The Heart of Balzac's Paris


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The Wrong Side of Paris


Book Description

The Wrong Side of Paris, the final novel in Balzac’s The Human Comedy, is the compelling story of Godefroid, an abject failure at thirty, who seeks refuge from materialism by moving into a monastery-like lodging house in the shadows of Notre-Dame. Presided over by Madame de La Chanterie, a noblewoman with a tragic past, the house is inhabited by a remarkable band of men—all scarred by the tumultuous aftermath of the French Revolution—who have devoted their lives to performing anonymous acts of charity. Intrigued by the Order of the Brotherhood of Consolation and their uplifting dedication to virtuous living, Godefroid strives to follow their example. He agrees to travel—incognito—to a Parisian slum to save a noble family from ruin. There he meets a beautiful, ailing Polish woman who lives in great luxury, unaware that just outside her bedroom door her own father and son are suffering in dire poverty. By proving himself worthy of the Brotherhood, Godefroid finds his own spiritual redemption. This vivid portrait of the underbelly of nineteenth-century Paris, exuberantly rendered by Jordan Stump, is the first major translation in more than a century of Balzac’s forgotten masterpiece L’Envers de l’histoire contemporaine. Featuring an illuminating Introduction by Adam Gopnik, this original Modern Library edition also includes explanatory notes.




Balzac's Paris


Book Description

Exploring Paris arm in arm with Balzac, nineteenth-century France’s most famous novelist and observer In Balzac’s vast Human Comedy, a body of ninety-one completed novels and stories, he endeavoured to create a complete picture of contemporary French society and manners. Within this work is a loving ode to Paris and an incomparable introduction to the first capital of the modern world. To this ageless city he makes a declaration of love in an accumulation of finely observed detail – the cafés, landmarks, avenues, parks – and captures the populace in countless meticulously drawn portraits: its lawyers, grisettes, journalists, concierges, usurers, salesmen, speculators. Balzac gathered the elements of this Paris by sauntering through it. ‘To saunter is a science,’ he writes, ‘it is the gastronomy of the eye. To take a walk is to vegetate; to saunter is to live.’ Eric Hazan follows in Balzac’s footsteps, criss-crossing the city in the novelist’s outsize boots, running between printers, publishers, coffee merchants, mistresses and friends, stopping for a moment, struck by a detail that would be fixed in Balzac’s photographic memory. More than a tour of the city, Balzac’s Paris is an attempt to measure the soul of a city as recovered in its finest literature.




The Wild Ass's Skin


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Another Study of Woman


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"Another Study of Woman" is a narrative hovering between a short story and a novella in terms of length, extracted from Honore de Balzac's multi-volume masterpiece The Human Comedy. At a private dinner party, guests warmed by the flush of fine food and drink begin to banter about the qualities and attributes that characterize the ideal woman. Gradually, the guests begin to reminisce about their own experiences and encounters with perfect and not-so-perfect women. Throughout the entertaining back-and-forth, Balzac presents a number of keen insights about the social mores governing women's behavior in nineteenth-century Europe.




The Works of Balzac


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Balzac's Omelette


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“Tell me where you eat, what you eat, and at what time you eat, and I will tell you who you are. ”This is the motto of Anka Muhlstein’s erudite and witty book about the ways food and the art of the table feature in Honoré de Balzac’s The Human Comedy. Balzac uses them as a connecting thread in his novels, showing how food can evoke character, atmosphere, class, and social climbing more suggestively than money, appearances, and other more conventional trappings. Full of surprises and insights, Balzac’s Omelet invites you to taste anew Balzac’s genius as a writer and his deep understanding of the human condition, its ambitions, its flaws, and its cravings.




Delphi Complete Works of Honoré de Balzac (Illustrated)


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This comprehensive eBook presents the complete Human Comedy of Honoré de Balzac in English, with beautiful illustrations, concise introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (28MB Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Balzac's life and works * Concise introductions to the novels and other works * The COMPLETE 'La ComÈdie humaine' in English translation * The whole series is precisely organised into Balzac's plan * Includes Balzac's introduction AVANT-PROPOS * Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Famous works such as FATHER GORIOT, COUSIN BETTY, THE MAGIC SKIN and many more are illustrated with their original artwork * Balzac's five plays * Criticism section, with seven essays by writers such as Henry James and Leslie Stephen, evaluating Balzac's contribution to literature * Features five biographies - discover in depth Balzac's literary life! * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres * Special CHARACTERS resource, with information on all members of the cast 'La Comédie humaine', with references to the novels and stories they appear in Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse our range of exciting titles. CONTENTS: THE HUMAN COMEDY THE HISTORY OF 'LA COM…DIE HUMAINE' AVANT-PROPOS (PREFACE) THE COMPLETE HUMAN COMEDY - OVER 110 NOVELS AND STORIES (too many to list) The Short Stories DROLL STORIES THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE The Plays INTRODUCTION TO BALZAC'S DRAMAS by J. Walker McSpadden VAUTRIN THE RESOURCES OF QUINOLA PAMELA GIRAUD THE STEPMOTHER MERCADET RESOURCES The Criticism HONOR… DE BALZAC by Henry James A LETTER, 1883 by Robert Louis Stevenson BALZAC by John Cowper Powys BALZAC'S NOVELS by Leslie Stephen BALZAC by William Ernest Henley BALZAC AS A DRAMATIST by Epiphanius Wilson THE NOVEL by D. H. Lawrence The Biographies HONOR… DE BALZAC by Albert Keim and Louis Lumet HONOR… DE BALZAC, HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS by Mary F. Sandars BALZAC AND MADAME HANSKA by Elbert Hubbard BALZAC by Frederick Lawton WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF BALZAC by Juanita Helm Floyd Glossary of Characters in 'La ComÈdie humaine' Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to view the full list




Introduction and brief biography of Honore de Balzac


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George Saintsbury was an English critic, literary historian, editor, and teacher. He is regarded as a highly influential critic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His biography and critique of Balzac written in 1901 is thus considered an influential and important account.