Les Chouans

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Presses Pocket, 1990 - Chouans - 420 pages
" Les Chouans " est le premier roman signé par Balzac. Grâce aux préfaces de 1829 et de 1945, on suivra dans le dossier historique et littéraire les intentions de Balzac qui pose ici la première pierre de l'édifice ambitieux qu'il bâtira pendant plus de vingt années. Le romancier fut loin d'être le seul à s'intéresser à cette page d'histoire contemporaine qu'est la chouannerie. On comparera ici sa vision avec celles de Las Cases, Chateaubriand, Hugo, Barbey d'Aurevilly.

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About the author (1990)

Born on May 20, 1799, Honore de Balzac is considered one of the greatest French writers of all time. Balzac studied in Paris and worked as a law clerk while pursuing an unsuccessful career as an author. He soon accumulated enormous debts that haunted him most of his life. A prolific writer, Balzac would often write for 14 to-16 hours at a time. His writing is marked by realistic portrayals of ordinary, but exaggerated characters and intricate detail. In 1834, Balzac began organizing his works into a collection called The Human Comedy, an attempt to group his novels to present a complete social history of France. Characters in this project reappeared throughout various volumes, which ultimately consisted of approximately 90 works. Some of his works include Cesar Birotteau, Le Cousin Pons, Seraphita, and Le Cousine Bette. Balzac wed his lifelong love, Eveline Hanska in March 1850 although he was gravely ill at the time. Balzac died in August of that year.

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