These CDs will play in any CD/DVD player at home or in your car.

Louis Lambert
Honoré de Balzac (1799 - 1850)
Translated by Clara Bell (1835 - 1927) and Ellen Marriage (1865 - 1946)


Louis Lambert is an 1832 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), included in the Études philosophiques section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine. Set mostly in a school at Vendôme, it examines the life and theories of a boy genius fascinated by the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772).

Balzac wrote Louis Lambert during the summer of 1832 while he was staying with friends at the Château de Saché, and published three editions with three different titles. The novel contains a minimal plot, focusing mostly on the metaphysical ideas of its boy-genius protagonist and his only friend (eventually revealed to be Balzac himself). Although it is not a significant example of the realist style for which Balzac became famous, the novel provides insight into the author’s own childhood. Specific details and events from the author’s life – including punishment from teachers and social ostracism – suggest a fictionalized autobiography.

While he was a student at Vendôme, Balzac wrote an essay called Traité de la Volonté (”Treatise on the Will”); it is described in the novel as being written by Louis Lambert. The essay discusses the philosophy of Swedenborg and others, although Balzac did not explore many of the metaphysical concepts until much later in his life. Ideas analyzed in the essay and elsewhere in the novel include the split between inward and outward existence; the presence of angels and spiritual enlightenment; and the interplay between genius and madness.

Although critics panned the novel, Balzac remained steadfast in his belief that it provided an important look at philosophy, especially metaphysics.

This book was translated by Ellen Marriage using the pseudonym James Waring.

Read by Don W. Jenkins

Run Time 4 Hours in 4 Audio CDs

Section ---- Chapter --- Run Time

1 Ch 1 - 01:05:03
2 Ch 2 - 01:05:54
3 Ch 3 - 01:00:16
4 Ch 4 - 50:08
  • This item will be shipped secured in a bubble mailer to be shipped USPS Media Mail.
  • Our Audiobooks are Complete and Unabridged (unless otherwise indicated)
  • Our Audiobooks are always read by real people, never by computers.
  • Please Note: These recorded readings are from the author's original works which are in the public domain. All recordings and artwork are in the public domain and there are no infringements or copyrights. Each track starts with "This is a LibriVox recording...."
  • Although Librivox has graciously made these recordings available to the public domain, they are not associated with the sale of this product.


Public Domain Books

A public-domain book is a book with no copyright, a book that was created without a license, or a book where its copyrights expired or have been forfeited.

In most countries the of copyright expires on the first day of January, 70 years after the death of the latest living author. The longest copyright term is in Mexico, which has life plus 100 years for all deaths since July 1928.

A notable exception is the United States, where every book and tale published before 1926 is in the public domain; American copyrights last for 95 years for books originally published between 1925 and 1978 if the copyright was properly registered and maintained.