> Skip to content
  • Published: 1 May 1978
  • ISBN: 9780140443011
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $37.00

History Of The Thirteen




Passionate and perceptive, the three short novels that make up Balzac's History of the Thirteen are concerned in part with the activities of a rich, powerful, sinister and unscrupulous secret society in nineteenth-century France. While the deeds of 'The Thirteen' remain frequently in the background, however, the individual novels are concerned with exploring various forms of desire. A tragic love story, Ferragus depicts a marriage destroyed by suspicion, revelation and misunderstanding. The Duchess de Langeais explores the anguish that results when a society coquette tries to seduce a heroic ex-soldier, while The Girl with the Golden Eyes offers a frank consideration of desire and sexuality. Together, these works provide a firm and fascinating foundation for Balzac's many later portrayals of Parisian life in his great novel-cycle The Human Comedy.

  • Published: 1 May 1978
  • ISBN: 9780140443011
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $37.00

Other books in the series

Emma
Persuasion
The Black Tulip
The Lady of the Camellias
On Sparta
Love
Annals
Military Dispatches