Honoré de Balzac, born Honoré Balzac on May 20, 1799 (1st prairial year VII of the Republican calendar) in Tours and died on August 18, 1850 (aged 51) in Paris, is a French writer.
Novelist, playwright, literary critic, art critic, essayist, journalist and printer, he left one of the most imposing romantic works in French literature, with more than ninety novels and short stories published from 1829 to 1855 , brought together under the title The Human Comedy.
Added to this are Les Cent Contes drolatiques, as well as youth novels published under pseudonyms and some twenty-five sketched works.
Born to an imperial civil servant father, Honoré de Balzac was placed in foster care and grew up far from a mother who preferred an illegitimate child.
In 1814, his family moved to Paris.
After studying law, Honoré de Balzac entered the notary clerk's office of Maître Guillonet Merville.
But he refused to embrace this career and became a journalist and novelist. (Audio book)