Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac

Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (born 1597, probably in Balzac, near Angoulême, Fr.—died Feb. 18, 1654, Balzac) was a man of letters and critic, one of the original members of the Académie Française; he had a great influence on the development of Classical French prose.

After studies in the Netherlands at Leiden (1615), some youthful adventures, and a period in Rome (1620–22), he hoped for a political career and wrote in defense of Cardinal de Richelieu’s administration. When he saw, however, that Richelieu would not offer him preferment, he retired to his country house, from which he maintained relations with Parisian literary circles, chiefly by letter. Elected to the Académie Française in 1634, he rarely attended its sessions. His reputation, high in his lifetime, declined rapidly after his death. Balzac’s published works include Le Prince (1631), a political treatise, and Le Socrate chrétien (1652), a synthesis of Stoic and Christian ethics. Far more influential, however, were the Lettres (short dissertations on political, moral, and literary matters), which appeared in numerous editions and were continually expanded from 1624.