Balzac and the Narrative Tension of Credit

Inspired by a text that came off Balzac’s printing press in 1827, this article reflects on the metaphor of credit in Balzac’s work. The law of credit is not only one of the main vectors of the social energy of a liberal economy; it is also a modality of interpersonal relationship where power relations—between debtor and creditor—can be freed from the chains of a legal bond, be modified, and finally be reversed.