Old Goriot Honoré de Balzac
Old Goriot Honoré de Balzac
The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction, Vol. XIII, Part 1.
Selected by Charles William Eliot
Copyright © 2001 Bartleby.com, Inc.
Bibliographic Record
Contents
The Novel in France Biographical Note Criticisms and Interpretations I. By Arthur Symons II. By G.L. Stratchey III. By Leslie Stephen Paras. 1–99 Paras. 100–199 Paras. 200–299 Paras. 300–399 Paras. 400–499 Paras. 500–599 Paras. 600–699 Paras. 700–799 Paras. 800–899 Paras. 900–999 Paras. 1000–1099 Paras. 1100–1199 Paras. 1200–1299 Paras. 1300–1399
Paras. 1400–1499 Paras. 1500–1599 Paras. 1600–1699 Paras. 1700–1816
The Novel in France
THE FRENCH, not without reason, pride themselves on the skillful technique of their works of fiction. During the whole period of modern French literature, the authors, whether of five and ten volume romances like Mlle. de Scudéry, or of short tales like Alphonse Daudet and Guy de Maupassant, have been conscious literary artists. Moreover, except during the romantic outburst of our first half of the nineteenth century, which produced the exuberant fantasies of persons like Alexandre Dumas the elder, they have usually sought psychological analysis and the presentation of character. This aim has, on the whole, been consistently pursued in both divisions of French fiction, the idealistic and the realistic novels. Works of these two types appear, judging from their names, to move in different planes. But the connection of both kinds with life has been fairly close, and, in the seventeenth century, discussion of popular romances was so much the preoccupation of social circles such as the Hôtel de Rambouillet, that not only did the novelist try to portray characters he saw, but the leisure classes often sought to model their life after the pattern of the fiction they read. At the threshold of the seventeenth century we come upon one of the most important novels ever written in France because of its influence, even if to-day unread except by
The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction, Vol. XIII, Part 1.
Selected by Charles William Eliot
Copyright © 2001 Bartleby.com, Inc.
Bibliographic Record
Contents
The Novel in France Biographical Note Criticisms and Interpretations I. By Arthur Symons II. By G.L. Stratchey III. By Leslie Stephen Paras. 1–99 Paras. 100–199 Paras. 200–299 Paras. 300–399 Paras. 400–499 Paras. 500–599 Paras. 600–699 Paras. 700–799 Paras. 800–899 Paras. 900–999 Paras. 1000–1099 Paras. 1100–1199 Paras. 1200–1299 Paras. 1300–1399
Paras. 1400–1499 Paras. 1500–1599 Paras. 1600–1699 Paras. 1700–1816
The Novel in France
THE FRENCH, not without reason, pride themselves on the skillful technique of their works of fiction. During the whole period of modern French literature, the authors, whether of five and ten volume romances like Mlle. de Scudéry, or of short tales like Alphonse Daudet and Guy de Maupassant, have been conscious literary artists. Moreover, except during the romantic outburst of our first half of the nineteenth century, which produced the exuberant fantasies of persons like Alexandre Dumas the elder, they have usually sought psychological analysis and the presentation of character. This aim has, on the whole, been consistently pursued in both divisions of French fiction, the idealistic and the realistic novels. Works of these two types appear, judging from their names, to move in different planes. But the connection of both kinds with life has been fairly close, and, in the seventeenth century, discussion of popular romances was so much the preoccupation of social circles such as the Hôtel de Rambouillet, that not only did the novelist try to portray characters he saw, but the leisure classes often sought to model their life after the pattern of the fiction they read. At the threshold of the seventeenth century we come upon one of the most important novels ever written in France because of its influence, even if to-day unread except by