La Comédie Humaine (English)

One of renowned French author Honore de Balzac's finest works, Pere Goriot provides a fascinating glimpse into Parisian life of the early 19th century. The rich character studies and themes of class, personal ambition, and materiality make this insightful novel as compelling today as when it was first published. At the shabby boarding house in the rue Neuve-Sainte-GeneviEve, petty Madame Vauquer and her tenants wonder at the plight of the aging resident Goriot. Once a well-heeled merchant, Goriot was-at first-afforded special treatment from the Madame. But now something is clearly amiss in his financial affairs, and his increasingly tawdry appearance makes him a subject of ridicule in the household. Some think he lost in the markets, others see him as a lecherous patron of prostitutes, but one thing is clear: his selflessness and complete devotion to his two daughters. As the tragedy of old Goriot is revealed, the shallow values of a society come into scrutiny.

Balzac's universally loved novel explores the great theme of money and its effect on the human character. Old Goriot is a lodger at Madame Vanquer's Parisian boardinghouse. At first, his wealth inspires respect, but as his circumstances are reduced, he is gradually shunned by the others. He moves into smaller and less desirable rooms in the house, and soon his only remaining visitors are two beautiful young women. The mystery as to who they are and what is happening to Goriot's fortune involves several other boarders, including Eugene Rastignac, an ambitious youth who hopes to rise in society. With its complicities and alliances, mysteries and betrayals, passions and ambitions, the house becomes a microcosm of the grasping Parisian society of the 1820s-a perfect setting for Balzac's masterful portrayal of La Comédie Humaine, the whole comedic parade of human life.

In the brutal Prussian winter of 1807, Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte's Grande Armée suffered massive losses to the Russians in the Battle of Eylau. Many thousands died. Young Colonel Chabert falls heroically, his actions having turned the tide of the battle, but he is buried anonymously on the battlefield in a mass grave. Incredibly he is alive but severely injured, and digs himself out. On his eventual return to Paris, he finds his wife, the beautiful and ambitious Rosine, now remarried, his fortune gone. Chabert's relentless, passionate pursuit of justice, supported by the determined young lawyer Derville, is gripping to the last page. This exquisitely written story has it all: love, hatred, treachery, hope and courage.

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare s finesse to Oscar Wilde s wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim s Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library.

Brothers Philippe and Joseph Bridau are completely unlike each other: Philippe, a once courageous soldier and Napoleon's former aide-de-camp, is their mother's favourite, while Joseph, a poor and aspiring artist, is the less favoured of the two. When their mother, Agathe, is reduced to poverty and Philippe amounts gambling debts following unemployment, the family joins together to focus their attentions on Agathe's brother, Jean-Jacques Rouget, the heir of the family fortune. The struggle for his inheritance pits them against Flore Brazier, 'La Rabouilleuse', Jean-Jacques's maid and the apple of his eye, and her lover Maxence Gilet, a crafty rake who manipulates her for his own financial gain. Philippe's greed and selfishness emerge in the aftermath, to the devastation of Agathe, but later prove to be his undoing. Also known as The Black Sheep and The Two Brothers, La Rabouilleuse is one of the Scènes de la vie de province in Balzac's La Comédie humaine.

Acclaimed 19th-century French novelist Honore de Balzac is widely regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. In Cousin Bette, Lisbeth Fischer feels she's been wronged -- though much of what she perceives may only reside in her imagination. Seeking vengeance against the family of her beautiful cousin, Adeline, she leverages the uncontrollable sexual appetites of her cousin's husband as the linchpin of her plans.

Bette, a poor relation of the beautiful Adeline, nurses a terrible grudge against her cousin's family, on whom she depends. That family is slowly being ruined by the uncontrollable sexual appetites of Adeline's husband, Baron Hulot-and it is this weakness that will give the cunning Cousin Bette an opportunity to exact her vengeance. A profound examination of obsessive passion, this masterpiece exemplifies what Henry James described as Balzac's "huge, all-compassing, all-desiring, all-devouring love of reality." One of Balzac's "scenes of Parisian life," Cousin Bette offers a hypnotic vision of the infinitely varied city during the bright, vital, and scandalous era of King Louis-Philippe. The courtesans, swindlers, bankers, artists, murderers, detectives, and saints that pass before us blaze with an unsurpassed vividness and energy.

Lisbeth Fischer has lived in the shadow of her beautiful cousin Adeline for much of her life. Pampered while Lisbeth works in the fields, Adeline makes an enviable leap in status when Baron Hulot offers her his hand in marriage. Out of kindness, they bring Lisbeth to Paris, where she falls in love with the artist Wenceslas, her protégé. However, when she is jilted for Adeline's daughter Hortense, her jealousy and rage exponentially intensify, and she resolves to bring the Hulot family to ruin, employing the cold seductress Valérie Marneffe as her vehicle for revenge. A classic tale of obsession, self-destruction and unabated desire, Cousin Bette is a blazing portrayal of libertine France, and the fatal excesses which drive the novel to its dark end.

"The possession of power, no matter how enormous, does not bring the knowledge how to use it."Raphael, a failed writer, finds himself deep in debt and unrequited in love, so he decides to take a suicidal plunge into the Seine River. Before he can, however, he discovers a magic leather skin in an antiquity shop. Its supernatural powers grant him his every wish, but it extracts a terrible toll! This parable depicts the malaise of nineteenth-century France.