Routledge Balzac (Modern Literatures In Perspective)

This canon of French literature, Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) is also a major European figure in the development of realism. His work is dominated by an inter-related sequence of novels and short stories, La Comedie Humanine, which charts the idiosyncrasies of French society from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the 1840's. Among the most famous of these are Le Pierre Goriot and La Cousine Bette. Iin this study, Dr Tilby concentrates on the main approaches in practice and discusses some of the earliest responses to Balzac's work. His introduction and headnotes set Balzac's work in context. This book will be of interest to students of French language and literature and also to those studying French in combined studies or humanities courses. From the Back Cover Dr Tilby confronts the scale of Balzac's work through a concentration on the many distinctive and far-reaching critical discussions which the genre has attracted. His rigorous commentary provides the context to Balzac's work, offers the reader an accessible approach to often complex critical theories and methodologies, and opens up new perspectives and lines of enquiry. He assesses the way in which the Balzacian novel defies interpretation in terms of any single model or critical ideology, and the essays contained in this collection illustrate clearly the way in which Balzac's Human Comedy is open to the most diverse of critical readings. This fascinating study provides a valuable panorama of the way views of the Balzacian novel have evolved in the 150 years since the author's death and offers a succinct and accessible introduction to many of the most challenging dimensions of critical practice. Balzac will be essential reading for students of nineteenth-century French and European literature.