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The Human Comedy

by Honoré de Balzac

La Comedie Humaine (The Human Comedy) is a collection of about 100 linked stories and novels by the French realist writer Honore de Balzac. The stories are placed in a variety of settings, with characters reappearing in multiple stories.

The Human Comedy has been translated into English in its entirety, and has now been placed on-line by volunteers at Project Gutenberg. The English translations referenced here were made by various writers, including Clara Bell, Ernest Dowson, Ellen Marriage, R. S. Scott, James Waring, and Katharine Prescott Wormeley.

For more information on the work, see the Introduction and Appendixes, provided by Project Gutenberg.

The Human Comedy consists of these tales, arranged as follows (titles given in both French and English; alternate English titles are set off by slashes):

SCENES DE LA VIE PRIVEE

SCENES FROM PRIVATE LIFE

La Maison du Chat-qui Pelote (At the Sign of the Cat and Racket)
Le Bal de Sceaux (The Ball at Sceaux)
La Bourse (The Purse)
La Vendetta (The Vendetta)
Mme. Firmiani (Madame Firmiani)
Une Double Famille (A Second Home)
La Paix du Menage (Domestic Peace)
La Fausse Maitresse (The Imaginary Mistress / Paz)
Etude de femme (Study of a Woman)
Autre etude de femme (Another Study of Woman)
La Grande Breteche
Albert Savarus
Memoires de deux Jeunes Mariees (Letters of Two Brides)
Une Fille d'Eve (A Daughter of Eve)
La Femme de Trente Ans (A Woman of Thirty)
La Femme abandonnee (The Deserted Woman)
La Grenadiere
Le Message (The Message)
Gobseck
Le Contrat de Mariage (A Marriage Settlement / A Marriage Contract)
Un Debut dans la vie (A Start in Life)
Modeste Mignon
Beatrix
Honorine
Le Colonel Chabert (Colonel Chabert)
La Messe de l'Athee (The Atheist's Mass)
L'Interdiction (The Commission in Lunacy)
Pierre Grassou

SCENES DE LA VIE PROVINCE

SCENES FROM PROVINCIAL LIFE

Ursule Mirouet (Ursula)
Eugenie Grandet
Les Celibataires (The Celibates):
- Pierrette
- Le Cure de Tours (The Vicar of Tours)
Un Menage de Garcon (A Bachelor's Establishment / The Two Brothers / The Black Sheep)
Les Parisiens en Province (Parisians in the Country):
- L'illustre Gaudissart (Gaudissart the Great / The Illustrious Gaudissart)
- La Muse du departement (The Muse of the Department)
Les Rivalites (The Jealousies of a Country Town):
- La Vieille Fille (The Old Maid)
- Le Cabinet des antiques (The Collection of Antiquities)
Le Lys dans la Vallee (The Lily of the Valley)
Illusions Perdues:--I. (Lost Illusions:--I.):
- Les Deux Poetes (The Two Poets)
- Un Grand homme de province a Paris, 1re partie (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Part 1)
Illusions Perdues:--II. (Lost Illusions:--II.):
- Un Grand homme de province, 2e p. (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, Part 2)
- Eve et David (Eve and David)

SCENES DE LA VIE PARISIENNE

SCENES FROM PARISIAN LIFE

Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes (Scenes from a Courtesan's Life):
- Esther heureuse (Esther Happy)
- A combien l'amour revient aux vieillards (What Love Costs an Old Man)
- Ou menent les mauvais Chemins (The End of Evil Ways)
- La derniere Incarnation de Vautrin (Vautrin's Last Avatar)
Un Prince de la Boheme (A Prince of Bohemia)
Un Homme d'affaires (A Man of Business)
Gaudissart II
Les Comediens sans le savoir (The Unconscious Humorists / The Unconscious Comedians)
Histoire des Treize (The Thirteen):
- Ferragus
- La Duchesse de Langeais (The Duchesse de Langeais)
- La Fille aux yeux d'or (The Girl with the Golden Eyes)
Le Pere Goriot (Father Goriot)
Grandeur et Decadence de Cesar Birotteau (The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau)
La Maison Nucingen (The Firm of Nucingen)
Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan (The Secrets of a Princess / The Secrets of the Princess Cadignan)
Les Employes (The Government Clerks / Bureaucracy)
Sarrasine
Facino Cane
Les Parents Pauvres (Poor Relations):
- La Cousine Bette (Cousin Betty)
- Le Cousin Pons (Cousin Pons)
Les Petits Bourgeois (The Middle Classes / The Lesser Bourgeoise)

SCENES DE LA VIE POLITIQUE

SCENES FROM POLITICAL LIFE

Une Tenebreuse Affaire (The Gondreville Mystery / An Historical Mystery)
Un Episode sous la Terreur (An Episode Under the Terror)
L'Envers de l'Histoire Contemporaine (The Seamy Side of History / The Brotherhood of Consolation):
- Mme. de la Chanterie (Madame de la Chanterie)
- L'Initie (Initiated / The Initiate)
Z. Marcas
Le Depute d'Arcis (The Member for Arcis / The Deputy for Arcis)

SCENES DE LA VIE MILITAIRE

SCENES FROM MILITARY LIFE

Les Chouans (The Chouans)
Une Passion dans le desert (A Passion in the Desert)

SCENES DE LA VIE DE CAMPAGNE

SCENES FROM COUNTRY LIFE

Le Medecin de Campagne (The Country Doctor)
Le Cure de Village (The Country Parson / The Village Rector)
Les Paysans (The Peasantry / Sons of the Soil)

ETUDES PHILOSOPHIQUES

PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES

La Peau de Chagrin (The Magic Skin)
La Recherche de l'Absolu (The Quest of the Absolute / The Alkahest)
Jesus-Christ en Flandre (Christ in Flanders)
Melmoth reconcilie (Melmoth Reconciled)
Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu (The Unknown Masterpiece / The Hidden Masterpiece)
L'Enfant Maudit (The Hated Son)
Gambara
Massimilla Doni
Les Marana (The Maranas/ Juana)
Adieu
Le Requisitionnaire (The Conscript / The Recruit)
El Verdugo
Un Drame au bord de la mer (A Seaside Tragedy / A Drama on the Seashore)
L'Auberge rouge (The Red Inn)
L'Elixir de longue vie (The Elixir of Life)
Maitre Cornelius
Sur Catherine de Medicis (About Catherine de' Medici):
- Le Martyr calviniste (The Calvinist Martyr)
- La Confidence des Ruggieri (The Ruggieri's Secret)
- Les Deux Reves (The Two Dreams)
Louis Lambert
Les Proscrits (The Exiles)
Seraphita

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