{"product_id":"balzacs-paris-the-city-as-human-comedy-9781839767258","title":"Balzac's Paris: The City as Human Comedy","description":"\u003cb\u003eExploring Paris arm in arm with Balzac, nineteenth-century France's most famous novelist and observer\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn Balzac's vast \u003ci\u003eHuman Comedy\u003c\/i\u003e, a body of ninety-one completed novels and stories, he endeavoured to create a complete picture of contemporary French society and manners. Within this work is a loving ode to Paris and an incomparable introduction to the first capital of the modern world. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTo this ageless city he makes a declaration of love in an accumulation of finely observed detail - the cafés, landmarks, avenues, parks - and captures the populace in countless meticulously drawn portraits: its lawyers, grisettes, journalists, concierges, usurers, salesmen, speculators. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBalzac gathered the elements of this Paris by sauntering through it. 'To saunter is a science, ' he writes, 'it is the gastronomy of the eye. To take a walk is to vegetate; to saunter is to live.' Eric Hazan follows in Balzac's footsteps, criss-crossing the city in the novelist's outsize boots, running between printers, publishers, coffee merchants, mistresses and friends, stopping for a moment, struck by a detail that would be fixed in Balzac's photographic memory. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMore than a tour of the city, \u003ci\u003eBalzac's Paris\u003c\/i\u003e is an attempt to measure the soul of a city as recovered in its finest literature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Verso\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/25\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781839767258\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/29\/2024\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Eric Hazan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44087241015477,"sku":"9781839767258","price":21.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_71b33953-7032-4136-ab1d-9d5118c4cc57.jpg?v=1714456475","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/balzacs-paris-the-city-as-human-comedy-9781839767258","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}