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 Louis Chevalier·La Comédie humaine: Historical Document?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