Balzac and Violence: Representing History, Space, Sexuality and Death in 'La Comédie humaine' (review)

Earlier versions of the chapters in this notably original study appeared as articles which themselves began life as colloquium papers. Despite their shared focus, they appear not to have been conceived with a monograph in mind, so it is important to record that they have been scrupulously reworked in terms of a thesis lucidly expounded in the author's Introduction. As a result, they are still more illuminating here than in their original form. Heathcote's analyses, which have the additional merit of concentrating on such less often studied texts as Albert Savarus, L'Envers de l'histoire contemporaine, and the early, unfinished Sténie, present a subtle and utterly convincing demonstration of the way violence in Balzac operates beyond the purely thematic and constitutes a fundamental element of énonciation and form. As Heathcote himself observes, 'violent form and violent content are inseparable' (p. 18). More specifically, it is his contention, admirably exemplified, that 'through sex and sexuality, violence becomes integral to Balzac's representation of divided, fragmented human identities' (p. 24). Violence is further explored in terms of the representation of Time (History) and Space. The latter is suggestively analysed through the recurrent location of the crossroads, while the privileged site of Touraine is deconstructed in some unexpected and disturbing ways. Rejecting the normative distortion produced by binary oppositions (most explicitly in his adroit deconstruction of l'envers and l'endroit), Heathcote implicitly refuses to contrast violence with non-violence, identifying it instead as a floating and permeating presence that defies appropriation. This leads to an 'understanding' of violence that, paradoxically, highlights its resistance to explanation. The play of the aporetic Balzacian text is indeed shown (above all in Une ténébreuse affaire) to unmask violence as both ubiquitous and arbitrary. 'Writing violence' is viewed throughout as a homeopathic activity, with the underlying question being whether Balzac succeeds in using violence against itself, that is, whether violence can be 'redeemed through suffering, punishment, memory and representation' (p. 101). The tentative and highly self-conscious answer proposed is not unambiguous and is certainly not naive. Heathcote may not aspire to the status of theorist, but his internalization of psychoanalytical theory, gender theory, and deconstruction informs his reading of texts at every turn and ensures that paradoxes are not subjected to premature resolution. The richness of his perspective invites further exploitation in relation to the way Balzacian écriture embodies a play of undifferentiated sexuality. It might also instigate, beyond the telling observations contained in the analysis of Les Paysans, a consideration of Balzac's representation of power and authority. More generally, the liberation of the Balzacian text from a supposedly fixed authorial position outside the representation, and thus from its identification with commentary and prises de position, has the potential to foster a new understanding of its workings in other ways as well, while serving to reinforce recent emphasis on the self-contradictoriness of Balzac's writing. Notwithstanding its reference to a proliferation of works, characters, and scholars, Heathcote's study remains eminently readable. In short, this is an impressive and exceptionally stimulating contribution to Balzac studies.