Honor De Balzac: 1029 books

In 1479, on All Saints' day, the moment at which this history begins, vespers were ending in the cathedral of Tours. The archbishop Helie de Bourdeilles was rising from his seat to give the benediction himself to the faithful. The sermon had been long; darkness had fallen during the service, and in certain...

Possono due fratelli amarsi senza destare scandalo. Si, solo se vivono ai margini della società civile. Anzi, lontani dalla società civile. Balzac ne racconta il dramma, vissuto in una Francia post Rivoluzione. Finché i due protagonisti, Joseph e Mélanie, vivono lontani, in un’isola sperduta...

Poor, 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...

In a gloomy house in provincial Saumur lives the miser Grandet with his wife and daughter, Eugénie, 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. But when the arrival...

Mild, harmless and ugly to behold, the impoverished Pons is an ageing musician whose brief fame has fallen to nothing. Living a placid Parisian life as a bachelor in a shared apartment with his friend Schmucke, he maintains only two passions: a devotion to fine dining in the company of wealthy but...

'What holds sway over this country without morals, beliefs, or feelings? Gold and pleasure.' Sexual attraction, artistic insight, and the often ironic relationship between them is the dominant theme in the three short works collected in this volume. In Sarrasine an impetuous young sculptor falls in...

Vigorosa espressione della poetica balzachiana, Splendori e miserie delle cortigiane è un'opera in divenire, modellata nel corso di tredici anni (1835-47). I quattro romanzi che la compongono sono dominati dalle figure di Esther, giovane e affascinante prostituta parigina, Lucien, di lei romanticamente...

È meglio subire una società ispirata ai valori dell'egoismo oppure esistere in solitudine, in rapporto diretto con l'energia cosmica e la morte? È meglio sopravvivere senza passioni, senza pensieri, senza piaceri, o vivere intensamente, esaurendo il proprio capitale energetico? La tragica storia di...

A merciless Breton lord does not want the premature child of seven months, therefore failed, that his wife Jeanne will bring into the world. He decides to kill this damned child and calls a doctor, half midwife, half executioner, for this purpose. Anodyne appearance of this historical account, bordering...

In 1829, on a pretty spring morning, a man about fifty years old was riding a mountainous path that led to a large village near the Grande-Chartreuse. This man, Commander Genestas is looking for another one: Mr. Benassis, country doctor and mayor of this village. The meeting is taking place, but why...

Balzacs Roman Le Père Goriot thematisiert an einem praktisch alle Sozialschichten umfassenden Personenensemble sowohl den gesellschaftlichen Aufstieg als auch dessen Niederungen und Abgründe im Kontext der Restauration des beginnenden 19. Jahrhunderts. Balzac gewährt am Beispiel des früheren Nudelfabrikanten...

Mit dem Werkbeitrag aus Kindlers Literatur Lexikon.Mit dem Autorenporträt aus dem Metzler Lexikon Weltliteratur.Mit Daten zu Leben und Werk, exklusiv verfasst von der Redaktion der Zeitschrift für Literatur TEXT + KRITIK.Vater Goriot, durch Spekulationen ordentlich zu Geld gekommen, hat ein zerstörerisches...

In diesem Buch verarbeitet Balzac einen Teil seiner Kindheit und schreibt über Mutterliebe und Erziehung. Sein Hauptwerk ist der Romanzyklus La Comédie humaine (dt.: Die menschliche Komödie), dessen Romane und Erzählungen ein Gesamtbild der Gesellschaft im Frankreich seiner Zeit zu zeichnen versuchen.

Aus dem Vorhaben, ein neues Decamerone zu verfassen, entstanden drei mal zehn kurzweilige Geschichten über die hohe französische Gesellschaft des späten Mittelalters. Balzac stellt den Hochadel in seiner ganzen, diesseitsbejahenden Lebenslust dar und enthüllt in brillanter Sprache skandalöse...