174 years after his death, Honoré de Balzac remains an extremely modern-sounding wit. If he were alive today, he would likely be crafting his sharp observations from a trendy “coffice,” a café offering free wifi, accommodating staff, and ample electrical outlets—a haven for writers.
It’s safe to say Starbucks wouldn’t make the cut…
As evidenced by his humorous essay, “The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee,” Balzac would seek out a late-night haunt with the strongest and most unique brewing methods—an establishment that matched his peculiar tastes. Coffee was his Green Fairy, and he consumed it with a strategic fervor, sometimes indulging in up to 50 cups a day, carefully managing his consumption to prolong his addictive vice.
Coffee—referred to as a “great power” in his life—enabled him to maintain a grueling writing schedule that had him retiring at 6 p.m., rising at 1 a.m. to work until 8 a.m., catching a brief nap before another seven-hour writing session.
It takes more than a couple of cappuccinos to uphold that kind of pace. When a standard human dose failed to stimulate, Balzac resorted to consuming coffee powder on an empty stomach, a harsh method he amusingly recommended “only to men of excessive vigor, men with thick black hair and skin covered with liver spots, men with big square hands and legs shaped like bowling pins.”
Apparently, his extreme coffee consumption worked. He churned out eighty-five novels in twenty years before passing away at 51. The speculated causes of his death vary from overwork and caffeine overdose to hypertension, atherosclerosis, and even syphilis.
Watch actor Paul Giamatti channel a caffeine-fueled Balzac in the video above. And don’t miss The Coffee Pot That Fueled Honoré de Balzac’s Coffee Addiction.
Related Content:
Paul Giamatti Plays Honoré de Balzac, Energized by 50 Cups of Coffee Per Day
Philosophers Drinking Coffee: The Excessive Habits of Kant, Voltaire & Kierkegaard
How Caffeine Fueled the Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution & the Modern World: An Introduction by Michael Pollan
“The Virtues of Coffee” Explained in a 1690 Ad: The Cure for Lethargy, Scurvy, Dropsy, Gout & More
Ayun Halliday hasn’t touched the stuff for two whole weeks. Follow her @AyunHallliday
