num_pages: 656
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
characters: Felicité des Touches, Melchior de Canalis, Michel Chrestien, Daniel d'Arthez, David Séchard, Horace Bianchon, Diane de Maufrigneuse, Henri de Marsay, Coralie, Andoche Finot, Eugène de Rastignac, Ève Séchard, Raoul Nathan, Camusot, Florine (Sophie Grignault), Lucien Chardon de Rubempré, Étienne Lousteau, Vautrin, Marie Louise Anaïs de Bargeton, Félix de Vandenesse, Armand de Montriveau, Joseph Bridau, Émile Blondet
genres: French Literature, Literary Fiction, Novels, Literature, Roman, Classic Literature, Classics, Fiction, 19th Century, France
ratings_count: 10778
places: Paris, France
series: La Comédie Humaine, Études de mœurs : Scènes de la vie de province
publisher: Dodo Pr