000			a
999			_c30414 _d30414
008			220106b xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9781681374499
082			_a843.7 _bBRO
100			_aBrooks, Peter
245			_aBalzac's lives
260			_bNew York Review Books, _c2020 _aNew York :
300			_a266 p. ; _c22 cm
365			_b1250.00 _cINR _d00
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_aPeter 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.
650			_aBiography and Memoir
650			_aHistory and archaeology
650			_aLiterary studies and criticism
650			_aInterpretation
650			_aBalzac, Honore de, 1799-1850
650			_aCharacters and characteristics
650			_aNovelists, French
650			_aThe Human Comedy
650			_aSocial nature
942			_2ddc _cBK