Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus, a sequence of almost 100 novels and plays collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, presents a panorama of French life in the years after the fall of Napoléon Bonaparte in 1815.

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. He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters; even his lesser characters are complex, morally ambiguous, and fully human. Inanimate objects are imbued with character as well; the city of Paris, a backdrop for much of his writing, takes on many human qualities.

His writing influenced many famous writers, including novelists Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert, and Henry James, as well as filmmakers François Truffaut and Jacques Rivette. Many of Balzac's works have been adapted into films and continue to inspire other writers. James famously called him "really the father of us all."

Despite being an enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac struggled to adapt to the teaching style of his grammar school. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in business.

After finishing school, Balzac was apprenticed in a law office but turned his back on studying law after tiring of its inhumanity and banal routine. During his writing career, he also attempted to be a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician, but failed in these efforts.

La Comédie humaine reflects his real-life difficulties, including scenes from his own experiences. Balzac suffered from health problems throughout his life, possibly due to his intense writing schedule. His relationship with his family was often strained by financial and personal drama, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews.

In 1850, Balzac married Ewelina Hańska (née Contessa Rzewuska), a Polish aristocrat and his longtime love. He died in Paris six months later.