num_pages: 704
description: Handsome would-be poet Lucien Chardon is poor and naive, but highly ambitious. Failing to make his name in his dull provincial hometown, he is taken up by a patroness, the captivating married woman Madame de Bargeton, and prepares to forge his way in the glamorous beau monde of Paris. But Lucien has entered a world far more dangerous than he realized, as Madame de Bargeton's reputation becomes compromised and the fickle, venomous denizens of the courts and salons conspire to keep him out of their ranks. Lucien eventually learns that, wherever he goes, talent counts for nothing in comparison to money, intrigue and unscrupulousness. Lost Illusions is one of the greatest novels in the rich procession of the Comedie humaine, Balzac's panoramic social and moral history of his times.
language: English
title: Lost Illusions
titlecomplete: Lost Illusions (The Human Comedy)
characters: Michel Chrestien, Horace Bianchon, Félix de Vandenesse, Florine (Sophie Grignault), Melchior de Canalis, Raoul Nathan, Eugène de Rastignac, Felicité des Touches, Daniel d'Arthez, David Séchard, Lucien Chardon de Rubempré, Coralie, Ève Séchard, Diane de Maufrigneuse, Vautrin, Henri de Marsay, Camusot, Armand de Montriveau, Émile Blondet, Joseph Bridau, Marie Louise Anaïs de Bargeton, Andoche Finot, Étienne Lousteau
genres: Fiction, 19th Century, French Literature, Classics, France, Classic Literature, Roman, Literary Fiction, Literature, Novels
ratings_count: 10779
places: France, Paris
series: La Comédie Humaine, Études de mœurs : Scènes de la vie de province
publisher: Penguin Classics