Ha-ha! Thanks, Ken. Balzac’s got very big shoes. BTW, you got an email on this because you are “following” me. If you don’t want to get them, just unfollow me. See you on the courts one of these days soon, I hope.
Remarkable spotlight dear Tom… “The Human Comedy’ was certainly a colossal attempt… I guess that Balzac writes as a russian writer, those minimalistic approaches… He reminds me of both Tolstoi and Chejov.
I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you are right. Balzac’s opus is as large a canvas as those big novels by Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. As a whole, the Human Comedy captures as many strata of society as those great writers do. Thanks for the insight, Aquileana. Have a great weekend.
Père Goriot is my favorite Balzac! And one of my favorite books of all time. It was the first Balzac I read and started me on a mission to read the entire Human Comedy. Counting the novellas and the short stories there are nearly one hundred items in the Human Comedy. Then I had to read the plays, Droll Tales and any of his early pot-boilers I could find, lol. La Comedie Humaine blog here at WordPress is a good resource and fun to browse. There are several sets of illustrations for Père Goriot.
Wow! Thanks for the links. How cool that there’s a blog just about the Human Comedy. My next book of his will be Lost Illusions, but I’m afraid it will be a while before I get to it. Too many books to read. Thank you for reading and commenting.
You’re welcome. We try to spread the word. More stuff is still being added, but it’s already a pretty good resource.
Make a note to read Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life after Lost Illustions. The action in Scenes picks up immediately after the end of Lost Illusions and continues Lucien’s story.
Thank you, I will. By the way, I had to laugh at your avatar name. Very appropriate if Père Goriot is your favorite book.
LOL, thanks. That is exactly where it came from. I think non-Balzac readers sometimes get the idea that it might be a business account, lol.
As ever you are always reminding me I have good books that I need to get around to. This pleases Ste greatly.