 One of these aspects which fascinated Balzac was the life of crime . In the winter of 1828 – 29 , a French grifter @-@ turned @-@ policeman named Eugène François Vidocq published a pair of sensationalized memoirs recounting his criminal exploits . Balzac met Vidocq in April 1834 , and used him as a model for a character named Vautrin he was planning for an upcoming novel . 
