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nick_jenkins 's review for:
Pere Goriot
by Honoré de Balzac
I read the Ellen Marriage translation, which is the one Project Gutenberg provides. I also had a copy of the 1962 Henry Reed translation on hand, and I am very glad I read the Marriage translation--it is so much more amusingly magniloquent. "A sentiment--what is that but the whole world in a thought?" "There was no inspiration to be found in vulgar necessity, in debts contracted for past requirements." "The old maid lowered her eyes like a nun who sees a statue." "The demon of luxury gnawed at his heart, greed burned in his veins, his throat was parched with the thirst of gold." "If ever you explore a Parisian woman's heart, you will find the money-lender first, and the lover afterwards." "She lacked the two things which create woman a second time--pretty dresses and love-letters." "Little minds find gratification for their feelings, benevolent or otherwise, by a constant exercise of petty ingenuity." What fun!