Balzac between realisms: reading The Unknown Masterpiece (1831) according to Rancière

Abstract

This paper understands Realism’s uniqueness as part of modern literature and as detached from the alleged imperative to represent reality - criticized by avant-garde movements and artistic theories of the 20th century. Therefore, we begin by contrasting Auerbach’s reading of Stendhal with the classical logic of decorum - as it prescribes the observance of certain topoi that retain stability even when discursive genres are mixed. Thus, the novelty that erupts in the realistic discourse consists in an “aesthetic revolution” (RANCIÈRE 2009a), in other words, the implosion of a hierarchic order of the representation, in which the “real” intermingles with the literary narrative without depending on any topoi. Such de-hierarchization made possible by the aesthetic regime is the glory of anything or anyone, through its discourse the infamous man (FOUCAULT, 1998) can speak and feel like the classical kings of the tragedy, and the most anodyne detail can convey the opus’ meaning. So, we propose an analysis of Balzac’s novella the The Unknown Masterpiece (1831) as an accentuated representative index of the avant-garde’s risks and excesses, as well as of the infamous life that the realistic account seeks to represent.