Honoré de Balzac, Louis Lambert

Michael Tilby (University of Cambridge)
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Louis Lambert

, which was first published in October 1832 as one of Balzac’s

Nouveaux contes philosophiques

[New Philosophical Tales], was eventually incorporated, following considerable expansion and modification, in the section of his

Comédie humaine

[Human Comedy] entitled

Études philosophiques

[Philosophical Studies]. Significantly longer than the other three stories that comprised the original collection (

Maître Cornélius

,

Madame Firmiani

, and

L’Auberge rouge

[The Red Inn]), it continued the author’s fascination with the destructive nature of thought when pursued to excess. It thus provided a further illustration of what the emergent critic Philarète Chasles had described, in the Introduction he had written to the

Romans et contes philosophiques

[Philosophical Novels and…

3604 words

Citation: Tilby, Michael. "Louis Lambert". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 November 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21925, accessed 19 March 2024.]

21925 Louis Lambert 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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