Product Description

Set in the aftermath of the French Revolution, this was one of Balzac's earliest novels. It tells the story of the Grandet household and of the struggle between Eugenie Grandet and her father, begun when Eugenie falls in love with her penniless cousin Charles.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25045 in Books
• Published on: 1974-02-28
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Synopsis
Set in the aftermath of the French Revolution, this was one of Balzac's earliest novels. It tells the story of the Grandet household and of the struggle between Eugenie Grandet and her father, begun when Eugenie falls in love with her penniless cousin Charles.

About the Author
Balzac was born in 1799, the son of a civil servant. At the age of thirty - heavily in debt and with an unsucessful past behind him - he started work on the first of what were to become a total of ninety novels and short stories that make up The Human Comedy. He died in 1850.

Customer Reviews

Saint Eugenie
"Eugenie Grandet" starts off slowly, with a lot of ponderous scene setting and excessive over-description by Balzac. Nothing much happens for quite a while as the characters of the main protagonists are developed by the author. We meet Grandet, the shrewd miser (who would probably be much admired in todays society), his submissive , long suffering wife and their only child, the saintly Eugenie. The main themes in the story are the conflicts between love and money, worldliness and religion, selfishness and altruism , as Eugenie's love for her cousin causes major fissures within the predictable confines of her small family and the rural community in which she lives. Eugenie bears her suffering and loneliness with stoicism and dignity and Balzac's portrait of her becomes a memorable one as the novel reaches its conclusion.