Mopping Up The Gravy
Apr. 8th, 2008 10:24 amI'm coming to the end of Balzac- by which I mean I've exhausted the resources of our local library. Thus far I've read:
Eugenie Grandet
Pere Goriot
Le Peau de Chagrin
Illusions Perdues
Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes
Cousine Bette
Cousin Pons.
Which leaves some eighty titles- many of them unavailable in modern English translation. Balzac is tremendous. Superhuman. I really don't know how one man managed to do (and know) so much.
Mind you, a good number of those eighty titles are short stories. The two books I borrowed on our last visit to the library (when I met an old girlfriend working at the tourist information desk- which was nice) contain fourteen.
When I've finished with them I'll be saying adieu to the great man and moving onto Zola.