[Pocket Edition] World Literature Classics Library - Disillusionment

Author: (French) Balzac
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-12-01
Features: The Misfortunes of Young Men is one of Balzac's representative works and is included in Scenes from a Provincial City of The Human Comedy. The novel is set in Paris during the Restoration period and portrays two young provincial figures. One is the ambitious and vain young poet Lucien, who dreams of entering the upper class of Paris through his intelligence and talent, but ultimately ends up ruined and returns to his hometown in disgrace. The other is the simple-minded industrialist David, who is forced to abandon his patents and retreat to the countryside due to the cunning and treacherous merchants. This novel presents a broad picture of the journey from the provinces to Paris after the French Revolution, depicting the characteristic phenomena of the Restoration period, reflecting how the talents of young people are crushed, their dreams are destroyed, and how the temple of literature becomes a place of shameless transactions, turning into a dirty and corrupt hell in a capitalist society where money reigns supreme. Balzac himself called The Misfortunes of Young Men "the foremost work in my writings" and "a full portrayal of our era." The central theme of The Misfortunes of Young Men is the story of the disillusionment of two talented and ambitious young men. The protagonist Lucien is a poet who has some reputation in the provinces. He arrives in Paris full of dreams, but under the influence of the corrupt atmosphere in the Parisian press, he abandons his serious path of creation and becomes a shameless journalist, eventually ruined in partisan struggles and literary battles. His brother-in-law, David de Sechard, is a hardworking inventor who is forced to abandon his patent due to the cunning schemes of his competitors and abandons his ideals of scientific research. The author closely links the experiences of these two young men with the spiritual state of an entire generation of youth and the entire social life, especially the influence of Paris, giving it universal significance. In Balzac's portrayal, 19th-century Paris is like the Sirens in Greek mythology, constantly attracting and destroying young provincials.