{"title":"Books by Honore De Balzac","description":"\u003cp\u003eHonoré de Balzac, one of the towering figures of nineteenth‑century French literature, is best known for his monumental cycle \u003cem\u003eLa Comédie Humaine\u003c\/em\u003e. Across these interconnected novels and stories, Balzac portrays every stratum of society with extraordinary psychological insight and meticulous realism, creating a portrait of human ambition, desire, and frailty that remains vivid today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis works, from \u003cem\u003ePère Goriot\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eEugénie Grandet\u003c\/em\u003e, reveal an unflinching eye for social detail and the relentless pursuit of status and fortune. Balzac's influence on later writers was immense, shaping the novel as a form capable of encompassing the full complexity of modern life while offering readers a compelling vision of character and circumstance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAre you this author? Drop us a line to update your details \u003cb\u003ehello@bookcurl.com\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"eugenie-grandet-human-comedy-9780140440508","title":"Eugenie Grandet Human Comedy","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a gloomy house in provincial Saumur, the miser Grandet lives with his wife and daughter, Eugenie, whose lives are stifled and overshadowed by his obsession with gold. Guarding his piles of glittering treasures and his only child equally closely, he will let no one near them.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732370436439,"sku":"9780140440508","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140440508.jpg?v=1719996592"},{"product_id":"cousin-bette-9780140441604","title":"Cousin Bette","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eA gripping tale of violent jealousy, sexual passion and treachery, Honoré de Balzac''s \u003ci\u003eCousin Bette \u003c\/i\u003eis translated from the French with an introduction by Marion Ayton Crawford in Penguin Classics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoor, plain spinster Bette is compelled to survive on the condescending patronage of her socially superior relatives in Paris: her beautiful, saintly cousin Adeline, the philandering Baron Hulot and their daughter Hortense. Already deeply resentful of their wealth, when Bette learns that the man she is in love with plans to marry Hortense, she becomes consumed by the desire to exact her revenge and dedicates herself to the destruction of the Hulot family, plotting their ruin with patient, silent malice. 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While the deeds of ''The Thirteen'' remain frequently in the background, however, the individual novels are concerned with exploring various forms of desire. A tragic love story, Ferragus depicts a marriage destroyed by suspicion, revelation and misunderstanding. The Duchess de Langeais explores the anguish that results when a society coquette tries to seduce a heroic ex-soldier, while The Girl with the Golden Eyes offers a frank consideration of desire and sexuality. Together, these works provide a firm and fascinating foundation for Balzac''s many later portrayals of Parisian life in his great novel-cycle The Human Comedy.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732372500823,"sku":"9780140443011","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140443011.jpg?v=1719996599"},{"product_id":"selected-short-stories-of-honore-de-balzac-el-verdugodomestic-peacea-study-in-feminine-psychologyan-incident-in-the-reign-of-terrorthe-massfacino-canepierre-grassou-classics-9780140443257","title":"Selected Short Stories of Honore De Balzac El","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also an accomplished writer of shorter fiction. This volume includes twelve of his finest short stories - many of which feature characters from his epic series of novels the Comédie Humaine. Compelling tales of acute social and psychological insight, they fully demonstrate the mastery of suspense and revelation that were the hallmarks of Balzac''s genius. In The Atheist''s Mass, we learn the true reason for a distinguished atheist surgeon''s attendance at religious services; La Grande Breteche describes the horrific truth behind the locked doors of a decaying country mansion, while The Red Inn relates a brutal tale of murder and betrayal. A fascinating counterpoint to the renowned novels, all the stories collected here stand by themselves as mesmerizing works by one of the finest writers of nineteenth-century France.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732372566359,"sku":"9780140443257","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140443257.jpg?v=1719996600"},{"product_id":"old-man-goriot-9780140449723","title":"Old Man Goriot","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMonsieur Goriot is one of a disparate group of lodgers at Mademe Vauquer's dingy Parisian boarding house. At first his wealth inspires respect, but as his circumstances are mysteriously reduced he becomes shunned by those around him, and soon his only remaining visitors are his two beautifully dressed daughters.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732380987735,"sku":"9780140449723","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140449723.jpg?v=1719996630"},{"product_id":"ursule-mirouet-9780141396705","title":"Ursule Mirouet","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1842, eight years before his death, Balzac described \u003ci\u003eUrsule Mirouet \u003c\/i\u003eas the masterpiece of all the studies of human society that he had written; he regarded the book as ''a remarkable \u003ci\u003etour de force\u003c\/i\u003e''.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn essentially simple tale about the struggle and triumph of innocence reviled, \u003ci\u003eUrsule Mirouet \u003c\/i\u003eis characterized by that wealth of penetrating observation so readily associated with Balzac''s work. The twin themes of redemption and rebirth are illuminated by a consistently passionate rejection of both philosophic and practical materialism in favour of love. In this case love is aided by supernatural intervention, which itself effectively illustrates Balzac''s life-long fascination with the occult.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732486271319,"sku":"9780141396705","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141396705.jpg?v=1719997095"},{"product_id":"cousin-bette-oxford-worlds-classics-9780199553945","title":"Cousin Bette Oxford Worlds Classics","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Appended to the text is a summary of its financial plots, the complications of which appear even more marvellous when extrapolated in this way. This is an introduction which is consistently enthusiastic about the complexity of a novel which, 'in its rich ambiguity, allows every reader to explore his or how own imagination of what life is really like'.' Robert Lethbridge, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, French Studies, Vol. 47, Part 3\u003cbr\u003e'Three Classic tales of sexual passion, perversion, and corruption have been added to the rapidly increasing World's Classics collection, whose repertoire of nineteenth-century French novels is now impressive. The price and format of these volumes make them an obvious choice for the reader approaching them in translation, the more so since each is accompanied by a helpful general introduction ... the reader is likely to get better vaqlue here than from other translation currently in print.' Timothy Unwin, University of Western Australia, MLR, 89.\/2, 1994\u003cbr\u003e'... translated here into lucid, straightforward, easily readable contemporary English.' Forum for Modern Language Studies Vol. XXX","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732859007319,"sku":"9780199553945","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780199553945.jpg?v=1719998705"},{"product_id":"eugenie-grandet-9780199555895","title":"Eugénie Grandet","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Who is going to marry Eugénie Grandet?''This is the question that fills the minds of the inhabitants of Saumur, the setting for Eugénie Grandet (1833), one of the the earliest and most famous novels in Balzac''s Comédie humaine. The Grandet household, oppressed by the exacting miserliness of Grandet himself, is jerked violently out of routine by the sudden arrival of Eugénie''s cousin Charles, recently orphaned and penniless. 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Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732863234391,"sku":"9780199555895","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780199555895.jpg?v=1719998719"},{"product_id":"the-girl-with-the-golden-eyes-and-other-stories-9780199571284","title":"The Girl with the Golden Eyes and Other Stories","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe three short fictions in this unique collection, Sarrasine, The Unknown Masterpiece, and The Girl with the Golden Eyes, deal with the relationship between artistic ideals and sexual desires.  They show Balzac's mastery of the seductions of storytelling, and are among the 19th century's richest explorations of life and art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSARRASINE; THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE; THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN EYES","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732866904407,"sku":"9780199571284","price":8.54,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780199571284.jpg?v=1719998734"},{"product_id":"the-wild-asss-skin-9780199579501","title":"The Wild Asss Skin","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Who possesses me will possess all things,But his life will belong to me...''Raphael de Valentin, a young aristocrat, has lost all his money in the gaming parlours of the Palais Royal in Paris, and contemplates ending his life by throwing himself into the Seine. He is distracted by the bizarre array of objects in a chaotic antique shop, among them a strange animal skin, a piece of shagreen with magical properties. It will grant its possessor his every wish, but each time a wish is bestowed the skin shrinks, hastening its owner''s death. Around this fantastic premise Balzac weaves a compelling psychological portrait of his hero, a prisoner of his own Promethean imagination, and explores profound ideas about the human will, vice and virtue, love and death. Helen Constantine''s new translation captures the energy and exuberance of Balzac''s novel, one of the most engaging of his ''Études philosophiques'' from the Comédie humaine. The accompanying introduction and notes offer fresh insights into this remarkable work. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe novel has been elegantly translated by Helen Constantine, who is both faithful and creative * Nicholas White, Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eA model of its kind * Nineteenth-Century French Studies *","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732868575575,"sku":"9780199579501","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780199579501.jpg?v=1719998740"},{"product_id":"colonel-chabert-9781847497734","title":"Colonel Chabert","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn old man arrives at the offices of the lawyer Derville, claiming to be Colonel Chabert, a hero of the Napoleonic Wars who was left for dead on the battlefield, but in fact managed to survive under a pile of corpses before spending years as a recovering amnesiac. Having returned to Paris and discovered that his wife has married an aristocrat who has liquidated all his assets, Chabert enlists the help of Derville to recover both his name and his fortune.  Part of Balzac’s La Comédie humaine cycle, \u003ci\u003eColonel Chabert\u003c\/i\u003e is a poignant tale about the pursuit of justice, as well as a portrait of France’s transition from the Napoleonic Empire to the Restoration. Inspired by actual events, the novella has captured the imagination of generations of readers and has been adapted for the stage and screen numerous times.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReading Balzac is not a reassuring experience. It challenges our humanism, if we have any, but it ultimately does not destroy it. -- A.N. 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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. 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Between the heights of Parisian society and the criminal world lurking underneath, fate is about to catch up with Lucien de Rubempré, last seen in \u003ci\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/i\u003e, as his literary aspirations, his love for the courtesan Esther van Gobseck, and his scheme to marry the wealthy Clotilde become entangled in the cunning and ultimately disastrous ambitions of the Abbé Herrera, a villain for the ages. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e An extraordinary volume in Balzac’s vast \u003ci\u003eHuman Comedy\u003c\/i\u003e (in which he endeavored to capture all of society), \u003ci\u003eLost Souls\u003c\/i\u003e appears here in its first new English translation in half a century. Keenly attuned to the acerbic charm and subtleties of Balzac’s prose, this edition also includes an introduction presenting thorough biographical, literary, and historical context, as well as extensive notes throughout the text—an invaluable resource for today’s readers as they navigate Balzac’s copious allusions to classical and contemporaneous politics and literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Beautifully written.\"—\u003ci\u003eBook Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Between \u003ci\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLost Souls\u003c\/i\u003e, in two hefty, handsome paperbacks—with scholarly trimmings to help, not impede a reader—we now have both of the novels (technically all seven novels in a trilogy followed by a tetralogy… published between 1837 and 1847 in not entirely chronological order… because Balzac?) tracing the fate of Lucien de Rubempre, in print as though they belong together, on your to-be-read lists and your shelves. They are a remarkable itinerary.\"—\u003ci\u003eLitHub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Here’s a gift to the world literature in English that keeps on giving: Raymond Mackenzie keeps making fine translations of Balzac’s huge, great novels and the University of Minnesota Press keeps publishing them in the same handsome format: after \u003ci\u003eLost Illusions, Lost Souls\u003c\/i\u003e. They have given us convincing, eminently readable versions of Balzac. \"—David Ball, \u003ci\u003eMETAMORPHOSES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Minnesota Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409702658391,"sku":"9781517905446","price":16.14,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781517905446.jpg?v=1730507735"},{"product_id":"lost-illusions-9781517905439","title":"Lost Illusions","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA new annotated translation of the keystone of Balzac’s \u003ci\u003eComédie Humaine\u003c\/i\u003e—a sweeping narrative of corrupted idealism in a cynical urban milieu \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/i\u003e is an essential text within Balzac’s \u003ci\u003eComédie Humaine\u003c\/i\u003e, his sprawling, interconnected fictional portrait of French society in the 1820s and 1830s comprising nearly one hundred novels and short stories. This novel, published in three parts between 1837 and 1843, tells the story of Lucien de Rubempré, a talented young poet who leaves behind a scandalous provincial life for the shallow, corrupt, and cynical vortex of modernity that was nineteenth-century Paris—where his artistic idealism slowly dissipates until he eventually decides to return home. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBalzac poured many of his thematic preoccupations and narrative elaborations into Lost Illusions, from the contrast between life in the provinces and the all-consuming world of Paris to the idealism of poets, the commodification of art, the crushing burden of poverty and debt, and the triumphant cynicism of hack journalists and social climbers. The novel teems with characters, incidents, and settings, though perhaps none so vivid as its panoramic and despairing view of Paris as the nexus of modernity’s cultural, social, and moral infection. For Balzac, no institution better illustrates the new reality than Parisian journalism: “amoral, hypocritical, brazen, dishonest, and murderous,” he writes. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this new translation, Raymond N. MacKenzie brilliantly captures the tone of Balzac’s incomparable prose—a style that is alternatingly impassioned, overheated, angry, moving, tender, wistful, digressive, chatty, intrusive, and hectoring. His informative annotations guide the modern reader through the labyrinth of Balzac’s allusions. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Whether or not \u003ci\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/i\u003e counts as the greatest novel ever written, as the literary scholar Franco Moretti claims, it’s a pretty magnificent one. You can read it for its combination of social scope and psychological insight, and for its cinematically vivid portraits of faces . . . and many fine phrases. . . . And then you can read\u003ci\u003e Lost Illusions\u003c\/i\u003e, as Marx read Balzac, for its account of the double-edged nature of early capitalism.\"—Benjamin Kunkel,\u003ci\u003e Salon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Reading Balzac, one can experience that sauntering pace and steady gaze that our forebears gave to their surroundings, speculations, and soul-searching. It's as with reading Hugo and Dumas, Thackeray and Dickens, George Eliot and Flaubert.\"—\u003ci\u003ePop Matters\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Among the pleasures of the novel is how neatly it is tied into the times, from some of the events of the times to, especially, the worlds of literature and theater. Balzac bases several of his characters on real figures, too, and MacKenzie's helpful endnotes succinctly place the who and what.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe Complete Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Between \u003ci\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLost Souls\u003c\/i\u003e, in two hefty, handsome paperbacks—with scholarly trimmings to help, not impede a reader—we now have both of the novels (technically all seven novels in a trilogy followed by a tetralogy… published between 1837 and 1847 in not entirely chronological order… because Balzac?) tracing the fate of Lucien de Rubempre, in print as though they belong together, on your to-be-read lists and your shelves. They are a remarkable itinerary.\"—\u003ci\u003eLitHub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Now we are treated to a handsomely produced, new annotated version by Raymond N. MacKenzie, a prolific translator of 19th century French Literature who knows Balzac well, as his instructive introduction amply shows. \"—\u003ci\u003eMetamorphoses\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eContents \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTranslator’s Introduction\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRaymond N. Mackenzie\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. The Two Poets\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2. The Parisian Adventures of a Great Man from the Provinces\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3. The Ordeals of an Inventor\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction: The Sorrowful Confessions of a Child of the Century\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart One. The History of a Legal Case\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart Two. The Fatal Member of the Family\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTranslator’s Notes\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Minnesota Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409702723927,"sku":"9781517905439","price":16.14,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781517905439.jpg?v=1730507736"},{"product_id":"the-lily-of-the-valley-9781681377988","title":"The Lily of the Valley","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"The New York Review of Books, Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49411304587607,"sku":"9781681377988","price":15.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781681377988.jpg?v=1730513143"},{"product_id":"oeuvres-de-h-de-balzac-vol-2-la-maison-du-chat-qui-pelote-la-fausse-maitresse-madame-firmiani-9782012183094","title":"Oeuvres de H. de Balzac. Vol. 2. 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