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If Balzac was indeed a precursor of sociology, it was in the guise of a specific type of sociology known as “analytical” sociology. The approach has three principles derived from Max Weber: first, it is comprehensive rather than explanatory; second, it is neutral with regard to its subject; third, its method is of the “ideal-type”. This ideal-type model may shed light on an interpretation of Balzac’s greatest characters: Frenhofer as a romantic artist, Louis Lambert as a brilliant scholar, Lucien Chardon-de-Rubempré as an aristocratic poet, Lucien de Rubempré as a dandy, Lucien Chardon as a failed poet, Camille Maupin as a woman author, Joseph Bridau as an unloved creator. Balzac thus emerges as a pioneer of a comprehensive sociology of representations.