Background
Jean Louis Guez de Balzac was born in Angoulême,Angouleme, France, not later than June 1, 1597, the date of his baptism. His father, Guillaume Guez, had come to AngoulêmeAngouleme as secretary to the Duke of Epernon. Purchase of a nearby estate called Balzac gave him the right to use the name.A visit to Italy in 1620-1622 as a sort of agent to the Duke's son, Cardinal La Valette, gave him further material and further stimulus for the writing of his letters. The first edition of the letters was published in 1624; they had an unparalleled success because of their fine prose style and because they were really little essays. His prose marks the greatest advance until Blaise Pascal's Lettres provinciales in 1656.