Lucien, tired of drinking from the rudely-fashioned cup of poverty, was on the verge of making one of those drastic decisions which young men of twenty are apt to make.

Handsome would-be poet Lucien Chardon is poor and naive, but highly ambitious. Failing to make his name in his dull provincial hometown, he is taken up by a patroness, the captivating married woman Madame de Bargeton, and prepares to forge his way in the glamorous beau monde of Paris. But Lucien has entered a world far more dangerous than he realizes, as Madame de Bargeton's reputation becomes compromised and the fickle, venomous denizens of the courts and salons conspire to keep him out of their ranks. Lucien eventually learns that, wherever he goes, talent counts for nothing in comparison to money, intrigue and unscrupulousness. Lost Illusions is one of the greatest novels in the rich procession of the Com6die humaine, Balzac'spanoramic social and moral history of his times.

Introduction

Chronology

Further Reading

PART I.: THE TWO POETS

A provincial printing-office

Madame de Bargeton

A social evening and a riverside stroll

Catastrophic sequels to provincial love

PART II: A GREAT MAN IN EMBRYO

First-fruits

Flicoteaux

Two varieties of publishers

First friendship

The 'Cenade'

The flowers of poverty

A newspaper seen from outside

The sonnets

Good advice

A third variety of publisher

The Wooden Galleries

A publisher's bookshop in the Wooden Calleries

A fourth variety of publisher

Behind the scenes

A use for druggists

Coralie

How a news-sheet is edited

The supper

An actress's apartments

Last visit to the CAnacle

A variety of journalist

Boots can change one's way of life

The arcana of journalism

Re-enter Dauriat

The battle begins

Dauriat pays a call

A study in the art of recantation

Journalistic grandeurs and servitudes

The playwrights' banker

A journalist's christening-party

Polite society

The 'viveurs'

A fifth variety of publisher

Blackmail

The m0ney-brokers

A change of front

Finot's finesses

The fateful week

Skulduggery

Farewdls

PART III: AN INVENTOR'S TRIBULATIONS

Introduction

The doleful confession of a 'child of the age'

Back-kick from a donkey

THE HISTORY OF A LAW-SUIT

The problem at issue

A plucky wife

A Judas in the making

The two Cointets

The first thunderbolt

A glance at paper-making

Provincial solicitors

A free lecture on dishonoured bills for those unable

to meet them

Lucien under distraint

'Your house is on fire'

A contrast in loyalties

Keeping the fire going

Climax

Imprisonment for debt in the provinces

An obdurate father

~ The pack pauses before the kill

A bride for Petit-Claud

The Curd has his say

THE FATAL MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

The prodigal's return

An unexpected triumph

How the triumph had been staged

A rare kind of devotion

The pride of his province ?

The snake in the grass

Lucien takes his revenge

The peak of disaster

A last farewell

A chance encounter

The story of a favourite

A history lecture for the ambitious - by a disciple

of Machiavelli

A lecture on ethics - by a disciple of Mendoza

A Spanish profile

Why criminality and corruption go hand in hand

On the brink of surrender

The effect of a night in gaol

A day too late

The history of a business venture

Conclusion