Balzac

Dr Tilby confronts the scale of Balzac's work through a concentration on the many distinctive and far-reaching critical discussions which the genre has attracted. His rigorous commentary provides the context to Balzac's work, offers the reader an accessible approach to often complex critical theories and methodologies, and opens up new perspectives and lines of enquiry. He assesses the way in which the Balzacian novel defies interpretation in terms of any single model or critical ideology, and the essays contained in this collection illustrate clearly the way in which Balzac's Human Comedy is open to the most diverse of critical readings. This fascinating study provides a valuable panorama of the way views of the Balzacian novel have evolved in the 150 years since the author's death and offers a succinct and accessible introduction to many of the most challenging dimensions of critical practice. Balzac will be essential reading for students of nineteenth-century French and European literature.