Father Goriot

Le Pere Goriot is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac, included in the Scenes de la vie privee section of his novel sequence La Comedie humaine. Pere Goriot is the tragic story of a father whose obsessive love for his two daughters leads to his financial and personal ruin. Interwoven with this theme is that of the impoverished young aristocrat, Rastignac, who came to Paris from the provinces to hopefully make his fortune. He befriends Goriot and becomes involved with the daughters. The story is set against the background of a whole society driven by social ambition and lust for wealth.