。巴尔札克被公认是对早期小说中的写实主义和自然主义产生主要影响的人物之一，并且是迄今最伟大的小说家之一。
English version：
1799～1850年
Balzac, Honoré de
French writer. Born in Tours, he began working as a clerk in Paris around age 16. An early attempt at a business career left him with huge debts, and for decades he toiled incessantly to improve his worsening financial condition. In 1829 his novels and stories began to achieve some success, and his early masterpieces soon followed. In a vast series he collectively called The Human Comedy, eventually numbering some 90 novels and novellas, he sought to produce a comprehensive picture of contemporary society by presenting all the varieties of human nature. Among his masterpieces are Eugénie Grandet (1833), Père Goriot (1835), Lost Illusions (1837-43), A Harlot High and Low (1843-47), and Cousin Bette (1846). His novels are notable for their great narrative drive, their large casts of vital and diverse characters, and their obsessive interest in and examination of virtually all spheres of life. His best-known story collection is his Droll Stories (3 vols., 1832-37). His tumultuous life was one of mounting debts and almost incessant toil, with frequent bouts of writing feverishly for 15 hours at a stretch (his death has been attributed to overwork and excessive coffee consumption). He is generally considered the major early influence on realism, or naturalism, in the novel and one of the greatest fiction writers of all time.