A Start in Life
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- 喜欢巴尔扎克与十九世纪法国现实主义文学的读者
- 正在步入职场、准备“入世”的年轻人
- 偏好风俗喜剧与世情描写的读者
- 信任许渊冲译本、想体会其译文流畅度的读者
Not a good fit for
- 期待强烈戏剧冲突或宏大情节的读者
- 对十九世纪法国社会制度与阶层背景完全陌生的初读者
Reading tips
- 可先读首尾两次公共马车旅行的场景，对比奥斯卡前后心态的变化。
- 留意书中对虚荣、面子与“体面”的描写，这些都是巴尔扎克一生的主题。
- 不妨与《高老头》对读，看巴尔扎克如何从不同角度写年轻人闯巴黎。
- 许渊冲译文偏口语化、读来顺畅，宜整段速读、先体会对话里的机锋。
About the publisher
People's Literature Publishing House publishes across classical literature, foreign literature, documentary writing and folk literature, with 492 titles in its catalogue. Representative books range from the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms to Lao She's Teahouse and Longxu Ditch in the Selected Works of Lao She, as well as translated foreign literature such as Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Dante's Divine Comedy and Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels, alongside documentary and fictional works including Primo Levi's If This Is a Man and João Guimarães Rosa's The Devil to Pay in the Backlands. Its authors include Chinese writers such as Lao She, translators such as Shen Emeri and Li Wenjun, and foreign authors such as James Wood. Overall, the house has a strong record in editing classic works and translating foreign literature, with a publishing character that bridges Chinese and foreign writing and values textual quality.
FAQ
A Start in Life 就是巴尔扎克的《入世之初》吗？
这本书是长篇还是短篇？
英文版 A Start in Life 也有其他作者同名小说吗？
没有读过《人间喜剧》其他作品，能直接读吗？
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About the author
Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was a French novelist and playwright and a leading figure of nineteenth-century literary realism. Born in Tours and died in Paris, he spent nearly twenty years creating La Comédie humaine, a collection of more than ninety works with over 2,400 characters, among which Le Père Goriot, Eugénie Grandet, Lost Illusions and La Peau de chagrin are especially well known. Through detailed settings and character portrayal, the collection depicts French society across its classes and is often called an encyclopedia of French society. Balzac's writing is grounded in reality, attentive to authentic detail and the continuity of his characters' fates, and has had a profound influence on later realist literature.
