Chinese New Curriculum Standard Required Reading Series - Eugénie Grandet

Author: (French) Balzac, translated by Zhang Guanyao
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: The story of "Eugenie Grandet" unfolds within the daily life of a family, without sensational events or any trace of. As the author himself said, it is a "banal tragedy without poison, without daggers, without blood," yet its severity is no less than that of classical tragedies. However, in classical tragedies, everything is ruled by fate; in Balzac's works, everything is ruled by money. The character of Grandet Senior fully embodies the dominating power of money. Grandet is a famous miser in world literature, and his personality traits are as greedy and stingy as Alceste in Molière's works, yet he is far more than just greedy and stingy. Otherwise, no matter how masterfully the character is depicted, it would be difficult to bring much novelty. What matters is that Grandet's character summarizes an entire historical period, and his stinginess is also imbued with specific historical content.