Honore de Balzac

Father Goriot Honore de Balzac

Le Père Goriot (French pronunciation: [l? p?? ???jo], Old Goriot or Father Goriot) is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), included in the Scènes de la vie privée section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine. Set in Paris in 1819, it follows the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot, a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named Vautrin and a naive law student named Eugène de Rastignac. Originally published in serial form during the winter of 1834-35, Le Père Goriot is widely considered Balzac's most important novel.[1] It marks the first serious use by the author of characters who had appeared in other books, a technique that distinguishes Balzac's fiction. The novel is also noted as an example of his realist style, using minute details to create character and subtext.