Facino Cane

The novella unfolds around a blind old man, Facino Cane who claims to be a descendant of the 14th century condottiere of the same name. The narrator meets Facino Cane at a wedding, and begins a conversation with him. Facino then recounts his life story involving the most extraordinary tales of murder, exile, buried treasure, incarceration and a daring escape.

A thoroughly enticing and enthralling short story, with a narrator that has a magnificent knack for getting inside another person's head. This demonstrates that Balzac could have mastered the melodramatic adventure style of writing for which Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo are best known. If slightly longer, 'Facino Cane' would be a ready companion piece to Dumas' epic 'The Count of Monte Cristo'.

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) was a French novelist and playwright, most famous for his collection of novels and plays, collectively called 'The Human Comedy'. His detailed observation of humanity and realistic depiction of society makes him one of the earliest representatives of realism in Europe. He was a master-creator of complex characters that often found themselves in ambiguous moral dilemmas.