mis-en-scene

Updated: June 30, 2026

Much of it applies with similar force to Zola, later to be hailed as a king among modern realists in the naturalistic extreme to which he pushed the movement. Balzac, through his remarkable instinct for detail and particularity, did introduce into nineteenth century fiction an effect of greater truth in the depiction of life. Nobody perhaps had nobody has since presented mis-en-scene as did he.

Richard Burton - Masters of the English Novel: A Study of Principles and Personalities