 In 1843 Balzac placed Le Père Goriot in the section of La Comédie humaine entitled " Scènes de la vie parisienne " ( " Scenes of life in Paris " ) . Quickly thereafter , he reclassified it – due to its intense focus on the private lives of its characters – as one of the " Scènes de la vie privée " ( " Scenes of private life " ) . These categories and the novels in them were his attempt to create a body of work " depicting all society , sketching it in the immensity of its turmoil " . Although he had prepared only a small predecessor for La Comédie humaine , entitled Études de Mœurs , at this time , Balzac carefully considered each work 's place in the project and frequently rearranged its structure . 
