Owing to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. Balzac sought to present his characters as real people, neither fully good nor fully evil, but completely human. His labyrinthine city provided a literary model used later by English novelist Charles Dickens and Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. The novel sequence La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his magnum opus.. An original illustration. Contents: The Human Comedy THE HISTORY OF 'LA COMEDIE HUMAINE' AVANT-PROPOS (PREFACE) Rue Nationale, Tours, today STUDIES OF MANNERS IN THE 19TH CENTURY Other works The short stories The plays The Criticism RESOURCES Women in the Life of Balzak