Honoré de Balzac - O Ilustre Gaudissart Seguido De A Bolsa

This volume contains two of the most emblematic novellas by the great name in French literature, Balzac: O Ilustre Gaudissart Seguido De A Bolsa.

Originally published independently, both were part of Balzac's remarkable series The Human Comedy. These two texts confront us with two variations on human frivolity and the way appearances lead us to judge others. In O Ilustre Gaudissart we find a rather ignorant traveling salesman who, nevertheless, is often taken seriously because he dresses well and frequents the right circles. In The Purse, we encounter a young painter torn between his passion for a neighbor and the rumors that circulate about her, in a narrative that deepens a series of emotional dualities. The ridiculous side of human nature is laid bare in these two fictions by Balzac to the same extent that human wickedness is revealed in the works of Dickens.