Name: Lost Illusions
SKU: 56549741
Price: 1201.00 TWD
Availability: InStock
Author: Honoré De Balzac

Type

Physical Book

Author

Honoré De Balzac

Publisher

Createspace

Language

English

Pages

704

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

22.9x15.2x3.6 cm

Weight

0.93 kg.

ISBN13

9781517040512

Synopsis "Lost Illusions"

Illusions perdues was written by the French writer Honoré de Balzac between 1837 and 1843 and it consists of three parts, starting in provincial France, thereafter moving to Paris, and finally returning to the provinces. It resembles another of Balzac's greatest novels, The Black Sheep, in that it is set partly in Paris and partly in the provinces. It is, however, unique among the novels and short stories of The Human Comedy by virtue of the even-handedness with which it treats both geographical dimensions of French social life. Although Lost Illusions is a commentary upon the contemporary world, Balzac is tantalizingly vague in his delineation of the historico-political background. His delineation of the broader social background is far more precise. Balzac was one of the first novelists to employ the technique of "in medias res" and the book is remarkable for its innumerable changes of tempo. Everywhere the same laws of human behaviour apply. A person's downfall may come from the rapier thrust of the journalist or from the slowly strangling machinations of the law.

Honoré De Balzac

(Author)

View Author's Page

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1851), novelist, playwright, literary and art critic, essayist, journalist, and French printer, is considered one of the great writers of realism. Born in Tours, in 1814 he moved to Paris, where he studied law and began working in a law firm, but his love for literature drove him to abandon his career and dedicate himself to writing. He undertook several businesses, which ended in failure and left him in debt. With The Last Chouan (1829), he achieved great success. From then on, he began a feverish activity, writing, among others, The Physiology of Marriage (1829) and The Wild Ass's Skin (1831), with which he began to consolidate his prestige. In 1834, Balzac, a tireless worker, conceived the idea of making an exhaustive portrait of French society of his time by having the same characters appear in different stories, which began to give his work a unitary sense under the title of The Human Comedy, to which belong titles such as Eugénie Grandet (1833), Father Goriot (1835), Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans (1838-1847) or Cousin Bette (1846), although of the 137 novels that were to make it up, fifty remained incomplete. An extraordinary writer, capable of deploying in his works sublime reflections and ideas, creating an interesting story with strong social criticism through exquisite prose of great poetic level and philosophical depth, Balzac is considered the founder of the modern novel.

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