I have read a famous novel by Honoré de Balzac, “La Recherche de l’absolu”. It is a story for all the researchers and people who are interested in research. Although the basic science for this novel is restricted to the science in early 19th century, what the main character, Balthazar pursued is common to any researchers timelessly. Balthazar is originally the name of the second Biblical Magi, who brought frankincense and the symbol of divinity. The name is frequently observed in many novels, such as “An itinerant of Balthazar（バルタザールの遍歴）” by Aki Sato（佐藤亜紀）. The dauntless daughter of Balthazar, Marguerite has a name of so common that it appears as Margarete in “Faust” and Маргарита in “Мастер и Маргарита”. Both socio-politically and literary-historically it is a drama of Flandre in early 19th century.
In detail, the destiny of Balthazar is a pre-established harmony from its first glance. From modern view of science, “l’absolu” must be pursued by physics. However, Balthazar studied mere chemistry, and this mismatch caused all the tragedies accompanied with him. Balthazar sought a sort of fundamental element among the known elements. We know in the 20th century proton, neutron and electron constitute an atom, and from sympathetic view for him “l’absolu” may be neutron, and actions he assumed is electroweak interactions among protons and electrons. However, he misinterpreted that he had converted an element to a different element without any sorts of nuclear fission, fusion or beta decay, implying he is not so good at chemistry. His failure started from just the beginning, when a crazy pseudoscientific alchemist visited his home and inspired him of all the disastrous chemical experiments. Balthazar once learned chemistry from de Lavoisier and de Lavoisier praised his devotion, but may not have praised his talent. If he had a fair view of chemistry, he would not have been deceived by bunch of improper metaphors that had nothing to do with science. For mathematics it may work, but for natural sciences the beginning should be a concrete evidence that indicates a sort of abstract theories underlie, not metaphors, because they are sciences based on nature. Balthazar’s fall all depended on this point, and he was destined to embrace a catastrophe. His cry, “EURÊKA!” thus vanished into the night, and all the more it enhances the lives and values of human beings as his devotion. Reasonably he should have escaped from the situation at a certain point. The organization of the story is normal, and the narration is sincere enough to memorize all the affairs of the great characters. It silently exhibits an attractivity and a demonish nature of the absolute beings. What are not described is the true attitude for sciences, which we can understand from real biographies for actual scientists.
From a viewpoint of structuralism, repetitions of disastrous incidents and contrasts between happiness and madness very well represent the main theme. From a viewpoint of post-structuralism, fluidity of knowledge is excellent and textures are not deconstructed, as is often the case with classics. The failure from the past ironically revisited the characters again and again. From feministic view Marguerite is so dauntless that she could be a prominent figure of the society. Sins or faults of ordinary people are also described.
Overall, this story is a masterpiece of “La Recherche de l’absolu” itself.
