ente ans_ (the chief example of the author's
caprice for re-handling, and very differently judged as a whole), with yet
another of the acknowledged triumphs, _Le Pere Goriot_. On the whole, this
year's work, though not the author's largest, is perhaps his most unique.
Next year (1835) followed _Melmoth reconcilie_ (a tribute to the great
influence which Maturin exercised, not over Balzac only, at this time in
France), _Un Drame au bord de la mer_, the brilliant, if questionable,
conclusion of _Les Treize_, _La Fille aux yeux d'or_, _Le Contrat de
mariage_ and _Seraphita_. This last, a Swedenborgian rhapsody of great
beauty in parts, has divided critics almost more than anything else of its
writer's, some seeing in it (with excuse) nothing but the short description
given above in three words, the others (with justice) reckoning it his
greatest triumph of style and his nearest attempt to reach poetry through
prose. 1836 furnished _La Messe de l'athee_, _Interdiction_, _Facino Cane_,
_Le Lys dans la vallee_ (already referred to and of a somewhat sickly
sweetness), _L'Enfant maudit_, _La Vieille Fille_ and _Le Secret des
Ruggieri_ (connected with the earlier _Les deux Reves_ under the general
title, _Sur Catherine de Medicis_, and said to have been turned out by
Balzac in a single night, which is hardly possible). In 1837 were published
_Les Deux Poetes_, destined to form part of _Illusions perdues_, _Les
Employes_, _Gambara_ and another capital work, _Histoire de la grandeur et
de la decadence [v.03 p.0299] de Cesar Birotteau_, where Balzac's own
unlucky experiences in trade are made thoroughly matter of art. 1838 was
less fruitful, contributing only _Le Cabinet des antiques_, which had made
an earlier partial appearance, _La Maison Nucingen_ and _Une Fille d'Eve_.
But 1839 made amends with the second part of _Illusions perdues_, _Un Grand
Homme de province a Paris_ (one of Balzac's minor diploma-pieces), _Le Cure
de village_ (a very considerable thing), and two smaller stories, _Les
Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan_ and _Massimilla Doni_. _Pierrette_,
_Z. Marcas_, _Un Prince de la Boheme_ and _Pierre Grassou_ followed in
1840, and in 1841 _Une Tenebreuse Affaire_ (one of his most remarkable
workings-up of the minor facts of actual history), _Le Martyr Calviniste_
(the conclusion of _Sur Catherine de Medicis_), _Ursule Mirouet_ (an
admirable story), _La Fausse Maitresse_ and _Memoires de deux jeunes
mariees_, on which agai