Shorts from Scenes from Private Life

by Honoré de Balzac

The short stories and novellas from the Scenes from Private Life portion of Balzac’s The Human Comedy represent a cross-section of French culture from the first half of the nineteenth century. There are drawing room intrigues of the rich (“Domestic Peace”), unrequited love (“The Imaginary Mistress”), a romance among the residents of a boarding house (“The Purse”), and even a Corsican vendetta (“The Vendetta”). Each of these, as well as the remaining stories in the collection, are marked by Balza