Product Description
Also includes Melmouth Reconciled and Unconscious Comedians. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

BRING ON THE IRONY
In his preface to this book, Balzac makes an interesting observation about 19th century France that seems to be a preoccupation of our century as well. Balzac states that young men who grow up without a significant male role model are destined to have a rough go in life. According to him, most of the tribulations that occur in The Black Sheep stem from the very fact that there was no father to steer the Bridau family.

The main focus of the book is upon two brothers, Philippe and Joseph Bridau, whose father has died, leaving their close to destitute mother to raise them. Phillipe ends up becoming an artist with a pretty dependable income. Joseph serves in Napoleon's army for a while until his final defeat and then, too proud to serve under the new government, becomes an unemployed gambler who steals money from his family only to throw it away at the tables.

You would think that their mother would favor Joseph with more love because he looks out for their family and provides a steady income and is completely devoted to her. She puts all of her love upon Phillipe, the ne'er do well who only sees humanity as a tool to further his own ends. She does this because she sees Joseph's profession as a painter as a waste of time in her practical mind. Real men become soldiers like Phillipe. So what if he's a vice filled man? She idealizes him so much that she can't see his faults.

Balzac is a genius. There really isn't a central character is this work. Everytime you think Balzac has settled upon a particular cast of characters, he exits them and enters a new set to interact with the plot. Constant reinvention. While Joseph is in jail for plotting against the government, Phillipe and his mother have to go rescue his rich uncle, who is being hoodwinked out of his fortune (a fortune, by the way, that the Bridau family is due to inherit) by a manipulating mistress and her lover.

This was a great novel. Not perfect, but great. Balzac is to me the most modern of the 19th century novelists writing in the Victorian age. He is not sentimental like Dickens. He was great at watching families squirming to get at money. Squirming to get money not for survival in most cases, but to attain status. All of the characters in this novel were drawn really well. Very strong. I would recommend any of the Penguin Editions of Balzac if you like this book.

Another superb Balzac's novel
Another occasion to live again an exceptionnal human adventure with Balzac.
A lot of emotion and intelligence ...

A wonderful novel with emotional highs and lows.
As historian and novelist Balzac paints a picture of post Napoleonic France through the eyes of an impoverished family, and the trials of their lives.After a series of emotional hits, Balzac takes the reader through acontest of wits, set amidst a web of intrigue, and a very contorted familytree.The end result is an excellent story with a sophisticated plot whichat times gives too accurate a portrait of the detachment of man. The BlackSheep also contains a short social commentary on New York, which thoughwritten 150 years ago, is still exceptionaly accurate. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Looking for facts in book descriptions and reviews
Let's see if we can balance the 5* rating by X. Chen (20 Aug 07) with the 1* review by C. Maurer (1 May 06). It seems that Maurer was looking at the book description placed by Amazon on the page for the book "Selected Short Stories" (Penguin Classics Paperback ISBN-10: 0140443258) which was actually for a different edition, "Selected Short Stories" (Dual-Language_Contes Choisis_, Dover Paperback ISBN-10: 0486408957). Then it seems that X. Chen saw the review for the Penguin edition which Amazon placed on the page for the Dover edition, and compared the Penguin review with the Dover description andhis copy of the Dover edition. Perhaps Balzac or Shakespeare could have made us enjoy such a case of mistaken identity, but 21st century web sites only provide us with despair of ever finding a reliable fact.

One helpful solution would be for EVERY book description and review to have a subtitle that indicates to what the writer originally referred. Then an effort should be made to place only the relevant descriptions and reviews on their proper pages (rather than automatically stuffing each page with un-helpful pastings). Finally we find, after a decade of "improvements", that it is still next to impossible to find and compare the facts about various editions and translations, abridged or not, when even the "look inside" often sends one to a different edition.

If the web masters can't help us, then it is up to everyone who posts a review to clearly state what edition (and translator or illustrator) they have actually seen, and provide their view of both the original work, as well as comparing translations if they have seen more than one. And as for those who choose to post on the subject of order fulfillment both good and bad, or the weather, their notes might be placedinside the ads for Amazon Prime.

"What makes a good review?

"* Be detailed and specific. What would you have wanted to know before you purchased the product?"

So far, this title has three reviews, and nothing yet about Balzac's stories. And the book description does not tell us which stories are in the Penguin edition. (Isn't it strange that most collections of stories or poems lack a table of contents directly on the Amazon product page?) Since I have not seen either book (why buy when there is no actionable intelligence?), I hope that someone who has will give of their time to tell us. This is what I needed to know before purchasing a lot of misinformation with my time.

No editing error.
I have to put a five star rating to nutralize the other 1-star review. What's wrong with you or with your book, my copy contains exactly what it supposed to contain, including, "The forsaken woman".

Book Description???
I have no quibbles with Balzac or anything the man wrote.

However, contrary to what the "Book Description" says, "The Forsaken Woman" (or "La Femme Abandonee") is not contained within the pages of this collection.

I would not even bother mentioning this except that I was specifically looking for a copy of that particular story. I've loved it since I read in it its original French back in high school. I just now found a copy of it on the Internet for free thanks to Project Gutenberg -- you may want to do the same thing if you're after a particular story or want a nice sampling of all that M. Balzac has to offer.

Note to AMAZON: It would be nice if whoever writes the book descriptions would actually pick up the item in question and, at the very least, take a look at the Table of Contents.
... Read more

Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Introduction by Michael Tilby; Translatoin by James Waring ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Don't Miss Balzac
This is a wonderfully convoluted plot with the insight and delightful prose you would expect of Balzac.A couple of times you wonder if perhaps Balzac changed his mind on the direction of the plot in "mid-stream."But his firm grasp of the characters makes you care about all of them.His novels "wear" well in our time.

Moreover, there is a masculinity about his novels as he gives you the background about the ins and outs of the financial machinations of the characters in a way a Jane Austen, for example, never could.So, you see a well-rounded view of what makes 19th century Paris work (or not).

Lacking the chastening (and socially cleansing) effects of the Prostestant Reformation, there is an amazing dichotomy in the character of the Parisian men: they take some of their obligations (usually the public ones such as providing a dowry for their daughters to allow them to marry well) very seriously while not-so-privately they dart from one expensive mistress to another with no apparent thought for their obligations to their wives or the effects of such financial misadventures upon their families.

Balzac brings home the morally debilitating effects of the dissolute Parisian lifestyle.

Don't miss Balzac!

Worth Reading But LONGISH!
I guess people in the 19th Century had alot of time on their hands to spend reading a long book that goes over the same material again and again.

I read this as a book on tape. The book for me was alittle longish and dull so I doubt I would have been able to read it in its hardcopy form without giving up on it. However, thanks to books on tape, I was able to stick with the book until its end.

Yes, do read the book! Apparently Balzac, poor fellow, was himself a victim to debts and even penury. I read in the bio that he never made much money from his writing.I was sorry to hear that.In this book there are innumerable mentions about the financial plight of his characters----their debts,going into debt, mortgages on houses that can't be paid, borrowing money that can't be repaid, the threat of debtors prison and arrest imminent.So, if you think you have "financial problems" your "problems" will seem miniscule compared with the characters in this book!

Yes, this book is worth reading as long as you are patient and don't get bored too easily. I at first gave it 3 stars but then I felt sorry for Balzac so I raised it up to 4---I suppose a 3.5 would be more a more accurate guage of my opinion about this book.Actually, it is well written.Don't let me dissuade you from giving it a try.You'll find alot in the book to enjoy and you will learn about what life was like in Paris during the first part of the 1800's.The courtesans sounded interesting to me...but don't tell my wife!:o)Email Boland7214@aol.co

Love as a Ponzi Scheme
This was Honoré de Balzac's last great novel. Within a few more years, he would be dead of overwork. His last great scheme -- the marriage with the Polish Countess of his dreams -- finally came off, but poor Eveline Hanska had nothing on her hands but a ruined hulk of a man who had given everything for his art and had little left to give her.

COUSIN BETTE is about "love in all the wrong places," to quote a popular country & western song. Baron Hulot d'Ervy is a former Napoleonic officer who now serves as an official in the Ministry of War. But mostly, he serves Cupid. At the start of the novel, his faithful wife Adeline is besieged by a rival philanderer who tries to make a play for her, even as the Baron is getting dumped by his current mistress Josepha -- who was taken away from him by none other than the Célestin Crevel who is currently besieging his wife.

Two very important things occur that set in motion a diabolical scheme for revenge on the part of a poor old-maid cousin living with the Hulots, one Lisbeth Fischer. She has a protegé in a young Polish count named Wenceslas Steinbock who has shown some talent as a sculptor. Lisbeth has him practically caged up in his studio because she believes that (1) he has talent and (2) he might one day come to like her, though she is by far the older of the two. When Hortense, Baron Hulot's daughter, learns of Steinbock's existence, she becomes intrigued and takes some trouble to locate him, throwing a wrench into Lisbeth's plans when they fall in love with each other.

Enter Valerie Marneffe, Balzac's most accomplished villain. A young housewife married to a complaisant older husband, she makes a play for Hulot, who sets her up as his mistress. But Valerie's ambitions in love are truly Napoleonic: she also snares Crevel, Steinbock, and a returning Brazilian ex-lover of hers called Montes de Montejanos. And probably a couple dozen more unnamed co-conspirators. Living in Valerie's house as her housekeeper, advisor, and mother confessor is none other than Lisbeth Fischer.

When Valerie becomes pregnant, the real fun begins. She brazenly tells each lover that he is the father of the child, and each commits a princely sum for an annuity. (As in most Balzac novels, the trail of the money is fascinating to follow.)

The over-leveraged Hulot is the first to fall. Even before meeting up with Mme Marneffe, he was teetering on the edge of bankrupty. he falls so hard that he has to go into hiding, even from his family. Curiously, Adeline actually manages to make a comeback in a small way, though she is apparently in the beginning stages of Parkinson's Disease.

Marneffe's transgressions are now beginning to be talked about in society, and finally they catch up with her. I don't want to spoil the story for anyone, but suffice it to say that not even Herod had a worse come-uppance than Valerie and her husband.

And Lisbeth Fischer? She, too, is ultimately foiled: First, her desired beau, Field Marshal Hulot, commits suicide; and second, she herself sickens and dies, but without anyone ever discovering her treachery to the family.

I have read COUSIN BETTE twice now, and it only grows better on re-reading. This is one of the handful of Balzac novels that stands at the pinnacle of literary greatness. The novel's vision of the ruin of great families from indiscriminate womanizing is almost cosmic.

V For Virtue
This novel examines the effects of virtue and vice on the involved characters as well as commenting on the temper of the times. Balzac's style can be melodramatic but at his best he is able to put the reader in the scene and reveal the complexities of inter-personal activity. Bette serves a doorway between the upper middle class existence of the Hulot family and the demi-monde of Josepha, Jenny Cadine and Valerie. These two worlds mingle and collide in a Paris which is transiting from Empire to Republic. The structure of the novel can be choppy as Balzac is prone to long dissertations on a variety of subjects, happily, most of which are interesting.There is no moral to this story only a cynical overtone with elements of schadenfreude. There is an appeal to religious sensibilities but it doesn't ring true.I think in later ages Balzac might have developed into a psychologist since he fascinated by the workings of the human mind.

Great to read, actually lots of fun!
Balzac is so much fun!He would be great to invite to dinner.Please read this book - you will enjoy it.The other reviews here go on at great length.Don't worry about it - I guarantee you will be taken aback, shocked and dismayed, but very entertained.

I highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Translated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDownload Description
As Pierrotin issued from the Cafe de l'Echiquier, after treating the valet, he saw in the gate-way of the Lion d'Argent the lady and the young man in whom his perspicacity at once detected customers, for the lady with outstretched neck and anxious face was evidently looking for him. ... Read more

Book Description
"The devil take you!" said Raphael. "How are you to enter into my feelings if I do not relate the facts that insensibly shaped my character, made me timid, and prolonged the period of youthful simplicity? In this manner I cowered under as strict a despotism as a monarch's till I came of age. To depict the tedium of my life, it will be perhaps enough to portray my father to you.Download Description
The devil take you! said Raphael. "How are you to enter into my feelings if I do not relate the facts that insensibly shaped my character, made me timid, and prolonged the period of youthful simplicity? In this manner I cowered under as strict a despotism as a monarch's till I came of age. To depict the tedium of my life, it will be perhaps enough to portray my father to you. ... Read more

Book Description
"Ursula" (original French title "Ursule Mirouet," 1842) forms one part of "Scenes from Provincial Life," a series of novels-whose other major work is "Eugenie Grandet"-examining manners and morals in the French provinces. --- Among all the novels of Honore de Balzac (1799-1850), none depicts so penetratingly the small-mindedness, avarice, and envy of the provincial lower middle classes. In "Ursula", no limitations based on morality or decency will hold these people back in their effort to acquire wealth and influence. --- Along with Stendhal, Balzac is the most important French novelist of the first half of the nineteenth century, and a founder of the realistic novel in Europe. His principal work is the unfinished cycle "The Human Comedy" (French: "La Comedie Humaine," which includes "Scenes from Provincial Life"), in which he attempted, in more than 80 volumes, to depict the society of his time in its entirety.Download Description
Entering Nemours by the road to Paris, we cross the canal du Loing, the steep banks of which serve the double purpose of ramparts to the fields and of picturesque promenades for the inhabitants of that pretty little town. Since 1830 several houses had unfortunately been built on the farther side of the bridge. If this sort of suburb increases, the place will lose its present aspect of graceful originality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unusual (religious) Balzac
I really enjoyed this novel, even though (or because?) Balzac shows himself here from a very religious side, which is usually not his thing. I highly recommend this book to all Balzac fans. ... Read more

Book Description
A New York Review Books Original

One of Honoré de Balzac's most celebrated tales, "The Unknown Masterpiece" is the story of a painter who, depending on one's perspective, is either an abject failure or a transcendental genius—or both. The story, which has served as an inspiration to artists as various as Cézanne, Henry James, Picasso, and New Wave director Jacques Rivette, is, in critic Dore Ashton's words, a "fable of modern art."

Published here in a new translation by poet Richard Howard, "The Unknown Masterpiece" appears, as Balzac intended, with "Gambara," a grotesque and tragic novella about a musician undone by his dreams. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

BORING ARGUMENTS ABOUT ART
The effect of reading the two short works in this book is one of overhearing two snobbish and conceited intellectuals arguing about painting and music in a wanna-be hip cafe. Being that, The Unknown Masterpiece is not only annoying, it's boring. Set in Paris in 1612, a young unproven painter named Nicolas Poussin has come to the city to make a name for himself by studying under the great master Frenhofer. Frenhofer has been holed up in his studio for years working on his great masterwork, a portrait of a woman who he has disturbingly started referring to as his wife. The problem is that he hasn't found a suitable model for him to be able to finish the work. "Gambara", the novella that is also in this book, also concerns an artist that can never quite find the X-factor that would allow him to finish his work. Signor Gambara is a composer of music, whose grand operas come out as random noise to all those that listen, except when he's drunk, then his music turns beautiful, as if he can only communicate his divine music when his conscious mind is gone. A young playboy Count is meanwhile trying to steal Gambara's beautiful wife Marianna.

This book was awful and is a poor example of Balzac's genius. Even for his big fans like me. I don't know why Richard Howard even went to the trouble of translating this. Supposedly "Masterpiece" has had a profound effect on painters like Picasso who identified with the character Frenhofer. So what? It's just the same blithering romantic notion of capturing the unattainable that we've heard for centuries. "Gambara" is even worse. In a normal Balzac work, he would have focused on the characters of the Count and the Gambaras, but here he focuses on chord names and arguments and analyses of operas that I had to literally slog through with my eyes. If these had been longer pieces I would not have finished the book. Steer clear. It's a shame because probably only about 10% of Balzac's novels are available in English so why waste time printing this sub-minor work?

If you want to see Balzac's true genius, check out any of the Penguin editions of his works.

Artists are not gods
Balzac's The Unknown Masterpiece is not about abstract art! It is about the destructive power of obsession for perfection. The artist Frenhofer over-paints and touches-up his masterpiece until it is not recognizable as anything but a mess. Balzac's Gambarra was too wordy but it does have the interesting theme of an artist, totally consumed by his personal vision, and thus not able to recognize the sacrifices and motivations of those around him. He writes an opera about the beginnings of Islam and the sacrifice of a woman for the man she loves. Yet Gambarra can not see this same pattern being played out with his wife and thus his single minded vision destroys his marriage. He is both a genius and a fool. His atonal compositions were 100 years before their time.His inability to empathize and get out of his own visions results in his wife's running off with an Italian count who plots to steal Gambarra's wife after he sees the composer's Achille's heel.I don't think I would recommend these books to anyone but artists.They reveal the artistic feet of clay which we so often overlook.

Great Tales About Artists Struggling To Create Masterpieces
At first glance "The Unknown Masterpiece" and "Gambarra" are dissimilar tales about a painter and a composer. Yet they share in common the main protagonist's struggle to make a masterpiece; the finest painting and opera ever conceived. Unfortunately in "The Unknown Masterpiece" the painter Frenhofer is so dissatisfied with his work that he paints it anew, and it is seen by his friends, with disastrous consequences for all. In "Gambarra" the composer of the same name struggles to finish an opera on the early history of Islam, which he promises will be more glorious than any by Mozart. Such lofty ambitions remain unrealized, leaving the composer impoverished. Without question two of the greatest tales ever written by Balzac, influencing generations of painters, writers and other artists.

The birth of the modern
It's amazing that the author was able to create an essay on 20th century abstract art in 1834.But this story is much more than that.It is a commentary on the parallels between art and human psychology, and the unreality of both... also, a character study, a mystery, an allegorical tale... all within 40 pages.In keeping with its theme, The Unknown Masterpiece is, on the other hand, none of those things.In keeping with its title... at least in this country.

A writer expressing the life of the artist
I dig Balzac telling us about his views of art through the stories of a painter ("The Unknown Masterpiece") and a musician ("Gambara"). You can't go wrong with this one. Terrific translation; I wish I read French well enough to dig the original. ... Read more

Product Description
Translated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDownload Description
Eight days after his ball, the last dying flash of a prosperity of eighteen years now about to be extinguished, Cesar Birotteau watched the passers-by from the windows of his shop, thinking over the expansion of his affairs, and beginning to find them burdensome. Until then all had been simple in his life; he manufactured and sold, or bought to sell again ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Fascinating Anatomy of a Bankruptcy
No one knows more about money problems than Honore de Balzac. He livedmost of his life one step from his creditors: his house in Paris even had aspecial exit for avoiding them. CESAR BIROTTEAU is the story of an honestperfumer who is done in by the smarmy du Tillet, a former employee whom hehad fired for embezzlement, who works in secret to take his revenge.

Birotteau is lured into overextending himself and falls hard. True to hisfascination with money and its epedemiology, Balzac delves into the guts ofthis bankruptcy and shows you all the forces at work to destroy an innocentman.

This time, the innocent man prevails. Thanks to the help ofAnselme Popinot, a brilliant young marketer in love with his daughter,Birotteau is able to pay back every cent, winning honor for himself afterhis life appeared to be all but over.

This is one of Balzac's greatestnovels. Birotteau is an honorable gentleman of the old school, a bit obtuseperhaps, but out of his depth among the wild speculations of the reign ofCharles X. Watching these processes ensnare him is repellingly fascinating-- and Balzac spares us nothing. ... Read more

Book Description
Volume 1 of 2. Honore de Balzac was considered the greatest novelist of France and was the founder of the realistic novel. His novels sought to demonstrated the molding effect of social environmenton the raw material of human personality. His novels have more than 2.000 characters from all phases of contemporary life. In this volume, the reader will find the following works: At the Sign of the Cat and Racket; Ball at Sceaux; The Purse; Madame Firmiani; Pierrette; and Vicar of Tours; A Bachelor's Establishment; and Honorine. Illustrated. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A literary feast
Balzac guided European fiction away from the overriding influence of Walter Scott and the Gothic school, by showing that modern life could be recounted as vividly as Scott recounted his historical tales, and that mystery and intrigue did not need ghosts and crumbling castles for props. Maupassant, Flaubert and Zola were writers of the next generation who were directly influenced by him, and Marcel Proust (that other weaver of a great tapestry) acknowledged his influence.

He is worth reading for pleasure as well as for his influence on European literature.
... Read more

Product Description
Leather Bound luxury International collectors Library - Brown leather cover with gilt design and lettering - silk ribbon page placement ... Read more

Book Description
Philosophical studies. The Musings of an eclectic philosopher on the happiness and unhappiness of married life ... Read more

Book Description
Volume 2 of 2. Honore de Balzac was considered the greatest novelist of France and was the founder of the realistic novel. His novels sought to demonstrated the molding effect of social environmenton the raw material of human personality. His novels have more than 2.000 characters from all phases of contemporary life. In this volume, the reader will find the following works: The Chouans: Ambuscade, Notion of Fouche's, Day Without a Morrow; Passion in the Desert; The Gondreville Mystery: Trials of the Police, Corentin's Revenge, Political Trial in the Time of the Empire; Muse of the Department. Illustrated. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A literary feast
Balzac guided European fiction away from the overriding influence of Walter Scott and the Gothic school, by showing that modern life could be recounted as vividly as Scott recounted his historical tales, and that mystery and intrigue did not need ghosts and crumbling castles for props. Maupassant, Flaubert and Zola were writers of the next generation who were directly influenced by him, and Marcel Proust (that other weaver of a great tapestry) acknowledged his influence.

He is worth reading for pleasure as well as for his influence on European literature.
... Read more

Product Description
On a lovely spring morning in the year 1829 a man of fifty or thereabouts was wending his way on horseback along the mountain road that leads to a large village near the Grande Chartreuse. This village is the market town of a populous canton that lies within the limits of a valley of some considerable length. (Excerpt) ... Read more

Book Description
1887. Balzac is considered to be the greatest name in the post-Revolutionary literature of France. His writings display a profound knowledge of the human heart, with an extraordinary range of knowledge. Contents: Don Juan; Christ in Flanders; In the Time of the Terror; Madame de Dey's Last Reception; A Passion in the Desert; Lost by a Laugh; Gold; Doomed to Live; An Accursed House; The Atheist's Mass; and A Tragedy by the Sea. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. ... Read more