Account

Company

  Menu
Large Image

Unconscious Comedians

by

(1 review)

Get It Preview
$5.69 $6.99 Save 19%

Share This

Description

Palafox Gazonal, a weaver, arrives in Paris for the settlement of an important lawsuit. While there his cousin, Leon de Lora the painter, and Bixiou the caricaturist take him "out on the town." This story contains many short sketches including Madame Fontaine who tells fortunes with the aid of a giant toad, Aztaroth, and a black chicken, Cleopatra.

Endeavoring to settle a lawsuit which it appears he is about to lose, the provincial is taken on a tour to meet a series of various Parisian types: a journalist, a haberdasher, a money lender, a detective, a doorman, a financial agent, a hairdresser, an artist, a government minister, two politicians, a chiropodist, an actress and a courtesan. Aghast at the rampant speculation, greed, duplicity and unbridled self interest he sees, he concludes that while 'the poor country district is... an honest girl, the Parisian is a prostitute, rapacious, deceitful, artificial.' After all, as the omniscient narrator observes, the Parisian's two eternal strings [are] Self interest and Vanity'.

Of course, the sightseeing novice becomes entranced with the actress, with somewhat predictable by also strange consequences to both his past and present financial difficulties, all of which are resolved in a manner which made me laugh out loud.

Unlike a lot of Balzac's rather heavy handed depictions in his longer novels of the sordid and immoral treatment of good people, this work had a lightness and a joise-de-vivre quality showing that while he was appalled at the nefariousness of most Parisian practices, especially the financial ones, Balzac really loved his fellow citizens.

Tag This Book

This Book Has Been Tagged
It hasn't. Be the first to tag this book!

Our Recommendation

Get It This book is at its lowest price within the past year.

Notify Me When The Price...

  • $
  • If I'm already tracking this book...

to track this book on eReaderIQ.

Track These Authors

to track Honoré de Balzac on eReaderIQ.

  • to be notified each time the price drops on any book by Honoré de Balzac.
  • to stop tracking Honoré de Balzac.

Price Summary

  • We started tracking this book on June 21, 2019.
  • This book was $5.69 when we started tracking it.
  • The price of this book has changed 27 times in the past 1,742 days.
  • The current price of this book is $5.69 last checked 5 hours ago.
  • This book is at its lowest price in the past year.
  • The lowest price to date was $5.04 last reached on November 11, 2021.
  • This book has been $5.04 one time since we started tracking it.
  • The highest price to date was $6.99 last reached on January 7, 2022.
  • This book has been $6.99 2 times since we started tracking it.

Genres

Additional Info

  • Text-to-Speech: Disabled
  • Lending: Disabled
  • Print Length: 70 Pages
  • File Size: 101 KB

We last verified the price of this book about 5 hours ago. At that time, the price was $5.69. This price is subject to change. The price displayed on the Amazon.com website at the time of purchase is the price you will pay for this book. Please confirm the price before making any purchases.