{"title":"Honoré de Balzac","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore the intricate social tapestries and vivid characters crafted by Honoré de Balzac, a master of French literature. His works, such as \u003cem\u003ePère Goriot\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/em\u003e, delve into the complex interplay of ambition, love, and society's shifting values during the 19th century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBalzac's narratives offer rich insights into human nature and the era's cultural landscape, making his novels essential reading for enthusiasts of \u003cstrong\u003eGeneral Fiction\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eArts \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/strong\u003e. His skillful storytelling brings to life both grand dramas and subtle nuances within French society.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-atheists-mass-by-honore-de-balzac-9780141397429","title":"The Atheist's Mass","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Atheist's Mass\u003c\/em\u003e is part of the Little Black Classics series, launched to celebrate Penguin's 80th anniversary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is as much a mystery as the Immaculate Conception, which of itself must make a doctor an unbeliever.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe enigmatic tale unfolds in true Balzacian style, exploring the dichotomy between faith and scepticism, belief and science, through the eyes of a doctor contrasting theological mysteries with medical knowledge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46240068763884,"sku":"9780141397429","price":9.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780141397429.jpg?v=1741225245"},{"product_id":"cousin-bette-by-honore-de-balzac-9780140441604","title":"Cousin Bette","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Envy remained hidden in her heart, like a plague germ which may come to life and devastate a city.'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePoor, plain spinster Bette is compelled to survive on the condescending patronage of her socially superior relatives in Paris—her beautiful, saintly cousin Adeline, the philandering Baron Hulot, and their daughter Hortense. Already deeply resentful of their wealth, when Bette learns that the man she is in love with plans to marry Hortense, she becomes consumed by the desire to exact her revenge and dedicates herself to the destruction of the Hulot family, plotting their ruin with patient, silent malice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCousin Bette\u003c\/em\u003e is a gripping tale of violent jealousy, sexual passion, and treachery, and a brilliant portrayal of the grasping, bourgeois society of 1840s Paris. The culmination of \u003cem\u003eLa Comédie humaine\u003c\/em\u003e, Balzac's epic chronicle of his times, it is one of his greatest triumphs as a novelist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46491938324716,"sku":"9780140441604","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/27303813482237.jpg?v=1748412793"},{"product_id":"lost-illusions-by-herbert-hunt-9780140442519","title":"Lost Illusions","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHandsome 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 of Paris.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/em\u003e is one of the greatest novels in the rich procession of the Comedie humaine, Balzac's panoramic social and moral history of his times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46495162269932,"sku":"9780140442519","price":32.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/3fa619395387883251aaa2f5aa75f416.jpg?v=1794534835"},{"product_id":"old-man-goriot-by-honore-de-balzac-9780140449723","title":"Old Man Goriot","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMonsieur Goriot is one of a disparate group of lodgers at Madame Vauquer's dingy Parisian boarding house. At first, his wealth inspires respect, but as his circumstances are mysteriously reduced, he becomes shunned by those around him. Soon, his only remaining visitors are his two beautifully dressed daughters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGoriot's fate is intertwined with two other fellow boarders—the young social climber, Eugene Rastignac, who sees a way to gain the acceptance and wealth he craves, and the enigmatic figure of Vautrin, who is hiding darker secrets than anyone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWeaving a compelling and panoramic story of love, money, self-sacrifice, corruption, greed, and ambition, \u003cem\u003eOld Man Goriot\u003c\/em\u003e is Balzac's acknowledged masterpiece. A key novel in his \u003cem\u003eComédie Humaine\u003c\/em\u003e series, it is a vividly realized portrait of bourgeois Parisian society in the years following the French Revolution.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House Distribution","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46495348556012,"sku":"9780140449723","price":19.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/27385003482237.jpg?v=1748473875"},{"product_id":"ursule-mirouet-by-honore-de-balzac-9780141396705","title":"Ursule Mirouet","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA remarkably powerful yet simple tale of the struggle and triumph of innocence reviled, which Balzac considered his \u003cem\u003eremarkable tour de force\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1842, eight years before his death, Balzac described \u003cem\u003eUrsule Mirouet\u003c\/em\u003e as the masterpiece of all the studies of human society that he had written; he regarded the book as \u003cem\u003ea remarkable tour de force\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn essentially simple tale about the struggle and triumph of innocence reviled, \u003cem\u003eUrsule Mirouet\u003c\/em\u003e is characterized by that wealth of penetrating observation so readily associated with Balzac's work. The twin themes of redemption and rebirth are illuminated by a consistently passionate rejection of both philosophic and practical materialism in favour of love. In this case, love is aided by supernatural intervention, which itself effectively illustrates Balzac's life-long fascination with the occult.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46556693364972,"sku":"9780141396705","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/8769033482238.jpg?v=1750164128"},{"product_id":"selected-short-stories-by-honore-de-balzac-9780140443257","title":"Selected Short Stories","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also an accomplished writer of shorter fiction. This volume includes twelve of his finest short stories, many of which feature characters from his epic series of novels, the \u003cem\u003eComédie Humaine\u003c\/em\u003e. Compelling tales of acute social and psychological insight, they fully demonstrate the mastery of suspense and revelation that were the hallmarks of Balzac's genius.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Atheist's Mass\u003c\/em\u003e, we learn the true reason for a distinguished atheist surgeon's attendance at religious services; \u003cem\u003eLa Grande Bretèche\u003c\/em\u003e describes the horrific truth behind the locked doors of a decaying country mansion, while \u003cem\u003eThe Red Inn\u003c\/em\u003e relates a brutal tale of murder and betrayal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA fascinating counterpoint to the renowned novels, all the stories collected in \u003cem\u003eSelected Short Stories\u003c\/em\u003e stand by themselves as mesmerizing works by one of the finest writers of nineteenth-century France.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46671365177580,"sku":"9780140443257","price":32.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/27320343482237.jpg?v=1752814453"},{"product_id":"lost-illusions-by-honore-de-balzac-9781517905439","title":"Lost Illusions","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA new annotated translation of the keystone of Balzac's \u003ci\u003eComedie Humaine\u003c\/i\u003e—a sweeping narrative of corrupted idealism in a cynical urban milieu.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/i\u003e is an essential text within Balzac's \u003ci\u003eComedie Humaine\u003c\/i\u003e, his sprawling, interconnected fictional portrait of French society in the 1820s and 1830s comprising nearly one hundred novels and short stories. This novel, published in three parts between 1837 and 1843, tells the story of Lucien de Rubempre, a talented young poet who leaves behind a scandalous provincial life for the shallow, corrupt, and cynical vortex of modernity that was nineteenth-century Paris—where his artistic idealism slowly dissipates until he eventually decides to return home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBalzac poured many of his thematic preoccupations and narrative elaborations into \u003ci\u003eLost Illusions\u003c\/i\u003e, from the contrast between life in the provinces and the all-consuming world of Paris to the idealism of poets, the commodification of art, the crushing burden of poverty and debt, and the triumphant cynicism of hack journalists and social climbers. The novel teems with characters, incidents, and settings, though perhaps none so vivid as its panoramic and despairing view of Paris as the nexus of modernity's cultural, social, and moral infection. For Balzac, no institution better illustrates the new reality than Parisian journalism: \"amoral, hypocritical, brazen, dishonest, and murderous,\" he writes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this new translation, Raymond N. MacKenzie brilliantly captures the tone of Balzac's incomparable prose—a style that is alternatingly impassioned, overheated, angry, moving, tender, wistful, digressive, chatty, intrusive, and hectoring. His informative annotations guide the modern reader through the labyrinth of Balzac's allusions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"NewSouth Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46712243912940,"sku":"9781517905439","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11819273482728.jpg?v=1754288523"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/honore-de-balzac.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}