Abstract
The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in France were fraught with turmoil, and the populace was riven with insecurity, anguish, and fear. Writers repeatedly mention “the instability of everything!” as they seek a generative, foundational idea to explain both the causes of the contemporary topsy-turvy world and the future toward which the upheaval pointed. Economically, France stagnated, and the general public suffered. While Auguste Comte is generally given credit for founding sociology, Henri de Saint-Simon and Honoré de Balzac had previously offered exceptional insight into the social system. The ten novels of Balzac’s Scenes from Provincial Life use art as a tool of social inquiry to obtain startlingly accurate insights into the relationships that defined his turbulent society.
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Pasco, A.H. (2016). Introduction. In: Balzac, Literary Sociologist. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39333-9_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39333-9_1
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39332-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39333-9
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