Day 9, Aug 9, Sun - p39 “Madame de Bargeton was by now thirty-six years old…” to p46 “So that to exclude the Receiver-General…this appeared inexplicable to the officials thus disdained.” #balzactogether

For translations by K. Raine: 8/8. 32-37 8/9. 37-46 8/10. 46-50 8/11. 50-57 8/12. 57-60 break 8/13. 60-68 8/14. 68-73 David who had never in his life known one rune from another...Eve and the young printer. The Two Poets #Balzactogether week 2

early days in LOST ILLUSIONS but I miss the slightly claustrophobic, cloistered Parisian boarding house setting of OLD GORIOT. #balzactogether

Are grown-up children in Balzac spoiled or prematurely worn down by life? I love this line from p15 from David: "Well, I had to live, and I had to buy books." #balzactogether

The tale of two neighboring cities -- I like the way ch 2 pulls back to a wider lens. I'm also thinking about that earlier line about how it meant one's doom going off to live in Paris. #balzactogether

Week 2 of LOST ILLUSIONS starts today! #balzactogether

ch2 Madame de Bargeton Day 8, Aug 8, Sat - p32 “Angoulême is an ancient town built on the summit of a cone-shaped rock…” to p38 “At the time however it looked as if Monsieur de Nègrepelisse…” #balzactogether

Early piece on my favorite band ever PAVEMENT by Alex Ross. “Well, you’re my fact-checking cuz.” therestisnoise.com/pavement-1997/

Day 7, Aug 7, Fri - DAY TO CATCH UP #balzactogether

i'm struggling with Vineland. What's your favorite Pynchon? Mine remains The Crying of Lot 49.

Day 6, Aug 6, Thurs - p29 SHORT DAY “‘After writing all these poems’” to p31 end of ch1 #balzactogether

Day 5, Aug 5, Wed - p22 “When chance brought these two school friends together against Lucien…” to p29 “‘A poet discovered by another poet!’ he cried, when he saw by whom the preface was signed.” #balzactogether

Day 4, Aug 4, Tues - SHORT DAY p20 “After this sale of the Charente Advertiser…” to p22 “Spurred on by his father who…at the time Séchard was finishing his studies there.” #balzactogether

A sharp distinction is made between the agony of the sale, and the agony of turning a sale into cash! Balzac the shrewd businessman in his own way. #BalzacTogether

Monkeys, bears and the Devil. Balzac makes a mundane profession come to life. “From this sink seeped away a decoction of ink mingled with the household slops, and that gave the peasants passing by on market-days the idea that the Devil was taking his ablutions inside the house.” #balzactogether

“…they have their part to play in this great and trivial story.”- Balzac, Lost Illusions #BalzacTogether

Day 3, Aug 3, Mon - p14 “‘But father, you are bleeding me white!’” to p20 “By way of compensation…the prodigious figure of twelve hundred francs a year.” #balzactogether

here's a bull's eye window #balzactogether

what's balzac's honesty when it comes to fathers and sons/daughters? it's refreshing today. must have been shocking back in the 19th century. #balzactogether

#balzactogether there's something to be said about not overediting when it comes to rhythm. Balzac piles on the 'facts' of a story, including how much things cost and investment return specifics, which I love, but he doesn't lose the beat.

Piaze@piaze.bsky.social · last wk.

Love how the five word aphorism breaks the tempo of the rolling sentences. Boom.

Day 2, Aug 2, Sun - p7 “If this aged printer had not long since shown how far his blind cupidity could go…” to p14 “Nonetheless, since Jérôme-Nicholas Séchard had brought the entire concern…young David exclaimed:” #balzactogether

Section ends on maybe my favorite line so far. That and “When poverty ceases, avarice begins.”

"Each image fits into place, with the calm Of not having too many, of having just enough. We live in the sigh of our present." – John Ashbery, "Blue Sonata" #botd #books #literature

From the archives, celebrating Emily Brontë #botd In Episode 763, @jackewilson.bsky.social takes a look at the five reviews of Wuthering Heights that Emily Brontë clipped and kept in her desk drawer between the book's publication and her tragically early death at the age of 30. #books #literature

763 Emily's Desk Drawer

After the publication of her debut novel Wuthering Heights in December of 1847, Emily Brontë - still writing under her pen name Ellis Bell - joined Currer and Acton…

historyofliterature.com

Our 8/20 issue is now online, with @danielmendelsohn.bsky.social on the Odyssey, Michael Greenberg on the DSA, Mark Danner on Trump in decline, @lauramarsh.bsky.social on John Lanchester, @davidcole-gtown.bsky.social on the Supreme Court’s power grab, a poem by Anne Carson & much more.

August 20, 2026 Summer Issue

Table of Contents

nybooks.com

reading a bit of balzac's bio. imagine frantically turning to novel writing as a career because you have debts! what a different planet 18th-19th century france was. #balzactogether

here we go! we are in full summer mode now...a little balzac to remind us that august means books. PART ONE: THE TWO POETS ch1 A provincial printing-office Day 1, Aug 1, Sat - start p3 to p7 “This costume…without his clothes than you could imagine an onion without its peel.” #balzactogether

A terrific book. THE HIDDEN WEALTH OF NATIONS by Gabriel Zucman. Here's a teaser. gabriel-zucman.eu/files/press/...

allez-y! #balzactogether week 1 schedule has landed!

Finally read this seminal book on race! Spoiler alert: there are positives to minorities sitting together in the cafeteria.