"Father Goriot" is one of the best-known and most influential novels of Balzac’s vast collection "The Human Comedy". It was first published in 1835 and it begins at the boarding house Maison Vauquer, owned by Madame Vauquer. Three of the tenants are central characters in the story: Goriot, Vautrin and Rastignac.
The novel tells the story of the education of the young Eugène de Rastignac, as well as the tragic decline of Father Goriot. The novel contains many of the features which became hallmarks of Balzac’s works, including characters who recur in several books, a preoccupation with money, all-consuming passions and a depiction of young heroes and beautiful women belonging to the upper-class society of the time.
