Honoré de Balzac: The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans. Printed book.

Honoré de Balzac is the greatest representative of critical realism in Western European literature. "Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans" is one of the most famous novels in the "Human Comedy" cycle, dedicated to the secret side of life in high Parisian society. How seductive and treacherous are the mores of Parisian high society, and how cruel and merciless are its laws! The novel offers a mercilessly realistic portrait of Paris on the eve of the July Revolution of 1830, with its brilliant balls and filthy, dimly lit wretched backstreets, society beauties and fallen women, moneylenders and ambitious young men, aristocrats, bankers, policemen, and convicts. In this city, everything is for sale, even love and virtue, and the morality of those dubbed the cream of society differs little from the customs of the criminal underworld.
A multitude of destinies, woven by intrigue, a thirst for fame, love, and betrayal into a tight knot that can only be cut by the tragic deaths of the beautiful courtesan Esther and Lucien de Rubempré — the novel's main protagonists.

Author: Honoré de Balzac 

Translation: Nina Yakovleva

Pages: 608 (newsprint). Paperback

Dimensions: 179x114x24 mm

Series: Azbooka-Classics