“This is not Rabelais, not Voltaire, not Hoffmann; this is Balzac,” the magazine “Revue des Deux Mondes” wrote during the life of the French novelist. Years have passed, but nothing has changed: Balzac's prose has become even more relevant. Someone called Balzac “a treasure of world literature”, someone called him “a priceless storehouse of intelligence”... “The brightest meteor”... “The diamond of literature”... That’s all true. True, it should be added: the great French writer is much larger, broader and grander than all the epithets put together. Hundreds of books and thousands of studies have been written about Balzac. And this further increases the significance of the book that you, dear reader, are holding in your hands. The uniqueness of the new work of the writer Victor Sencha is that for the first time in recent years a fictionalized biography of Balzac, created by a Russian-speaking author, is being published. Precisely a biography, but by no means a study of the novelist’s creative heritage. The breadth of historical material presented by the author, the reflection of social characteristics characteristic of France in the 19th century, make the story even more fascinating and meaningful. That is why the biography of the great Frenchman in a new presentation, written in a bright and lively language, turned out to be interesting, exciting and in many ways instructive. The author’s new book allows you to look at the hero not only as a brilliant master of the pen, but also as an enterprising businessman, treasure hunter, traveler, a loving ladies' man and an unsuccessful politician. And also an ordinary person, with his own habits, weaknesses and shortcomings, but still a genius. But no matter how Honore de Balzac looks in different situations, he is always magnificent! The publishing layout is saved in a4.pdf format.