The Cambridge Companion to Balzac

Leading specialists shed new light on key narrative and thematic features of the writings of Honoré de Balzac.

Owen Heathcote (Edited by), Andrew Watts (Edited by)

9781107066472, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 February 2017

246 pages, 4 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.6 cm, 0.47 kg

One of the founders of literary realism and the serial novel, Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was a prolific writer who produced more than a hundred novels, plays and short stories during his career. With its dramatic plots and memorable characters, Balzac's fiction has enthralled generations of readers. 'La Comédie humaine', the vast collection of works in which he strove to document every aspect of nineteenth-century French society, has influenced writers from Flaubert, Zola and Proust to Dostoevsky and Oscar Wilde. This Companion provides a critical reappraisal of Balzac, combining studies of his major novels with guidance on the key narrative and thematic features of his writing. Twelve chapters by world-leading specialists encompass a wide spectrum of topics such as the representation of history, philosophy and religion, the plight of the struggling artist, gender and sexuality, and Balzac's depiction of the creative process itself.

Balzac's work: an overview of 'La Comédie humaine'
Introduction Andrew Watts
1. Balzac: a portrait of the novelist as social historian and scientist Elisabeth Gerwin
2. Balzac's early works Michael Tilby
3. Balzac's correspondence Ewa Szypula
4. Fantasy and reality in La Peau de chagrin David F. Bell
5. Balzac, money and the pursuit of power Allan H. Pasco
6. Le Père Goriot: arrivisme and the Parisian morality tale Armine Kotin Mortimer
7. Illusions perdues: writers, artists and the reflexive novel Sotirios Paraschas
8. Balzac, gender and sexuality: La Cousine Bette Dorothy Kelly
9. Space, religion and politics in the Scènes de la vie de campagne Owen Heathcote
10. Balzac's shorter fiction Tim Farrant
11. Adapting Balzac Andrew Watts
12. Balzac's legacy Scott Lee
Epilogues: Dual Balzac Chantal Chawaf
Living Balzac Éric Jourdan
Guide to further reading.

Subject Areas: Literary companions, book reviews & guides [DSRC], Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]