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Lost Illusions
Paperback
Published June 24, 1976
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About the author
Honoré de Balzac
9,564 books4,385 followersFrench writer Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac), a founder of the realist school of fiction, portrayed the panorama of society in a body of works, known collectively as
La comédie humaine
.
Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.
Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.
An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.
Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.
Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.
Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.
An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.
Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 15, 2025
This was a very good book to read following Jane Austin, because it is one that provides a great and contrasting view of French society as compared to English society in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At times, fascinating, at other times, tedious to read, it shows de Balzac as the brilliant but undisciplined writer that he was
Of most interest to me, were his analysis of journalism as a corrupt craft. Many of his observations and insightful remarks could be well applied as a critique to American journalism today almost as interesting were his scathing observations on the self-serving duplicity rampant in French social dealings.
What both England and France served in this., Is an emphasis on personal advancement Through social connections, especially marriages in both countries, and mistresses as well as marriages in France.
There is a tremendous amount of information that would be of interest to historians of printing and paper making, for the story details, one man’s quest to find an inexpensive alternative to rag based paper pulp, due to an explosion in popular literacy and reading during the period.
All in all I liked this book quite a bit, but was ready to see it and. It’s sometimes sentimental, sometimes melodramatic, sometimes bombastic, but studied with Literary Bonmot that sparkle like gems
Of most interest to me, were his analysis of journalism as a corrupt craft. Many of his observations and insightful remarks could be well applied as a critique to American journalism today almost as interesting were his scathing observations on the self-serving duplicity rampant in French social dealings.
What both England and France served in this., Is an emphasis on personal advancement Through social connections, especially marriages in both countries, and mistresses as well as marriages in France.
There is a tremendous amount of information that would be of interest to historians of printing and paper making, for the story details, one man’s quest to find an inexpensive alternative to rag based paper pulp, due to an explosion in popular literacy and reading during the period.
All in all I liked this book quite a bit, but was ready to see it and. It’s sometimes sentimental, sometimes melodramatic, sometimes bombastic, but studied with Literary Bonmot that sparkle like gems
Displaying 1 of 1 review