Unconscious Comedians

When provincial manufacturer Gazonal arrives in Paris fighting a ruinous lawsuit over a dam, he enters a city that seems to him expensive, absurd, and ruled by invisible forces. His surprise at discovering that his brilliant cousin, the former poor artist Leon de Lora, is now a celebrated, wealthy painter sets the tone for a comic clash between provincial plainness and Parisian brilliance. At a lavish breakfast with Leon and the sardonic Bixiou, Gazonal denounces lawyers, officials, and bureaucracy in blunt, earthy terms, and his outrage only deepens their fascination with him. What follows is a satirical tour of Parisian life: the Opera's dancers, singers, and backstage intrigues; the newspaper world; the police informant Fromenteau; and the city's endless web of influence, debt, and spectacle. Leon and Bixiou reveal how art, commerce, politics, and corruption are inseparable, while Gazonal watches in astonishment as even a lawsuit seems to depend on social connections he never imagined mattered. Their journey continues through a gallery of "modern originals," from the self-important hatter Vital to the ambitious porter Ravenouillet, and ends in the polished, predatory world of financiers like Vauvinet, where credit, speculation, and opportunism are the true currency of Paris. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.