Honoré de Balzac

Writer, known for Lost Illusions, La Belle Noiseuse, Orson Welles' Great Mysteries

Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. He is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. Balzac's first project was a libretto for a comic opera called "Le Corsaire", based on Lord Byron's "The Corsair". In 1820 he completed the five-act verse tragedy Cromwell. After writing…