A provincial poet is chewed up and corrupted by the literary and financial worlds of Paris. One of the central novels of Balzac's Human Comedy.
Books mentioned in Lost Illusions (20)
Waverley by Walter Scott: “And Lousteau, on his side, was privately receiving five hundred francs of purchase-money, under the name of commission, from Fendant and Cavalier for introducing the future Sir Walter Scott to two enterprising tradesmen in search of a French Author of "Waverley."”
Smarra by Charles Nodier: “…charge charitably allowed a poor student to pursue his course of free studies; and in this way a duodecimo volume of some two hundred pages, such as _Smarra_ or _Pierre Schlemihl_, or _Jean Sbogar_ or _Jocko_, might be devoured in a couple of afternoons.”
Peter Schlemihl by Adelbert von Chamisso: “a duodecimo volume of some two hundred pages, such as _Smarra_ or _Pierre Schlemihl_, or _Jean Sbogar_ or _Jocko_, might be devoured in a couple of afternoons”
Jean Sbogar by Charles Nodier: “…to pursue his course of free studies; and in this way a duodecimo volume of some two hundred pages, such as _Smarra_ or _Pierre Schlemihl_, or _Jean Sbogar_ or _Jocko_, might be devoured in a couple of afternoons.”
Jocko: “…course of free studies; and in this way a duodecimo volume of some two hundred pages, such as _Smarra_ or _Pierre Schlemihl_, or _Jean Sbogar_ or _Jocko_, might be devoured in a couple of afternoons.”
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: “…Camille, the Delia of Tibullus, Ariosto's Angelica, Dante's Francesca, Moliere's Alceste, Beaumarchais' Figaro, Scott's Rebecca the Jewess, the Don Quixote of Cervantes,--do we not owe these deathless creations to immortal throes?"”
Paradise Lost by John Milton: “There is a whole poem yet to be written, a first part of _Paradise Lost_; Milton's poem is only the apology for the revolt."”
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli: “Machiavelli wrote _The Prince_ at night, and by day was a common working-man like any one else; and more than all, the great Cervantes, who lost an arm at the battle of Lepanto, and helped to win that famous day, was called a 'base-born, handless dotard' by the scribblers of his day; there was an…”
Le Solitaire by Vicomte d'Arlincourt: “LE SOLITAIRE, by M. le Vicomte d'Arlincourt. Third edition. LEONIDE, by Victor Ducange; five volumes 12mo, printed on fine paper.”
Inductions Morales by Auguste-Hilarion de Kératry: “LEONIDE, by Victor Ducange; five volumes 12mo, printed on fine paper. 12 francs. INDUCTIONS MORALES, by Keratry.”
La Maison en Loterie by Louis-Benoît Picard: “Have you seen Rigaudin in Picard's _La Maison en Loterie_?”
Phèdre by Jean Racine: “The Jews have monopolized the gold of the world; they compose _Robert the Devil_, act _Phedre_, sing _William Tell_, give commissions for pictures and build palaces, write _Reisebilder_ and wonderful verse; they are more powerful than ever, their religion is accepted, they have lent money to the Holy Father himself!”
Reisebilder by Heinrich Heine: “The Jews have monopolized the gold of the world; they compose _Robert the Devil_, act _Phedre_, sing _William Tell_, give commissions for pictures and build palaces, write _Reisebilder_ and wonderful verse; they are more powerful than ever, their religion is accepted, they have lent money to the Holy Father himself!”
Néère by André Chénier: “And David read, as a poet can read, first Andre de Chenier's Idyll _Neere_, then _Le Malade_, following on with the Elegy on a Suicide, another elegy in the classic taste, and the last two _Iambes_.”
Le Malade by André Chénier: “And David read, as a poet can read, first Andre de Chenier's Idyll _Neere_, then _Le Malade_, following on with the Elegy on a Suicide, another elegy in the classic taste, and the last two _Iambes_.”
Bertram by Charles Robert Maturin: “The curtain was just about to fall on a good old-fashioned melodrama entitled _Bertram_, a play adapted from a tragedy by Maturin which Charles Nodier, together with Byron and Sir Walter Scott, held in the highest esteem, though the play was a failure on the stage in Paris.”
Léonide by Victor Ducange: “LE SOLITAIRE, by M. le Vicomte d'Arlincourt. Third edition. LEONIDE, by Victor Ducange; five volumes 12mo, printed on fine paper.”
The Wandering Jew by Eugene Sue: “Sechard sorted all the remnants of paper which she found, and printed old popular legends in double columns upon a single sheet, such as peasants paste on their walls, the histories of _The Wandering Jew_, _Robert the Devil_, _La Belle Maguelonne_ and sundry miracles.”
Robert the Devil: “Sechard sorted all the remnants of paper which she found, and printed old popular legends in double columns upon a single sheet, such as peasants paste on their walls, the histories of _The Wandering Jew_, _Robert the Devil_, _La Belle Maguelonne_ and sundry miracles.”
La Belle Maguelonne: “Sechard sorted all the remnants of paper which she found, and printed old popular legends in double columns upon a single sheet, such as peasants paste on their walls, the histories of _The Wandering Jew_, _Robert the Devil_, _La Belle Maguelonne_ and sundry miracles.”