[Pocket Edition] World Classics Library - Eugénie Grandet

Author: (French) Balzac, translated by Lin Yiming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: "Eugenie Grandet" is one of the "most outstanding sketches" in the series "La Comédie Humaine" by the outstanding French critical realist writer Balzac. The novel depicts how a greedy and miserly nouveau riche from provincial Paris in the early 19th century ruins the happiness of his daughter's entire life, creating the character of the money-obsessed, heartless miser, Grandet, in the gallery of world literary figures. It reveals the bloody rise of the bourgeoisie and the social vices and moral degradation brought about by money worship. The novel integrates psychological analysis, customs depiction, detailed portrayal, character development, and philosophical discourse, achieving remarkable artistic success and marking a leap in Balzac's novelistic creation in both thought and art. It is one of the 201 translated world classics recommended for Chinese readers by "The Great Dictionary of Chinese Reading." It is included in the reading list "A Lifetime of Reading" compiled by the American cultural figure F. R. Leavis. He is a meticulous historian of his time's society. No one is better than Balzac at helping us better understand the transition from the old regime to the new in terms of shaping characters and depth. No one can match Balzac in this regard. — (French) France
Money is his most proud theme. He created an epic of money and trade. — (American) Taine
"Eugenie Grandet" is one of the "most outstanding sketches" in the series "La Comédie Humaine" by the outstanding French critical realist writer Balzac. The novel depicts how a greedy and miserly nouveau riche from provincial Paris in the early 19th century ruins the happiness of his daughter's entire life, creating the character of the money-obsessed, heartless miser, Grandet, in the gallery of world literary figures. It reveals the bloody rise of the bourgeoisie and the social vices and moral degradation brought about by money worship. The novel integrates psychological analysis, customs depiction, detailed portrayal, character development, and philosophical discourse, achieving remarkable artistic success and marking a leap in Balzac's novelistic creation in both thought and art.