Balzac's lives / by Peter Brooks.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brooks, Peter, 1938- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850--Characters.

Balzac, Honoré de.

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850--Criticism and interpretation.

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850.

Novelists, French.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

266 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New York Review Books, [2020]

Summary:

"Peter Brooks's Balzac's Lives is a biography like no other, a vivid and searching portrait of the great novelist that is based on a close examination of the extraordinary characters that throng his work. More than anyone, Balzac invented the nineteenth-century novel, with its interwoven plots and diverse and overlapping realities-political, economic, domestic, psychological. Indeed, Oscar Wilde went so far as to say that Balzac invented the nineteenth century! It was, above all, the wonderful, unforgettable, extravagant characters he dreamed up and made flesh-entrepreneurs, bankers, inventors, industrialists, poets, artists, bohemians of both sexes, journalists, aristocrats, politicians, prostitutes-that allowed Balzac to bring to life the dynamic forces of the new era that ushered in our own. Brooks singles out the capitalist Gobseck, the aspiring writer Lucien de Rubempré, the ambitious politician Rastignac, and the gay criminal mastermind Collin, among others, to disclose the secret workings of a great writer's inner world"-- Provided by publisher.

"Peter Brooks's Balzac's Lives is a biography like no other, a vivid and searching portrait of the great novelist that is based on a close examination of the extraordinary characters that throng his work. More than anyone, Balzac invented the nineteenth-century novel, with its interwoven plots and diverse and overlapping realities-political, economic, domestic, psychological. Indeed, Oscar Wilde went so far as to say that Balzac invented the nineteenth century! It was, above all, the wonderful, unforgettable, extravagant characters he dreamed up and made flesh-entrepreneurs, bankers, inventors, industrialists, poets, artists, bohemians of both sexes, journalists, aristocrats, politicians, prostitutes-that allowed Balzac to bring to life the dynamic forces of the new era that ushered in our own. Brooks singles out the capitalist Gobseck, the aspiring writer Lucien de Rubempr�e, the ambitious politician Rastignac, and the gay criminal mastermind Collin, among others, to disclose the secret workings of a great writer's inner world"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Why Balzac?

Eugène de Rastignac

Jean-Esther van Gobseck

Antoinette de Langeais

Raphaël de Valentin

Lucien Chardon de Rubempré

Jacques Collin

Henriette de Mortsauf

Colonel Chabert

Facino Cane

Living in fiction.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Brooks, Peter, 1938- Balzac's lives

ISBN:

9781681374499

1681374498

OCLC:

1112379896

Publisher Number:

99985481834