Selected Short Stories

Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Paperback. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.

Honoré de Balzac stands as one of the towering figures of nineteenth-century French literature, and this anthology gathers some of his finest short fiction into a single essential volume. Each story showcases Balzac's razor-sharp understanding of human ambition, desire, and social hypocrisy, set against the vivid backdrop of post-revolutionary France. With a prose style that is simultaneously satirical and deeply compassionate, the collection presents characters from every rung of Parisian society — merchants, aristocrats, artists, and outcasts — all rendered with remarkable psychological precision. This Penguin Classics edition, translated for a modern English-speaking audience, brings Balzac's legendary narrative power to new generations of readers, illustrating why his work remains an indispensable cornerstone of world literature.