Balzac botches a publicity stunt
French writer Honore de Balzacs play Les Ressources de Quinola opens to an empty house thanks to a failed publicity stunt on this day in 1842.Hoping to create a buzz for the play the writer circulated a rumor that tickets were sold out.Unfortunately most of his fans stayed home.By this time Balzac was already a well-known literary figure.
Born in Tours France Balzac was educated in Paris where he started writing plays at the age of 20 while working as a lawyers apprentice.His plays bombed and he took to writing thrillers under an assumed name.Needing money he launched disastrous ventures in printing and silver mining and went bankrupt.
While struggling under his debts he resumed writing and by 1929 he was publishing under his own name convinced he was a genius.By 1830 he had become a celebrated writer who frequented literary salons.Balzac drove himself ruthlessly working 14 to 16 hours at a stretch aided by some 50 cups of coffee a day.
He completed 90 novels all part of a single series La Comedie Humaine and died in Paris in 1850.
