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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... Read Full Overview

"Balzac was the master unequalled in the art of painting humanity as it exists in modern society," wrote George Sand. "He searched and dared everything." Written between 1837 and 1843, Lost Illusions reveals, perhaps better than any other of Balzac's ninety-two novels, the nature... Read Full Overview

A new annotated translation of the keystone of Balzac's Com die Humaine--a sweeping narrative of corrupted idealism in a cynical urban milieu

Lost Illusions is an essential text within Balzac's Com die Humaine, his sprawling, interconnected... Read Full Overview

In the glittering salons of Paris, ambition comes at a terrible price.

Lucien de Rubempré is a beautiful, talented young poet from the provinces with dreams of literary glory. Arriving in Paris with nothing but his genius and his illusions, he enters a world where... Read Full Overview

Handsome would-be poet Lucien Chardon is poor and na ve, 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... Read Full Overview

This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since the original versions are generally quite old, there may... Read Full Overview

Illusions perdues , l'un des plus longs romans de La Comédie humaine d' Honoré de Balzac , a été publié en trois parties entre 1837 et 1843 : Les Deux Poètes, Un grand homme de province à Paris et Les Souffrances de l'inventeur. Dédié à Victor Hugo, ce texte fait partie du vaste... Read Full Overview

The longest, without exception, of Balzac's books, and one which contains hardly any passage that is not very nearly of his best, Illusions Perdues suffers, I think, a little in point of composition from the mixture of the Angouleme scenes of its first and third parts with the... Read Full Overview

Honor de Balzac's masterful portrait of ambition, corruption, literary culture, and social ambition stands among the defining novels of nineteenth-century French literature. In Lost Illusions, Balzac traces the rise and disillusionment of the young poet Lucien... Read Full Overview

&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LI&&RLost Illusions&&L/I&&R, by &&LB&&RHonore de Balzac&&L/B&&R, is part of the &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R&&LI&&R &&L/I&&Rseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship,... Read Full Overview

In "Lost Illusions," Honor de Balzac presents an intricate tapestry of 19th-century French society through the poignant story of Lucien Chardon, a young poet who grapples with his ambitions amidst the harsh realities of Parisian life. This novel, a crucial part of Balzac's larger... Read Full Overview