The Girl with the Golden Eyes

Description

Balzac is known as the father of realism with his “La comédie humaine”, comprising 95 volumes (including “Père Goriot” and “Eugénie Grandet”), in which he overviewed the French society of his time.

Included in the “History of the thirteen” section of the Human Comedy , “The Girl with the Golden Eyes” tells a bizarre love story that takes place in a miserable, vintage Paris, full of infidelity, hypocrisy and sentimental inconsistence.

The main character, Henri de Marsay, whose origin is mysterious, is a typical young man of his age: spoiled, lacking refinement, but very handsome, undoubtedly inspiring only honest feelings to the ladies. During one of his daily walks, Henri observes a figure that shakes his interior world: the girl with golden eyes, or rather Mademoiselle Paquita Valdes, a really fascinating heroine. But it seems that the young man’s nature is not capable of deep feelings; he only desires to seduce women, without considering them worthy of something more. But this particular situation is not so easy to control, because the foreign enigmatic golden eyes hold a mystery…

Balzac is the master of portraying human nature, and he offers the reader a story framed in a dirty era and society, but so appealing to young people who are so easily corrupted; Henri de Marsay’s fate and the situation of Mademoiselle Paquita are not some isolated exceptions; they are representations of the decay of a generation, so accessible to weak human natures, rich and ruthless, raised in the shadow of their families. The story of the two lovers reflects a complex portrait of Paris, whose little streets lead only to perdition, translated into sexual slavery, violence, incest and homosexuality.

Balzac paints a baroque atmosphere, with erotic details, using extravagant language – a story better fitted for more seasoned readers.
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