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Droll Stories - Volume 2 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Honore de Balzac is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Honore de Balzac then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The Physiology of Marriage, Complete is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Honore de Balzac is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Honore de Balzac then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Father Goriot is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Honore de Balzac is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Honore de Balzac then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pere Goriot
Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

Father Goriot is a masterful study of a father who sacrifices his wealth and health to assure his two daughters into the hotbed of Parisian high-society.

A romp of a good read!
Balzac guided European fiction away from the overriding influence of Walter Scott and the Gothic school, by showing that modern life could be recounted as vividly as Scott recounted his historical tales, and that mystery and intrigue did not need ghosts and crumbling castles for props. Maupassant, Flaubert and Zola were writers of the next generation who were directly influenced by him, and Marcel Proust (that other weaver of a great tapestry) acknowledged his influence.

He is worth reading for pleasure as well as for his influence on European literature.
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A Comedy in Three Acts set in Paris. By the French author, who, along with Flaubert, is generally regarded as a founding-father of realism in European fiction. His large output of works, collectively entitled The Human Comedy (La Comédie Humaine), consists of 95 finished works (stories, novels andessays) and 48 unfinished works. His stories are an attempt to comprehend and depict the realities of life in contemporary bourgeois France. They are placed in a variety of settings, with characters reappearing in multiple stories. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mercadet
I am so thankful that Amazon Kindle has this book in an electronic version.I have to read it for school by today and if I had ordered it online, it would have taken a month to ship and over $17.00.This was a much better way to read the book and it is always ready on my laptop when I have free time.(I downloaded Kindle for Mac.It's free!) ... Read more

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About the Series: Each Norton Critical Edition includes an authoritative text, contextual and source materials, and a wide range of interpretations-from contemporary perspectives to the most current critical theory-as well as a bibliography and, in most cases, a chronology of the author's life and work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Peerless
Norton has done a really fine job on its critical edition of PERE GORIOT.The translation is especially good, vivid and direct.The commentaries are well chosen and organized.Of particular interest are appreciations of Balzac by writers who were influenced by him, including Zola, Proust, Baudelaire and Henry James.Henry James' take on Balzac is particularly interesting. Written in James' late style, the essay is sometimes inscrutable, but still, James, as always when he writes on writers and writing, offers great insight into Balzac and his oeuvre.

Highly recommended.

The quality of Balzac
This work is considered one of Balzac's masterpieces. It is written with this kind of energy and power the same kind of literary ambition that seems uniquely his. Balzac as a writer has a drive and strength , and this is felt in his descriptions of character as well as in the force of his plots. Here we have a variation of Lear, with two ungrateful daughters doing - in the over- solicitous father for whom the daughters are all. One of Balzac's central themes is obsession, the fixing on one particular object as one's life aim or meaning and giving all to it. For old Goriot it is his daughters, as for Balzac himself it is his ambition to capture the whole of his society in his novels. But the Balzac worlds and this in itself another long subject are also worlds in which traditional values are in clash with values of social climbing money grabbers as exemplified by Goriot's daughters. Balzac's works are filled with great dynamismand are for many one of the great peaks of world - literature. At least some of his works should be read by one who wishes to have a taste of the best that has been thought and said. I would only add my own personal reservation. That the energy and greed of so many of the characters in his world , has left me feeling a bit detached from them. I can admire this Literature but I have never especially loved the world or characters presented in it.

Caffeine Inspired Realism
You know right away that de Balzac is an author of realism when, at the start of the book,he takes you on a five page tour of the first floor of Madame Vauquer'sParisian boarding house. One immediately realizes that sanitation standards for such accommodations were seriously lacking. The dining room "table [was] covered with oilcloth so greasy that, if a waggish diner wanted to, he could write his name in it, using nothing more than his finger as a pen." Wethen quickly learn about the overwhelming contrast between the boarders' life styleand that ofaristocratic Parisian society..

The protagonists of the story are Eugene, a young and poor law student, and old man Goriot, the aging father of two narcissistic daughters who live in the upper strata of Parisian society. While many mediocre authors manage to make cardboard characters out of real people, Balzac has the task of making cardboard people real. Eugene is invited to a ball held by his cousin, a countess, and falls in love with the beautiful people and their world. He is determined to be a part of it. Vautrin, a fellow boarder, a wise street philosopher, and prototype for modern day CEOs, tells Eugene that money is everything. Eugene promptly appropriates every cent of his family's savings to buy the clothes that will allow him to blend in with the aristocracy. Soon he meets Goriot's aristocratic daughters and falls in love with one of them. These two grasping young ladies, intheir need for the necessities in life (fine clothing and jewelry), have taken so much money from their formerly wealthy father that he now lives in abject poverty, sleeping on a moldy straw mattress in Madame Vauquer's boarding house.

By now I am sure that you have discerned Balzac's attitude toward the socially elite. He has no love for people who are famous for being famous. We should resist the urge, though,to shake our heads in wonder over these strange 19th century Parisians.If Balzacwere alive today I am sure he would loosen his poison pen on our own celebrities whose meaningless lives are constantly being spotlighted during their fifteen minutes of fame. Balzac is a lively writer. He supposedly drank huge amounts of coffee every day, and his writing often seems to be the product of ahighly caffeinated mind. If the highly stylized writing of some Victorian era writersnumbs your brain you might want to dip into Balzac.

I strongly recommend that you consider purchasing the Norton Critical Edition of this novel. It provides an additional 150 pages of commentary on Balzac, this novel, and his oeuvre in general; anextra dollar or two well spent. ... Read more

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Also includes Melmouth Reconciled and Unconscious Comedians. ... Read more

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A Prince of Bohemia is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Honore de Balzac is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Honore de Balzac then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Lucien Chardon, a young poet trying to make a name for himself in Paris, is befriended by aristocratic patrons but finds himself relentlessly drawn to the low life of the big city. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Unreadable format
I found the format of this book absolutely unreadable. It's very large and heavy, like carrying a high school biology text around. The print is faint and unattractive, in a kind of typewriter font. I immediately bought a used paperback by an actual publishing house. This "high-quality" paperback is a total rip-off.

Downfall of the artist as a young man
Whew, what a weighty, ambitious book! Through the tale of Lucien, a would-be writer who enters Paris society with his mistress and presumed benefactor (Mme. Bargeton) to seek fame and fortune, Balzac relentlessly exposes the materialistic, status-obsessed world of early 19th-century France.

Lucien turns out to be a perfect vehicle for Balzac's depiction of decadent French society. That's because Lucien is not really an artist, but a vain and superficial dandy who is only interested in the trappings of success, not the dedication that it takes to become a true artist. Lucien's checkered career plays out as you would expect. I found it funny that Lucien and Mme. Bargeton dump each other about five minutes after arriving in Paris (only a slight exaggeration) to pursue their own sordid ambitions.

As Lucien further entangles himself in the corrupt world of Paris, he forsakes poetry for the world of journalism. A few of his altruistic friends make a futile attempt to discourage Lucien from this move, for the field of journalism as described by Balzac is not known for the highest of ethics. There is much humorous dialogue in this section of the book. "He will rotten before he is ripe," an unfriendly colleague says of Lucien. When another journalist gives Lucien advice on how to approach a book review, he tells Lucien: "... conclude that Nathan's book is the greatest work of this century. That means nothing - it is said of every book."

After Lucien departs Paris thoroughly defeated at the end of the lengthy Part II, I was fairly exhausted with Balzac's cynical world and its elaborate intrigues. I wondered, how much more could there be to say about Lucien, that foolish and rather unlikable social climber?Well, the continuation of Lucien's story does indeed make for fascinating reading, as do the travails of his best friend, David, the hard-working and selfless inventor (the opposite of Lucien) who battles against both the effects of Lucien's irresponsible behavior and the devious maneuvers of competitors.

I agree with many of the glowing reviews on this page that this massive book (700 densely packed pages) is, in many ways, a fantastic work - with well-drawn characters, hard-hitting satire, and laugh-out-loud funny dialogue and observations from Balzac. However, the novel can also be a bit tedious when Balzac puts on his social historian's hat and provides copious background (e.g. most of the first 80 pages), or expounds for several pages at a time about a prominent family's lineage, a new paper-making technique, obscure legal maneuvers, or the ins and outs of a branch of banking. At one point, Balzac goes into detail about banking fees - for 12 pages!I think Henry James, a great admirer of Balzac, was right when he said the artist in Balzac is sometimes smothered by the historian.

As in other Balzac books, characters from other novels make return appearances. Readers of Pere Goriot will recognize a certain "unholy priest" who enters the scene when Lucien's spirits are at their lowest. Despite my limited caveats, I recommend this novel and I plan to read more of Balzac. Cousin Bette, said by some to be his best, is next on my list.

Modern Library translation is weak vis-a-vis readabilty
I did NOT like the Modern Library translation as it does not flow well. Vis-a-vis Balzac (in general) I have prefered the Penguin & Oxford translations.

Balzac's Lost Illusions is a long, complex novel by one of the world's greatest novelists
Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) was a workaholic literary genius. In his relatively short life he wrote 92 novels in his "Human Comedy" series. In these works he wishes to reveal to us humanity in all its many faces as seen in the social, political, business and religious milieu of nineteenth century France. Many of the novels use recurring character in a technique also used by such writers as William Faulkner and Anthony Trollope.
Lost Illusions is a long and sometimes tedious novel about a young poet from the provinces whose name is Lucien Chardan. He is fatuous and relatively talented as a minor poet and historical novelist. He engages in a platonic affair with the wealthy Madame Bargeton resulting in the couple's flight from the village to Paris. There they are soon separated by boredom and disillusion with one another.
Lucien has an amorous affair with the showgirl Coralie who is beautiful but dumb. He becomes a newspaper reporter. Balzac shows us all the details involved in the publishing and literary world of Paris. We meet many interesting characters who populate this environment. It is clear than Lucien is like his creator for Balzac knew well the literary life in Paris. Lucien is disillusioned by the cynicism and the quest for the god MONEY which is worshipped by his friends. Art is forced to take a backseat to the pursuit of pelf. Doublecrosses, blackmail and deceit rule the Parisian desert.
Lucien's sweet sister Eve marries David Sechart. Sechart is a printer who believes he has invented a new way to produce paper cheaply. He is involved in convoluted schemes to keep the business afloat and stay out of debtor's prison.
Lucien is not an admirable figure. He is foolish and vain seeking glory and fame. Balzac continues his downfall story in later books in the Human Comedy series.
Balzac is a great writer but takes getting used to. Many of his pages are devoted to explaining complex money matters and who is cheating whom. He is wonderful on describing a scene in detail and was first class in his microscopic examination of French rural and urban society in mid nineteenth century life. Balzac does not make moral judgments on the actions of his flawed characters leaving that to the reader. In the pantheon of nineteenth century French novelists he stands alone with Victor Hugo and Gustave Flaubert at the top of the list.

Prepare to encounter Genius
Lost Illusions by Honore de Balzac. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

Lost Illusions is the kind of a literary work that lets you peer into the soul of a great mind and dwell there. Endlessly fascinating, but what a painful experience it is to read this book. Highly Recommended.



... Read more

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Domestic Peace is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Honore de Balzac is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Honore de Balzac then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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A biography of Honoré de Balzac, who was a Nineteenth Century French novelist and playwright. First published in 1904. ... Read more

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The Celibates is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Honore de Balzac is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Honore de Balzac then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Literary; Literary Collections / General; Literary Criticism / General; Literary Criticism / European / French; ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Literary; Literary Criticism / European / French; Philosophy / General; Reference / General; Reference / Encyclopedias; Reference / Yearbooks ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Literary; Literary Criticism / European / French; Fiction / Literary; Literary Criticism / European / French; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A classic lesson in tragedy
Lost love can so damage the mind that the physical person becomes barely recognizable. This story is a great example of how some people change after lost love while other become stuck at the mental point of abandonment. When the abandonment is resolved, the shock is so great, the physical shell which has held things together for so long, cannot handle the shock, shattering completely.

Much delight!
I was unsure exactly of what I was reading when I began reading DeBalzac's Adieu; it seemed slightly stale at first glance. Boy, was I wrong! In such a short time DeBalzac somehow manages to tell an amazing love story with beautiful and horrifying images of umfamiliar lands. For such a short read it would be wrong not to give it a read!

Psychological Drama with Bite...
DeBalzac is really one of the great classic authors out there who is, perhaps, less well known.This is sad, because I find his works to be very provacative in subject, very intriguing in execution, and very thoughful in characterization.Basically, in my opinion, he represents to me the perfect style of writing.If only the world had someone like him today.

Adieu, (orginally published as a short story in 'The Human Comedy') is one of the most gripping tales I have read of its length except, perhaps, a few selected works of Edgar Allen Poe, who had a similar knack for the short story.Adieu begins with a jovial frolic, which turns mysterious, then tragic.The emotional roller coaster one experiences in this story primarily occurs due to the style of presentation.Truly, the story leaves you spellbound for its entire length.

The story setting takes you from a more familiar provincial 1800's France to a much more unfamiliar war torn Siberia and back again.The tale itself is horrific in its scope, and terrible in its depth of human suffering.Yet, the whole of it seems to be story of the strength of a man's soul against untold horrors.How a man can survive an experience, a horrible tragedy, and while appearing unaffected, carries with himself an inward pain. It is love lost, and found, and lost again.And yet life goes on.

I won't spoil it with any more description, but please, read this book.

Extremely recommended.

An exciting adventure in Russia
Balzac guided European fiction away from the overriding influence of Walter Scott and the Gothic school, by showing that modern life could be recounted as vividly as Scott recounted his historical tales, and that mystery and intrigue did not need ghosts and crumbling castles for props. Maupassant, Flaubert and Zola were writers of the next generation who were directly influenced by him, and Marcel Proust (that other weaver of a great tapestry) acknowledged his influence.

He is worth reading for pleasure as well as for his influence on European literature.
... Read more

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Handsome would-be poet Lucien Chardon is poor and naive, but highly ambitious. Failing to make his name in his dull provincial hometown, he is taken up by a patroness, the captivating married woman Madame de Bargeton, and prepares to forge his way in the glamorous beau monde of Paris. But Lucien has entered a world far more dangerous than he realized, as Madame de Bargeton's reputation becomes compromised and the fickle, venomous denizens of the courts and salons conspire to keep him out of their ranks. Lucien eventually learns that, wherever he goes, talent counts for nothing in comparison to money, intrigue and unscrupulousness. "Lost Illusions" is one of the greatest novels in the rich procession of the Comedie humaine, Balzac's panoramic social and moral history of his times. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

A milestone, not a...
The artists journey was an excellent topic for a book and an easy excuse for a sequel.Balzac turns on his scathing depiction scope on all of society leaving no class unbothered even the most sacred class of them all--the ARTIST class.This last of a two series is unsuspectingly the most effigial of Balzac for the Human Comedy.The artist was the catharsis.

Some of the more titilating and manic moments of the novel have to be taken with a grain of salt.Yes, he was one of the fathers of the modern novel but he also had to move units.If you can sway past the soap opera moments and laugh past the startlingly believable pieces of human stupidity then you will enjoy Balzac.

If not, go read Guy de Maupassant for Darwin's sake.

I was disappointed
I found this book to be a disappointment. I have read other works by Balzac in various translations (most of them in the Penguin Classics series)but I couldn't finish this one.

Why? I just couldn't read another page (I made it to page 259)... The book begins well enough, a typical Balzacian-beginning wherein a figure appears in the midst of a Parisian scene. We are once again in the midst of a stirring ensemble of gossip and curiosity. I enjoyed that part. The reader follows Lucien along, we meet his true love Esther and we meet the dubious Vautrin as well. Everything starts off with grace and intrigue.

And then it just dips off into the ridiculous. I found the character of Nucingen far too incredible to be believed. A man with so much money willing to give it all for glimpses of fair Esther (foolish and moronic for a man with so much money...he's more of a buffoon than a banker and I'm sure a banker would have more sense. It was far too unbelievable the ways he was screwed over in the book.) And of course reading the Polish aristocrat's conversation is equally excruciating (imagine someone talking with a stuff-nose and that is how Rayner Heppenstall has rendered the Slavic Baron's speech.)

For about two hundred pages, the intrigue begins to wear thin. It borders on farce at times, cartoon-like... two hundred pages of basically scamming money out of a stupid, unsympathetic character so other characters equally uninteresting can pay off their debts. The characterizations are weak, many who started out with three-dimensions begin to falter into two-and-one dimensional personas.

Unless you're really a fan of Balzac, I wouldn't bother with this one. Works like Pere Goriot, The Black Sheep, Eugene Grandet, Ursule Mirouet are far superior to this exhausting adventure. The pace of this book is high strung and hardly rewarding which is the main reason why I couldn't follow through with it.

Lost Illusions is worth a read but deserves a better sequel than this. I wanted to like this book but forcing myself through it wouldn't have changed my feelings.

A Wilde recommendation
Unpardonable to misquote, but Oscar's ran something like "The saddest thing that ever happened to me was the death of Lucien de Rubempre".

Some great moments
I must admit it is not as good overall as Lost Illusions, but this book is worth reading. It is like a twisted version of Les Miserables.There are some sublime moments late in the novel. It is a bit slow in parts of the book, but I found it worthwhile.

The Sequelitus-Sore Itches and Burns [ - ] Balzac Prevails
Like many other reviewers here at Amazon, I have a weakness for `Sequelitus.'What is this dreadful affliction, you might ask? Well, it is the compulsion to pursue a good story to its very end - enjoying the source media so much that it is paramount to ones mental comfort to locate and devour all related material.This can often lead to tragic result, for sequels tend, as a rule rather than as an exception, to wear thin the primary quality: the beauty and sweat-inducing power of the original diminished through needless repetition, theme-bastardization and/or the tangible fatigue of that most accursed of artistic predicaments: the necro-stench, the entropy, of author-enervation.Nothing like a terrible case of "twilight of the idols" to put one in a despondent mood! But, in the past few years, I've managed to curtail my tendency towards indiscriminate consumption.No more Wheel of Time for this jaded .com shopper! Get thee gone, foul Star Wars simulacra!

And yet. . . and yet here I am again.After the month-long endeavor of reading - nay, - the delicious disenchantments of Honore de Balzac's *Lost Illusions,* I simply had to have the sequel post-haste.What would be the fate of Lucian Rebempre, *Illusions'* failed poet of increasingly ignoble achievement? Who _was_ the dastardly "priest" that plucked Lucien from the liquid depths of potential-Providence? Would they together storm the snooty ranks of Parisian high society, acquiring a noble rank for Lucien, enacting revenge on all those who had scorned the poet in his previous incarnation as a mudraker and news-shaper?I had to know.So, barely recovered from *Lost Illusions,* I cracked open this penguin edition of *Harlot,* eager for answers, desperate for the final contentment of my shameful sequelitus itch.

Alas, *A Harlot High and Low* does not live up to either the reputation or the narrative force of the previous volume.For although it shares the same techniques that have endeared this French author to my particular literary `taste' - that being a forceful Voice, a sensitive Ear, and an intuitive sense of balancing straight drama with the shamefaced attractions of its "melo"-histrionic cousin - despite these similarities in quality, *Harlot* meanders (like all Balzac) but rarely justifies its long-winded digressions; it simmers with harlot-heat, but the tensions hardly reach that particular boiling-point necessary for a cathartic climax; it is occasionally boring.Worst of all, after a sprightly pick-up of pace and a much-enjoyed battle-of-the-(criminal)-wits climax, the ending crumples in and around itself with desultory result: the other reviewers were right in that it comes within stomping-grounds of far-reaching, ludicrous, unlikely - pick your adjective, it'll do.

In fact, *Harlot* is a flawed progeny in so many respects - at least in the matter of base comparison - that, for insight as to _why_, we must examine the particulars around its construction, rather than take the (oft-correct) blindsight standpoint that pere Honore must have been milking the prime components of his past masterpieces in a vainglorious attempt at renewal. . . or for *money*, that silver-grasping Judas of artistic downfall, another foul-but-certain aspect of sequelitus.No, I believe the "blame" should be assigned elsewhere.Perhaps it is due to the fact that this was written during Balzac's final three years, when the strain of overwork began to catch up with his physical shell: there is certainly something fatigue-ridden and world-weary to be read *between* the lines, and though Balzac masks it well, it is an inescapable impression.Or perhaps the "blame" should be assigned to the translator - Heppenstall readily admits to having difficulties with some of the particulars of the text, and although I'm ignorant with the origin-language and thus cannot check comparatively, there seems something suspect with the balance of digression/progression, usually so keenly integrated in Balzac; it feels as if Heppenstall approached these delicate pace-issues as if he were in an automobile, chugging along, stopping every so often to put more gas in the tank, jump-starting the cranky old girl to get her going again, etc. - a rather grotesque metaphor, I admit.

In the end, I think it's a combination of the above theories along with the pertinent fact that Balzac wanted, initially, to just write a book about a prostitute, adding essential flavor to his social-strata opus: *Harlot* is considered part of _Scenes of Parisian Life_, and you cannot adequately delineate the sub-structures of this Gallic city-society without tackling the more sordid realities of its primal urges.I get the feeling that Balzac introduced Lucien and Vautrin as the twin passion-pillars on which to support his poor Esther, a woman elevated from base brothel squalor to the very highest levels of concubine-existence - and Lucien and Vautrin, inscrutable rascals that they are, came to dominate the story on their own accord.Esther simply could not compete with the satanic vigor of Jacque Collins' varied schemes . . . and in this regard, the novel itself suffers from the lack of clear-sighted predevelopment; not enough harlot for this *Harlot*! And yet Esther's passions are the only tangible _purity_ to be found from cover to cover; she is simple and true, a virgin-white canvas upon which these hypocrites and fools spurt their petty aspirations upon, and subsequently her plight is the only real tragic involvement.

Now, with my grievances expressed (except for one more, but I'll get to that in a moment), don't mistake my overall opinion of this novel - it frustrated me with its unevenness, but it's still a fine read in and of itself, at times entertaining, erudite and educational.I don't regret spending the time to read/absorb all of its insights/inconsistencies.It's just that it cannot compare favorably with its predecessor, and the end - without spoiling anything - is a remarkable cop-out as to the fate of the novel's protagonist.I found out later, by way of the introduction, that this wily scoundrel actually makes his final-incarnation appearance in *Cousin Bette* - AGGH! I burn with the itch: Sequelitus has infected me once again! ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: French literature; Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Literary; Literary Criticism / European / French; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Original Pre Nup
My first Honore de Balzac read, fascinating tale in flamboyant prose rings true in 2009 as it did three hundred years ago. Tale of a mediocre student whose family money allows him a life of indolence and excess.I loved the way he and his fiance offered studied indifference during the financial negotiations of the marriage.His mother-in-law's avarice and need to control and the groom's idiocy are so perfect and so very sad.I wanted the story to go on, a sequel perhaps.I shall read more of de Balzac and perhaps will find one. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Literary; Literary Criticism / European / French; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Bad Kindle formatting
This review is for the Kindle formatting, not for the novel itself.Unfortunately the publisher has decided that the author should be alphabetized on the Kindle by his first name instead of his last name.Most of the Western world prefers to list authors by last name, but this publisher must be trying out something new.

Problems with General Books Edition
The following comments are not about the contents of Balzac's Book " Cousin Bette" or the quality of the translation but rather about the inferiority of the printed copy published by General Books. It appears that this edition is printed on demand with Optical Character Recognition software which is not mentioned on the Amazon website sales page. There are so many typographical errors and mistakes that the story quite often becomes baffling.In the first paragraph of this edition the story begins in 1338 (instead of 1838) and it gets worse from then on. Words are often printed without spaces in between as in "shebecame" or "thoughtsreverted". The revolution of 1830 becomes "the Revolution of 18.30". Egyptian becomes "Eg.yptian"; virginity spells "Virginitrj". I have not found a page yet that had not at least one error.I paid $12.78 for this edition and have now bought another copy of a different editionin a used book store. I am appalled that Amazon would sell a product that is so obviously of inferior quality.

Strong Stuff
Cousin Bette is not one of Balzac's best, but it is very good. The author says it is a companion piece to Cousin Pons, which is a better novel in my view. But both books pale in comparison to Lost Illusions, which I regard as Balzac's best novel -- just ahead of Peré Goriot. The man can truly write and his view of the human comedy is always instructive. He sees the greed and self-absorption that lies at the heart of modern society and is brutally honest. Balzac characterizes himself as a historian rather than a "writer" in the loose sense. He is that. His novels cut to the heart and tear away pretense. They are, indeed, strong stuff.
This edition of the novel is not of the best. It is large and hard to hold! I would buy the penguin edition next time -- which is also a better translation.

tragic, nevertheless human comedy indeed.
Seriously and fatanstically flawed characters---jealousy, lust/addiction, greed, and vengeance--generated and fed by the culture as the significant supporting character and the frailty never stops. A great social commentary and a sad one for our human nature.

that's my boy!
i'm not one hundred percent certain, but i'm pretty sure that this book was written by my grandson! i used to babysit him when he was four, and was the one who gave him his first book to read. so, if you connect the dots, i guess you could say that it's me who is responsible for this book (you gotta read before you can write, right?)! anyway, buy the thing. buy a hundred copies. the boy's got my genes - how can you go wrong? you can't. ... Read more

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"There are the rudiments of the apparatus," he said. Then he connected one of the wooden pipes with the bottom of the flower-pot by way of a clay joint, in such a way that the mouth of the elder stem was just
under the hole of the flower-pot; you might have compared it to a big tobacco-pipe. He spread a bed of clay over the surface of the slab, in a shovel-shaped mass, set down the flower-pot at the wider end of it, and laid the pipe of the elder stem along the portion which represented the handle of the shovel. Next he put a lump of clay at the end of the elder stem and therein planted the other pipe, in an
upright position, forming a second elbow which connected it with the first horizontal pipe in such a manner that the air, or any given fluid in circulation, could flow through this improvised piece of
mechanism from the mouth of the vertical tube, along the intermediate passages, and so into the large empty flower-pot.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.

Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org ... Read more