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Ewelina Hańska

April 11, 2023

Eveline Hańska (née Ewelina Rzewuska; 6 January c. 1805 – 11 April 1882) was a Polish noblewoman best known for her marriage to French novelist Honoré de Balzac. Born at the Wierzchownia estate in Volhynia[1] (now Ukraine), Hańska married landowner Wacław Hański when she was a teenager.[2] Hański, who was about 20 years her senior, suffered from depression. They had five children, but only a daughter, Anna, survived.

Lady Eveline Hańska
Portrait by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, 1835
Coat of armsKrzywda
BornEwelina Rzewuska
c. (1805-01-06)6 January 1805
Pohrebyshche, Russian Empire
Died11 April 1882(1882-04-11) (aged 77)
Paris, France
BuriedPère Lachaise Cemetery
Family
  • Rzewuski (by birth)
  • Hański (by marriage)
  • Balzac (by marriage)
Husband
IssueAnna Hańska
FatherAdam Wawrzyniec Rzewuski [pl]
MotherJustyna Rdułtowska h. Drogosław

In the late 1820s, Hańska began reading Balzac's novels, and in 1832, she sent him an anonymous letter. This began a decades-long correspondence in which Hańska and Balzac expressed a deep mutual affection. In 1833, they met for the first time, in Switzerland. Soon afterward he began writing the novel Séraphîta, which includes a character based on Hańska.

After her husband died in 1841, a series of complications obstructed Hańska's marriage to Balzac. Chief of these was the estate and her daughter Anna's inheritance, both of which might be threatened if she married him. Anna married a Polish count, easing some of the pressure. About the same time, Hańska gave Balzac the idea for his 1844 novel Modeste Mignon. In 1850 they finally married, and moved to Paris, but he died five months later. Though she never remarried, she took several lovers, and died in 1882.

Biography

Family and early life

Hańska was the fourth of seven children born to Adam Wawrzyniec Rzewuski and his wife, Justyna Rzewuska (née Rdułtowska).[3] Their family was established as Polish nobility, known for wealth and military prowess.[4] One ancestor had imprisoned his own mother in a tower to extract his part of an inheritance.[5] Hańska's great-grandfather, Wacław Rzewuski, was a famous writer and Grand Crown Hetman.[6] When the Russian Empire gained control of lands owned by the family through the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Rzewuski swore his allegiance to Catherine II.[7] He was rewarded with a comfortable position in the ranks of the empire.[7] Moving between assignments in Kiev, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere, he chose as his primary residence the village of Pohrebyszcze in the region of Vinnytsia.[8]

 
One historian compares the Rzewuski estate in Pohrebysche to "a little kingdom".[9]

She was born in the Pohrebyszcze castle, in the Kiev Governorate of Russian partition of Poland.[10] Although scholars agree that Hańska was born on 6 January, the year is disputed.[11] Her biographers and those of her Balzac offer conflicting evidence of her age, taken from correspondence, family records, and testimonies from descendants. Most estimates range between 1801 and 1806.[12] Balzac's biographer Graham Robb writes: "Balzac chose 1806 as her date of birth and he was probably right."[13] Roger Pierrot's 1999 biography of Hańska, however, contends that she was born in 1804.[14] Polish Biographical Dictionary gives 24 December 1805 (Julian) which converts to 5 January 1806 (Gregorian).[10]

Like her brothers and sisters, Hańska was educated by her parents about family lineage and religion.[15] Her mother was a devout Catholic, but her father also taught the children about Voltairian rationality.[15] The family was secluded in Pohrebyszcze, with only occasional trips away.[15] Once a year, the family visited Kiev for a market gathering, during which Rzewuski sold grain and her mother purchased clothing and supplies for the estate.[15]

Ewelina had three brothers: Adam, Ernest and Henryk, and three sisters: Alina, Karolina (better known as Karolina Sobańska) and Paulina.[10] Hańska was closest to her brother Henryk, who later became famous for his work in the genre of Polish folk literature known as gawęda.[9] They shared a passion for philosophical discussions, especially related to love and religion.[9] Hańska's other brothers, Adam and Ernest, both pursued military careers.[16] Hańska's eldest sister, Karolina, was admired as a child for her beauty, intellect, and musical talent.[17] She later married a man 34 years her senior, a landowner from Podole named Hieronim Sobański.[17] They separated after two years, and she began a series of passionate affairs with some of her many suitors. These included the Russian general Ivan Ossipovitch Witt, the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, and the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin.[17] The Tsar considered her behavior scandalous and declared her dangerously disloyal.[17] As a result, Hańska and the other Rzewuski women were watched carefully by police when they visited the Russian capital of St Petersburg.[18] Hańska's younger sisters, Alina and Paulina, married early into comfortable upper-class families.[19] Alina married a wealthy landowner from Smilavičy, whose father had gained his fortune by managing property for the Ogiński family.[19] Her nephew Stanisław Moniuszko became a renowned composer.[19] Paulina married a banker from Odessa named Jan Riznič.[19]

Marriage to Hański

 
Hańska's first husband Wacław Hański was more than twenty years older than her.[20]

In 1819 Eveline married Wacław Hański, a noble who lived nearby at Verhivnya (Wierzchownia). Their marriage was a union of wealthy families, not of passion. His estate covered 21,000 acres (85 km2) and owned over 3,000 serfs, including 300 domestic servants. The manor had been designed by a French architect, and its owner filled it with luxuries from around the world: paintings from galleries in Milan and London, dinnerware from China, and a library of 25,000 books in a variety of languages. Hański boasted that none of the furniture was Russian.[21]

Hański was more than twenty years older than Ewelina, who was a teenager at the time of their wedding, and his personality clashed with her youthful vigor. He spent most of the day supervising the grounds, by some accounts with an iron fist.[22] After dinner he was usually too fatigued to spend time with his wife, and retired early. He was generally dour, and lived with a depressed condition that Hańska referred to as "blue devils".[23] Although she was surrounded by opulence, Hańska found herself dissatisfied with her new life and with her husband's emotional distance in particular. As one biographer put it: "He loved Eve but he was not deeply in love with her."[23]

In the first five years of their marriage, Hańska gave birth to five children, four of whom died as infants.[24] The surviving daughter, Anna, was a welcome joy to Hańska, and she trusted her care to a young governess named Henriette Borel who had moved to Wierzchownia from the Swiss town of Neuchâtel.[24]

The estate at Wierzchownia was isolated. Hańska was bored by visits to the court at St. Petersburg, and even more bored by noble guests in her own home. She found nothing in common with the ladies of high society, and longed for the stimulating discussions she had enjoyed with her brother Henryk. She spent her time reading the books her husband imported from faraway lands.[25]

Becoming "The Stranger"

 
In her November 1832 letter, Hańska told Honoré de Balzac: "My heart has leapt as I read your works."[26]

One of the writers who most enchanted Hańska was the French novelist Honoré de Balzac. After laboring in pseudonymous obscurity for ten years, Balzac published Les Chouans (The Chouans) in 1829. A tale of star-crossed love amidst a royalist uprising in Brittany, it was the first work to which he signed his own name. Hańska was intrigued by the glowing portrayal of the female protagonist, driven by true love to protect the object of her desire. She also enjoyed Balzac's Physiologie du mariage (The Physiology of Marriage), also published in 1829, which heaps satirical scorn on husbands and celebrates the virtue of married women.[27]

When she read his 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin (The Magic Skin), however, Hańska was appalled by the coarse depiction of Foedora, the so-called "femme sans cœur" ("woman without a heart"). She felt that Balzac had lost the reverence shown in his earlier works, and worried that he had based Foedora on a real woman from his life. Motivated partly by concern, partly by boredom, and partly by a desire to influence the life of a great writer (as her sister Karolina had done), she wrote to Balzac.[28]

On 28 February 1832 Hańska posted a letter from Odessa with no return address. In it, she praised Balzac for his work, but scolded him for the negative portrayal of women in La Peau de chagrin. She urged a return to the glowing representations in his earlier novels, and signed enigmatically: "L'Étrangère" ("The Stranger" or "The Foreigner").[29][30] Balzac was intrigued by the letter; he took out a personal advertisement in the Gazette de France indicating his receipt of an anonymous letter and expressing regret for being unable to reply. She probably never saw this notice.[31]

Hańska wrote to Balzac several times during 1832.[32] On 7 November she posted a seven-page letter filled with praise and flattery:

Your soul embraces centuries, Monsieur; its philosophical concepts appear to be the fruit of long study matured by time; yet I am told that you are still young. I would like to know you, but feel that I have no need to do so. I know you through my own spiritual instinct; I picture you in my own way and feel that were I to set eyes upon you I should exclaim, 'That is he!' Your outward semblance probably does not reveal your brilliant imagination; you have to be moved, the sacred fire of genius has to be lit, if you are to show yourself as you really are, and you are what I feel you to be—a man superior in his knowledge of the human heart.[33][34]

She insisted, however, that they could never meet, and indeed that he should never know her name: ("For you I am The Stranger, and shall remain so all my life."[34]) Still, she wished for him to write back, so she advised him to place a notice in La Quotidienne to "L'É" from "H.B.". He purchased a notice similar to the earlier one in the Gazette, and signed it according to her instructions.[35]

In her next letter Hańska made arrangements for a trusted courier to collect letters from Balzac, and thereby allow for a direct correspondence. Before long she sent him the news that she and her husband would be traveling Europe, and visiting Vienna, Hanski's childhood home. They would also travel to the Swiss village of Neuchâtel, to visit the family of her daughter's governess. Contradicting her vow of eternal anonymity, she suggested a meeting. Balzac agreed immediately, and began to make preparations for the journey.[36] Also, sometime in 1833, Balzac wrote his first confession of love to her, despite being at that time in another relationship.[10]

Meeting Balzac

In September 1833, after traveling to the French village of Besançon to find cheap paper for a publishing enterprise, Balzac crossed into Switzerland and registered at the Hôtel du Faucon under the name Marquis d'Entragues. He sent word to Hańska that he would visit the garden of the Maison Andrié, where she and her family were staying. He looked up and saw her face at the window, then – as he described it later – he "lost all bodily sensation".[37] They met later that day (September 25)[10] at a spot overlooking Lake Neuchâtel; according to legend, he noticed a woman reading one of his books. He was overwhelmed with her beauty, and she wrote soon afterwards to her brother, describing Balzac as "cheerful and lovable just like you".[38][39]

 
Hańska met Balzac for the first time in the Swiss village of Neuchâtel.[40]

Hańska and Balzac met several times over the next five days, and her husband became enchanted with Balzac as well, inviting him to meals with the family. During a trip to Lake Biel, Hański went to arrange lunch, leaving his wife and Balzac alone. In the shade of a large oak tree, they kissed and exchanged vows of patience and fidelity. She told him of the family's plan to visit Geneva for Christmas; Balzac agreed to visit before the end of the year.[40] Before he left Nauchâtel, she sent a passionate letter to his hotel: "Villain! Did you not see in my eyes all that I longed for? But have no fear, I felt all the desire that a woman in love seeks to provoke".[41]

Arriving in Geneva on December 26,[10] the Christmas Eve, Balzac stayed at the Auberge de l'Arc, near the Maison Mirabaud where the Hański family had settled for the season. She left a ring for him at the hotel, with a note asking for a new promise of love. He gave it, and described how he began wearing the ring on his left hand, "with which I hold my paper, so that the thought of you clasps me tight."[42] At this time he began working on a philosophical novel, Séraphîta, about a hermaphroditic angel united by the love of a mortal man for a compassionate and sensual woman. Balzac explained that she was his model for the latter.[43] It was clear to all that Hański was in ill health, and Hańska began to think about her future with the French author. In the meantime, she asked Balzac to begin collecting for her autographs of the famous people he spent time with in Paris and elsewhere.[44]

After leaving Geneva on 8 February,[10] the Hański family spent several months visiting the major cities of Italy. In Florence the sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini started work on a bust of Hańska.[45] In the summer of 1834 they returned to Vienna, where they would stay for another year. During this time Balzac continued writing to Hańska, and by accident two especially amorous letters fell into the hands of her husband. He wrote to the French author, furious, and demanded an explanation. Balzac wrote to Hański claiming that it was nothing more than a game: "One evening, in jest, she said to me that she would like to know what a love-letter was. This was said wholly without meaning.... I wrote those two unfortunate letters to Vienna, supposing that she remembered our joke...."[46] Hański apparently accepted the explanation, and invited Balzac to visit them in Vienna, which he did in May 1835.[47]

Balzac's biographers agree that, despite his vows of loyalty to Hańska, he conducted affairs with several women during the 1830s, and may have fathered children with two of them. One was an Englishwoman named Sarah who had married the Count Emilio Guidoboni-Visconti. Hańska wrote to Balzac about these rumors in 1836, and he flatly denied them. Her suspicion was raised again, however, when he later dedicated his novel Béatrix to "Sarah".[48] Balzac also corresponded with Hański; while most of their family disapproved of Balzac, Hański respected him, and the two exchanged letters on literature and agronomy.[10][49] Meanwhile, Hańska was experiencing a renewal of religious interest, partly because her daughter's governess, Henriette Borel, left to join a nunnery in Paris. Hańska taught her daughter Anna from the works of Christian scholars including Jean Baptiste Massillon and St. François de Sales.[50] Her religious interest was more towards mysticism than mainstream religions; she corresponded with Baroness Barbara von Krüdener, and read on Rosicrucianism, Martinism and Swedenborgianism.[10] Balzac treated this attack of devotion with the sharpest disapproval.[10] When Balzac sent her works in progress, her only replies were moral queries, rather than the stylistic criticism for which he hoped.[51]

Hański's death

 
After her first husband's death, Hańska rejected advances from composer Franz Liszt.[52]

Hański died in November 1841.[53] She sent Balzac a letter, sealed in black, with the news. He instantly wrote back: "je n'en aurais peut-être pas voulu recevoir d'autre de vous, malgré ce que vous me dites de triste sur vous et votre santé" ("I could not perhaps wish to have received any other [news] from you, in spite of the sad things you tell me about yourself and your health").[54] He made plans to visit Dresden in May, and obtain a visa to visit her in Russia.[55]

The future, however, was not as simple as Balzac wanted to believe. Hańska's family did not approve of the French author; her Aunt Rozalia was especially disdainful. To make matters worse, her late husband's uncle protested the Hański's will in which she had inherited Hański's estate. Horrified that her daughter would be robbed of everything, Hańska insisted that she must end her relationship with Balzac. "You are free", she wrote to him.[56] As she made plans to protest the uncle's interference in St. Petersburg, Balzac wrote back to offer his help. He suggested that he could become a Russian citizen and "go to the Czar myself and ask him to sanction our marriage".[57] She asked for his patience, which he offered anew.[58]

Soon after she arrived in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg, in order to resolve some of the litigation issues surrounding her inheritance,[10] she took Anna to a recital by the Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt. Although she did not succumb to Lisztomania, she was impressed by his musical talent and his good looks. "He is an extraordinary mixture", she wrote in her diary, "and I enjoy studying him."[59] They saw one another on several occasions, but she ultimately rejected his advances. One biographer says that their last meeting "gives striking evidence of her loyalty to Balzac".[60]

In late July 1843 Balzac visited her in St. Petersburg, the first time they had seen one another in eight years. He was struck by Hańska's resilient beauty, but his condition had deteriorated over the years. Biographers agree that she was much less physically attracted to him at this time.[61] Still they renewed their vows of love and planned to marry as soon as she won her lawsuit. In early October he returned to Paris.[62] Soon afterwards, she wrote a story based on her own experience writing to Balzac for the first time. Unhappy with it, she threw it into the fire, but the French author begged her to rewrite it so he could adapt it. He assured her that she would "know something of the joys of authorship when you see how much of your elegant and delightful writing I have preserved".[63] Her story became Modeste Mignon, Balzac's 1844 novel about a young woman who writes to her favorite poet.[64]

Also in 1844 Hańska won her lawsuit. The wealth of her late husband's estate would go to Anna, who had become engaged to a Polish Count, Jerzy Mniszech. They planned to marry in 1846, after which time Hańska would bestow the inheritance. Thus Hańska's marriage to Balzac would have to wait.[65] In the meantime, two urgent problems began to complicate their plans. One was his health, which had been deteriorating for years. In October 1843 he wrote to her about "horrible suffering which has its seat nowhere; which cannot be described; which attacks both heart and brain".[66] Balzac's other problem was financial: despite his illness, he could not afford to relax his work schedule, since he owed more than 200,000 francs to various creditors.[67]

Second marriage and widowhood

 
The house Balzac bought for Hańska (with her money) was built before the French Revolution by banker Nicolas Beaujon.[68]

Hańska and Balzac were determined, however, and in 1845 she visited him in Paris with Anna and Jerzy. In April of the following year they visited Italy; Balzac joined them for a tour of Rome, and they proceeded to Geneva.[69] Soon after he returned to Paris, she wrote with the news that she was pregnant. Balzac was overjoyed, certain that they would have a boy, and insisting on the name Victor-Honoré. The thought of having a son, he wrote, "stirs my heart and makes me write page upon page".[70] To avoid scandal, he would have to marry Hańska in secret, to hide the fact that their child was conceived out of wedlock. In the meantime, Anna married Jerzy Mniszech on 13 October in Wiesbaden.[10] Balzac served as a witness and wrote an announcement for the Paris newspapers, which offended Hańska's sister Alina.[71]

Hańska, living for a time in Dresden, was not soothed, either, by Balzac's disregard for financial stability. For years he had planned to buy a house for them to share, but in August 1846 she sent him a stern admonition. Until his debts were paid, she wrote, "we must postpone buying any property".[72] One month later he purchased a house on the Rue Fortunée for 50,000 francs.[73] Having collected finery from his many travels, he searched across Europe for items to properly complete the furnishings: carpets from Smyrna, embroidered pillowcases from Germany, and a handle for the lavatory chain crafted from Bohemian glass.[74]

In November, Hańska suffered a miscarriage; she wrote to Balzac with the tragic news. He wanted to visit her, but Anna wrote asking him to remain in Paris. The emotion involved, she wrote, "would be fatal".[75] Hańska made plans to return to Wierzchownia, but Balzac begged her to visit him, which she did in the spring of 1847.[76] As soon as she was back in Ukraine, however, a new wrinkle unfolded. Hańska had long been unhappy with the presence of Balzac's housekeeper, Louise Breugniot, and he promised to break with her before marrying. He wrote with alarm to Hańska explaining that Breugninot had stolen her letters to him and blackmailed the author for 30,000 francs. Biographers disagree about truth of this story; Robb suggests it was "a convincing hysterical performance put on for the benefit of his jealous fiancée".[77][78]

 
Before Balzac's death, Hańska was visited often by Victor Hugo.[79]

Still, Balzac believed that keeping her letters was dangerous and, in a moment of characteristic impulse, threw them into the fire. He described it to her as "the saddest and most frightful day of my life ... I am looking at the ashes as I write to you, and I tremble seeing how little space fifteen years takes up."[80] On 5 September 1847 he left Paris to join her for the first time in Wierzchownia.[81] They spent several happy months together, but financial obligations required his presence in France. The Revolution of 1848 began one week after his return.[82] Back in Wierzchownia, Hańska lost 80,000 francs due to a granary fire, and her time was consumed with three lawsuits. These complications, and Balzac's constant debt, meant that their finances were unstable, and she hesitated anew at the idea of marriage. In any case, a wedding would be impossible without approval from the Tsar, which he did not grant until spring of 1850.[83] On 2 July 1849 Russian authorities responding to Balzac's request in December 1847 to marry Hańska stated that he could do so, but that Hańska could not keep her land.[10]

Balzac returned to Wierzchownia in October, and immediately fell ill with heart issues.[10] His condition deteriorated throughout 1849, and doubts persisted in her mind about their union. Biographers generally agree that Hańska was convinced by Balzac's frail state and endless devotion. One wrote: "It was charity, as much as love or fame, which finally turned the scale."[84] Robb indicates that the wedding was "surely an act of compassion on her part".[85] To avoid rumors and suspicion from the Tsar, Hańska transferred ownership of the estate to her daughter. On 14 March 1850 they traveled to Berdychiv and, accompanied by Anna and Jerzy, were married in a small ceremony at the parish church of St. Barbara.[86]

Both Hańska and Balzac took ill after the wedding; she suffered from a severe attack of gout, for which her doctor prescribed an unusual treatment: "Every other day she has to thrust her feet into the body of a sucking-pig which has only just been slit open, because it is necessary that the entrails should be quivering."[87] She recovered, but he did not. They returned to Paris in late May, and his health improved slightly at the start of summer. By July, however, he was confined to his bed. Hańska nursed him constantly, as a stream of visitors – including the writers Victor Hugo and Henri Murger – came to pay their respects.[79] When Balzac's vision started to give out, she began to act as his secretary, helping him with his writing.[10]

In mid-August Balzac succumbed to gangrene and began having fits of delirium. At one point he called out for Horace Bianchon, the fictional doctor he had included in many novels.[88] But he also expressed great worry for Hańska, once telling Hugo: "My wife is more intelligent than I, but who will support her in her solitude? I have accustomed her to so much love."[89] He died on 18 August 1850.[90]

As most of Balzac's biographers point out, Hańska was not in the room when he died. Robb says she "must have retired for a moment",[91] while André Maurois notes that she had been by his side for weeks with no way of knowing how long it would continue, and "there was nothing to be done".[92] Vincent Cronin attributes her absence to the nature of their relationship: "From the first day by the lakeside at Neuchâtel theirs had been a Romantic love and Eve wanted to guard it to the end against that terrible taint of corruption."[93]

Later years and death

 
Hańska spent her last thirty years in a relationship with painter Jean Gigoux.[94]

Hańska lived with Balzac's mother for a time after his death, in the house he had spent so much time and expense furnishing. The elder Mme. Balzac moved in with a friend after several months, and Hańska approached the remains of her late husband's writing. Several works had been left incomplete, and publishers inquired about releasing a final edition of his grand collection La Comédie humaine. Hańska sponsored new editions of his works and was involved in editing some of them, even adding occasional content.[10] Balzac's debt, meanwhile, still exceeded 200,000 francs, which Hańska paid while also providing for his mother's living expenses.[10] One of her letters at the time gives voice to her frustrations: "In nursing my husband's incurable malady I ruined my health, just as I have ruined my private fortune in accepting the inheritance of debts and embarrassments which he left me."[95] Anna and Jerzy moved into a nearby house in Paris.[96]

Despite her obligations, Hańska was a beautiful unmarried woman of means living in Paris. The writer Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly described her this way: "Her beauty was imposing and noble, somewhat massive, a little fleshy, but even in stoutness she retained a very lively charm which was spiced with a delightful foreign accent and a striking hint of sensuality."[95] As she began sorting through Balzac's papers, she called on his friend, Champfleury, for assistance. As they worked one evening, he complained of a headache. "I'll make it go away," she said,[97] and began massaging his forehead. As he wrote later: "There are certain magnetic effluvia, in such situations, of which the effect is that the matter does not stop there."[97] Her affair with the man twenty years her junior was brief, but it provided a tremendous release to Hańska, who had spent decades with older men in various states of ill health. She began partaking of the social life around her. "The night before last I laughed as I have never done before," she wrote in 1851. "Oh, how wonderful it is not to know anyone or have to worry about anyone, to have one's independence, liberty on the mountain-tops, and to be in Paris!"[97]

Champfleury was intimidated by her vitality and jealousy, and removed himself from her life. On his recommendation, she turned creative control of Balzac's unfinished novels Le Député d'Arcis and Les Petits Bourgeois to another writer, Charles Rabou. Rabou added extensively to them and published both books in 1854. To soothe the publisher, Hańska falsely claimed that Balzac had chosen Rabou as his literary successor.[98]

Hańska met the painter Jean Gigoux when she hired him in 1851 to paint Anna's portrait. They began a relationship that lasted many years, but never married. Over the next thirty years, Hańska and particularly her spend-thrift daughter spent the remainder of their fortune on fine clothing and jewelry.[10][99] Jerzy, meanwhile, succumbed to mental disorders and died in 1881, leaving behind a trail of debts. Hańska was forced to sell the house, but was allowed to continue living there. She died on 11 April 1882 and was buried in Balzac's grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery.[94]

Influence on Balzac's works

Eveline was an inspiration for many of Balzac's characters.[10] She can be seen as the model for La Fosseue, Mme Claes, Modesta Mignon, Ursule Mirouet, Adelina Houlot, and especially Eugenie Grandet and Mme de Mortsauf.[10] There is less agreement among scholars on whether she was also the inspiration for more negative characters such as Fedora and lady Dudley, as Balzac seems to have used her mostly as a model for more positive personas.[10] His works also mention numerous characters named Eve or Eveline, and have several dedications to her.[10]

In addition to Eveline, her daughter Anna, sister Alina, aunt Rozalia, first love (Tadeusz Wyleżyński), and several other figures that she introduced Balzac to or told him about, were also incorporated into his works.[10] After they met, Poland, Polish topics, Polish names, and Polish (Slavic) mysticism began to appear much more frequently in his works, as exemplified by such characters as Hoene Wroński, Grabianka and General Chodkiewicz.[10]

Defenders and detractors

Hańska became a controversial figure among the biographers and researchers of Balzac.[10] As Zygmunt Czerny notes, the "mysterious Pole" was criticized by some (Henry Bordeaux, Octave Mirbeau (La Mort de Balzac), Adolf Nowaczyński, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Charles Léger and Pierre Descaves), and praised by others (Philippe Bertault, Marcel Bouteron, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Sophie de Korwin-Piotrowska, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Tadeusz Grabowski, Juanita Helm Floyd and André Billy).[10] Czerny notes that one of the "greatest experts on Balzac", Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, referred to her as "one of the best women of the epoch", and that while there are those who deride her influence on Balzac, and question her feelings and motivations, few deny she had a crucial impact on him, and, for most, the "Great Balzac" emerged only after meeting her in early 1830s.[10] Czerny concludes by saying: "However one could analyze her and their relationship, the impact of her love on Balzac was persistent, all-enveloping and decisive".[10]

Notes

  1. ^ Juanita Helm Floyd, Women in the Life of Balzac. Page 136. Kessinger Publishing, 2004 reprint. ISBN 978-1-4191-9481-8. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  2. ^ Frederic Ewen, Heroic imagination: the creative genius of Europe... Page 498. New York University Press, 2004 reprint. ISBN 0-8147-2225-3. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  3. ^ Robb, p. 226; Pierrot, p. 12. Note that spelling changes for the feminine form of Polish surnames.
  4. ^ Robb, p. 226. He states: "Eveline Hanska, the fourth of seven children, came from a historic Polish family, the Rzewuskis, many of them brilliant warriors, statesmen, adventurers and lunatics."
  5. ^ Cronin, p. 153; Robb, p. 226; Korwin-Piotrowska (1938), p. 21.
  6. ^ Pierrot, p. 3.
  7. ^ a b Robb, pp. 226–227.
  8. ^ Pierrot, pp. 3–7; Robb, pp. 226–227.
  9. ^ a b c Cronin, p. 154.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab (in Polish) Zygmunt Czerny, HAŃSKA Ewelina (1800–1882) dama polska, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, t. 9 p. 286-287
  11. ^ Robb, p. 227; Pierrot, pp. 12–16; Korwin-Piotrowska (1933), pp. 20–21. Even the date of 6 January is contentious, and is complicated by the transition at the time from the Julian to Gregorian calendar. See Floyd, p. 203 and Pierrot, pp. 12–16.
  12. ^ Pierrot, pp. 12–16; Floyd, p. 203; Cronin, p. 153. Maurois implies on p. 219 that she was born in 1799.
  13. ^ Robb, p. 227.
  14. ^ Pierrot, p. 14. His certainty is cited to an entry for Adam Rzewuski in the Dictionary of Polish Biography which gives his birth date as 24 December 1804. Eveline was born roughly one year earlier.
  15. ^ a b c d Cronin, pp. 153–154.
  16. ^ Pierrot, pp. 49–55.
  17. ^ a b c d Pierrot, pp. 28–48; Maurois, p. 219.
  18. ^ Gerson, p. 153.
  19. ^ a b c d Pierrot, pp. 56–59.
  20. ^ Robb, p. 227; Maurois, p. 219; Cronin, p. 155.
  21. ^ Robb, p. 227; Gerson, pp. 151–152; Cronin, p. 155.
  22. ^ Robb, p. 452 note 7.
  23. ^ a b Cronin, p. 156.
  24. ^ a b Cronin, p. 156; Robb, p. 227; Gerson, p. 153; Maurois, p. 220. Gerson suggests Hańska may have lost five or six children before Anna was born.
  25. ^ Gerson, p. 154; Cronin, pp. 157–158.
  26. ^ Quoted in Maurois, p. 218.
  27. ^ Cronin, p. 158; Maurois, p. 155.
  28. ^ Robb, pp. 226–227; Cronin, pp. 158–159; Korwin-Piotrowska (1938), pp. 68–70.
  29. ^ Maurois, p. 218; Dargan, p. 29; Robb, pp. 223–224. "L'Étrangère" can also mean "The Foreigner".
  30. ^ Some sources suggest that Hańska had her daughter's governess write the actual letter as she dictated. See Cronin, pp. 158–159 and Gerson (who suggests an elaborate plan involving Hańska's cousins), pp. 154–155.
  31. ^ Robb, p. 224; Maurois, p. 218; Gerson, p. 155. Cronin says on p. 163 that La Quotidienne was one of the only French newspapers allowed into Russia at the time.
  32. ^ Cronin, p. 161; Robb, p. 224. The exact number of letters is unknown.
  33. ^ Original is quoted in Pierrot, pp. 67–68.
  34. ^ a b Translation quoted in Maurois, pp. 218–219.
  35. ^ Maurois, p. 219; Cronin, p. 163; Gerson, p. 156.
  36. ^ Maurois, p. 228; Robb, p. 229.
  37. ^ Quoted in Maurois, p. 229.
  38. ^ Quoted in Robb, p. 240.
  39. ^ Maurois, pp. 229–230; Cronin, pp. 168–169.
  40. ^ a b Maurois, pp. 229–231; Robb, pp. 240–242; Cronin, pp. 168–170; Gerson, pp. 168–173.
  41. ^ Quoted in Maurois, p. 231.
  42. ^ Quoted in Cronin, p. 173.
  43. ^ Maurois, pp. 238–239 and 244; Cronin, p. 173.
  44. ^ Cronin, p. 173.
  45. ^ Pierrot, p. 90.
  46. ^ Balzac, p. 200.
  47. ^ Maurois, p. 253; Cronin, pp. 174–175; Gerson, pp. 201–203; Pierrot, p. 92.
  48. ^ Cronin, pp. 176–177; Robb, pp. 266–267; Maurois, pp. 305–313.
  49. ^ (in Polish) Andrzej Biernacki, HAŃSKI Wacław (1782–1841) marszałek szlachty wołyńskiej, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, t. 9 p. 287-288
  50. ^ Maurois, p. 429.
  51. ^ Cronin, pp. 178–179.
  52. ^ Maurois, p. 448; Robb, p. 340; Cronin, p. 186.
  53. ^ Pierrot, pp. 151–152. The cause of his death remains unclear, and sources disagree on the date. Pierrot says 29 November is "le plus vraisemblable" (most likely).
  54. ^ Balzac, p. 504.
  55. ^ Cronin, p. 183.
  56. ^ Maurois, p. 431; Cronin, p. 182.
  57. ^ Quoted in Maurois, p. 433.
  58. ^ Cronin, p. 182.
  59. ^ Quoted in Maurois, p. 448.
  60. ^ Robb, p. 340.
  61. ^ Robb, pp. 354–355; Cronin, pp. 183–184.
  62. ^ Robb, p. 355; Cronin, p. 185.
  63. ^ Quoted in Maurois, p. 454.
  64. ^ Maurois, pp. 453–455; Cronin, pp. 186–187.
  65. ^ Cronin, p. 188; Maurois, pp. 462–466; Robb, pp. 360–361.
  66. ^ Balzac, p. 612.
  67. ^ Robb, p. 360.
  68. ^ Maurois, p. 478; Robb, p. 372.
  69. ^ Cronin, p. 188; Robb, pp. 362 and 364.
  70. ^ Quoted in Robb, p. 371.
  71. ^ Maurois, pp. 476 and 485; Cronin, p. 190; Robb, p. 371.
  72. ^ Quoted in Maurois, p. 478.
  73. ^ Cronin, p. 190; Robb, p. 371; Maurois, p. 478.
  74. ^ Maurois, pp. 482–483.
  75. ^ Quoted in Maurois, p. 488.
  76. ^ Maurois, pp. 488–492; Robb, pp. 374–375.
  77. ^ Robb, p. 377. He adds: "Whether or not Louise Breugniot actually resorted to blackmail, Balzac's righteous horror at her evil deeds, the contradictions in the details he gave to Eveline, and his decision not to prosecute all point to a furious burning of bridges."
  78. ^ Cronin (p. 194) and Maurois (p. 502) insist that blackmail was indeed afoot.
  79. ^ a b Robb, pp. 404–407; Maurois, pp. 543–546. Robb debunks the rumor that Eve made love to Jean Gigoux while Balzac slipped toward death.
  80. ^ Quoted in Cronin, pp. 194–195.
  81. ^ Robb, p. 378; Maurois, p. 510.
  82. ^ Robb, pp. 383–384.
  83. ^ Cronin, pp. 196–200; Maurois, pp. 529–530 and 539.
  84. ^ Maurois, p. 539.
  85. ^ Robb, p. 403.
  86. ^ Maurois, p. 539; Robb, p. 403.
  87. ^ Quoted in Maurois, p. 539. The doctor goes on to suggest that Hańska's noble position obviates concern for the animal: "No need to describe the agonized squeals of the little pig, which does not realize the honour that is being done it."
  88. ^ Robb, p. 409. He suggests that this was "surely a humorous recognition that nothing now could save him".
  89. ^ Quoted in Robb, p. 409.
  90. ^ Robb, pp. 409–410; Cronin, p. 210; Maurois, pp. 548–549.
  91. ^ Robb, p. 409.
  92. ^ Maurois, p. 548.
  93. ^ Cronin, p. 210.
  94. ^ a b Robb, pp. 415–416; Maurois, pp. 557–558; Cronin, p. 212. Cronin claims that Hańska moved in with Anna before she died.
  95. ^ a b Quoted in Maurois, p. 555.
  96. ^ Maurois, p. 555; Cronin, pp. 210–212.
  97. ^ a b c Quoted in Maurois, p. 556; and Cronin, p. 211.
  98. ^ Robb, p. 414.
  99. ^ William Richard Morfill (1893). The story of Poland. G. P. Putnam's sons. p. 215. Retrieved 30 August 2011.

References

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ewelina Hańska.
  • Balzac, Honoré de. Letters to Madame Hanska. Trans. Katharine Prescott Wormeley. Boston: Hardy, Pratt, 1900. OCLC 7376559. French version available at Google Books.
  • Cronin, Vincent. The Romantic Way. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966. OCLC 1298969.
  • Dargan, Edwin Preston. Honoré de Balzac: A Force of Nature. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1932. OCLC 2160847.
  • Floyd, Juanita Helm. Women in the Life of Honoré de Balzac. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1921. OCLC 247123586.
  • Gerson, Noel B. The Prodigal Genius: The Life and Times of Honoré de Balzac. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1972. LCCN 78-175376.
  • Korwin-Piotrowska, Sophie de. Balzac et le monde slave: madame Hanska et l'œuvre Balzacienne. Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1933. OCLC 186750375. (in French)
  • Korwin-Piotrowska, Sophie de. L'Étrangère: Èveline Hanska de Balzac. Paris: Librairie Armand Colin, 1938. OCLC 504087060. (in French)
  • Maurois, André. Prometheus: The Life of Balzac. Trans. Norman Denny. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1965. ISBN 978-0-88184-023-0.
  • Pierrot, Roger. Ève de Balzac. Paris: Éditions Stock, 1999. ISBN 978-2-234-05050-1. (in French)
  • Robb, Graham. Balzac: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994. ISBN 978-0-393-03679-4.

Further reading

  • Arrault, Albert. Madame Hanska: Le dernier amour de Balzac. Tours: Arrault et Cie, 1949. OCLC 1965445. (in French)
  • Hunt, Herbert J. Honoré de Balzac: A Biography. London: University of London Athlone Press, 1957. OCLC 459478705.
  • Oliver, E. J. Honoré de Balzac. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1964. OCLC 317414403.
  • Rogers, Samuel (1953). Balzac & The Novel. New York: Octagon Books. LCCN 75-76005.

April 11, 2023
ewelina, hańska, eveline, hańska, née, ewelina, rzewuska, january, 1805, april, 1882, polish, noblewoman, best, known, marriage, french, novelist, honoré, balzac, born, wierzchownia, estate, volhynia, ukraine, hańska, married, landowner, wacław, hański, when, . Eveline Hanska nee Ewelina Rzewuska 6 January c 1805 11 April 1882 was a Polish noblewoman best known for her marriage to French novelist Honore de Balzac Born at the Wierzchownia estate in Volhynia 1 now Ukraine Hanska married landowner Waclaw Hanski when she was a teenager 2 Hanski who was about 20 years her senior suffered from depression They had five children but only a daughter Anna survived Lady Eveline HanskaPortrait by Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller 1835Coat of armsKrzywdaBornEwelina Rzewuska c 1805 01 06 6 January 1805 Pohrebyshche Russian EmpireDied11 April 1882 1882 04 11 aged 77 Paris FranceBuriedPere Lachaise CemeteryFamilyRzewuski by birth Hanski by marriage Balzac by marriage HusbandWaclaw Hanski died 1841 wbr Honore de Balzac m 1850 died 1850 wbr IssueAnna HanskaFatherAdam Wawrzyniec Rzewuski pl MotherJustyna Rdultowska h DrogoslawIn the late 1820s Hanska began reading Balzac s novels and in 1832 she sent him an anonymous letter This began a decades long correspondence in which Hanska and Balzac expressed a deep mutual affection In 1833 they met for the first time in Switzerland Soon afterward he began writing the novel Seraphita which includes a character based on Hanska After her husband died in 1841 a series of complications obstructed Hanska s marriage to Balzac Chief of these was the estate and her daughter Anna s inheritance both of which might be threatened if she married him Anna married a Polish count easing some of the pressure About the same time Hanska gave Balzac the idea for his 1844 novel Modeste Mignon In 1850 they finally married and moved to Paris but he died five months later Though she never remarried she took several lovers and died in 1882 Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Family and early life 1 2 Marriage to Hanski 1 3 Becoming The Stranger 1 4 Meeting Balzac 1 5 Hanski s death 1 6 Second marriage and widowhood 1 7 Later years and death 2 Influence on Balzac s works 3 Defenders and detractors 4 Notes 5 References 6 Further readingBiography EditFamily and early life Edit Hanska was the fourth of seven children born to Adam Wawrzyniec Rzewuski and his wife Justyna Rzewuska nee Rdultowska 3 Their family was established as Polish nobility known for wealth and military prowess 4 One ancestor had imprisoned his own mother in a tower to extract his part of an inheritance 5 Hanska s great grandfather Waclaw Rzewuski was a famous writer and Grand Crown Hetman 6 When the Russian Empire gained control of lands owned by the family through the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century Rzewuski swore his allegiance to Catherine II 7 He was rewarded with a comfortable position in the ranks of the empire 7 Moving between assignments in Kiev St Petersburg and elsewhere he chose as his primary residence the village of Pohrebyszcze in the region of Vinnytsia 8 One historian compares the Rzewuski estate in Pohrebysche to a little kingdom 9 She was born in the Pohrebyszcze castle in the Kiev Governorate of Russian partition of Poland 10 Although scholars agree that Hanska was born on 6 January the year is disputed 11 Her biographers and those of her Balzac offer conflicting evidence of her age taken from correspondence family records and testimonies from descendants Most estimates range between 1801 and 1806 12 Balzac s biographer Graham Robb writes Balzac chose 1806 as her date of birth and he was probably right 13 Roger Pierrot s 1999 biography of Hanska however contends that she was born in 1804 14 Polish Biographical Dictionary gives 24 December 1805 Julian which converts to 5 January 1806 Gregorian 10 Like her brothers and sisters Hanska was educated by her parents about family lineage and religion 15 Her mother was a devout Catholic but her father also taught the children about Voltairian rationality 15 The family was secluded in Pohrebyszcze with only occasional trips away 15 Once a year the family visited Kiev for a market gathering during which Rzewuski sold grain and her mother purchased clothing and supplies for the estate 15 Ewelina had three brothers Adam Ernest and Henryk and three sisters Alina Karolina better known as Karolina Sobanska and Paulina 10 Hanska was closest to her brother Henryk who later became famous for his work in the genre of Polish folk literature known as gaweda 9 They shared a passion for philosophical discussions especially related to love and religion 9 Hanska s other brothers Adam and Ernest both pursued military careers 16 Hanska s eldest sister Karolina was admired as a child for her beauty intellect and musical talent 17 She later married a man 34 years her senior a landowner from Podole named Hieronim Sobanski 17 They separated after two years and she began a series of passionate affairs with some of her many suitors These included the Russian general Ivan Ossipovitch Witt the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz and the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin 17 The Tsar considered her behavior scandalous and declared her dangerously disloyal 17 As a result Hanska and the other Rzewuski women were watched carefully by police when they visited the Russian capital of St Petersburg 18 Hanska s younger sisters Alina and Paulina married early into comfortable upper class families 19 Alina married a wealthy landowner from Smilavicy whose father had gained his fortune by managing property for the Oginski family 19 Her nephew Stanislaw Moniuszko became a renowned composer 19 Paulina married a banker from Odessa named Jan Riznic 19 Marriage to Hanski Edit Hanska s first husband Waclaw Hanski was more than twenty years older than her 20 In 1819 Eveline married Waclaw Hanski a noble who lived nearby at Verhivnya Wierzchownia Their marriage was a union of wealthy families not of passion His estate covered 21 000 acres 85 km2 and owned over 3 000 serfs including 300 domestic servants The manor had been designed by a French architect and its owner filled it with luxuries from around the world paintings from galleries in Milan and London dinnerware from China and a library of 25 000 books in a variety of languages Hanski boasted that none of the furniture was Russian 21 Hanski was more than twenty years older than Ewelina who was a teenager at the time of their wedding and his personality clashed with her youthful vigor He spent most of the day supervising the grounds by some accounts with an iron fist 22 After dinner he was usually too fatigued to spend time with his wife and retired early He was generally dour and lived with a depressed condition that Hanska referred to as blue devils 23 Although she was surrounded by opulence Hanska found herself dissatisfied with her new life and with her husband s emotional distance in particular As one biographer put it He loved Eve but he was not deeply in love with her 23 In the first five years of their marriage Hanska gave birth to five children four of whom died as infants 24 The surviving daughter Anna was a welcome joy to Hanska and she trusted her care to a young governess named Henriette Borel who had moved to Wierzchownia from the Swiss town of Neuchatel 24 The estate at Wierzchownia was isolated Hanska was bored by visits to the court at St Petersburg and even more bored by noble guests in her own home She found nothing in common with the ladies of high society and longed for the stimulating discussions she had enjoyed with her brother Henryk She spent her time reading the books her husband imported from faraway lands 25 Becoming The Stranger Edit In her November 1832 letter Hanska told Honore de Balzac My heart has leapt as I read your works 26 One of the writers who most enchanted Hanska was the French novelist Honore de Balzac After laboring in pseudonymous obscurity for ten years Balzac published Les Chouans The Chouans in 1829 A tale of star crossed love amidst a royalist uprising in Brittany it was the first work to which he signed his own name Hanska was intrigued by the glowing portrayal of the female protagonist driven by true love to protect the object of her desire She also enjoyed Balzac s Physiologie du mariage The Physiology of Marriage also published in 1829 which heaps satirical scorn on husbands and celebrates the virtue of married women 27 When she read his 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin The Magic Skin however Hanska was appalled by the coarse depiction of Foedora the so called femme sans cœur woman without a heart She felt that Balzac had lost the reverence shown in his earlier works and worried that he had based Foedora on a real woman from his life Motivated partly by concern partly by boredom and partly by a desire to influence the life of a great writer as her sister Karolina had done she wrote to Balzac 28 On 28 February 1832 Hanska posted a letter from Odessa with no return address In it she praised Balzac for his work but scolded him for the negative portrayal of women in La Peau de chagrin She urged a return to the glowing representations in his earlier novels and signed enigmatically L Etrangere The Stranger or The Foreigner 29 30 Balzac was intrigued by the letter he took out a personal advertisement in the Gazette de France indicating his receipt of an anonymous letter and expressing regret for being unable to reply She probably never saw this notice 31 Hanska wrote to Balzac several times during 1832 32 On 7 November she posted a seven page letter filled with praise and flattery Your soul embraces centuries Monsieur its philosophical concepts appear to be the fruit of long study matured by time yet I am told that you are still young I would like to know you but feel that I have no need to do so I know you through my own spiritual instinct I picture you in my own way and feel that were I to set eyes upon you I should exclaim That is he Your outward semblance probably does not reveal your brilliant imagination you have to be moved the sacred fire of genius has to be lit if you are to show yourself as you really are and you are what I feel you to be a man superior in his knowledge of the human heart 33 34 She insisted however that they could never meet and indeed that he should never know her name For you I am The Stranger and shall remain so all my life 34 Still she wished for him to write back so she advised him to place a notice in La Quotidienne to L E from H B He purchased a notice similar to the earlier one in the Gazette and signed it according to her instructions 35 In her next letter Hanska made arrangements for a trusted courier to collect letters from Balzac and thereby allow for a direct correspondence Before long she sent him the news that she and her husband would be traveling Europe and visiting Vienna Hanski s childhood home They would also travel to the Swiss village of Neuchatel to visit the family of her daughter s governess Contradicting her vow of eternal anonymity she suggested a meeting Balzac agreed immediately and began to make preparations for the journey 36 Also sometime in 1833 Balzac wrote his first confession of love to her despite being at that time in another relationship 10 Meeting Balzac Edit In September 1833 after traveling to the French village of Besancon to find cheap paper for a publishing enterprise Balzac crossed into Switzerland and registered at the Hotel du Faucon under the name Marquis d Entragues He sent word to Hanska that he would visit the garden of the Maison Andrie where she and her family were staying He looked up and saw her face at the window then as he described it later he lost all bodily sensation 37 They met later that day September 25 10 at a spot overlooking Lake Neuchatel according to legend he noticed a woman reading one of his books He was overwhelmed with her beauty and she wrote soon afterwards to her brother describing Balzac as cheerful and lovable just like you 38 39 Hanska met Balzac for the first time in the Swiss village of Neuchatel 40 Hanska and Balzac met several times over the next five days and her husband became enchanted with Balzac as well inviting him to meals with the family During a trip to Lake Biel Hanski went to arrange lunch leaving his wife and Balzac alone In the shade of a large oak tree they kissed and exchanged vows of patience and fidelity She told him of the family s plan to visit Geneva for Christmas Balzac agreed to visit before the end of the year 40 Before he left Nauchatel she sent a passionate letter to his hotel Villain Did you not see in my eyes all that I longed for But have no fear I felt all the desire that a woman in love seeks to provoke 41 Arriving in Geneva on December 26 10 the Christmas Eve Balzac stayed at the Auberge de l Arc near the Maison Mirabaud where the Hanski family had settled for the season She left a ring for him at the hotel with a note asking for a new promise of love He gave it and described how he began wearing the ring on his left hand with which I hold my paper so that the thought of you clasps me tight 42 At this time he began working on a philosophical novel Seraphita about a hermaphroditic angel united by the love of a mortal man for a compassionate and sensual woman Balzac explained that she was his model for the latter 43 It was clear to all that Hanski was in ill health and Hanska began to think about her future with the French author In the meantime she asked Balzac to begin collecting for her autographs of the famous people he spent time with in Paris and elsewhere 44 After leaving Geneva on 8 February 10 the Hanski family spent several months visiting the major cities of Italy In Florence the sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini started work on a bust of Hanska 45 In the summer of 1834 they returned to Vienna where they would stay for another year During this time Balzac continued writing to Hanska and by accident two especially amorous letters fell into the hands of her husband He wrote to the French author furious and demanded an explanation Balzac wrote to Hanski claiming that it was nothing more than a game One evening in jest she said to me that she would like to know what a love letter was This was said wholly without meaning I wrote those two unfortunate letters to Vienna supposing that she remembered our joke 46 Hanski apparently accepted the explanation and invited Balzac to visit them in Vienna which he did in May 1835 47 Balzac s biographers agree that despite his vows of loyalty to Hanska he conducted affairs with several women during the 1830s and may have fathered children with two of them One was an Englishwoman named Sarah who had married the Count Emilio Guidoboni Visconti Hanska wrote to Balzac about these rumors in 1836 and he flatly denied them Her suspicion was raised again however when he later dedicated his novel Beatrix to Sarah 48 Balzac also corresponded with Hanski while most of their family disapproved of Balzac Hanski respected him and the two exchanged letters on literature and agronomy 10 49 Meanwhile Hanska was experiencing a renewal of religious interest partly because her daughter s governess Henriette Borel left to join a nunnery in Paris Hanska taught her daughter Anna from the works of Christian scholars including Jean Baptiste Massillon and St Francois de Sales 50 Her religious interest was more towards mysticism than mainstream religions she corresponded with Baroness Barbara von Krudener and read on Rosicrucianism Martinism and Swedenborgianism 10 Balzac treated this attack of devotion with the sharpest disapproval 10 When Balzac sent her works in progress her only replies were moral queries rather than the stylistic criticism for which he hoped 51 Hanski s death Edit After her first husband s death Hanska rejected advances from composer Franz Liszt 52 Hanski died in November 1841 53 She sent Balzac a letter sealed in black with the news He instantly wrote back je n en aurais peut etre pas voulu recevoir d autre de vous malgre ce que vous me dites de triste sur vous et votre sante I could not perhaps wish to have received any other news from you in spite of the sad things you tell me about yourself and your health 54 He made plans to visit Dresden in May and obtain a visa to visit her in Russia 55 The future however was not as simple as Balzac wanted to believe Hanska s family did not approve of the French author her Aunt Rozalia was especially disdainful To make matters worse her late husband s uncle protested the Hanski s will in which she had inherited Hanski s estate Horrified that her daughter would be robbed of everything Hanska insisted that she must end her relationship with Balzac You are free she wrote to him 56 As she made plans to protest the uncle s interference in St Petersburg Balzac wrote back to offer his help He suggested that he could become a Russian citizen and go to the Czar myself and ask him to sanction our marriage 57 She asked for his patience which he offered anew 58 Soon after she arrived in the Russian capital of St Petersburg in order to resolve some of the litigation issues surrounding her inheritance 10 she took Anna to a recital by the Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt Although she did not succumb to Lisztomania she was impressed by his musical talent and his good looks He is an extraordinary mixture she wrote in her diary and I enjoy studying him 59 They saw one another on several occasions but she ultimately rejected his advances One biographer says that their last meeting gives striking evidence of her loyalty to Balzac 60 In late July 1843 Balzac visited her in St Petersburg the first time they had seen one another in eight years He was struck by Hanska s resilient beauty but his condition had deteriorated over the years Biographers agree that she was much less physically attracted to him at this time 61 Still they renewed their vows of love and planned to marry as soon as she won her lawsuit In early October he returned to Paris 62 Soon afterwards she wrote a story based on her own experience writing to Balzac for the first time Unhappy with it she threw it into the fire but the French author begged her to rewrite it so he could adapt it He assured her that she would know something of the joys of authorship when you see how much of your elegant and delightful writing I have preserved 63 Her story became Modeste Mignon Balzac s 1844 novel about a young woman who writes to her favorite poet 64 Also in 1844 Hanska won her lawsuit The wealth of her late husband s estate would go to Anna who had become engaged to a Polish Count Jerzy Mniszech They planned to marry in 1846 after which time Hanska would bestow the inheritance Thus Hanska s marriage to Balzac would have to wait 65 In the meantime two urgent problems began to complicate their plans One was his health which had been deteriorating for years In October 1843 he wrote to her about horrible suffering which has its seat nowhere which cannot be described which attacks both heart and brain 66 Balzac s other problem was financial despite his illness he could not afford to relax his work schedule since he owed more than 200 000 francs to various creditors 67 Second marriage and widowhood Edit The house Balzac bought for Hanska with her money was built before the French Revolution by banker Nicolas Beaujon 68 Hanska and Balzac were determined however and in 1845 she visited him in Paris with Anna and Jerzy In April of the following year they visited Italy Balzac joined them for a tour of Rome and they proceeded to Geneva 69 Soon after he returned to Paris she wrote with the news that she was pregnant Balzac was overjoyed certain that they would have a boy and insisting on the name Victor Honore The thought of having a son he wrote stirs my heart and makes me write page upon page 70 To avoid scandal he would have to marry Hanska in secret to hide the fact that their child was conceived out of wedlock In the meantime Anna married Jerzy Mniszech on 13 October in Wiesbaden 10 Balzac served as a witness and wrote an announcement for the Paris newspapers which offended Hanska s sister Alina 71 Hanska living for a time in Dresden was not soothed either by Balzac s disregard for financial stability For years he had planned to buy a house for them to share but in August 1846 she sent him a stern admonition Until his debts were paid she wrote we must postpone buying any property 72 One month later he purchased a house on the Rue Fortunee for 50 000 francs 73 Having collected finery from his many travels he searched across Europe for items to properly complete the furnishings carpets from Smyrna embroidered pillowcases from Germany and a handle for the lavatory chain crafted from Bohemian glass 74 In November Hanska suffered a miscarriage she wrote to Balzac with the tragic news He wanted to visit her but Anna wrote asking him to remain in Paris The emotion involved she wrote would be fatal 75 Hanska made plans to return to Wierzchownia but Balzac begged her to visit him which she did in the spring of 1847 76 As soon as she was back in Ukraine however a new wrinkle unfolded Hanska had long been unhappy with the presence of Balzac s housekeeper Louise Breugniot and he promised to break with her before marrying He wrote with alarm to Hanska explaining that Breugninot had stolen her letters to him and blackmailed the author for 30 000 francs Biographers disagree about truth of this story Robb suggests it was a convincing hysterical performance put on for the benefit of his jealous fiancee 77 78 Before Balzac s death Hanska was visited often by Victor Hugo 79 Still Balzac believed that keeping her letters was dangerous and in a moment of characteristic impulse threw them into the fire He described it to her as the saddest and most frightful day of my life I am looking at the ashes as I write to you and I tremble seeing how little space fifteen years takes up 80 On 5 September 1847 he left Paris to join her for the first time in Wierzchownia 81 They spent several happy months together but financial obligations required his presence in France The Revolution of 1848 began one week after his return 82 Back in Wierzchownia Hanska lost 80 000 francs due to a granary fire and her time was consumed with three lawsuits These complications and Balzac s constant debt meant that their finances were unstable and she hesitated anew at the idea of marriage In any case a wedding would be impossible without approval from the Tsar which he did not grant until spring of 1850 83 On 2 July 1849 Russian authorities responding to Balzac s request in December 1847 to marry Hanska stated that he could do so but that Hanska could not keep her land 10 Balzac returned to Wierzchownia in October and immediately fell ill with heart issues 10 His condition deteriorated throughout 1849 and doubts persisted in her mind about their union Biographers generally agree that Hanska was convinced by Balzac s frail state and endless devotion One wrote It was charity as much as love or fame which finally turned the scale 84 Robb indicates that the wedding was surely an act of compassion on her part 85 To avoid rumors and suspicion from the Tsar Hanska transferred ownership of the estate to her daughter On 14 March 1850 they traveled to Berdychiv and accompanied by Anna and Jerzy were married in a small ceremony at the parish church of St Barbara 86 Both Hanska and Balzac took ill after the wedding she suffered from a severe attack of gout for which her doctor prescribed an unusual treatment Every other day she has to thrust her feet into the body of a sucking pig which has only just been slit open because it is necessary that the entrails should be quivering 87 She recovered but he did not They returned to Paris in late May and his health improved slightly at the start of summer By July however he was confined to his bed Hanska nursed him constantly as a stream of visitors including the writers Victor Hugo and Henri Murger came to pay their respects 79 When Balzac s vision started to give out she began to act as his secretary helping him with his writing 10 In mid August Balzac succumbed to gangrene and began having fits of delirium At one point he called out for Horace Bianchon the fictional doctor he had included in many novels 88 But he also expressed great worry for Hanska once telling Hugo My wife is more intelligent than I but who will support her in her solitude I have accustomed her to so much love 89 He died on 18 August 1850 90 As most of Balzac s biographers point out Hanska was not in the room when he died Robb says she must have retired for a moment 91 while Andre Maurois notes that she had been by his side for weeks with no way of knowing how long it would continue and there was nothing to be done 92 Vincent Cronin attributes her absence to the nature of their relationship From the first day by the lakeside at Neuchatel theirs had been a Romantic love and Eve wanted to guard it to the end against that terrible taint of corruption 93 Later years and death Edit Hanska spent her last thirty years in a relationship with painter Jean Gigoux 94 Hanska lived with Balzac s mother for a time after his death in the house he had spent so much time and expense furnishing The elder Mme Balzac moved in with a friend after several months and Hanska approached the remains of her late husband s writing Several works had been left incomplete and publishers inquired about releasing a final edition of his grand collection La Comedie humaine Hanska sponsored new editions of his works and was involved in editing some of them even adding occasional content 10 Balzac s debt meanwhile still exceeded 200 000 francs which Hanska paid while also providing for his mother s living expenses 10 One of her letters at the time gives voice to her frustrations In nursing my husband s incurable malady I ruined my health just as I have ruined my private fortune in accepting the inheritance of debts and embarrassments which he left me 95 Anna and Jerzy moved into a nearby house in Paris 96 Despite her obligations Hanska was a beautiful unmarried woman of means living in Paris The writer Jules Amedee Barbey d Aurevilly described her this way Her beauty was imposing and noble somewhat massive a little fleshy but even in stoutness she retained a very lively charm which was spiced with a delightful foreign accent and a striking hint of sensuality 95 As she began sorting through Balzac s papers she called on his friend Champfleury for assistance As they worked one evening he complained of a headache I ll make it go away she said 97 and began massaging his forehead As he wrote later There are certain magnetic effluvia in such situations of which the effect is that the matter does not stop there 97 Her affair with the man twenty years her junior was brief but it provided a tremendous release to Hanska who had spent decades with older men in various states of ill health She began partaking of the social life around her The night before last I laughed as I have never done before she wrote in 1851 Oh how wonderful it is not to know anyone or have to worry about anyone to have one s independence liberty on the mountain tops and to be in Paris 97 Champfleury was intimidated by her vitality and jealousy and removed himself from her life On his recommendation she turned creative control of Balzac s unfinished novels Le Depute d Arcis and Les Petits Bourgeois to another writer Charles Rabou Rabou added extensively to them and published both books in 1854 To soothe the publisher Hanska falsely claimed that Balzac had chosen Rabou as his literary successor 98 Hanska met the painter Jean Gigoux when she hired him in 1851 to paint Anna s portrait They began a relationship that lasted many years but never married Over the next thirty years Hanska and particularly her spend thrift daughter spent the remainder of their fortune on fine clothing and jewelry 10 99 Jerzy meanwhile succumbed to mental disorders and died in 1881 leaving behind a trail of debts Hanska was forced to sell the house but was allowed to continue living there She died on 11 April 1882 and was buried in Balzac s grave at Pere Lachaise Cemetery 94 Influence on Balzac s works EditEveline was an inspiration for many of Balzac s characters 10 She can be seen as the model for La Fosseue Mme Claes Modesta Mignon Ursule Mirouet Adelina Houlot and especially Eugenie Grandet and Mme de Mortsauf 10 There is less agreement among scholars on whether she was also the inspiration for more negative characters such as Fedora and lady Dudley as Balzac seems to have used her mostly as a model for more positive personas 10 His works also mention numerous characters named Eve or Eveline and have several dedications to her 10 In addition to Eveline her daughter Anna sister Alina aunt Rozalia first love Tadeusz Wylezynski and several other figures that she introduced Balzac to or told him about were also incorporated into his works 10 After they met Poland Polish topics Polish names and Polish Slavic mysticism began to appear much more frequently in his works as exemplified by such characters as Hoene Wronski Grabianka and General Chodkiewicz 10 Defenders and detractors EditHanska became a controversial figure among the biographers and researchers of Balzac 10 As Zygmunt Czerny notes the mysterious Pole was criticized by some Henry Bordeaux Octave Mirbeau La Mort de Balzac Adolf Nowaczynski Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski Charles Leger and Pierre Descaves and praised by others Philippe Bertault Marcel Bouteron Barbey d Aurevilly Sophie de Korwin Piotrowska Tadeusz Boy Zelenski Tadeusz Grabowski Juanita Helm Floyd and Andre Billy 10 Czerny notes that one of the greatest experts on Balzac Spoelberch de Lovenjoul referred to her as one of the best women of the epoch and that while there are those who deride her influence on Balzac and question her feelings and motivations few deny she had a crucial impact on him and for most the Great Balzac emerged only after meeting her in early 1830s 10 Czerny concludes by saying However one could analyze her and their relationship the impact of her love on Balzac was persistent all enveloping and decisive 10 Notes Edit Juanita Helm Floyd Women in the Life of Balzac Page 136 Kessinger Publishing 2004 reprint ISBN 978 1 4191 9481 8 Retrieved October 8 2011 Frederic Ewen Heroic imagination the creative genius of Europe Page 498 New York University Press 2004 reprint ISBN 0 8147 2225 3 Retrieved October 8 2011 Robb p 226 Pierrot p 12 Note that spelling changes for the feminine form of Polish surnames Robb p 226 He states Eveline Hanska the fourth of seven children came from a historic Polish family the Rzewuskis many of them brilliant warriors statesmen adventurers and lunatics Cronin p 153 Robb p 226 Korwin Piotrowska 1938 p 21 Pierrot p 3 a b Robb pp 226 227 Pierrot pp 3 7 Robb pp 226 227 a b c Cronin p 154 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab in Polish Zygmunt Czerny HANSKA Ewelina 1800 1882 dama polska Polski Slownik Biograficzny t 9 p 286 287 Robb p 227 Pierrot pp 12 16 Korwin Piotrowska 1933 pp 20 21 Even the date of 6 January is contentious and is complicated by the transition at the time from the Julian to Gregorian calendar See Floyd p 203 and Pierrot pp 12 16 Pierrot pp 12 16 Floyd p 203 Cronin p 153 Maurois implies on p 219 that she was born in 1799 Robb p 227 Pierrot p 14 His certainty is cited to an entry for Adam Rzewuski in the Dictionary of Polish Biography which gives his birth date as 24 December 1804 Eveline was born roughly one year earlier a b c d Cronin pp 153 154 Pierrot pp 49 55 a b c d Pierrot pp 28 48 Maurois p 219 Gerson p 153 a b c d Pierrot pp 56 59 Robb p 227 Maurois p 219 Cronin p 155 Robb p 227 Gerson pp 151 152 Cronin p 155 Robb p 452 note 7 a b Cronin p 156 a b Cronin p 156 Robb p 227 Gerson p 153 Maurois p 220 Gerson suggests Hanska may have lost five or six children before Anna was born Gerson p 154 Cronin pp 157 158 Quoted in Maurois p 218 Cronin p 158 Maurois p 155 Robb pp 226 227 Cronin pp 158 159 Korwin Piotrowska 1938 pp 68 70 Maurois p 218 Dargan p 29 Robb pp 223 224 L Etrangere can also mean The Foreigner Some sources suggest that Hanska had her daughter s governess write the actual letter as she dictated See Cronin pp 158 159 and Gerson who suggests an elaborate plan involving Hanska s cousins pp 154 155 Robb p 224 Maurois p 218 Gerson p 155 Cronin says on p 163 that La Quotidienne was one of the only French newspapers allowed into Russia at the time Cronin p 161 Robb p 224 The exact number of letters is unknown Original is quoted in Pierrot pp 67 68 a b Translation quoted in Maurois pp 218 219 Maurois p 219 Cronin p 163 Gerson p 156 Maurois p 228 Robb p 229 Quoted in Maurois p 229 Quoted in Robb p 240 Maurois pp 229 230 Cronin pp 168 169 a b Maurois pp 229 231 Robb pp 240 242 Cronin pp 168 170 Gerson pp 168 173 Quoted in Maurois p 231 Quoted in Cronin p 173 Maurois pp 238 239 and 244 Cronin p 173 Cronin p 173 Pierrot p 90 Balzac p 200 Maurois p 253 Cronin pp 174 175 Gerson pp 201 203 Pierrot p 92 Cronin pp 176 177 Robb pp 266 267 Maurois pp 305 313 in Polish Andrzej Biernacki HANSKI Waclaw 1782 1841 marszalek szlachty wolynskiej Polski Slownik Biograficzny t 9 p 287 288 Maurois p 429 Cronin pp 178 179 Maurois p 448 Robb p 340 Cronin p 186 Pierrot pp 151 152 The cause of his death remains unclear and sources disagree on the date Pierrot says 29 November is le plus vraisemblable most likely Balzac p 504 Cronin p 183 Maurois p 431 Cronin p 182 Quoted in Maurois p 433 Cronin p 182 Quoted in Maurois p 448 Robb p 340 Robb pp 354 355 Cronin pp 183 184 Robb p 355 Cronin p 185 Quoted in Maurois p 454 Maurois pp 453 455 Cronin pp 186 187 Cronin p 188 Maurois pp 462 466 Robb pp 360 361 Balzac p 612 Robb p 360 Maurois p 478 Robb p 372 Cronin p 188 Robb pp 362 and 364 Quoted in Robb p 371 Maurois pp 476 and 485 Cronin p 190 Robb p 371 Quoted in Maurois p 478 Cronin p 190 Robb p 371 Maurois p 478 Maurois pp 482 483 Quoted in Maurois p 488 Maurois pp 488 492 Robb pp 374 375 Robb p 377 He adds Whether or not Louise Breugniot actually resorted to blackmail Balzac s righteous horror at her evil deeds the contradictions in the details he gave to Eveline and his decision not to prosecute all point to a furious burning of bridges Cronin p 194 and Maurois p 502 insist that blackmail was indeed afoot a b Robb pp 404 407 Maurois pp 543 546 Robb debunks the rumor that Eve made love to Jean Gigoux while Balzac slipped toward death Quoted in Cronin pp 194 195 Robb p 378 Maurois p 510 Robb pp 383 384 Cronin pp 196 200 Maurois pp 529 530 and 539 Maurois p 539 Robb p 403 Maurois p 539 Robb p 403 Quoted in Maurois p 539 The doctor goes on to suggest that Hanska s noble position obviates concern for the animal No need to describe the agonized squeals of the little pig which does not realize the honour that is being done it Robb p 409 He suggests that this was surely a humorous recognition that nothing now could save him Quoted in Robb p 409 Robb pp 409 410 Cronin p 210 Maurois pp 548 549 Robb p 409 Maurois p 548 Cronin p 210 a b Robb pp 415 416 Maurois pp 557 558 Cronin p 212 Cronin claims that Hanska moved in with Anna before she died a b Quoted in Maurois p 555 Maurois p 555 Cronin pp 210 212 a b c Quoted in Maurois p 556 and Cronin p 211 Robb p 414 William Richard Morfill 1893 The story of Poland G P Putnam s sons p 215 Retrieved 30 August 2011 References Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ewelina Hanska Balzac Honore de Letters to Madame Hanska Trans Katharine Prescott Wormeley Boston Hardy Pratt 1900 OCLC 7376559 French version available at Google Books Cronin Vincent The Romantic Way Boston Houghton Mifflin Company 1966 OCLC 1298969 Dargan Edwin Preston Honore de Balzac A Force of Nature Chicago The University of Chicago Press 1932 OCLC 2160847 Floyd Juanita Helm Women in the Life of Honore de Balzac New York Henry Holt and Company 1921 OCLC 247123586 Gerson Noel B The Prodigal Genius The Life and Times of Honore de Balzac Garden City NY Doubleday amp Company Inc 1972 LCCN 78 175376 Korwin Piotrowska Sophie de Balzac et le monde slave madame Hanska et l œuvre Balzacienne Paris Librairie Ancienne Honore Champion 1933 OCLC 186750375 in French Korwin Piotrowska Sophie de L Etrangere Eveline Hanska de Balzac Paris Librairie Armand Colin 1938 OCLC 504087060 in French Maurois Andre Prometheus The Life of Balzac Trans Norman Denny New York Carroll amp Graf 1965 ISBN 978 0 88184 023 0 Pierrot Roger Eve de Balzac Paris Editions Stock 1999 ISBN 978 2 234 05050 1 in French Robb Graham Balzac A Biography New York W W Norton amp Company 1994 ISBN 978 0 393 03679 4 Further reading EditArrault Albert Madame Hanska Le dernier amour de Balzac Tours Arrault et Cie 1949 OCLC 1965445 in French Hunt Herbert J Honore de Balzac A Biography London University of London Athlone Press 1957 OCLC 459478705 Oliver E J Honore de Balzac New York The Macmillan Company 1964 OCLC 317414403 Rogers Samuel 1953 Balzac amp The Novel New York Octagon Books LCCN 75 76005 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