Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Honoré de Balzac, James Waring
Paperback
(Independently published, March 10, 2019)
Lucien de Rubempré (born Lucien Chardon), a young provincial poet with great ambitions but feeble moral will, is heading for Paris in the company of a mysterious Spanish priest. We quickly discover that the "Spanish priest" is actually Jacques Collin, alias "Vautrin," a master criminal first introduced to readers in Balzac's Father Goriot. Lucien develops a relationship with Esther van Gobseck, a prostitute (the "courtesan" of the title). With these three main figures — Lucien, Vautrin, and Esther — Balzac explores the corruption of the aristocracy, the world of prostitution, the courts, and the prisons of 19th-century Paris.