The Human Comedy [18]
FROM PARISIAN LIFE
Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes: Scenes from a Courtesan's Life: Esther heureuse Esther Happy
A combien l'amour revient aux vieillards What Love Costs an Old Man
Ou menent les mauvais Chemins The End of Evil Ways
La derniere Incarnation de Vautrin Vautrin's Last Avatar
Un Prince de la Boheme A Prince of Bohemia
Un Homme d'affaires A Man of Business
Gaudissart II. Gaudissart II.
Les Comediens sans le savoir The Unconscious Humorists The Unconscious Comedians
Histoire des Treize: The Thirteen: Ferragus Ferragus
La Duchesse de Langeais The Duchesse de Langeais
La Fille aux yeux d'or The Girl with the Golden Eyes
Le Pere Goriot Father Goriot
Grandeur et Decadence de Cesar Birotteau The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau
La Maison Nucingen The Firm of Nucingen
Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan The Secrets of a Princess The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan
Les Employes The Government Clerks Bureaucracy
Sarrasine Sarrasine
Facino Cane Facine Cane
Les Parents Pauvres:--I. Poor Relations:--I. La Cousine Bette Cousin Betty
Les Parents Pauvres:--II. Poor Relations:--II. Le Cousin Pons Cousin Pons
Les Petits Bourgeois The Middle Classes The Lesser Bourgeoise
SCENES DE LA VIE POLITIQUE SCENES FROM POLITICAL LIFE
Une Tenebreuse Affaire The Gondreville Mystery An Historical Mystery
Un Episode sous la Terreur An Episode Under the Terror
L'Envers de l'Histoire Contemporaine: The Seamy Side of History: The Brotherhood of Consolation: Mme. de la Chanterie Madame de la Chanterie
L'Initie Initiated The Initiate
Z. Marcas Z. Marcas
Le Depute d'Arcis The Member for Arcis The Deputy for Arcis
SCENES DE LA VIE MILITAIRE SCENES FROM MILITARY LIFE
Les Chouans The Chouans
Une Passion dans le desert A Passion in the Desert
SCENES DE LA VIE DE CAMPAGNE SCENES FROM COUNTRY LIFE
Le Medecin de Campagne The Country Doctor
Le Cure de Village The Country Parson The Village Rector
Les Paysans The Peasantry Sons of the Soil
ETUDES PHILOSOPHIQUES PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES
La Peau de Chagrin The Magic Skin
La Recherche de l'Absolu The Quest of the Absolute The Alkahest
Jesus-Christ en Flandre Christ in Flanders
Melmoth reconcilie Melmoth Reconciled
Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu The Unknown Masterpiece The Hidden Masterpiece
L'Enfant Maudit The Hated Son
Gambara Gambara
Massimilla Doni Massimilla Doni
Les Marana The Maranas Juana
Adieu Farewell
Le Requisitionnaire The Conscript The Recruit
El Verdugo El Verdugo
Un Drame au bord de la mer A Seaside Tragedy A Drama on the Seashore
L'Auberge rouge The Red Inn
L'Elixir de longue vie The Elixir of Life
Maitre Cornelius Maitre Cornelius
Sur Catherine de Medicis: About Catherine de' Medici Le Martyr calviniste The Calvinist Martyr
La Confidence des Ruggieri The Ruggieri's Secret
Les Deux Reves The Two Dreams
Louis Lambert Louis Lambert
Les Proscrits The Exiles
Seraphita Seraphita
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION
In giving the general title of "The Human Comedy" to a work begun nearly thirteen years since, it is necessary to explain its motive, to relate its origin, and briefly sketch its plan, while endeavoring to speak of these matters as though I had no personal interest in them. This is not so difficult as the public might imagine. Few works conduce to much vanity; much labor conduces to great diffidence. This observation accounts for the study of their own works made by Corneille, Moliere, and other great writers; if it is impossible to equal them in their fine conceptions, we may try to imitate them in this feeling.
The idea of /The Human Comedy/ was at first as a dream to me, one of those impossible projects which we caress and then let fly; a chimera that gives us a glimpse of its smiling woman's face, and forthwith spreads its wings and returns to a heavenly realm of phantasy. But this chimera, like many another, has become a
Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes: Scenes from a Courtesan's Life: Esther heureuse Esther Happy
A combien l'amour revient aux vieillards What Love Costs an Old Man
Ou menent les mauvais Chemins The End of Evil Ways
La derniere Incarnation de Vautrin Vautrin's Last Avatar
Un Prince de la Boheme A Prince of Bohemia
Un Homme d'affaires A Man of Business
Gaudissart II. Gaudissart II.
Les Comediens sans le savoir The Unconscious Humorists The Unconscious Comedians
Histoire des Treize: The Thirteen: Ferragus Ferragus
La Duchesse de Langeais The Duchesse de Langeais
La Fille aux yeux d'or The Girl with the Golden Eyes
Le Pere Goriot Father Goriot
Grandeur et Decadence de Cesar Birotteau The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau
La Maison Nucingen The Firm of Nucingen
Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan The Secrets of a Princess The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan
Les Employes The Government Clerks Bureaucracy
Sarrasine Sarrasine
Facino Cane Facine Cane
Les Parents Pauvres:--I. Poor Relations:--I. La Cousine Bette Cousin Betty
Les Parents Pauvres:--II. Poor Relations:--II. Le Cousin Pons Cousin Pons
Les Petits Bourgeois The Middle Classes The Lesser Bourgeoise
SCENES DE LA VIE POLITIQUE SCENES FROM POLITICAL LIFE
Une Tenebreuse Affaire The Gondreville Mystery An Historical Mystery
Un Episode sous la Terreur An Episode Under the Terror
L'Envers de l'Histoire Contemporaine: The Seamy Side of History: The Brotherhood of Consolation: Mme. de la Chanterie Madame de la Chanterie
L'Initie Initiated The Initiate
Z. Marcas Z. Marcas
Le Depute d'Arcis The Member for Arcis The Deputy for Arcis
SCENES DE LA VIE MILITAIRE SCENES FROM MILITARY LIFE
Les Chouans The Chouans
Une Passion dans le desert A Passion in the Desert
SCENES DE LA VIE DE CAMPAGNE SCENES FROM COUNTRY LIFE
Le Medecin de Campagne The Country Doctor
Le Cure de Village The Country Parson The Village Rector
Les Paysans The Peasantry Sons of the Soil
ETUDES PHILOSOPHIQUES PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES
La Peau de Chagrin The Magic Skin
La Recherche de l'Absolu The Quest of the Absolute The Alkahest
Jesus-Christ en Flandre Christ in Flanders
Melmoth reconcilie Melmoth Reconciled
Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu The Unknown Masterpiece The Hidden Masterpiece
L'Enfant Maudit The Hated Son
Gambara Gambara
Massimilla Doni Massimilla Doni
Les Marana The Maranas Juana
Adieu Farewell
Le Requisitionnaire The Conscript The Recruit
El Verdugo El Verdugo
Un Drame au bord de la mer A Seaside Tragedy A Drama on the Seashore
L'Auberge rouge The Red Inn
L'Elixir de longue vie The Elixir of Life
Maitre Cornelius Maitre Cornelius
Sur Catherine de Medicis: About Catherine de' Medici Le Martyr calviniste The Calvinist Martyr
La Confidence des Ruggieri The Ruggieri's Secret
Les Deux Reves The Two Dreams
Louis Lambert Louis Lambert
Les Proscrits The Exiles
Seraphita Seraphita
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION
In giving the general title of "The Human Comedy" to a work begun nearly thirteen years since, it is necessary to explain its motive, to relate its origin, and briefly sketch its plan, while endeavoring to speak of these matters as though I had no personal interest in them. This is not so difficult as the public might imagine. Few works conduce to much vanity; much labor conduces to great diffidence. This observation accounts for the study of their own works made by Corneille, Moliere, and other great writers; if it is impossible to equal them in their fine conceptions, we may try to imitate them in this feeling.
The idea of /The Human Comedy/ was at first as a dream to me, one of those impossible projects which we caress and then let fly; a chimera that gives us a glimpse of its smiling woman's face, and forthwith spreads its wings and returns to a heavenly realm of phantasy. But this chimera, like many another, has become a