Abstract: The reading of Balzac by a non-specialist audience raises both specific questions and issues related to the accessibility of a “classic.” As with any encyclopedic author, the abundance of (sometimes obsolete) knowledge accentuates the difficulty. Moreover, the overall organization of the works in La Comédie humaine deprives the casual reader of the background needed to understand it: this leads to a proliferation of footnotes even if this means contradicting Balzac’s intentions and the logic of the fiction.
