This reader's guide provides the reader with some information about each of Balzac's works like content, length, and how the story fits into the Comedie Humaine chronology. With this information the reader can hopefully choose a story that matches his or her tastes and available free time.
Plot summaries of the Comedie Humaine are arranged according to the time that events occur in the fictional world of the Comedie Humaine. Common names for English translations are given first, followed by a list of years that the action in the novel takes place in, a plot summary and other interesting information from Graham Robb's biography of Balzac, the length of the story (very short, short, medium, long, very long) the French name of the text, and finally the name of the file at Project Gutenberg where the story can be found. Find the original French texts here. The introductions of two other Balzac short story collections included in the references below were consulted.