La Comédie Humaine (English)
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At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 1 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket is a novella by Honoré de Balzac, first published in 1830. It is the first work in the Scènes de la vie privée, a selection of writings which make up the first volume of Balzac's La Comédie humaine. It tells the story of the relationship between the lofty artist Théodore de Sommervieux and Augustine Guillaume, the down-to-earth daughter of a cloth merchant.
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The Ball at Sceaux
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 2 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
The Ball at Sceaux is the second work in Balzac's La Comédie humaine published by Hawthorne Classics. The novella tells the story of young Émilie de Fontaine who, despite ambitions of a lofty match, falls in love with the mysterious Maximilien Longueville.
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Letters of Two Brides
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 3 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Letters of Two Brides by Honoré de Balzac is an engaging epistolary novel that provides a profound exploration of two women's lives in early 19th-century France. The book unfolds through intimate letters exchanged between two close friends - Louise de Chaulieu and Renée de Maucombe. Through their correspondence, Balzac deftly explores their transition from the confines of the convent school to the complexities of adulthood, marriage, and society. This tale is a stunning portrayal of female friendship, the dynamics of love, and the societal constraints of their time.
Both women follow different paths in life, with Louise pursuing a path of romantic passion and Renée embodying the virtues of duty and motherhood. Their differing views and experiences of love and life present a fascinating dichotomy, offering the reader a deep dive into their innermost thoughts and emotions. Balzac's nuanced depiction of their individual journeys illuminates the human condition, creating a captivating narrative that is both a love story and a social commentary. Letters of Two Brides is a remarkable exploration of the enduring themes of love, friendship, and the choices we make.
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Modeste Mignon
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 5 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
The first part of Modeste Mignon is based on a traditional species of folktale known as La fille mal gardée ("The Ill-Watched Girl"), in which a young woman takes a lover despite the close attentions of her guardians, who are determined to preserve her chastity for a more suitable match. Modeste Mignon, a young provincial woman of romantic temperament, imagines herself to be in love with the famous Parisian poet Melchior de Canalis, whose works have filled her with passion. She corresponds with him, but he is unmoved by her attentions. Canalis invites his secretary Ernest de la Brière to deal with the matter.
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A Start in Life
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 6 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
The novel A Start in Life is part of the Scenes of Private Life section of Honoré de Balzac's masterpiece of nineteenth-century realism, The Human Comedy. In much of Balzac's work, the aristocracy is portrayed as vain, duplicitous, and greedy. But in this novel, it is members of the working class who are mercilessly skewered when what starts out as a harmless prank rapidly snowballs into a comedy of errors with profound consequences. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.
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A Second Home
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 9 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
In this novella from Honoré de Balzac, an impoverished mother and daughter slave away as embroiderers but are barely able to evade starvation. Finally, what seems to be a blessing enters into their lives -- an older gentleman falls in love with the daughter, Caroline, and whisks her away to a fine country estate. Will Caroline get the happily-ever-after she so richly deserves? As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.
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Domestic Peace
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 10 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Domestic Peace. Translation of: La paix de menage
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Madame Firmiani
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 11 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Une édition de référence de Madame Firmiani d'Honoré de Balzac, spécialement conçue pour la lecture sur les supports numériques.
« Il y avait tout dans cette femme : les poètes pouvaient en faire à la fois Jeanne d'Arc ou Agnès Sorel ; mais il s'y trouvait aussi la femme inconnue, l'âme d'Ève, les richesses du mal et les trésors du bien, la faute et la résignation, le crime et le dévouement, Dona Julia et Haïdée du Don Juan de Lord Byron. »
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A Daughter of Eve
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 14 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
This short novel, part of the Scenes of Private Life section of Honoré de Balzac's vast masterpiece The Human Comedy, includes the first appearances of key characters who return later in the series. A Daughter of Eve is a tale in which seemingly innocent peccadilloes soon spiral into an inescapable web of intrigue, fraud, and lust. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.
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La Grande Breteche
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 16 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
La Grande Breteche by Honoré de Balzac. Translated by Clara Bell and Ellen Marriage
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La Grenadiere
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 17 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
La Grenadiere by Honoré de Balzac. Translated by Ellen Marriage
Immerse yourself in a French pastoral idyll in this engrossing tale from Honore de Balzac, whose unparalleled powers of description will whisk you away to La Grenadiere, a quaint estate in the midst of a blossoming orchard. Indeed, the house itself emerges as one of the most memorable characters in the story.
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La Grenadière
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 17 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Extrait: "La Grenadière est une petite habitation située sur la rive droite de la Loire, en aval et à un mille environ du pont de Tours. En cet endroit, la rivière, large comme un lac, est parsemée d'îles vertes et bordée par une roche sur laquelle sont assises plusieurs maisons de campagne, toutes bâties en pierre blanche, entourées de clos de vigne et de jardins o les plus beaux fruits du monde mûrissent à l'exposition du midi."
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The Deserted Woman
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 18 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
When young Gaston moves to Bayeux, a small province in Normandy, he feels stranded. Though he would rather spend his time in the capital city, Gaston must stay in Bayeux until he recovers from his illness. He feels unsatisfied and bored, until he hears the rumor about a woman living as a recluse on the countryside. Victomtesse de Beauseant is a beautiful woman who had been abandoned by her husband many years ago. Devastated, and now stuck in a loveless marriage because she cannot get a divorce, she lives in isolation. Gaston is moved by her story and becomes fixated, desperate to meet her. When he finally gets the courage to visit her home, Victomtesse de Beauseant is flattered by his infatuation, and despite her being ten years his senior, Beauseant and Gaston become lovers. However, their private paradise is soon interrupted by Gaston's disapproving mother, who is pressuring him to marry a woman he does not love. As rumors grow and Gaston's mother becomes more persistent, Gaston and Victomtesse's love is tested and threatened like never before.
The Deserted Woman exemplifies Honoré de Balzac's extraordinary literary ability that has influenced esteemed authors such as Henry James and Charles Dickens. With intricate prose and unparalleled compassion, Honoré de Balzac explores the too-common predicament of women trapped in unhappy relationships. The Deserted Woman tells the emotional tale of the pressure society put on women and men to enter marriages that prioritized social and financial compatibility over a real, mutual, love connection. Though it does not exist to such an extent in Western society, Balzac's The Deserted Woman invites readers to consider how this spirit of unhealthy marriages is still alive in modern relationships. Balzac dedicated much of his career to the pursuit of capturing all aspects of society with his realist lens, creating celebrated work that influences the perspective of society.
This edition of The Deserted Woman by Honoré de Balzac features a striking new cover design and is reprinted in a modern, easy-to-read font, creating an approachable reading experience for a contemporary audience.
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The Deserted Woman
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 18 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
La Femme Abandonnée. The Deserted Woman. A young man who, of all things, is sent to rural Normandy near Bayeux to recover his health fits into the aristocratic scene easily.
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A Woman of Thirty
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 22 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
A Woman of Thirty by Honoré de Balzac. Translated by Ellen Marriage
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Old Goriot (Pere Goriot)
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 23 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Considered to be one of Balzac's most important works, "Old Goriot", or "Père Goriot", is the story of its title character Goriot; a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named Vautrin; and a naive law student named Eugène de Rastignac. We are introduced to the characters at Maison Vauquer, a boarding house owned by the widow Madame Vauquer. Central to the theme of the book is the struggle to achieve upper-class status in society. Rastignac is eager to achieve this upper-class standing but is unfamiliar to the ways of Parisian society. Vautrin tries to convince Rastignac to pursue an unmarried woman named Victorine, a dubious suggestion which involves the disposal of her brother who blocks the woman's fortune. The failings to achieve this upper-class status are exemplified by Goriot who has bankrupted himself to support his two well-married daughters, yet they reject him. A classic and tragic story, "Old Goriot" is one of the most pivotal works in Balzac's sweeping novel sequence "La Comédie Humaine", which endeavors to depict the effects of society on the entirety of the human condition.
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Pere Goriot
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 23 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Considered to be one of Balzac's most important works, "Pere Goriot" is the story of its title character Jean-Joachim Goriot, a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named Vautrin, and a naive law student named Eugène de Rastignac. We are introduced to the characters at Maison Vauquer, a boarding house owned by the widow Madame Vauquer. Central to the theme of the book is the struggle to achieve upper-class status in society. Rastignac is eager to achieve this upper-class standing but is unfamiliar to the ways of Parisian society. Vautrin tries to convince Rastignac to pursue an unmarried woman named Victorine, a dubious suggestion which involves the disposal of her brother who blocks access to the woman's fortune. The failings to achieve this upper-class status are exemplified by Goriot who has bankrupted himself in supporting his two well-married daughters, who despite the fact reject him. A classic and tragic story, "Pere Goriot" is one of the most pivotal works in Balzac's sweeping novel sequence "La Comedie Humaine", which endeavors to depict the social panoramic of the human condition. This edition follows the translation of Ellen Marriage, includes an introduction by R. L. Sanderson, and a biographical afterword.
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Le Père Goriot
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 23 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Le Père Goriot is widely considered Balzac's most important novel. This is the story of the relationship between a doting father and his two adult daughters. Blinded by his love for his children, Père Goriot can not see their flaws and gives them everything they ask for even though the giving destroys him. A cautionary tale about the dangers of placing society and money before all else.
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Père Goriot
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 23 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
A kind-hearted and idealistic youth enters the grasping Parisian society of the 1820s, where his education in the realities and costs of city life begin among the residents of a shabby but respectable boardinghouse. Père Goriot - one of the outstanding novels in The Human Comedy, Balzac's panoramic study of Parisian life - features richly detailed settings, a skillfully related plot, and a vibrant cast of characters. Acclaimed by critic Leslie Stephen as "the modern King Lear," it offers a timeless view of the tragedies behind the prosaic details of everyday life. Translated by Ellen Marriage.
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Pere Goriot
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 23 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Edith Wharton's "Madame de Treymes" is a remarkable example of the form. It is the story of the tactical defeat but moral victory of an honest and upstanding American in his struggle to win a wife from a tightly united but feudally minded French aristocratic family. He loses, but they cheat... In a masterpiece of brevity, Wharton dramatizes the contrast between the two opposing forces: the simple and proper old brownstone New York, low in style but high in principle, and the achingly beautiful but decadent Saint-Germain district of Paris. The issue is seamlessly joined.
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Father Goriot
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 23 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Pere Goriot' is the tragic story of a father whose obsessive love for his two daughters leads to his financial and personal ruin. Interwoven with this theme is that of the impoverished young aristocrat, Rastignac, come to Paris from the provinces to make his fortune, who befriends Goriot and becomes involved with the daughters. The story is set against the background of a whole society driven by social ambition and lust for money.
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Colonel Chabert
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 24 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
In the town of Surat, in India, was a coffee-house where many travelers and foreigners from all parts of the world met and conversed. One day a learned Persian theologian visited this coffee-house. He was a man who had spent his life studying the nature of the Deity, and reading and writing books upon the subject. He had thought, read, and written so much about God, that eventually he lost his wits became quite confused, and ceased even to believe in the existence of a God. The Shah, hearing of this, had banished him from Persia.
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The Atheist's Mass
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 25 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
The main character, Desplein is a successful surgeon and an atheist. His former assistant and friend is Doctor Horace Bianchon. One day Bianchon sees Desplein going into the Saint-Sulpice church, and follows him. He sees Desplein alone attending a mass. After Desplein departs, Bianchon questions the priest and finds that Desplein attends a mass at the church four times a year, which he himself pays for.
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The Marriage Contract
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 27 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
A Marriage Contract (French: Le Contrat de mariage) is an 1835 novel by French author Honoré de Balzac and included in the Scènes de la vie privée section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine. Set in Bordeaux, it describes the marriage of a Parisian gentleman, Paul de Manerville, to the beautiful but spoiled Spanish heiress, Natalie Evangelista.
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Ursula
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 29 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Ursula by Honoré de Balzac. Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley.
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Eugénie Grandet
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 30 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) produced a huge collection of novels, novellas and short stories, earning him recognition as a great master of the novel, as well as one of the creators of literary realism. He collected and arranged his works under the name "La Comédie humaine", which he then divided into eight major topics. "Eugénie Grandet" was placed in the section titled, "Scenes from Provincial Life". The story takes place in the French town of Saumur, where a miserly, but respected, man called old Grandet lives with his wife, servant, and daughter, Eugénie. Greedy and power-hungry, Grandet is a dominant force in the novel, as he is in his community and home. Unable to entirely overcome the genetic and learned behaviors inherited from her father, Eugénie Grandet is a wonderfully human character, and her ability to draw sympathy without imposing judgments on the reader is testimony to Balzac's artistic skill as a novelist.
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Eugénie Grandet
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 30 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
This is the question that fills the minds of the inhabitants of Saumur, the setting for Eugénie Grandet (1833), one of the earliest and most famous novels in Balzac's Comédie humaine. The Grandet household, oppressed by the exacting miserliness of Grandet himself, is jerked violently out of routine by the sudden arrival of Eugénie's cousin Charles, recently orphaned and penniless. Eugénie'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. Eugénie'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.
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Eugenie Grandet
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 30 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Eugénie Grandet (1833) is a novel by French author Honoré de Balzac. Written as Balzac began to formulate the grand scale of his La Comédie humaine sequence, Eugénie Grandet was eventually tied into the universe of his epic realist masterpiece, a holistic vision of nineteenth-century French society which sought to observe the consequences of the political, religious, and economic shifts of the Revolution and in its aftermath. This novel looks to the moral failings of a particular nouveau riche family, whose accumulation of wealth has quickly erased any sense of their working-class origins.
After the Revolution, master cooper Felix Grandet married the daughter of a successful merchant, ascended in the political and social life of the town of Saumur, and quietly amassed an immense wealth through industry and inheritances from his wife's family. Now an old man, Felix possesses a fortune he feels no inclination to use, not even to improve the daily lives of his ailing wife and young adult daughter Eugénie, who faces frequent incursions from local suitors intent on marrying her to attain her father's wealth. When Felix's nephew Charles arrives from Paris with a letter from the patriarch's estranged brother Guillaume, tragic circumstances force him to choose between habitual greed and the immense pressure of performing what for anyone else would be a basic act of generosity. Eugénie Grandet is a powerful story of fortune, power, and the ease with which these lead to moral failure.
Published at the dawning of Balzac's most productive and critically-acclaimed period, this novel is not only a good introduction to his lengthy La Comédie humaine sequence, but an irreplaceable work of nineteenth-century realist literature.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honoré de Balzac's Eugénie Grandet is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.
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Eugenie Grandet
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 30 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Depicting the fatal clash between material desires and the liberating power of human passions, Honore de Balzac's "Eugenie Grandet" is translated with an introduction by M.A. Crawford in "Penguin Classics". In a gloomy house in provincial Saumur, the miser Grandet lives with his wife and daughter, Eugenie, whose lives are stifled and overshadowed by his obsession with gold. Guarding his piles of glittering treasures and his only child equally closely, he will let no one near them. But when the arrival of her handsome cousin, Charles, awakens Eugenie's own desires, her passion brings her into a violent collision with her father that results in tragedy for all. "Eugenie Grandet" is one of the earliest and finest works in Balzac's Comedie humaine cycle, which portrays a society consumed by the struggle to amass wealth and achieve power. Here Grandet embodies both the passionate pursuit of money, and the human cost of avarice. M. A. Crawford's lucid translation is accompanied by an introduction discussing the irony and psychological insight of Balzac's characterization, the role of fate in the novel, its setting and historical background. Honore De Balzac (1799-1850) failed at being a lawyer, publisher, printer, businessman, critic and politician before, at the age of thirty, turning his hand to writing. His life's work, La Comedie humaine, is a series of ninety novels and short stories which offer a magnificent panorama of nineteenth-century life after the French Revolution. Balzac was an influence on innumerable writers who followed him, including Marcel Proust, Emile Zola, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allan Poe.
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Eugenie Grandet
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 30 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Eugenie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac. Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley libreka classics — These are classics of literary history, reissued and made available to a wide audience.
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Eugenie Grandet
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 30 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Eugenie's father Felix is a former cooper who has become wealthy through both business ventures and inheritance. However, he is very miserly, and he, his wife, daughter and their servant Nanon live in a run-down old house which he is too miserly to repair. His banker des Grassins wishes Eugenie to marry his son Adolphe, and his lawyer Cruchot wishes Eugenie to marry his nephew President Cruchot des Bonfons, both parties eyeing the inheritance from Felix.
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Eugenie Grandet
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 30 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
In 'Eugénie Grandet' we are told the story of a young girl whose life is complicated by her father's incessant greed. Here we see the sins of the father visited upon the daughter as she attempts to rebel against his attitudes. Fully realized characters abound in this truly moving book.
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The Black Sheep
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 33 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Listed by the British newspaper "The Guardian" as number 12 on a list of the 100 greatest novels of all-time, Honore de Balzac's "The Black Sheep" is another installment in his magnum opus "The Human Comedy." Agathe Rouget, who is born in Issoudun, is sent to be raised by her maternal relatives, the Descoings in Paris by her father Doctor Rouget. Agathe has two sons, Philippe and Joseph, with which the story is principally concerned. Philippe becomes a soldier in Napoleon's armies, while Joseph becomes an artist. Philippe, who is ironically his mother's favorite, is a hard drinker with a gambling problem that brings trouble to the family. The differences between the two brothers are brilliantly contrasted by Balzac as their true natures are revealed throughout the course of the work. As in the rest of "The Human Comedy" Balzac criticizes the value that is placed on wealth and beautifully illustrates the conflict that arises out of the ambition to achieve a place in the aristocratic society of France.
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The Two Brothers
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 33 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
A fantastic novel by French novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac.
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The Two Brothers
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 33 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
La Rabouilleuse (The Black Sheep, or The Two Brothers) is an 1842 novel by Honoré de Balzac, and is one of The Celibates in the series La Comédie humaine. It tells the story of the Bridau family, trying to regain their lost inheritance after a series of mishaps. Though for years an overlooked work in Balzac's canon, it has gained popularity and respect in recent years. The Guardian listed The Black Sheep 12 on its list of the 100 Greatest Novels of All Time.
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Lost Illusions
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 38 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters; even his lesser characters are complex, morally ambiguous, and fully human. Inanimate objects are imbued with character as well; the city of Paris, a backdrop for much of his writing, takes on many human qualities.
Lost Illusions concerns Lucien de Rubempré, a young poet trying to make a name for himself, who becomes trapped in the morass of society's darkest contradictions that ultimately destroy him.
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Lost Illusions
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 38 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Perhaps the most famous of Balzac's novels, Lost Illusions paints a faithful picture of the spectacular but superficial world of contemporary society, and the indissoluble relationship between the bourgeois and aristocratic classes. Set in nineteenth century France, David Séchard is an innovative, hard-working young printer from Angoulême with aspirations to revolutionize the production of paper and provide for his new family. The victim of a callous father and unscrupulous competitors, David finds himself in constant turmoil from the reckless exploits of his friend and brother-in-law, Lucien Chardon. Lucien, a vain and naïve young poet, is drawn away to Paris as a result of a scandalous affair, where his impetuous actions wreak havoc for many back home. Follow the intertwined stories of these two men in a novel that exemplifies the eternal battles of love, ambition, greed, loyalty, vanity, and betrayal.
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Lost Illusions
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 38 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
The story of Lucien Chardon, a young poet from Angoulême who tries desperately to make a name for himself in Paris, is a brilliantly realistic and boldly satirical portrait of provincial manners and aristocratic life. Handsome and ambitious but naïve, Lucien is patronized by the beau monde as represented by Madame de Bargeton and her cousin, the formidable Marquise d'Espard, only to be duped by them. Denied the social rank he thought would be his, Lucien discards his poetic aspirations and turns to hack journalism; his descent into Parisian low life ultimately leads to his own death.
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Lost Illusions
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 38 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Lucien Chardon, the son of a lower middle-class father and an impoverished mother of remote aristocratic descent, is the pivotal figure of the entire work. Living at Angouleme, he is impoverished, impatient, handsome and ambitious. His widowed mother, his sister Eve and his best friend, David Sechard, do nothing to lessen his high opinion of his own talents, for it is an opinion they share.
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Lost Illusions
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 38 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
One of the most famous of Honore de Balzac's novels, "Lost Illusions" paints a faithful picture of the spectacular but superficial world of mid-19th century French society, and the indissoluble relationship between the bourgeois and aristocratic classes. Originally published serially from 1837 to 1843, the story features the main characters Lucien Chardon, a vain and naïve poet and journalist, and his friend and brother-in-law David Sechard, an innovative, hard-working young printer from the provincial Angouleme, with aspirations to revolutionize the production of paper and provide for his new family. The victim of a callous father and unscrupulous competitors, David finds himself in constant turmoil from the reckless exploits and betrayals of his friend Lucien. Lucien, in contrast, is full of grand dreams and aspirations and must leave for Paris as the result of a scandalous affair. He seeks fame and fortune in the city as a poet, while his impetuous actions wreak havoc for many at home. Readers will be drawn to the intertwined stories of these two men in a novel that exemplifies the eternal battles of love, ambition, greed, loyalty, vanity, and betrayal. This edition follows the translation of Ellen Marriage and includes a biographical afterword.
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Scenes From a Courtesan's Life
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 41 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life is one of the last great works completed by Balzac for his huge novel series entitled The Human Comedy. Sections of this book, in various groupings and with various titles. It eventually settled into the four sections found in the present edition. At the end of that book, Lucien de Rubempré (born Lucien Chardon), a young provincial poet with great ambitions but feeble moral will, was heading for Paris in the company of a mysterious Spanish priest. In the present book, we quickly discover that the "Spanish priest" is actually Jacques Collin, alias "Vautrin," a master criminal first introduced to readers in Balzac's Father Goriot (1835). Lucien develops a relationship with Esther van Gobseck, a prostitute (the "courtesan" of the title). With these three main figures - Lucien, Vautrin, and Esther - Balzac explores the corruption of the aristocracy, the world of prostitution, the courts, and the prisons of 19th-century Paris. With masterful depictions of society and individual psychology, Balzac is considered a father of realism in fiction.
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A Harlot High and Low
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 41 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Originally published between: 1838-1847 "A Harlot High and Low" continues the story of Lucien de Rubempré from Honore de Balzac's preceding novel "Lost Illusions." Central to the tale is the pact made between Lucien and Vautrin in which Lucien will arrive at success in Paris if he agrees to follow Vautrin's instructions on how to do so. A love affair between the beautiful Esther van Gobseck and Lucien creates a conflict for their plans of bringing Lucien to his desired exaltation though. When Vautrin realizes that wealthy Baron de Nucingen has fallen in love with Esther he conspires to use the Baron's affection with Esther to help advance Lucien. What follows is a series of tragic consequences. Another chapter in Balzac's magnum opus, "The Human Comedy," "A Harlot High and Low" is at once a biting commentary of French aristocratic society and examination of the criminal underworld in which Vautrin is so very well at home.
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Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 42 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honoré de Balzac. Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley
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Sarrasine
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 44 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Sarrasine (1831) is a novella by French author Honoré de Balzac. Written as part of his La Comédie humaine sequence, Sarrasine is one of Balzac's earliest works published without a pseudonym and helped to establish his reputation as a serious writer and distinguished member of Parisian high society. Noted for its controversial exploration of homosexuality and castration, Balzac's novella would become the subject of Roland Barthe's groundbreaking work of literary criticism, S/Z (1970).
Composed as a frame narrative, Sarrasine begins during a ball at the mansion of the wealthy Monsieur de Lanty. The unnamed narrator, from a window overlooking the garden, listens to the conversations of partygoers and watches as his guest, Beatrix Rochefide, is approached by a mysterious older man. The next night, the narrator tells Beatrix a story involving the man, a respected member of de Lanty's circle. He begins with the life of Ernest-Jean Sarrasine, a successful young sculptor who, on a trip to Rome, fell in love with an opera star named Zambinella. Convinced she represents the ideal feminine form, he rejects Zambinella's misgivings and vague excuses, becoming increasingly obsessed with the beautiful singer. Devising a plan to kidnap Zambinella during a party at the French embassy, Sarrasine discovers the truth: the singer is a castrato, a classical operatic performer who was selected and castrated before puberty. Sarrasine, a powerful novella, explores themes of idealization and obsession while illuminating the conflation of sex and gender.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honoré de Balzac's Sarrasine is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.
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A Man of Business
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 46 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Though a relatively short story, "A Man of Business" is an important component of Honoré de Balzac's vast story cycle The Human Comedy, involving many of the recurring characters from the series and tying up a number of loose ends. As a fete thrown at the home of his mistress begins to wind down, Cardot invites the lingering merrymakers to settle around the table and begins telling a story about a clever debt-collection scheme. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.
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A Prince of Bohemia
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 47 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
This short vignette from Honoré de Balzac, a key figure in French realism, is a story within a story. The narrator, Nathan, regales a pair of aristocratic ladies with stories about the Rusticoli family and its most prominent member, La Palferine. At first, his audience is unappreciative, but over time, they become wrapped up in the multi-generational saga. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.
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Bureaucracy
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 49 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Excerpt: "In Paris, where men of thought and study bear a certain likeness to one another, living as they do in a common centre, you must have met with several resembling Monsieur Rabourdin, whose acquaintance we are about to make at a moment when he is head of a bureau in one of our most important ministries. At this period he was forty years old, with gray hair of so pleasing a shade that women might at a pinch fall in love with it for it softened a somewhat melancholy countenance, blue eyes full of fire, a skin that was still fair, though rather ruddy and touched here and there with strong red marks, a forehead and nose a la Louis XV., a serious mouth, a tall figure, thin, or perhaps wasted, like that of a man just recovering from illness, and finally, a bearing that was midway between the indolence of a mere idler and the thoughtfulness of a busy man. If this portrait serves to depict his character, a sketch of this man's dress will bring it still further into relief. Rabourdin wore habitually a blue surcoat, a white cravat, a waistcoat crossed a la Robespierre, black trousers without straps, gray silk stockings and low shoes. Well-shaved, and with his stomach warmed by a cup of coffee, he left home at eight in the morning with the regularity of clock-work, always passing along the same streets on his way to the ministry: so neat was he, so formal, so starched that he might have been taken for an Englishman on the road to his embassy."
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The Brotherhood of Consolation
by Honoré De Balzac
Part 52 of the La Comédie Humaine (English) series
Honoré de Balzac, a renowned French novelist and playwright, is known for his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society. Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature, and praised for his multifaceted characters, who are morally ambiguous.