The complete online text of Adieu by Honoré de Balzac.

Had Balzac been a less masterful novelist, the disreputably profligate fraud in him might have overwhelmed his artistry. Still, the other Balzac, the artist, is tainted by his well-earned reputation for what has been called artistic license or dishonesty...

The French novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) was the first writer to use fiction to convey the total social scene prevailing within one country at a particular period in its history. Commonly regarded as the founder of social realism, he also...

Italian designer Valentino bid adieu to fashion with a star-studded haute couture show in Paris on Wednesday, ending a 45-year career that saw him dressing luminaries from Jacqueline Kennedy to Julia Roberts.Celebrities, socialites and fashion editors gave the 75-year-old couturier a rousing standing ovation as...

The Hold Steady’s second album, Separation Sunday, starts late at night, in a quiet, dirty room. As lead singer Craig Finn tells it in the opening verse, the girl looks down at what’s left and, with tired apprehension, says to the boy: “I won’t be...

Alessandra Ferri and Kyra Nichols, beloved ballerinas with more than a half-century of performing between them, are as different in style and temperament as they come.But over the weekend, they were linked forever by a quirk of circumstance: They ended their storied New York careers...

New languages are discovered every year, and “goodbye” is a lousy word in every one of them. We said it a lot in 2005, with sadness every time. But before we throw out the Dom from New Year’s Eve and say hello to a brand-new...