Father Goriot, Ursule Mirouët, and other stories (Novels of Balzac, Centenary Edition)

Philadelphia: Gebbie Publishing Co., 1899. Hardcover. Gray linen over boards, spine faded to a handsome beige. Crimson leather title band with gold lettering and border design; gilded top edge. Frontis and eight B&W plates. Very Good+ book / no jacket. No markings. Spine ends bumped. Not from a library. Very handsome on the shelf. Two volumes in one. Contents: Volume 1: Preface; Father Goriot; M. Gobseck. Volume II: Preface; Ursele Mirouet; Madame Firmiani; A Forsaken Woman; The Imaginary Mistress. xiv + 372 + xiv + 386 pages.

Father Goriot is a vividly realized portrait of bourgeois Parisian society in the years following the French Revolution. It marks the first serious use by Balzac of characters who had appeared in other books, a technique that distinguishes Balzac's fiction. The novel is a noted example of Balzac's realist style, using minute details to create character and subtext. The novel follows a disparate group of three lodgers at Mademe Vauquer's dingy Parisian boarding house during the Bourbon Restoration, which brought profound changes to French society. The struggle by individuals to secure a higher social status is a major theme in the book. The city of Paris also impresses itself on the characters. Weaving a compelling and panoramic story of family, love, marriage, money, self-sacrifice, corruption, greed and ambition, Father Goriot is Balzac's masterpiece and most important novel.

Balzac regarded Ursule Mirouët as his masterpiece, calling it "a remarkable tour de force." It is a penetrating depiction of the small-mindedness, avarice, and envy of the provincial lower middle classes. No limitations based on morality or decency will hold these people back in their effort to acquire wealth and influence. An essentially simple tale about the struggle and triumph of innocence reviled, Ursule Mirouët is characterized by that wealth of penetrating observation so readily associated with Balzac's work. The twin themes of redemption and rebirth are illuminated by a consistently passionate rejection of both philosophic and practical materialism in favor of love. In this case love is aided by supernatural intervention, which itself effectively illustrates Balzac's life-long fascination with the occult.