Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) worked as a clerk, printer, and publisher before devoting himself entirely to writing fiction. A leading figure in the development of realism in European literature, he wrote more than one hundred volumes of stories, novellas, and novels, including Père Goriot, Eugénie Grandet, and Le Peau de chagrin.
Raymond N. MacKenzie is professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. His previous translations include Barbey d’Aurevilly’s Diaboliques, Stendhal’s Italian Chronicles, and Lamartine’s Graziella (all from Minnesota). His translation of Lost Souls, Balzac’s continuation of Lost Illusions, will be published by Minnesota in 2020.