Henry James on "Balzac"

Under the auspices of Radcliffe college, Mr. Henry James, the author, delivered a lecture on "Balzac" yesterday afternoon in Sanders Theatre.

Throughout his lecture Mr. James emphasized the unity in Balzac's works as a whole. No one of his books is detachable from the rest, nor does it stand above the others and symbolize them. His works must be taken as a mass; in each he so thoroughly depicts a separate phase of the classes and districts in French life that no one is complete by itself.

Balzac was a great creator and projector in the field of fiction. Notwithstanding the quantity and intensity of his work, he never allowed himself to be deluded by his imagination or over-fondness for his characters. He vibrated intellectually to the thousand experiences and incidents of life, which he wove into the great pictorial tapestry of French manners. His dramatic intensity is evident in the masterful choice of details which he had at his command; yet every fact which he made use of is brought out in all its significance and relative value to the picture as a whole.