Today, we are happy to bring you our conversation with Rebecca Terese Powers, author of Balzac on the Barricades: The Literary Origins of an Economic Revolution

What inspired you to write this book? 

I was first inspired to write Balzac on the Barricades after reading Gustave Flaubert’s 1869 historical novel Sentimental Education for a graduate seminar. Flaubert’s memorable depictions of a ragtag group of artists, industrialists, and aspiring revolutionaries in 1840s Paris captured my imagination. Even more fascinating, however, were his beautiful – yet elliptical – accounts of the dramatic political events of 1848 (the February Revolution and the bloody June Days that followed). I was curious to know more about this strange period in French history, marked by political, economic, and literary upheaval. Balzac on the Barricades is my attempt to answer some of the questions that Flaubert’s novel raised for me, although I must admit that the process of writing the book has also unearthed new ones...

What did you learn and what are you hoping readers will learn from your book? 

After spending so many years researching and writing about many of the major actors in the 1848 February Revolution, I have learned that conviction – truly believing in a cause – can take us farther than we might imagine. From the novelist George Sand to the artisan-poet-turned-newspaperman Jules Vinçard, this book is full of literary authors who were confident that, by writing down the images and ideas that came to their minds, they could help construct a better society. The brief but unmistakable triumph of the workers and their literary allies in February 1848 is enough to make us rethink our twenty-first-century cynicism about what culture can and cannot do.

What surprised you the most in the process of writing your book? 

This may sound like a cliché, but I was shocked by how much we still have in common with people who lived two centuries ago. I found myself reading the diaries and personal correspondence of such lofty figures as Honoré de Balzac (best known for his multi-volume masterpiece, The Human Comedy), Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (the author of the polemical “What is Property?”), and George Sand (whose storied biography rivals even the most imaginative of her fictions). From their personal writings, I learned about their relationships, rivalries, ambitions, weaknesses and faults. Thanks to these faults, these great historical figures became more relatable, and, in a sense, I felt less alone in the world.

What’s your favorite anecdote from your book?

My favorite scenes in the book take place during the heady days of February 1848, when workers and literary authors came together to celebrate the toppling of the monarchy. There was a real feeling in the air that literature had been crucial to making the Republican dream a reality. Crowds went wild when, in a public revival of the melodrama The Ragpicker of Paris, the protagonist donned a crown pulled from a pile of trash. Even Honoré de Balzac, who was far from radical, found himself caught up in the joyous revolutionary celebrations. Although this “Lyrical Illusion” did not last long, the scenes it left us still serve as a reminder of the power of the human imagination.

What’s next? 

Living in Paris with my family since 2021, I recently passed the French national teaching exam (the agrégation) and will be teaching English language and literature to French students. I am looking forward to devoting my time to developing new teaching materials in this discipline and plan to begin another book project in the next year or so.