Works of Honore de Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

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.

CONTENTS:

THE HUMAN COMEDY

THE HISTORY OF ‘LA COMÉDIE HUMAINE’
AVANT-PROPOS (PREFACE)

STUDIES OF MANNERS IN THE 19TH CENTURY

Scenes from Private Life
AT THE SIGN OF THE CAT AND RACKET
THE BALL AT SCEAUX
LETTERS OF TWO BRIDES
THE PURSE
MODESTE MIGNON
A START IN LIFE
ALBERT SAVARUS
VENDETTA
A SECOND HOME
DOMESTIC PEACE
MADAME FIRMIANI
STUDY OF A WOMAN
THE IMAGINARY MISTRESS
A DAUGHTER OF EVE
THE MESSAGE
THE GRAND BRETECHE
LA GRENADIERE
THE DESERTED WOMAN
HONORINE
BEATRIX
GOBSECK
A WOMAN OF THIRTY
FATHER GORIOT
COLONEL CHABERT
THE ATHEIST’S MASS
THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY
THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT
ANOTHER STUDY OF WOMAN

Scenes from Provincial Life
URSULE MIROUET
EUGENIE GRANDET
The Celibates
PIERRETTE
THE VICAR OF TOURS
THE TWO BROTHERS
Parisians in the Country
THE ILLUSTRIOUS GAUDISSART
THE MUSE OF THE DEPARTMENT
The Jealousies of a Country Town
THE OLD MAID
THE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUITIES
Lost Illusions
TWO POETS
A DISTINGUISHED PROVINCIAL AT PARIS
EVE AND DAVID

Scenes from Parisian Life
The Thirteen
FERRAGUS
THE DUCHESSE DE LANGEAIS
GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN EYES
RISE AND FALL OF CÉSAR BIROTTEAU
THE FIRM OF NUCINGEN

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
ESTHER HAPPY: HOW A COURTESAN CAN LOVE
WHAT LOVE COSTS AN OLD MAN
THE END OF EVIL WAYS
VAUTRIN’S LAST AVATAR
SECRETS OF THE PRINCESSE DE CADIGNAN
FACINO CANE
SARRASINE
PIERRE GRASSOU
The Poor Relations
COUSIN BETTY
COUSIN PONS
A MAN OF BUSINESS
A PRINCE OF BOHEMIA
GAUDISSART II
BUREAUCRACY
UNCONSCIOUS COMEDIANS
THE LESSER BOURGEOISIE
The Seamy Side of History
MADAME DE LA CHANTERIE
THE INITIATE

Scenes from Political Life
AN EPISODE UNDER THE TERROR
AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY
The Deputy of Arcis
THE ELECTION
LETTERS EXPLANATORY
MONSIEUR DE SALLENAUVE
Z. MARCAS

Scenes from Military Life
THE CHOUANS
A PASSION IN THE DESERT

Scenes from Country Life
SONS OF THE SOIL
THE COUNTRY DOCTOR
THE VILLAGE RECTOR
THE LILY OF THE VALLEY

PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES
THE MAGIC SKIN
CHRIST IN FLANDERS
MELMOTH RECONCILED
THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE
GAMBARA
MASSIMILLA DONI
THE ALKAHEST
THE HATED SON
FAREWELL
JUANA
THE RECRUIT
EL VERDUGO
A DRAMA ON THE SEASHORE
MAITRE CORNELIUS
THE RED INN
Catherine de’ Medici
THE CALVINIST MARTYR
THE SECRETS OF THE RUGGIERI
THE TWO DREAMS
THE ELIXIR OF LIFE
THE EXILES
LOUIS LAMBERT
SERAPHITA

ANALYTICAL STUDIES
PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE
LITTLE MISERIES OF CONJUGAL LIFE
Pathology of Social Life (French text only)
TRAITÉ DE LA VIE ÉLÉGANTE
THÉORIE DE LA DÉMARCHE
TRAITÉ DES EXCITANTS MODERNES

OTHER WORKS:
The Short Stories

The Plays
ALL FIVE PLAYS

RESOURCES:
The Criticism
7 ESSAYS

The Biographies
5 BIOGRAPHIES

Glossary of Characters

Genres: Fiction, Classics, France, Literature, Historical Fiction, Collections, Novels

15918 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1848

About the author

French 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.

Reviews

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each work is reviewed elsewhere and the errors her are minimal in my kindle edition, I read all except the last biography, I had enough even though I love Balzac's works.

[Lani Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a reason these works have endured. By the way they're free on Kindle.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of those crappy walter black editions from the 1920s that has tons of typos, smudged letters and stuck together pages, so probably doesnt correspond with the edition catalogged here. it also has incredibly dense text layout, almost completely lack of footnotes, and no commentary. the rating thus applies to the actual texts rather than the edition, of which im not even sure what translations they are. what we have here is fourteen novellas and one short story from la comedie humaine - eight taken from scenes from private life, four from parisian life, and the other three from various other places. despite the lack of footnotes and commentary the stories flow really well with one another - the opening scathing monologue of the girl with the golden eyes sets the tone quite nicely. no real duds in here although the firm of nucigen and the unconscious mummers were a little dense and certainly the kind of thing that a re-read or two would benefit. highlights are the intense melodrama of the vendetta, and the somewhat ironic tragedies of the commission in lunacy and colonel chabert. probably the most tragic story is a passion in the desert as its a lot easier to feel bad for the innocence of animals compared to scheming parisians. i'd only read old goriot going into this and that was like 10 years ago, but a lot of the characters from that make their way into these stories, and its pretty neat to see major characters in some works being minor characters in others or even mentioned in an off-hand comment in others still. i'd really like to track down a complete edition of the comedy, but it certainly looks like it would be a formidable task

[Bybliotech · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

[David Bisset · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a marvellous collection of his works!

[Richard Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

COLONEL CHABERT ( Balzac)
A study in matrimonial dilemmas. A filthy, terribly disfigured bum stumbles into lawyer Derville's offices where he is taunted by the boyish clerks and mockingly told to return later..... if he dares. This ruined wreck of a man claims to be the famed Colonel Chabert, holder of the Legion of Honour and hero of the Napoleonic wars, reported dead in battle years ago. Regarded as a raving madman after his recovery of terrible wounds, he'd been held in asylum for years in Germany. The doubtful young lawyer comes to believe his story when evidence is produced – and therein the dilemma. Chabert's ambitious and beautiful “widow” is now fashionably remarried to an up-and-coming younger nobleman Ferraud with whom she has two little children.

If Chabert – now penniless – cannot have his wife back, he at least wants his titles and wealth restored.... but according to his original will, much of the estate has already been distributed. If brought to court, Derville sees long hearings, depositions, scandal, counter-claims, enormous expense. And to which husband does Madame Ferraud now belong? Did she not act in good faith? The courts will be inclined to favor the original marriage, but may decide for the second, as there are two little children now involved. And which will the lady herself prefer – wifely duty to a famed and suffering husband – or fashionable ambition & motherhood?

Complicating matters: Louis XVIII is on his throne now and the regime wants only to forget 1789 and Napoleonic ruin. Derville fears how sympathetic courts will be if buried history is dragged back up from the grave.

How to approach Madame and break the news? wonders Derville. Discreetly and in private? Or in the presence of her new husband? Would not a quiet compromise be in everyone's interest?

Well, one party at last agrees to amicable compromise. The other will rely on guile.

---------------------------------.
QUOTES:

"They have all the poverty without the poetry .... poverty in Paris gains dignity only by horror.

“We must not show our hand but try to see hers, and win the game at one stroke. She must be frightened. She is a woman. Now, what frightens women most?”

“Madness! You will be caught.... Besides, you might miss. That would be unpardonable. A man must not miss his shot when he wants to kill his wife.”

"Ready for anything, she did not yet know what she was going to do; … but at any rate she meant to annihilate him socially.

"The Countess preserved a calm countenance, showing that impenetrable face women can assume when determined to do their worst."

[Alice Verberne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous

[Mark Sabol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dip into this every now and then ... have not read the whole thing yet. Every story I HAVE read though, has been excellent. Has given me a much richer sense of French culture, architecture, politics.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Complete works; reviews will be posted under individual titles.

[Rosa Ramôa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"o amor é uma vasta ocupação, e aqueles que nele têm sucesso não deveriam de ter outra".

[Mark Sabol · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Charles Dickens of French Lit. Colorful stories that illuminate himan nature and 19th century French culture.