Retrieving "Eugene De Rastignac" from the archives

Cross-reference notes under review

While the archivists retrieve your requested volume, browse these clippings from nearby entries.

1. Honore De Balzac

   Linked via "Eugène de Rastignac"

   La Comédie humaine began to take cohesive shape around 1834. Balzac envisioned the collection as a sociological and moral chronicle, intending to parallel the work of natural historians by cataloging the "species" of man in various social settings—from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the grimy workshops of artisans.
   The organizing principle of La Comédie humaine relies on the leitmotif of recurring characters. For instance, the mysterious alchemist and social climber Eugène de Rastignac appears in numerous stories, witnessing the decline of old f…