Friday 28 December 2012
Friday 21 December 2012
A literary journey through the Touraine (1/5)
Chateaux, landscapes, vineyards, yes, but also Descartes, Balzac, Ronsard, Rabelais and Vigny. The Touraine is also the land of writers! Through regular short articles we shall look at each of these famous people and the areas of Touraine important to them and to their work.
Honoré de Balzac was born in Tours in 1799, at 25 rue de l’Armée d’Italie (now 47 rue nationale; his birthplace was destroyed during bombing in June 1940). At the age of eight he was sent to the Oratorian College in Vendôme, 50 km north of Tours. In 1814 he moved from the Touraine with his parents to the Marais in Paris. Despite studying law and working as an articled clerk, he frequented the Sorbonne and decided to devote himself to literature.
On the trail of Honoré de Balzac (1799 - 1850)
"Shame on he who fails to admire my joyful, beautiful, courageous Touraine and her seven valleys which flow with water and wine!"
Honoré de Balzac was born in Tours in 1799, at 25 rue de l’Armée d’Italie (now 47 rue nationale; his birthplace was destroyed during bombing in June 1940). At the age of eight he was sent to the Oratorian College in Vendôme, 50 km north of Tours. In 1814 he moved from the Touraine with his parents to the Marais in Paris. Despite studying law and working as an articled clerk, he frequented the Sorbonne and decided to devote himself to literature.