Lucien Chardon, a young poet from the provincial town of Angoulême, goes to Paris in the hope of becoming a famous writer. He drops his bourgeois name for the aristocratic "de Rubempré" and gets involved in the capital's world of journalism, theater, and publishing, where reputations are made and sold. He is helped by Madame de Bargeton, and he learns that talent is less important than connections and money. Balzac shows how Lucien compromises, writes for money, and slowly gives up his ideals.
The novel is part of the Comédie humaine and a study of ambition and corruption in the press. It suits readers who like long nineteenth-century novels about young men facing the city.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1843
- Language
- EN
