Eugenie Grandet

Author: Honoré de Balzac
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-02-02
Features: This selected edition preserves the main plot of the original work, while certain narratives and descriptions have been cut and rewritten to maintain the language style and completeness of the original, highlighting the depiction of typical environments and the portrayal of typical characters. It is hoped that young readers, after reading this, will not only grasp the artistic charm of Balzac's novels but also remember such typical characters as Grandet, Goriot, Charles, and Rastignac. This book selects two representative works from Balzac's critical realism fiction. Eugénie Grandet tells the story of the miser Grandet. This clever cooper, who accumulated a fortune through speculation and calculation, was extremely frugal, causing his wife and daughter to suffer greatly. The families of Grassin and Cruchot vie for the only daughter of Grandet, and the cunning old miser decides to "fish" with his daughter. Grandet's son Charles comes from Paris to join his uncle and soon falls in love with his cousin Eugénie, but is sent to India by Grandet.
The plot of Goriot has two threads: One thread concerns Goriot, a wealthy Parisian banker. Under his nurturing, his elder daughter became a countess and his younger daughter married a banker, each receiving an eight hundred thousand franc dowry. However, soon after, Goriot was kicked out of his daughter's house and lived in poverty in the Varennes apartment. He died a miserable death, with no relatives attending his funeral. The other thread follows Rastignac, a poor provincial student whose family sacrifices to educate him. Yet he succumbs to the allure of the high society's luxurious life and climbs the social ladder through all means.