Notice the words: The man of distinction to whom this book is dedicated.Need I say: “You are that man.”—THE AUTHOR.
The woman who may be induced by the title of this book to open it, can saveherself the trouble; she has already read the work without knowing it. A man,however malicious he may possibly be, can never say about a woman as much goodor as much evil as they themselves think. If, in spite of this notice, a womanwill persist in reading the volume, she ought to be prevented by delicacy fromdespising the author, from the very moment that he, forfeiting the praise whichmost artists welcome, has in a certain way engraved on the title page of hisbook the prudent inscription written on the portal of certain establishments:Ladies must not enter.
The two Analytical Studies, Physiology of Marriage and Petty Troublesof Married Life, belong quite apart from the action of the ComedieHumaine, and can only be included therein by virtue of a specialdispensation on the part of their author, who made for them an eighth divisiontherein, thus giving them a local habitation and a name. Although they come fardown 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 Oeuvresde Jeunesse, and by the publication, in 1829, of The Chouans, hadmade his first real bow to his larger public. In December of that same yearappeared the Physiology of Marriage, followed eleven months later by afew papers belonging to Petty Troubles of Married Life. Meanwhile,between these two Analytical Studies, came a remarkable novelette, At theSign of the Cat and Racket, followed soon after by one of the most famousstories of the entire Comedie, The Magic Skin.
We are thus particular to place the two Analytical Studies in time and inenvironment, that the wonderful versatility of the author may becomeapparent—and more: that Balzac may be vindicated from the charge of dullnessand inaccuracy at this period. Such traits might have been charged against himhad he left only the Analytical Studies. But when they are preceded by thefaithful though heavy scene of military life, and succeeded by the searchingand vivid philosophical study, their faults and failures may be considered forthe sake of their company.
It is hard to determine Balzac’s full purpose in including the AnalyticalStudies in the Comedie. They are not novels. The few, lightly-sketchedcharacters are not connected with those of the Comedie, save in one ortwo remote instances. They must have been included in order to make one moreroom in the gigantic mansion which the author had planned. His seventh sense ofsubdivision saw here fresh material to classify. And so these grim, almostsardonic essays were placed where they now appear.
In all kindness, the Balzac novitiate is warned against beginning anacquaintance with the author through the medium of the Analytical Studies. Hewould be almost certain to misjudge Balzac’s attitude, and might even betempted to forsake his further cultivation. The mistake would be serious