What do you think?
Rate this book
Brief Lives
Brief Lives: Honoré de Balzac
The author of the monumental La Comédie Humaine , Honoré de Balzac was an extraordinarily prolific writer and is regarded as one of the founding fathers of realism. This new biography looks at his remarkable body of work, setting it against his life in 19th-century France and making it an informative and captivating read for anyone with an interest in French literature and history.
- GenresNonfictionBiography
96 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2008
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 20, 2020
A short (as promised by the title) and somewhat interesting account of Balzac's life, which was solid enough but with no bells and whistles.
Although Carter alluded to Balzac's legendary intake of coffee I was surprised that he mentioned no anecdotal number of coffee's that Balzac consumed each day which some say was up to 50 cups, while others say it was only 20. This and other interesting deviations could have enlivened some of the facts that were written. Also, the word 'extant' was annoyingly overused.
Regardless, a solid little book to introduce you to Balzac the man.
Although Carter alluded to Balzac's legendary intake of coffee I was surprised that he mentioned no anecdotal number of coffee's that Balzac consumed each day which some say was up to 50 cups, while others say it was only 20. This and other interesting deviations could have enlivened some of the facts that were written. Also, the word 'extant' was annoyingly overused.
Regardless, a solid little book to introduce you to Balzac the man.
February 4, 2013
A short, straightforward biography of Balzac's life with short observations on his work and his legacy. It is a well executed version of this paradigm, although short biographies themselves can be unsatisfying because you don't get to really feel and know any of the events, and in particular other characters, but you also do not get an interesting new perspective. That said, Balzac's life is interesting enough that it is an enjoyable and worthwhile read.
August 6, 2016
A handy overview. This summary of the author's life was helpful in getting a grasp on his influences and his development as a writer. It was a quick and amusing read, although sometimes I found the dates of events unclear or in a jumbled order. This trouble was minimized by the chronological dated list of major works in the back of the book.
May 29, 2021
Solid and brief overview of Balzac, his work, and his life.
January 22, 2017
I had watched Gerard Depardieu play Honore Balzac in a movie some many years back. It was then that I learned of Balzac's The Human Comedy in which he linked together many of his novels and other works. He was an extremely prolific writer. This short book does an admirable job of telling the story of Balzac. I enjoyed it very much.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews