 Le Père Goriot ( French pronunciation : ​ [ lə pɛʁ ɡɔʁjo ] , Old Goriot or Father Goriot ) is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac ( 1799 – 1850 ) , included in the Scènes de la vie privée section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine . Set in Paris in 1819 , it follows the intertwined lives of three characters : the elderly doting Goriot ; a mysterious criminal @-@ in @-@ hiding named Vautrin ; and a naive law student named Eugène de Rastignac . 
