- Large output of novels and stories entitled La Comedie Humaine is a broad panorama of French society during the period of the Restoration and the July monarchy
Lost Illusions
- story of young, handsome talented man Lucian de Rubempre who travels to Paris with a married woman to make his literary name
- loses the woman, betrays his talent and sells out himself, his family and his mistresses
- dies in the end after making an unlikely comeback orchestrated by Balzac's criminal mastermind, Vautrin
Le Pere Goriot
- part of La Comedie Humain
- follows Eugene Rastignac's entrance into heartless Parisian society
- heartlessness is emobodied by the cruel fate of Goriot who has reduced himself to a state of squalor to provide his daughters with the material luxury they desire
- these daughters do not even visit him as he is dying and Rastignac is the only attendant at his funeral
No comments:
Post a Comment