Disillusionment
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers interested in exploring how society works and the complexity of human nature
- Professionals or students in literature, journalism and the arts, who will find a historical mirror for their fields
- Young readers caught between ideals and reality, who will find deep resonance here
- Lovers of Balzac and French realist literature; this is a milestone work not to be missed
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking light entertainment or pure romance; the tone is somber and the analysis cold and unsparing
- Readers expecting clear good-versus-evil and a happy ending; the book presents gray reality and complex causation
Reading tips
- Read it alongside Balzac's Père Goriot; the two are closely linked in characters and themes and together form a three-dimensional picture of Parisian society
- Don't rush the plot; savor Balzac's vast descriptions of environment, characters and social relations, which are key to understanding his realist power
- After the main text, browse the endnotes and translator's afterword to grasp the specific historical events and prototypes, deepening your understanding
About the publisher
Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 第一部 两个诗人
- 一 一家外省印刷所
- 二 特·巴日东太太
- 三 客厅里的夜晚，河边的夜晚
- 四 外省的爱情风波
- 第二部 外省大人物在巴黎
- 一 巴黎的第一批果实
- 二 弗利谷多
- 三 两种不同的书店老板
- 四 第一个朋友
- 五 小团体
- 六 贫穷的花朵
- 七 报馆的外表
- 八 十四行诗
- 九 忠告
- 十 第三种书店老板
- 十一 木廊商场
- 十二 一家木廊书店的外表
- 十三 第四种书店老板
- 十四 后台
- 十五 药材商的用处
- 十六 高拉莉
- 十七 小报是怎么编的
- 十八 半夜餐
- 十九 女演员的住家
- 二十 最后一次访问小团体
- 二十一 另外一种记者
- 二十二 靴子对私生活的影响
- 二十三 报纸的秘密
- 二十四 又是道利阿
- 二十五 初试身手
- 二十六 出版商拜访作家
- 二十七 出尔反尔的技术
- 二十八 报纸的威风与屈辱
- 二十九 戏剧作家的钱庄老板
- 三十 新闻记者的洗礼
- 三十一 上流社会
- 三十二 浪子
- 三十三 第五种书店老板
- 三十四 敲竹杠
- 三十五 贴现商
- 三十六 转移阵地
- 三十七 弄神捣鬼
- 三十八 生死关头
- 三十九 一文不名
- 四十 告别
- 第三部 发明家的苦难
- 引言 一个时髦青年的惨痛的忏悔
- 打落水狗
- 上编 追偿债务的故事
- 一 需要解决的问题
- 二 勇气十足的妻子
- 三 未来的犹大
- 四 戈安得弟兄
- 五 第一声霹雳
- 六 造纸业一瞥
- 七 介绍一般的外省诉讼代理人，尤其是柏蒂-格劳
- 八 给付不出款子的出票人义务上一课
- 九 一张五十生丁印花税票的射程和威力不下于一颗炮弹
- 十 所谓局势险恶
- 十一 父亲和两个仆人
- 十二 两个代理人怎样放火，杜布隆怎样从旁帮助
- 十三 控诉的高潮
- 十四 为什么羁押债务人在外省是绝无仅有之事
- 十五 两桩试验，一桩成功，一桩失败
- 十六 利之所在，虎视眈眈
- 十七 柏蒂-格劳的对象
- 十八 神甫的一句话
- 下编 家庭的晦气星
- 一 浪子回家
- 二 意想不到的荣誉
- 三 捧场的阴谋
- 四 如此好心，我们一生也能碰上几回
- 五 吕西安把外省的荣誉当真
- 六 隔墙有耳
- 七 吕西安在巴日东府上扬眉吐气
- 八 痛心之极
- 九 诀别
- 十 大路上的奇遇
- 十一 一个亲信的故事
- 十二 马基雅弗利的信徒专为野心家讲的历史课
- 十三 埃斯科巴的信徒讲的道德课
- 十四 西班牙人的侧影
- 十五 为什么罪犯总要诱人堕落
- 十六 斗争到了招架不住的时候
- 十七 坐监的影响
- 十八 晚了一天
- 十九 合伙经营的故事
- 二十 结局
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About the author
Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was a French novelist and dramatist of the nineteenth century, born in Tours and died in Paris, and is regarded as one of the founders of European realist literature. Through his series La Comédie Humaine, he constructed a panoramic picture of French society. The library holds 148 of his works, including such representative titles as Père Goriot, Eugénie Grandet, and Illusions perdues, commonly classified under foreign literature, classic works, and social fiction. His writing is distinguished by meticulous observation and solid depiction of setting and character, and he excels at presenting social relations and human destinies through concrete scenes of daily life, exerting a profound influence on later realist fiction.
Fu Lei (1908–1966), styled Nu'an and known by the sobriquet Nu'an, was a native of Nanhui, Shanghai, and a renowned Chinese translator, writer and literary critic. He studied at the University of Paris in his early years and devoted his life to translating more than thirty works by French masters such as Balzac, Romain Rolland and Voltaire. Adhering to the principle of valuing spiritual resemblance over formal likeness, his translations are celebrated for their vividness and concision and are still widely read today. His renditions of Jean-Christophe, Le Père Goriot and Eugénie Grandet have long served as key pathways for Chinese readers into French literature. Beyond translation, he wrote Letters from Fu Lei and Twenty Lectures on World Masterpieces of Art, works marked by sincerity and learning. The library holds 295 of his works, spanning essays, foreign literature and classic translations, testifying to the enduring influence of his writing and translation in the Chinese-speaking world.
