<p>Honoré de Balzac's 'Father Goriot' is an exquisite exploration of society, ambition, and paternal devotion set during the post-Napoleonic Restoration period. Sweeping across the stratified layers of Parisian society, the novel is part of Balzac's grand scale La Comédie Humaine, his ambitious series documenting and dissecting the nuances of French life. Balzac's penetrating prose encapsulates the variegated human experience through the masterfu...