The literary landscape after 1800 is marked by monumental achievements by fiction writers. Honore de Balzacs title La Comedie Humaine, with its suggestion of universality, fits well its creators vast ambitions, energies, and visions, both artistic and social. Victor Hugos first great novel, Notre-Dame de Paris dominates Romantic fiction the way the cathedral dominates the city in his masterful reconstruction. Add to the list such impressive writers...