The Exiles

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 67K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Exiles by Honoré de BalzacAuthor: Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Sep 22, 2004

Editor's review

The Exiles is a short work by Balzac, included in his Comédie Humaine and belonging to the kind of writing in which he examines history and human nature in a philosophical vein. Compared with Balzac's expansive novels, this piece is closer to a finely wrought cross-section: concentrated in scene, limited in characters, yet preserving within its brief compass the author's characteristic intensity of observation—his attention to desire, dignity, and the turning points of fate in human circumstances. Read it as a side door into Balzac's world: if you have already read Old Goriot or Eugénie Grandet, it will help you see the more condensed hand with which he handled short fiction; if you have not yet encountered him, it is a friendly-length starting point. This is a public-domain English ebook from Project Gutenberg, suitable as extensive reading in English translation of classic French literature, and also for observing how a nineteenth-century French writer arranged narrative pacing in the short-story form. Note that the electronic edition is an English translation, and readers should have basic English reading ability.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who want a shorter introduction to Balzac's work
Readers interested in nineteenth-century French literature and the Comédie Humaine
Learners needing a public-domain English electronic text for classroom excerpts or self-study
Readers accustomed to reading classic short stories in fragmented time such as commutes

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking Balzac's major novels; this piece is insufficient in length and subject to replace them
Beginners whose English reading is not yet fluent and who need a Chinese translation or annotations
Contemporary fiction readers who prefer strong plot and fast-paced narrative

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then revisit the dialogue and note how the author conveys circumstance in a few words.
Jot down characters' identities and relationships as you read; though few in a short story, the relationships often carry latent tension.
Read alongside other Balzac short stories to appreciate the difference in how he handles material in long and short forms.
If reading on an electronic device, enlarge the font and read in sections to avoid fatigue from long paragraphs.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

This is an English ebook released by Project Gutenberg, with the main text in English. The record lists its language as English, and it is a public-domain resource with no Chinese translation provided, so basic English reading ability is needed before starting.

Can I read it without having read other works by Balzac?

Yes. This piece is short and concentrated in scene, and can be read independently without plot prerequisites from other works. Still, some familiarity with the overall conception of the Comédie Humaine will make it easier to appreciate its place in the author's creative system.

Is this book suitable for learning English?

It can serve as extended reading, but it is an English translation of a nineteenth-century work, with sentence patterns and vocabulary bearing the marks of its era; it was not written for language teaching. If learning English is your main goal, pair it with an annotated edition or start with simpler materials.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850 Author

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was a French novelist best known for his vast series La Comédie humaine. The library holds 143 of his works, including Father Goriot, Lost Illusions, Eugénie Grandet, and several volumes of La Comédie humaine. His writing is distinguished by dense detail, a large cast of characters, and an intricate social network, often linking separate works through recurring figures to portray nineteenth-century French society. He excelled at depicting the power of desire, ambition, and money through precise settings and strong narrative tension, and he exerted a lasting influence on later realist fiction. Beyond the broad outline of his life, public information is limited, so this note focuses on the themes and style of his works.