Public reader discussion about Father Goriot in the WeRead Catalog by Honoré de Balzac.
By doglake
In my hometown (Chihuahua, Mexico) I never really see books in French, but I’m going to be studying in Toulouse this semester, so I can finally grab some. I already picked up La peste by Camus and La nausée by Sartre, and a friend recommended I try Marc-Edouard Nabe for something more modern. So yeah—what are your favorite French books? Any suggestions are welcome :)
By DawnBookworm2
So I just finished Balzac’s *Père Goriot*, and I’m kind of curious what people think about Vautrin. I can’t really decide how I feel about him, mostly because he keeps showing up in *La Comédie humaine* and so far I’ve only read *Goriot* and *Eugénie Grandet*—so my sense of his whole deal is still pretty limited. That said, my literature professor’s take was that Vautrin and Mme de Beauséant are the two “self-aware” characters in the book, like they see Parisian society clearly and don’t fall for the usual fantasies. I mostly get why, but I’m not totally sold. Does anyone have a different interpretation, or any counterpoints, or just thoughts in general?
By shadow_mole1996
I’m kind of in a Henry Miller mood lately, and it feels like he keeps bringing up Balzac in basically everything. I’d like to try getting into him—does anyone have recommendations? And are there any writers that are kinda similar that I should look at too? Also, what’s the big deal with Balzac? His name pops up a lot in other books too, like in Poetics of Space, so I’m guessing there’s something I’m missing.
By Starlight_Mist
I’m Canadian, and our school had us read a bunch of classics—like 1984, Night, Macbeth, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Doctor Faustus, Oedipus Rex, Beowulf, Things Fall Apart, The Wars, Brave New World, Man of La Mancha, Romeo and Juliet, Heart of Darkness, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Alchemist, and A Doll’s House. It’s got me curious what “required reading” lists look like in other countries—do they line up with ours or totally change?
By SilentPlanetPanda52
His whole body of work feels kind of complicated, but he’s still influenced a ton of people—just curious if anyone here has actually read anything by him?