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Lost illusions

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-18501971
Books, Manuscripts
Handsome would-be poet Lucien Chardon is poor and naïve, 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 Comédie humaine, Balzac's panoramic social and moral history of his times.
Main title:
Lost illusions / Honoré de Balzac ; translated and introduced by Herbert J. Hunt.
Imprint:
Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1971.
Collation:
xx,682 pages ; 19 cm.
Series:
Penguin classics
ISBN:
01404425109780140442519
Dewey class:
843.7AF
Local class:
FICRES
Language:
EnglishFrench
Index terms:
Fiction in French, 1815-1848English texts
BRN:
1129746
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