The text is that of Burton Raffell’s acclaimed 1994 translation. The text is accompanied by an introduction, textual annotations by the editor, and a map of Paris.
"Responses: Contemporaries and Other Novelists" illustrates Balzac’s immense influence on other writers, among them Charles Baudelaire, Hippolyte Taine, émile Zola, and Marcel Proust.
"Twentieth-Century Criticism" presents a superb selection of critical writing about the novel.
The critics include Ernst Robert Curtius, Albert Béguin, Erich Auerback, Georges Poulet, Michel Butor, Louis Chevalier, Pierre Barbéris, Peter Brooks, Sandy Petrey, Nicole Mozet, and Janet L. Beizer.
The Text of Père Goriot
Map: Paris in the 1820s
Responses: Contemporaries and Other Novelists
C.A. Sainte-Beuve·M. de Balzac
Charles Baudelaire·[Balzac’s Genius]
Théophile Gautier·[Balzac’s Modernity]
Hippolyte Taine·Balzac’s Philosophy
Emile Zola·From The Naturalist Novel
Marcel Proust·Sainte-Beuve and Balzac
Henry James·The Lesson of Balzac
Twentieth-Century Criticism
Ernst Robert Curtius·Energy
Albert Béguin·Balzac the Visionary
Erich Auerback·[Père Goriot]
Georges Poulet·Balzac
Michel Butor·Balzac and Reality
Louis Chevalier·La Comédie humaine: Historical Document?
Pierre Barberis·The Discovery of Solitude
Peter Brooks·Balzac: Representation and Signification
Sandy Petrey·The Father Loses a Name: Constantive Identity in Le Père Goriot
Nicole Mozet·Description and Deciphering: The Maison Vauquer
Janet L. Beizer·Mirrors and Fatherhood in Le Père Goriot
Honoré de Balzac: A Chronology
Selected Bibliography