02046cam a2200253 i 4500 on1112379896 OCoLC ta 210218s2020 nyu b 001 0 eng 9781681374499 (pbk.) 1681374498 (pbk.) (OCoLC)1112379896 PQ2184.C5 B76 2020 Brooks, Peter, 1938- Balzac's lives / by Peter Brooks. New York : New York Review Books, [2020] 266 p. Includes bibliographical references and index. Why Balzac? -- Eugène de Rastignac -- Jean-Esther van Gobseck -- Antoinette de Langeais -- Raphaël de Valentin -- Lucien Chardon de Rubempré -- Jacques Collin -- Henriette de Mortsauf -- Colonel Chabert -- Marco Facino Cane and Friend -- Living in fictional lives. "Peter 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"-- Balzac, Honore de, 1799-1850. Characters. Balzac, Honore de, 1799-1850 Criticism and interpretation. lcc BK 0 0 0 0 PNLIB PNLIB GEN 2021-06-17 PQ2184.C5 B76 2020 PNLIB21060785 2021-06-17 2021-06-17 BK 971 971