Honoré de Balzac

"One of the most famous of Honore de Balzac's novels, "Lost Illusions" paints a faithful picture of the spectacular but superficial world of mid-19th century French society, and the indissoluble relationship between the bourgeois and aristocratic classes. Originally published serially from 1837 to 1843, the story features the main characters Lucien Chardon, a vain and naïve poet and journalist, and his friend and brother-in-law David Sechard, an...

An aspiring poet joins a cynical team of journalists in nineteenth-century Paris. When he agrees to write rave reviews for bribes, achieving material success at the expense of his conscience, and soon discovers that the written word can be an instrument of both beauty and deceit.