A Harlot High and Low: (Splendeurs Et Miseres Des Courtisanes (Human Comedy) - Softcover

Balzac, Honoré De

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140442324 ISBN 13: 9780140442328

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1985

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Balzac was born in 1799, the son of a civil servant. At the age of thirty - heavily in debt and with an unsucessful past behind him - he started work on the first of what were to become a total of ninety novels and short stories that make up The Human Comedy. He died in 1850.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0140442324
• ISBN 13: 9780140442328
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 560