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1) Cousin Bette
Earliest Publication Date
1928
Book
On Shelf
Summary
"Bette Fischer, a bitter and contemptuous woman, seeks to embroil her family in a series of scandals. With the help of a beautiful and willing accomplice, she plays on the weaknesses and desires of her victims in order to expose their vanity and egotism and to excuse her own. Cousin Bette, by master novelist Honoré de Balzac, is an intensely emotional work of fiction."--Cover, page [4].
Earliest Publication Date
1961
Book
Not Owned
eAudiobook
Available Online
Summary
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...
Earliest Publication Date
1992
Book
Not Owned
Summary
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...
4) Pere Goriot
Earliest Publication Date
1890
Book
Not Owned
Summary
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...
5) Père Goriot
Earliest Publication Date
1950
Book
Not Owned
Summary
From the Publisher: A masterful study of a father whose sacrifices for his daughters have become a compulsion, this novel marks Balzac's "real entree" into La Comedie Humaine, his series of almost one hundred novels and short stories meant to depict "the whole pell-mell of civilization."
Paris, 1819. Eugene de Rastignac, a young law student, lives at a boarding house. Also residing there is an elderly man known as "Pere" Goriot. Once wealthy, Goriot...
Earliest Publication Date
1999
Book
Not Owned
Summary
One of the fathers of Realism was the famed 19th century French writer Honore de Balzac. His works are best known for their shrewd, yet honest, interpretation of real life problems within the social classes of French society. He believed that explaining a character would not inform the reader about the character's personality; however, describing their home, possessions, and other details would tell the reader about the character's true nature. With...
