Balzac translations

What translation of Balzac do you recommend? In particular, are there any modern translations of The Human Comedy?

I just read a Signet Classic edition of Pere Goriot, which is one of the novels of the Human Comedy. It's translated by Henry Reed. Reed says in his Afterword that Balzac continued to make changes to his novels after their original publication, usually adding in material, and not always to the books' ultimate benefit. He adds that many current (circa 1981) French editions of Balzac actually go back to earlier, somewhat sparer, versions. Reed himself (and Signet) presented Balzac's final version of Goriot. I don't know if that helps you any, but it's all I've got, Balzac-wise.

A comparison of various renderings into English of works by Honoré de Balzac is in the Encyclopedia of Literary Translation Into English: A-L,” edited by Olive Classe, starting on page 98. It can be searched online at Google books.

A nice translation into English by E. K. Brown of Le Père Goriot can be found in Modern Library’s 1946 edition of Père Goriot and Eugénie Grandet, which includes an introduction to both novels by Professor Brown.

In 1998 W. W. Norton published an edition of Le Père Goriot rendered by the wonderful — and indefatiguable — Burton Raffel. I haven’t inspected it; but Raffel’s translations of other works, e.g., The Canterbury Tales, and Don Quijote, are exceptional, and his Le Père Goriot has been received with approbation in the press; it is probably worth a look.

Raffel's translation of Pere Goriot deserves all the praise it has received. I completely enjoyed this novel and am will try to read all of the Human Comedy - or at least those translated to English.