Oscar Wilde on Balzac: ÒIt was said of Trollope that he increased the number of our acquaintances without adding to our visiting list; but after the Comedie humaine one begins to believe that the only real people are the people who have never existed. Lucien de Rubempre, le Pere Goriot, Ursule Mirouet, Marguerite Claes, the Baron Hulot, Madame Marneffe, le Cousin Pons, De Marsay--all bring with them a kind of contagious illusion of life. They have a fierce vitality about them: their existence is fervent and fiery-coloured; we not merely feel for them but we see them--they dominate our fancy and define scepticism. A steady course of Balzac reduces our living friends to shadows, and our acquaintances to the shadows of shades. Who would care to go out to an evening party to meet Tomkins, the friend of oneÕs boyhood, when one can sit at home with Lucien de Rubempre? It is pleasanter to have the entree to BalzacÕs society than to receive cards from all the duchesses in Mayfair.Ó