Facino Cane
1834
Balzac transforms a historical mercenary into a study of ambition's terrible costs. Facino Cane, a condottiero serving Venice, climbs from obscurity through warfare and cunning, amassing fortune and influence until he becomes indispensable to the Republic. But his hunger knows no bounds, and the very qualities that elevated him seal his downfall. Through a frame narrative where Balzac encounters a impoverished noble who once knew Cane, the novel explores how power corrupts, how reputation dissolves, and how the great always fall. Written with the psychological precision that would define La Comédie Humaine, this early Balzac work examines the Renaissance mercantile world where loyalty is transactional and men are merely instruments of statecraft. The prose carries the weight of tragic inevitability: we watch Cane's ascent knowing where it leads, and Balzac makes us feel every compromise along the way.
Editions
X-Ray
“En entendant ces gens, je pouvais épouser leur vie, je me sentais leurs guenilles sur le dos, je marchais les pieds dans leurs souliers percés ; leurs désirs, leurs besoins, tout passait dans mon âme, ou mon âme passait dans la leur.””
— Honoré de Balzac
Link to this book
Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/facino-cane-49483269-657e-439e-9bae-0e2bd71546eb"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read Facino Cane by Honoré de Balzac free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/facino-cane-49483269-657e-439e-9bae-0e2bd71546eb)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/facino-cane-49483269-657e-439e-9bae-0e2bd71546eb][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read Facino Cane by Honoré de Balzac free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/facino-cane-49483269-657e-439e-9bae-0e2bd71546ebCite this book
Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.
Balzac, Honoré de. Facino Cane. Lex, lex-books.com/book/facino-cane-49483269-657e-439e-9bae-0e2bd71546eb.Balzac, H. D. (1834). Facino Cane. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/facino-cane-49483269-657e-439e-9bae-0e2bd71546ebBalzac, Honoré de. Facino Cane. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/facino-cane-49483269-657e-439e-9bae-0e2bd71546eb.
