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Balzac graham robb5/10/2023 His notoriety was secured (but never his loans), and La ComÇdie humaine later materialized as the unfinishable project of his life: an enormous fresco of his epoch's every aspect, from Paris to the provinces, through the spheres of finance, politics, journalism, and law. His first successes, after failed ventures in publishing and printing, were a historical novel and a smartly cynical marital guide derived from his gutter journalism. Robb, a scholar of 19th-century French literature, lucidly addresses Balzac's less impressive early literary attempts at classical tragedy and gothic and sentimental novels. Born to an eccentric, self-made peasant father and a much younger petty bourgeoise mother, HonorÇ de Balzac is credited with developing Realism in the French novel, epitomized in La ComÇdie humaine, which is comprised of over 100 works and some 2,000 characters. Illuminating Balzac more successfully through examining his work than his era, Robb attempts to unravel the novelist's prolific, debt-driven career, his disorderly pursuit of fame and love, and his instinct for financial trouble.
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