{"product_id":"balzacs-paris","title":"Balzacs Paris","description":"In Balzac’s vast \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;Human Comedy\u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt;, a body of ninety-one completed novels and stories, he endeavoured to create a complete picture of contemporary French society and manners. Within this work is a loving ode to Paris and an incomparable introduction to the first capital of the modern world.\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;To this ageless city he makes a declaration of love in an accumulation of finely observed detail – the cafés, landmarks, avenues, parks – and captures the populace in countless meticulously drawn portraits: its lawyers, grisettes, journalists, concierges, usurers, salesmen, speculators.\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;Balzac gathered the elements of this Paris by sauntering through it. ‘To saunter is a science,’ he writes, ‘it is the gastronomy of the eye. To take a walk is to vegetate; to saunter is to live.’ Eric Hazan follows in Balzac’s footsteps, criss-crossing the city in the novelist’s outsize boots, running between printers, publishers, coffee merchants, mistresses and friends, stopping for a moment, struck by a detail that would be fixed in Balzac’s photographic memory.\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;More than a tour of the city, \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;Balzac’s Paris\u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt; is an attempt to measure the soul of a city as recovered in its finest literature.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57400382423422,"sku":"NW9781839767258","price":16.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781839767258.jpg?v=1778607710","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/en-eu\/products\/balzacs-paris","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}