The Balzacian Imagination in the Dreyfus Affair

Edouard Drumont (1844-1917), author of La France Juive and editor of La Libre Parole, fancied himself the worthy successor of Balzac on the matter of recording the image of society. As France's leading anti-Semite Drumont was only concerned with the role of Jews in contemporary history and relied greatly on Balzac's portrayal of Nucingen who was largely modeled on James de Rothschild. Drumont also relied on Balzac's technique of reintroducing characters, especially those like Vautrin, who reappear in various disguises. In Drumont's scheme of things all Jews were interchangeable parts of a vast plot to destroy Christian civilization. Readers of his books and newspaper became accustomed to expect the worst crimes to be attributed to Jews and they were not surprised when in 1894 Alfred Dreyfus was arrested on charges of espionage. Many critics of the Dreyfus affair have remarked that the major figures in this political drama seem to have stepped out of a Balzac novel. Like many of his generation Drumont reveled in Balzac's depiction of social manners but only Drumont put this vision to such specialized and disastrous use. (FAB)