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Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Owing to his keen observation of detail and... show more
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Owing to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multifaceted characters, who are morally ambiguous. His writing influenced many subsequent novelists such as Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Edgar Allan Poe, Eça de Queirós, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Oscar Wilde, Gustave Flaubert, Benito Pérez Galdós, Marie Corelli, Henry James, William Faulkner, Jack Kerouac, and Italo Calvino, and philosophers such as Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx. Many of Balzac's works have been made into or have inspired films, and they are a continuing source of inspiration for writers, filmmakers and critics.
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Birth date: 1799-05-20
Died: 1850-08-18
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Url Phantomhive
Url Phantomhive rated it 7 years ago
These two short stories serve as my introduction into the literary legacy of Honoré de Balzac, and frankly, it's probably going to stay at that. While both stories were crafted okay, and had a messages of loyalty, I found them rather dull to be honest. It may very well be the translation, I can't be...
Merle
Merle rated it 7 years ago
Classics, we are told, are books that “stand the test of time” – that, even after the society that birthed them has passed away, continue to enthrall readers with their complex and relatable characters, their insight into universals of human nature, their artful command of language. I read Eugenie G...
The better to see you, my dear
The better to see you, my dear rated it 7 years ago
The title for the grouping of these Balsac's novels is proper indeed. There was this mix of drama and farce, character study and social critique that entertained as it pained me. I quite liked the style, and found it easy to read. I shall be attempting Pere Goriot soon, and might add Scenes from a...
Gatta ci cova
Gatta ci cova rated it 8 years ago
Auguste sorprende Clémence, di cui è segretamente innamorato, procedere a passi furtivi in direzione di rue Soly, “la più stretta e meno praticabile di tutte le vie di Parigi”. Una donna ricca, bella e casta si reca, al calar del giorno, in una casa infamante? Sconvolto dalla scoperta, dopo averla s...
Gatta ci cova
Gatta ci cova rated it 8 years ago
“…non è questione di morire, bisogna vivere, che è più piacevole, e vivere bene, che è stupendo” Honoré era il tipo che, avendo bisogno urgentemente di denaro per risolvere un debito, proponeva a un grande editore di giornali due suoi articoli per il mattino successivo dietro pagamento anticipato,...
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