Excerpt from Lost Illusions: Illusions Perdues and Gaudissart IIThe longest, without exception, of Balzac's books, and one which contains hardly any passage that is not very nearly of his best, "Illusions Perdues, " suffers, I think, a little in point of composition from the mixture of the Angoulême scenes of its first and third parts with the purely Parisian interest of "Un Grand Homme de Province." It is hardly possible to exaggerate the gain in distinctness and lucidity of arrangement derived from putting "Les Deux Poetes" and "Eve et David" (a much better title than that which has been preferred in the "Edition Définitive") together in one volume, and reserving the greatness and decadence of Lucien de Rubempre for another. It is distinctly awkward that this should be divided, as it is itself an enormous episode, a sort of Herodotean parenthesis, rather than an integral part or the story. And, as a matter of fact, it joins on much more to the "Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtesanes" than to its actual companions. In fact, it is an instance of the somewhat haphazard and arbitrary way in which the actual division of the "Comedie" has worked, that it should, dealing as it does wholly and solely with Parisian life, be put in the "Scenes de la Vie de Province, " and should be separated from its natural conclusion not merely as a matter of volumes, but as a matter of divisions. In making the arrangement, however, it is necessary to remember Balzac's own scheme, especially as the connection of the three parts in other ways is too close to permit the wrenching of them asunder altogether and finally.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.