Młody Balzac publicysta, cz. I: broszura O prawie starszeństwa

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the main thesis of Balzac’s short anonymous text entitled Du droit d’aînesse, and to provide readers with the historical context of its publication. This brochure was created five years before Balzac’s first official writings. In this article, I analyse how this short text was received and the ways in which it echoes in Balzac’s mature works, in La Comédie humaine but not exclusively. Taking a historical perspective, the present literary study uses thematic approach and intertextual analysis within Balzac’s work to demonstrate that Balzac considered the numerous elements included in Du droit d’aînesse seriously, despite the publication of the brochure as part of a political scheme aiming to influence the elections in 1824. I argue that evidence for this may be found in the development of certain aspects of the brochure in Balzac’s works after 1829 which he signed by his name.