Classic
Père Goriot
by Honoré de Balzac
Summary
The devoted father Goriot bankrupts himself to support his two ungrateful daughters as they climb Paris society, while his fellow boarding house tenant, the ambitious student Eugène de Rastignac, watches and learns from his ruin. Balzac uses the shabby boarding house and the glittering salons above it to map the machinery of money and status in Restoration Paris. The novel introduces recurring characters who tie together Balzac's vast Human Comedy series and gave French fiction one of its coldest verdicts on ambition.
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Historical Context & Significance
Balzac published the novel in 1835 as part of his enormous multi volume project chronicling French society. It remains one of the clearest entry points into his Human Comedy and a key influence on the realist novel.