Honore de Balzac is widely considered as one of the most influential writers in the history of French literature. His multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and short stories entitled "The Human Comedy" is his magnum opus. It is an examination of the human experience depicting French society in the period of the Restoration and the July Monarchy. Thirteen of the short stories of Balzac"s masterpiece makeup this collection. They include the following tales: "El Verdugo", "Domestic Peace", "Study of a Woman", "Another Study of Woman, "An Episode Under the Terror", "The Conscript", "The Red Inn", "The Purse", "La Grande Breteche", "A Seaside Tragedy", "The Atheist"s Mass", "Facino Cane", and "Pierre Grassou".