Fiction. Short Story. Translated from the French by Anthony Rudolph. GILLETTE OR THE UNKNOWN MASTERIECE is one of Balzac's most brilliant and fascinating works, and one of the great short stories in European literature. It has been widely influential among painters and writers since its early editions, and speaks to our own days in unexpected ways. Anthony Rudolf has made the first complete translation into English in over eighty years. In a long accompanying essay he discusses the text as a love story, as a parable of writing told in terms of painting, and as a remarkable foreshadowing of certain later developments in art, such as the work of Giacometti. He also discusses the sexual, mythological, financial and other aspects of this extraordinary multi-layered text, and vigorously contests the widespread view that Frenhofer is nothing but a failure and his painting nothing but a disaster. This reprint marks Balzac's bicentenary and Menard's 30th birthday.

In Balzac's classic study of obsession, a chance meeting changes Balthazar Claes' life as it introduces him to alchemy and initiates his quest of the absolute. Throughout, our sympathy is equally divided between Balthazar's single-minded determination to push back the frontiers of knowledge, and the ruin of his family. "The Quest Of The Absolute" Was first published in France in 1834 and appears in a new edition from Dedalus, translated by Ellen Marriage and with an afterword and chronology by Christopher Smith.

An Unabridged Edition from the Translation by Ernest Dowson -

Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) utilizo la escritura como una formidable palanca hacia un ascenso social que le era negado. Su obra, desmesurada e innovadora, recogio el impulso de la naciente ciencia de su siglo en un esfuerzo titanico por describir y reflejar la sociedad circundante. El tio Goriot (1835) es una de sus obras mas celebradas, novela bellisima de trama nocturna, impregnada de una tristeza omnipresente, cuyo verdadero protagonista es la ciudad de Paris.

Eugenie Grandet (1833) is a novel by French author Honore de Balzac. Written as Balzac began to formulate the grand scale of his La Comedie humaine sequence, Eugenie Grandet was eventually tied into the universe of his epic realist masterpiece, a holistic vision of nineteenth-century French society which sought to observe the consequences of the political, religious, and economic shifts of the Revolution and in its aftermath. This novel looks to the moral failings of a particular nouveau riche family, whose accumulation of wealth has quickly erased any sense of their working-class origins. After the Revolution, master cooper Felix Grandet married the daughter of a successful merchant, ascended in the political and social life of the town of Saumur, and quietly amassed an immense wealth through industry and inheritances from his wife's family. Now an old man, Felix possesses a fortune he feels no inclination to use, not even to improve the daily lives of his ailing wife and young adult daughter Eugenie, who faces frequent incursions from local suitors intent on marrying her to attain her father's wealth. When Felix's nephew Charles arrives from Paris with a letter from the patriarch's estranged brother Guillaume, tragic circumstances force him to choose between habitual greed and the immense pressure of performing what for anyone else would be a basic act of generosity. Eugenie Grandet is a powerful story of fortune, power, and the ease with which these lead to moral failure. Published at the dawning of Balzac's most productive and critically-acclaimed period, this novel is not only a good introduction to his lengthy La Comedie humaine sequence, but an irreplaceable work of nineteenth-century realist literature. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honore de Balzac's Eugenie Grandet is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

Father Goriot (1835) is a novel by French author Honore de Balzac. An early work in his La Comedie humaine sequence, Father Goriot has since become one of Balzac's most critically and commercially successful novels. It contains several characters who appear throughout his other books and is considered to be the first novel in which he perfected his hallmark realist style. The novel, set in Paris, follows Eugene de Rastignac, a young law student who lives at a boarding house owned by a widow named Madame Vauquer. Her other residents include Jean-Joachim Goriot, a retired businessman whose fortune has been spent on his two adult daughters, and Vautrin, a hardened and mysterious criminal. As Rastignac navigates urban life, he develops a fascination with high society that soon turns into an unhealthy obsession with joining the ranks of the wealthy. Although he falls in love with Goriot's daughter Delphine, a married woman, Rastignac is pressured by Vautrin to court the young unmarried Victorine. Proposing they attempt to steal her family's fortune-for which he offers to have her brother murdered-Vautrin does his best to corrupt the young and ambitious Rastignac, who will gradually be forced to choose between a life of luxury and a life of moral decency. In the background of their plotting, the story of Father Goriot unfolds, a tragic portrait of a man who gives everything to his family while wanting nothing more than their love and respect in return. Father Goriot is a complex yet effective novel. Criticized for extensive pessimism upon publication, its reputation for brutal honesty and social realism have aided its reception in recent years, and it is now considered one of Balzac's most important works. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honore de Balzac's Father Goriot is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

'This is as much a mystery as the Immaculate Conception, which of itself must make a doctor an unbeliever.' A stunning pair of short stories about faith and sacrificial love. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Honore de Balzac (1799-1850). Balzac's works available in Penguin Classics are Old Man Goriot, Cousin Bette, History of The Thirteen, Selected Short Stories, Cousin Pons, A Harlot High and Low, Eugenie Grandet, The Wild Ass's Skin, The Black Sheep and Lost Illusions.

Characters from every corner of society and all walks of life-lords and ladies, businessmen and military men, poor clerks, unforgiving moneylenders, aspiring politicians, artists, actresses, swindlers, misers, parasites, sexual adventurers, crackpots, and more-move through the pages of The Human Comedy, Balzac's multivolume magnum opus, an interlinked chronicle of modernity in all its splendor and squalor. The Human Comedy includes the great roomy novels that have exercised such a sway over Balzac's many literary inheritors, from Dostoyevsky and Henry James to Marcel Proust; it also contains an array of short fictions in which Balzac is at his most concentrated and forceful. Nine of these, all newly translated, appear in this volume, and together they provide an unequaled overview of a great writer's obsessions and art. Here are "The Duchesse de Langeais," "A Passion in the Desert," and "Sarrasine"; tales of madness, illicit passion, ill-gotten gains, and crime. What unifies them, Peter Brooks points out in his introduction, is an incomparable storyteller's fascination with the power of storytelling, while throughout we also detect what Proust so admired: the "mysterious circulation of blood and desire."

Father Goriot (1835) is a novel by French author Honore de Balzac. An early work in his La Comedie humaine sequence, Father Goriot has since become one of Balzac's most critically and commercially successful novels. It contains several characters who appear throughout his other books and is considered to be the first novel in which he perfected his hallmark realist style. The novel, set in Paris, follows Eugene de Rastignac, a young law student who lives at a boarding house owned by a widow named Madame Vauquer. Her other residents include Jean-Joachim Goriot, a retired businessman whose fortune has been spent on his two adult daughters, and Vautrin, a hardened and mysterious criminal. As Rastignac navigates urban life, he develops a fascination with high society that soon turns into an unhealthy obsession with joining the ranks of the wealthy. Although he falls in love with Goriot's daughter Delphine, a married woman, Rastignac is pressured by Vautrin to court the young unmarried Victorine. Proposing they attempt to steal her family's fortune-for which he offers to have her brother murdered-Vautrin does his best to corrupt the young and ambitious Rastignac, who will gradually be forced to choose between a life of luxury and a life of moral decency. In the background of their plotting, the story of Father Goriot unfolds, a tragic portrait of a man who gives everything to his family while wanting nothing more than their love and respect in return. Father Goriot is a complex yet effective novel. Criticized for extensive pessimism upon publication, its reputation for brutal honesty and social realism have aided its reception in recent years, and it is now considered one of Balzac's most important works. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honore de Balzac's Father Goriot is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

The Physiology of Marriage (1829) is a book length essay by French writer Honore de Balzac. Written from the point of view of an author who has overheard scandalous conversations between two women, The Physiology of Marriage is both a critique of the institution of marriage and a satirical attempt to scientifically explain the cause and frequency of marital infidelity. The essay was an early success for Balzac, gaining him a reputation as a talented writer and creative critic of contemporary French society. The essay consists of a series of meditations that approach marriage through a variety of scientific, philosophical, and anecdotal methods. Arguing that marriage is an institution that runs counter to human nature, the author uses questionable mathematics to calculate the number of married women in France who are likely to seek out affairs in order to feel a passion denied to them. Describing the likely signs of marital infidelity-standoffishness, a change in dress, lack of romance-he claims that French men have grown far too accepting of their wives' affairs. Rather than reject the institution altogether-he sees it as integral to upholding the social order-the author suggests that young women be allowed a certain amount of freedom to explore their romantic inclinations and to prepare themselves for the banality of married life. The Physiology of Marriage finds satire in treating seriously and scientifically the often hidden and always complex matters of the heart, as well as through its suggestion that women, not men, are to blame for the proliferation of infidelity in France. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honore de Balzac's The Physiology of Marriage is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

Cousin Pons (1847) is a novel by French author Honore de Balzac. One of the final works in Balzac's La Comedie humaine sequence, Cousin Pons originally began as a novella before being extended to the length of a novel. It serves as both a beautiful meditation on the nature of Platonic male friendship and a vitriolic condemnation of the vanity and greed of the French bourgeoisie. In typical fashion, however, Balzac also turns a critical eye to the lower class, ensuring his uniquely holistic vision of French society spares no one-and leaves no stone unturned. When he isn't performing with a Parisian boulevard orchestra, Sylvain Pons can be found in deep conversation with his good friend Wilhelm Schmucke, admiring his collection of paintings, or enjoying a gourmet meal with his cousins, M. and Mme. Camusot de Marville, whose food he greatly prefers to that of his landlady's, Mme. Cibot. Pons' life and company are of little interest to anyone other than his friend Wilhelm-by family and acquaintances, he is treated at best with tolerance, and at worst with disdain. After failing to find a suitable match for their daughter Cecile-which Pons attempts as a form of repayment for his shared meals with the Camusots-his cousins dispel him from their home and lives for good. But when they discover the value of his art collection-as do Mme. Cibot and several shady characters of the lower classes-a mad scramble ensues that threatens Sylvain Pons' gentle nature as well as his life. Cousin Pons, a subtle and underrated novel by Honore de Balzac, takes an unforgiving look at the consequences of greed as well exposes the imbalance between the economic and aesthetic values of art. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honore de Balzac's Cousin Pons is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

After Vautrin helps Lucien overcome a mental breakdown, the two men decide to align forces in pursuit of social status and wealth. Operating under an alias, Vautrin offers to help Lucien redeem himself and move back to Paris, with the condition that Lucien follows his orders exactly. Happy to comply, the pair return to the capital city, living in excess and racking up a debt as they pretend they can afford this luxurious lifestyle. With a goal of gaining the attention and love of a wealthy woman, Vautrin helps Lucien appear to be an eligible and desirable bachelor. However, his plan is compromised when Lucien instead meets Esther, a beautiful sex worker. First trying to keep their relationship a secret from Vautrin, Lucien and Esther share an amorous connection. However, as the relationship continues, Lucien must choose between his newfound love, or the shallow charade he and Vautrin have cultivated. Though, the decision may not be his to make, and as always, Vautrin always has a plan. With intricate descriptions of the buildings, culture, and people of Paris, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac provides invaluable insight to into the social history of France. This observation of the time allows readers a rare and unfiltered perspective on the 19th century Parisian society, particularly on their values and class distinctions. With themes of morality, romance, and class, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life explores the dark and unspoken aspects of society while entertaining with a thrilling storyline and compelling characters. First published as a serial in four parts in 1838, this Balzac classic is captivating and clever. With surprises and twists, there is never a dull moment in Scenes from a Courtesan's Life This edition of Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac features a stunning new cover design and is presented in a font that is both stylish and readable. With these accommodations, this edition is accessible and appealing to contemporary audiences, restoring Scenes from a Courtesan's Life to modern standards while preserving the intricacy and value of Honore de Balzac's work.

Beginning with a visceral description of the society and politics of Paris, The Girl with the Golden Eyes considers the sex life of the upper class by its raw depiction of the underside of Parisian life. Henri de Marsay is a young, rich man who is nearly devoid of morals and virtue. After he meets Paquita Valdes, a mysterious and beautiful woman, he becomes infested with a deviant lust for her. When his plan to seduce her succeeds, Henri and Paquita maintain an intensely sexual relationship. However, when Henri starts to suspect Paquita is involved with another lover, he becomes overwhelmed with rage and jealousy. As he allows this emotion to cloud his judgement and conscience, Henri's possessiveness plots a heinous act-immoral even by his questionable standards, leading to shocking discoveries and sick twists. The surprise and awe invoked by Honore de Balzac's The Girl with the Golden Eyes ensures a memorable narrative that has won the attention of critics and inspired a 1961 film adaptation. With elements of homosexuality, sexual slavery, incest and violence, The Girl with the Golden Eyes is a lustful tale that remains to be appalling and taboo. With raw and ruthless realism, Honore de Balzac creates a portrait and reflection of an entire society through the vivid depiction of Paris and the specific amorous vice of the protagonists. While exploring the vices of the Parisian upper class, The Girl with the Golden Eyes also invites reflection on the brutal effects misogyny and ill-intended men have on women, exposing a truth that is still applicable to modern society. Though The Girl with the Golden Eyes has traditionally been published among a collection, this edition of Honore de Balzac's work stands alone in the spotlight it has earned. Featuring a brand new, eye-catching cover design and a modern, readable font, this edition of The Girl with the Golden Eyes is accessible to contemporary audiences and encourages conversation on torrid and taboo affairs.

When young Gaston moves to Bayeux, a small province in Normandy, he feels stranded. Though he would rather spend his time in the capital city, Gaston must stay in Bayeux until he recovers from his illness. He feels unsatisfied and bored, until he hears the rumor about a woman living as a recluse on the countryside. Victomtesse de Beauseant is a beautiful woman who had been abandoned by her husband many years ago. Devastated, and now stuck in a loveless marriage because she cannot get a divorce, she lives in isolation. Gaston is moved by her story and becomes fixated, desperate to meet her. When he finally gets the courage to visit her home, Victomtesse de Beauseant is flattered by his infatuation, and despite her being ten years his senior, Beauseant and Gaston become lovers. However, their private paradise is soon interrupted by Gaston's disapproving mother, who is pressuring him to marry a woman he does not love. As rumors grow and Gaston's mother becomes more persistent, Gaston and Victomtesse's love is tested and threatened like never before. The Deserted Woman exemplifies Honore de Balzac's extraordinary literary ability that has influenced esteemed authors such as Henry James and Charles Dickens. With intricate prose and unparalleled compassion, Honore de Balzac explores the too-common predicament of women trapped in unhappy relationships. The Deserted Woman tells the emotional tale of the pressure society put on women and men to enter marriages that prioritized social and financial compatibility over a real, mutual, love connection. Though it does not exist to such an extent in Western society, Balzac's The Deserted Woman invites readers to consider how this spirit of unhealthy marriages is still alive in modern relationships. Balzac dedicated much of his career to the pursuit of capturing all aspects of society with his realist lens, creating celebrated work that influences the perspective of society. This edition of The Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac features a striking new cover design and is reprinted in a modern, easy-to-read font, creating an approachable reading experience for a contemporary audience.

Eugenie Grandet (1833) is a novel by French author Honore de Balzac. Written as Balzac began to formulate the grand scale of his La Comedie humaine sequence, Eugenie Grandet was eventually tied into the universe of his epic realist masterpiece, a holistic vision of nineteenth-century French society which sought to observe the consequences of the political, religious, and economic shifts of the Revolution and in its aftermath. This novel looks to the moral failings of a particular nouveau riche family, whose accumulation of wealth has quickly erased any sense of their working-class origins. After the Revolution, master cooper Felix Grandet married the daughter of a successful merchant, ascended in the political and social life of the town of Saumur, and quietly amassed an immense wealth through industry and inheritances from his wife's family. Now an old man, Felix possesses a fortune he feels no inclination to use, not even to improve the daily lives of his ailing wife and young adult daughter Eugenie, who faces frequent incursions from local suitors intent on marrying her to attain her father's wealth. When Felix's nephew Charles arrives from Paris with a letter from the patriarch's estranged brother Guillaume, tragic circumstances force him to choose between habitual greed and the immense pressure of performing what for anyone else would be a basic act of generosity. Eugenie Grandet is a powerful story of fortune, power, and the ease with which these lead to moral failure. Published at the dawning of Balzac's most productive and critically-acclaimed period, this novel is not only a good introduction to his lengthy La Comedie humaine sequence, but an irreplaceable work of nineteenth-century realist literature. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honore de Balzac's Eugenie Grandet is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

Cousin Bette (1846) is a novel by French author Honore de Balzac. Part of Balzac's La Comedie humaine sequence, the novel is recognized as being the author's last fully-realized work, and features several characters who appear elsewhere throughout his legendary series. It has inspired several film and television adaptations, as well as earned comparisons to Shakespeare's Othello and Tolstoy's War and Peace. The novel focuses on the life and exploits of Bette Fischer, a 42-year-old woman whose bitterness at remaining unmarried-despite several proposals by men she deemed unworthy-drives her to ruin the reputations and lives of her extended family. After rescuing the young sculptor Wenceslas Steinbock from suicide, Bette develops a complex affection for the man. When he falls in love with Hortense, the daughter of Bette's cousin Adeline, she hatches a plan to gain revenge for this perceived personal slight. She recruits the young and beautiful Valerie Marneffe-an unhappily married woman-to seduce Adeline's husband, Baron Hector Hulot, whose uncontrolled desires and extensive vanity both test his family's loyalty and stretch their finances to the furthest possible limit. Cousin Bette is an intense psychological drama and character study that burns with the fire of Balzac's critique of French society. While exposing the depths of human immorality-particularly where money is made the center of personal relationships-Balzac manages to remind us that what makes us human is not what drives us apart, but the lengths to which we will go to cultivate love despite our basest impulses. To read Cousin Bette is to observe the hopes, flaws, and desires of the people of nineteenth century France, but to ultimately judge ourselves. This final masterpiece of Honore de Balzac is a testament to the skill and dedication of one of history's finest literary minds. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honore de Balzac's Cousin Bette is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

Cousin Pons (1847) is a novel by French author Honore de Balzac. One of the final works in Balzac's La Comedie humaine sequence, Cousin Pons originally began as a novella before being extended to the length of a novel. It serves as both a beautiful meditation on the nature of Platonic male friendship and a vitriolic condemnation of the vanity and greed of the French bourgeoisie. In typical fashion, however, Balzac also turns a critical eye to the lower class, ensuring his uniquely holistic vision of French society spares no one-and leaves no stone unturned. When he isn't performing with a Parisian boulevard orchestra, Sylvain Pons can be found in deep conversation with his good friend Wilhelm Schmucke, admiring his collection of paintings, or enjoying a gourmet meal with his cousins, M. and Mme. Camusot de Marville, whose food he greatly prefers to that of his landlady's, Mme. Cibot. Pons' life and company are of little interest to anyone other than his friend Wilhelm-by family and acquaintances, he is treated at best with tolerance, and at worst with disdain. After failing to find a suitable match for their daughter Cecile-which Pons attempts as a form of repayment for his shared meals with the Camusots-his cousins dispel him from their home and lives for good. But when they discover the value of his art collection-as do Mme. Cibot and several shady characters of the lower classes-a mad scramble ensues that threatens Sylvain Pons' gentle nature as well as his life. Cousin Pons, a subtle and underrated novel by Honore de Balzac, takes an unforgiving look at the consequences of greed as well exposes the imbalance between the economic and aesthetic values of art. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honore de Balzac's Cousin Pons is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

Lost Illusions (1837-1843) is a novel by French author Honore de Balzac. Written as part of his La Comedie humaine sequence, Lost Illusions looks at scenes of Parisian and provincial life involving friendship, desire, and literary ambition. Inspired by his own experiences as a journalist and publisher, Balzac sought to tell a story adjacent to his own, a story concerning a young man for whom talent is abundant but recognition is woefully scarce. The novel's protagonist, Lucien Chardon, features in Balzac's work A Harlot High and Low, as does the villain Vautrin, who appears toward the end of Lost Illusions and throughout Father Goriot, one of author's most popular and enduring works. The son of a middle-class father and aristocratic mother, Lucien Chardon is a promising young poet. He lives in Angouleme with his now-impoverished mother-who is also a widow-and his sister Eve. In the province, he spends his days with his loyal friend David Sechard, who encourages his literary lifestyle while studying to be a scientist. David's eventual marriage to Eve only brings the two friends closer together, but when Lucien meets the wealthy and influential Mme. de Bargeton, with whom he flees to Paris, their friendship is lost to Lucien's unstoppable ambition. In the city, abandoned by Mme. de Bargeton and living under his mother's maiden name, Lucien de Rubempre sacrifices morality, friendship, and family at the altar of poetry, slowly becoming another person altogether. Lost Illusions is one of Balzac's most sustained character studies, a novel which critiques humanity and high society as much as it does his own commercial interests as a professional writer. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Honore de Balzac's Lost Illusions is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.