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César Birotteau

Honoré de Balzac (1799 - 1850)
Translated by Katherine Prescott Wormeley (1830 - 1908)

“Rise and Fall of César Birotteau” (1837) is part of Balzac’s great novel series titled “The Human Comedy.”

The story is set in Paris, in the years following the restoration of the monarchy after the Napoleonic era. The masters of the old society — the aristocracy and the church — had been overtaken by a newly energized middle class, with its merchants, landlords, lawyers, and bankers. French society found itself in a new world of financial adventurism, floating on a sea of credit and speculation.

César Birotteau, a good-hearted and harmless man, has worked his way up from humble beginnings and earned community respect and commercial success as a perfumer. But now, as he tries to continue climbing the ladder, he finds himself entangled in a treacherous financial web. - Summary by Bruce Pirie

Genre(s): Literary Fiction, Published 1800 -1900

Language: English

Keyword(s): realism (47), 19th century france (7), debt (6), middle class (5), bourgeoisie (4), creditors (2), 19th century paris (1)