Zoom Presentation - Balzac's Paris, and contemporary realist fiction. Illusions Lost et Paris rediscovered. Friday 17 April 2026 - 7.30pm with Vincent Raymond Barker

Vincent first read "Le Père Goriot" in 1976… Difficulty at the start, was followed by the discovery of a new world where Paris is "a veritable ocean" or sometimes "a real mess". The speaker will describe Balzac, his Paris and the story of Lucien Chardon in "Les Illusions perdues". There will be excerpts from a film based on the novel. We will read together extracts from some modern realist novels and short stories which also depict Paris. The conference's objective is to motivate us to read or to re-read Balzac, whilst introducing us at the same time to other much more contemporary realist writers. The conference is packed with stories of Paris and literary extracts which are not too difficult.