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<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:podcast="https://podcastindex.org/namespace/1.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" version="2.0"><channel><title>Lost Illusions: Ève and David</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/lost-illusions-eve-and-david--7088435</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><atom:link href="https://www.spreaker.com/show/7088435/episodes/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><language>en</language><category>Books</category><copyright>Copyright Literary Fiction Genre</copyright><image><url>https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg</url><title>Lost Illusions: Ève and David</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/lost-illusions-eve-and-david--7088435</link></image><lastBuildDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:14:12 +0000</lastBuildDate><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:owner><itunes:name>Literary Fiction Genre</itunes:name><itunes:email>spreaker64@podcastlibrary.org</itunes:email></itunes:owner><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:category text="Arts"><itunes:category text="Books"/></itunes:category><itunes:category text="Kids &amp; Family"><itunes:category text="Pets &amp; Animals"/></itunes:category><itunes:category text="Science"><itunes:category text="Nature"/></itunes:category><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><podcast:guid>2ea4da24-56ac-52d5-947d-5ba1e352eee9</podcast:guid><itunes:type>episodic</itunes:type><item><title>English Poems-Various</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/english-poems-various--74394464</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74394464</guid><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:01:22 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74394464/english_poems_various.mp3" length="20690332" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>2584</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Satires-Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/satires-decimus-iunius-iuvenalis--74365329</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74365329</guid><pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:51 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74365329/satires_decimus_iunius_iuvenalis.mp3" length="152905447" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>19094</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Metamorphosis (version 4)-Franz Kafka</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/metamorphosis-version-4-franz-kafka--74343996</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74343996</guid><pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 09:00:46 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74343996/metamorphosis_version_4_franz_kafka.mp3" length="69096189" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>8628</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Peeps at People - Being Certain Papers from the Writings of Anne Warrington Witherup (Dramatic Reading)-John Kendrick Bangs</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/peeps-at-people-being-certain-papers-from-the-writings-of-anne-warrington-witherup-dramatic-reading-john-kendrick-bangs--74316207</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74316207</guid><pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 09:00:50 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74316207/peeps_at_people_being_certain_papers_from_the_writings_of_anne_warrington_witherup_dramatic_reading_john_kendrick_bangs.mp3" length="76083010" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>9501</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 080-Various</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/short-nonfiction-collection-vol-080-various--74296396</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74296396</guid><pubDate>Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:00:47 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74296396/short_nonfiction_collection_vol_080_various.mp3" length="204890261" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>25586</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Spring of Joy A Little Book of Healing-Mary Webb</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/spring-of-joy-a-little-book-of-healing-mary-webb--74275323</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74275323</guid><pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:00:54 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74275323/spring_of_joy_a_little_book_of_healing_mary_webb.mp3" length="86799966" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>10839</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>As I Lay Dying-William Faulkner</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/as-i-lay-dying-william-faulkner--74256702</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74256702</guid><pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:00:46 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74256702/as_i_lay_dying_william_faulkner.mp3" length="184958715" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>23096</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 074-Various</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/short-nonfiction-collection-vol-074-various--74239408</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74239408</guid><pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:00:49 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74239408/short_nonfiction_collection_vol_074_various.mp3" length="231429201" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>28899</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>France At War On the Frontier of Civilization-Rudyard Kipling</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/france-at-war-on-the-frontier-of-civilization-rudyard-kipling--74223560</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74223560</guid><pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:00:46 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74223560/france_at_war_on_the_frontier_of_civilization_rudyard_kipling.mp3" length="49187898" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>6142</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>House by the Medlar Tree-Giovanni Verga</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/house-by-the-medlar-tree-giovanni-verga--74198867</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74198867</guid><pubDate>Sat, 29 Aug 2026 09:00:44 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74198867/house_by_the_medlar_tree_giovanni_verga.mp3" length="268315765" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>33506</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Anne of Green Gables (Dramatic Reading)-Lucy Maud Montgomery</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/anne-of-green-gables-dramatic-reading-lucy-maud-montgomery--74169627</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74169627</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:57 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74169627/anne_of_green_gables_dramatic_reading_lucy_maud_montgomery.mp3" length="278587458" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>34789</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Three Girls in a Flat-Laura Hayes, Jean Loughborough, Enid Yandell</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/three-girls-in-a-flat-laura-hayes-jean-loughborough-enid-yandell--74141070</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74141070</guid><pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:53 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74141070/three_girls_in_a_flat_laura_hayes_jean_loughborough_enid_yandell.mp3" length="98934948" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>12354</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>IF-Rudyard Kipling (13211)</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/if-rudyard-kipling-13211--74087793</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74087793</guid><pubDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:00:59 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74087793/if_rudyard_kipling_13211.mp3" length="31042914" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>3877</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Friendly Road, New Adventures in Contentment-Ray Stannard Baker</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/friendly-road-new-adventures-in-contentment-ray-stannard-baker--74063860</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74063860</guid><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:00:43 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74063860/friendly_road_new_adventures_in_contentment_ray_stannard_baker.mp3" length="208054415" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>25980</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Malachi, from Horae Homileticae-Charles Simeon</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/malachi-from-horae-homileticae-charles-simeon--74039197</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74039197</guid><pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:02:09 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74039197/malachi_from_horae_homileticae_charles_simeon.mp3" length="70372979" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>8788</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Sir Thomas More-Anthony Munday</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/sir-thomas-more-anthony-munday--74016993</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74016993</guid><pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2026 09:02:04 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74016993/sir_thomas_more_anthony_munday.mp3" length="70277520" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>8776</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Wouldbegoods (Version 2 Dramatic Reading)-E. Nesbit</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/wouldbegoods-version-2-dramatic-reading-e-nesbit--73992696</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73992696</guid><pubDate>Sat, 22 Aug 2026 09:01:31 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73992696/wouldbegoods_version_2_dramatic_reading_e_nesbit.mp3" length="271757877" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>33935</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 065-Various</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/short-nonfiction-collection-vol-065-various--73969395</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73969395</guid><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:01:33 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73969395/short_nonfiction_collection_vol_065_various.mp3" length="202104493" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>25238</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Maid of Maiden Lane (dramatic reading)-Amelia E. Barr</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/maid-of-maiden-lane-dramatic-reading-amelia-e-barr--73946815</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73946815</guid><pubDate>Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:01:43 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73946815/6850_maid_of_maiden_lane_dramatic_reading_amelia_e_barr.mp3" length="238049339" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>29726</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Poems of William Blake-William Blake</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/poems-of-william-blake-william-blake--73921976</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73921976</guid><pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:01:20 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73921976/poems_of_william_blake_william_blake.mp3" length="26451499" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>3303</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Road to Understanding-Eleanor H. Porter</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/road-to-understanding-eleanor-h-porter--73897115</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73897115</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:01:49 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73897115/road_to_understanding_eleanor_h_porter.mp3" length="279733959" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>34932</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Turmoil (Growth Trilogy Vol 1)-Booth Tarkington</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/turmoil-growth-trilogy-vol-1-booth-tarkington--73872770</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73872770</guid><pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:01:39 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73872770/turmoil_growth_trilogy_vol_1_booth_tarkington.mp3" length="270422784" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>33769</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Science and the Modern World-Alfred North Whitehead</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/science-and-the-modern-world-alfred-north-whitehead--73852186</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73852186</guid><pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:01:33 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73852186/science_and_the_modern_world_alfred_north_whitehead.mp3" length="219089251" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>27359</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>An Essay on Criticism</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/an-essay-on-criticism--73835569</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73835569</guid><pubDate>Sat, 15 Aug 2026 09:02:21 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73835569/an_essay_on_criticism.mp3" length="21756952" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>2717</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Commission in Lunacy-Honoré de Balzac</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/commission-in-lunacy-honore-de-balzac--73799310</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73799310</guid><pubDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:07:38 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73799310/commission_in_lunacy_honore_de_balzac.mp3" length="103727665" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>12953</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Ball at Sceaux-Honoré de Balzac</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ball-at-sceaux-honore-de-balzac--73343470</link><description><![CDATA["Ball at Sceaux" by Honoré de Balzac captures the vibrant social dynamics and intricate relationships of Parisian society. This novella immerses listeners in a world where ambition, love, and the pursuit of status intertwine, illustrating the timeless struggles of individuals navigating societal expectations. Balzac’s keen observations on human nature and the complexities of social interactions remain relevant today, as they mirror contemporary themes of aspiration and the quest for identity. The story invites reflection on how personal desires can be influenced by the pressures of society, making it a captivating exploration of the human experience that resonates across generations.]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73343470</guid><pubDate>Sun, 02 Aug 2026 17:24:09 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73343470/ball_at_sceaux_honore_de_balzac.mp3" length="78637454" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>"Ball at Sceaux" by Honoré de Balzac captures the vibrant social dynamics and intricate relationships of Parisian society. This novella immerses listeners in a world where ambition, love, and the pursuit of status intertwine, illustrating the timeless...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA["Ball at Sceaux" by Honoré de Balzac captures the vibrant social dynamics and intricate relationships of Parisian society. This novella immerses listeners in a world where ambition, love, and the pursuit of status intertwine, illustrating the timeless struggles of individuals navigating societal expectations. Balzac’s keen observations on human nature and the complexities of social interactions remain relevant today, as they mirror contemporary themes of aspiration and the quest for identity. The story invites reflection on how personal desires can be influenced by the pressures of society, making it a captivating exploration of the human experience that resonates across generations.]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>9820</itunes:duration><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Lost Illusions Eve and David - Honore de Balzac</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/lost-illusions-eve-and-david-honore-de-balzac--72389411</link><description><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/72389411</guid><pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2026 15:52:48 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72389411/lost_illusions_eve_and_david_honore_de_balzac.mp3" length="240125108" type="audio/mpeg"/><itunes:author>Honoré de Balzac</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets,...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Ève and David (1843) is the final book in Balzac’s Lost Illusions trilogy, which is part of his sweeping set of novels collectively titled La Comédie Humaine. The story is set in post-Napoleonic France. In the first volume of the trilogy (Two Poets, 1837), we meet Lucien Chardon, an aspiring poet frustrated by the pettiness of provincial life. In the second volume (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, 1839) Lucien, now using the more aristocratic-sounding surname "de Rubempré," leaves his family in order to seek fame and fortune in the literary world of Paris. By the end of that book, he faced imminent emotional and financial collapse.In this present volume, the reader is returned to the provincial town of Angoulême, where Lucien's sister Ève and her husband, Lucien's friend David, have been desperately struggling against clever competition to keep a their printing shop afloat. Their situation is complicated when Lucien's financial distress spills over into their lives.Balzac’s work was hugely influential in the development of realism in fiction. The Lost Illusions trilogy is one of his greatest achievements, and is named in the reference work 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)Other volumes in this series:Lost Illusions: Two PoetsLost Illusions: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The story of Lucien de Rubempré continues in the sequel, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>30016</itunes:duration><itunes:keywords>balzac,david,illusions,literary,lost,lucien,paris,provincial,rubempr,trilogy</itunes:keywords><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7a84b28496a3ce156a0390dc88408726.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item></channel></rss>
