Honoré de Balzac

Finance, fashionable society, and the intrigues of the underworld and the police system form the heart of this powerful novel, which introduces the satanic genius Vautrin, one of the greatest villains in world literature.

Mild, harmless and ugly to behold, the impoverished Pons is an ageing musician whose brief fame has fallen to nothing. Living a placid Parisian life as a bachelor in a shared apartment with his friend Schmucke, he maintains only two passions: a devotion to fine dining in the company of wealthy but disdainful relatives, and a dedication to the collection of antiques. When these relatives become aware of the true value of his art collection, however, their sneering contempt for the parasitic Pons rapidly falls away as they struggle to obtain a piece of the weakening man's inheritance. Taking its place in the Human Comedy as a companion to Cousin Bette, the darkly humorous Cousin Pons is among of the last and greatest of Balzac's novels concerning French urban society: a cynical, pessimistic but never despairing consideration of human nature.

*"Who is going to marry Eugenie Grandet?"* This is the question that fills the minds of the inhabitants of Saumur, the setting for *Eugenie Grandet* (1833), one of the earliest and most famous novels in Balzac's Comedie humaine. The Grandet household, oppressed by the exacting miserliness of Grandet himself, is jerked violently out of routine by the sudden arrival of Eugenie's cousin Charles, recently orphaned and penniless. Eugenie's emotional awakening, stimulated by her love for her cousin, brings her into direct conflict with her father, whose cunning and financial success are matched against her determination to rebel. Eugenie's moving story is set against the backdrop of provincial oppression, the vicissitudes of the wine trade, and the workings of the financial system in the aftermath of the French Revolution. It is both a poignant portrayal of private life and a vigorous fictional document of its age.

HONORÉ DE BALZAC (1799-1850), est le fils de Bernard-François Balssa, secrétaire au Conseil du roi, directeur des vivres, adjoint au maire et administrateur de l'hospice de Tours, et d'Anne-Charlotte-Laure Sallambier, issue d'une famille de passementiers du Marais. Bernard-François Balssa transforma le nom originel de la famille en Balzac, par une démarche faite à Paris entre 1771 et 1783. Balzac est l ́auteur d ́une grande série de 91 romans interconnectés et coordonnés, intitulée Comédie humaine, écrite entre 1827 et 1847. Dans la préface de 1842, Balzac utilise pour la première fois ce titre et manifeste son dessein de livrer une représentation globale de la société française des dernières années du XVIIIème siècle et de la première moitié du XIXème. L ́écrivain réclame pour ce travail la méthode scientifique susceptible de lui donner ordre et rigueur, précision et portée intellectuelle. Selon ce projet, les romans sont classifiés en trois grands axes: Études de moeurs (la catégorie la plus large, comprenant plusieurs aspects: la vie privée, la vie provinciale, Paris, des matières militaires et politiques), Études philosophiques et Études analytiques. Dans la Comédie humaine sont recensés plus de deux mille caractères, parmi lesquels surnage le génie criminel Vautrin ou le préteur Gobseck, apparaissant, comme les autres, à différents niveaux de leur carrière. Balzac est intéressé par le surnaturel, particulièrement dans les Études philosophiques, par le fonctionnement des passions, le rôle de l ́argent dans la formation de l ́individu et des relations sociales, déterminant l ́effet de l ́environnement ou de l ́énergie et l ́ambition. Le cousin Pons (1847). Le roman présente deux centres d ́intérêt; d ́une part, le personnage principal lui-même, un anachronisme qui vit en constant décalage par rapport à son temps et dont le narrateur s ́amuse à dresser la caricature; d ́autre part, l ́avidité démesurée d ́une certaine couche de la société qui d ́ailleurs ne manque pas de moyens, mais dont toute leur vie est fondée sur une seule valeur: l ́argent.

Monsieur Goriot is one of a disparate group of lodgers at Mademe Vauquer�s dingy Parisian boarding house. At first his wealth inspires respect, but as his circumstances are mysteriously reduced he becomes shunned by those around him, and soon his only remaining visitors are his two beautifully dressed daughters. Goriot�s fate is intertwined with two other fellow boarders: the young social climber Eugene Rastignac, who sees a way to gain the acceptance and wealth he craves, and the enigmatic figure of Vautrin, who is hiding darker secrets than anyone. Weaving a compelling and panoramic story of love, money, self-sacrifice, corruption, greed and ambition, Old Man Goriot is Balzac�s acknowledged masterpiece. A key novel in his Com�die Humaine series, it is a vividly realized portrait of bourgeois Parisian society in the years following the French Revolution.

This fine example of the French realist novel contrasts the social progress of an impoverished but ambitious aristocrat with the tale of a father, whose obsessive love for his daughters leads to his personal and financial ruin.

This fine example of the French realist novel contrasts the social progress of an impoverished but ambitious aristocrat with the tale of a father, whose obsessive love for his daughters leads to his personal and financial ruin.

An NYRB Classics OriginalCharacters from every corner of society and all walks of life—lords and ladies, businessmen and military men, poor clerks, unforgiving moneylenders, aspiring politicians, artists, actresses, swindlers, misers, parasites, sexual adventurers, crackpots, and more—move through the pages of The Human Comedy, Balzac’s multivolume magnum opus, an interlinked chronicle of modernity in all its splendor and squalor. The Human Comedy includes the great roomy novels that have exercised such a sway over Balzac’s many literary inheritors, from Dostoyevsky and Henry James to Marcel Proust; it also contains an array of short fictions in which Balzac is at his most concentrated and forceful. Nine of these, all newly translated, appear in this volume, and together they provide an unequaled overview of a great writer’s obsessions and art. Here are “The Duchesse de Langeais,” “A Passion in the Desert,” and “Sarrasine”; tales of madness, illicit passion, ill-gotten gains, and crime. What unifies them, Peter Brooks points out in his introduction, is an incomparable storyteller’s fascination with the power of storytelling, while throughout we also detect what Proust so admired: the “mysterious circulation of blood and desire.”

"The Unknown Masterpiece" ("Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu" in French) is a novella written by the French author Honore de Balzac, first published in 1831. It is one of the most celebrated works in Balzac's vast literary oeuvre and is considered a masterpiece of French literature. The story is set in the world of 17th-century Parisian artistry, primarily focusing on the character of the aging painter Frenhofer, who is obsessed with creating the perfect masterpiece. Frenhofer's relentless pursuit of artistic perfection has consumed his life, leading him to seclude himself in his studio and withdraw from society. The plot unfolds as two younger painters, Poussin and Porbus, visit Frenhofer to see his latest work. They are astounded by the beauty of the painting but are perplexed by Frenhofer's unwillingness to reveal the entire canvas, which he claims is not yet finished. As the story progresses, Frenhofer becomes increasingly consumed by his obsession, driving him to madness and despair. Through Frenhofer's character and his relentless quest for artistic perfection, Balzac explores themes of creativity, obsession, and the elusive nature of genius. The novella delves into the tension between artistic ambition and the harsh realities of human existence, as well as the subjective nature of art and beauty. "The Unknown Masterpiece" is renowned for its rich prose, vivid descriptions, and philosophical depth. It has been interpreted in various ways by scholars and critics over the years, with many considering it a profound meditation on the nature of art and the artist's struggle for creative expression. The novella's enduring appeal lies in its exploration of timeless themes that continue to resonate with readers, making it a classic work of literature that remains relevant to contemporary discussions about art, creativity, and the human condition.

In 1842, eight years before his death, Balzac described Ursule Mirouet as the masterpiece of all the studies of human society that he had written; he regarded the book as 'a remarkable tour de force'.An essentially simple tale about the struggle and triumph of innocence reviled, Ursule Mirouet is characterized by that wealth of penetrating observation so readily associated with Balzac's work. The twin themes of redemption and rebirth are illuminated by a consistently passionate rejection of both philosophic and practical materialism in favour of love. In this case love is aided by supernatural intervention, which itself effectively illustrates Balzac's life-long fascination with the occult.

French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac is widely regarded as the founder of realism in European fiction, due to his keen observations and his unfiltered presentation of society. Although Balzac was a prolific writer finishing over ninety works in his life time he left many unfinished. During his life he attempted to be a publisher, businessman, critic and politician; failing at everything but writing he used his personal experiences that he got from each of these endeavors into his work. The MessageThe Napoleon of the PeopleThe Deserted WomanPaz A Passion in the DesertStudy of a Woman Another Study of WomanAn Episode Under the TerrorThe Unknown MasterpieceEl Verdugo