Honore de Balzac's La Comédie humaine is a multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration (1815–1830) and the July Monarchy (1830–1848).

The Comédie humaine consists of ninety-one finished works (stories, novels or analytical essays) and forty-six unfinished works (some of which exist only as titles).

It does not include Balzac's five theatrical plays or his collection of humorous tales, the "Contes drolatiques" (1832–37).

The title of the series is usually considered an allusion to Dante's Divine Comedy; while Ferdinand Brunetière, the famous French literary critic, suggests that it may stem from poems by Alfred de Musset or Alfred de Vigny.

While Balzac sought the comprehensive scope of Dante, his title indicates the worldly, human concerns of a realist novelist.

The stories are placed in a variety of settings, with characters reappearing in multiple stories.

In 1839, in a letter to his publisher, Balzac mentioned for the first time the expression Comédie humaine, and this title is in the contract he signed in 1841.

The publication of the Comédie humaine in 1842 was preceded by an important preface or "avant-propos" describing his major principles and the work's overall structure (see below).

For this edition, novels which had appeared in serial form were stricken of their chapter titles.

Balzac's intended collection will never be finished.

In 1845, Balzac had written a complete catalogue of the ensemble which includes works he started or envisioned but never finished.

In some cases, Balzac moves a work around between different sections as his overall plan develops.