The famous French writer, one of the founders of realism in literature, Honore de Balzac persistently searched for the formula of his time, the formula of human existence. In search of a universal key to the human universe, he created a whole world - “The Human Comedy”, a unique cycle that unites several dozen novels and short stories and many characters. “My work,” Balzac wrote, “must incorporate all types of people, all social positions, it must embody all social changes, so that not a single life situation, not a single person, not a single character, male or female, -views... did not remain forgotten.” The novels included in this edition represent different parts of this cycle: “The Splendor and Poverty of Courtesans” - “Scenes of Parisian Life”, “Eugenia Grande” - “Scenes of Provincial Life”, “Lily of the Valley” - “Scenes of Country Life”. Secular beauties and fallen women, moneylenders and young ambitious people, aristocrats, bankers, police officers and the urban poor - all of them become heroes of Balzac, for whom the spiritual qualities of people do not depend on social status. An unsurpassed novelist, Balzac knew how to combine a fascinating plot and subtle psychological analysis, pictures of social mores and a poignant story of a specific person.