La peau de chagrin
by Honoré de Balzac · first published 1800
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Balzac's classic philosophical novel about a young man (Raphaël) torn between two women, one whom he loves but who does not reciprocate his affections (Foedora, the "woman without a heart") and one who loves him but for whom initially he has only fraternal feelings (Pauline). The sentimental drama is associated with a philosophical one in allegorical form: how does a man live his life... with intensity but in an existence of short duration, or without desires in a long life? The drama is expressed through the talisman, a wild ass's skin, given to the hero by an old antique dealer. The skin has
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…the stories Exhalation and Story of your Life. They combine detailed technical descriptions of the science fiction aspects with raw emotional beauty. The movie Arrival is based on Story of your life. La Peau de Chagrin (The Wild Ass's Skin) - Balzac. Beautifully written novel about desire and health, with verbose descriptions that I personally loved. Some nice quotes here [0] Ubik by Philip K. Dick - Pretty mindbending…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗…but I believe my age and my larger culture was necessary to fully enjoy it. On the other side, I read quite a few of Balzac's novels when in high school, and my favorites were "Eugénie Grandet" and "La peau de chagrin". Somewhere in my thirties, I reread the latter and thought it was awful, so pretentious and pseudo-philosophical that I dropped it before the end. Reading the classics is still the best way to travel…
on “Why Read the Classics? (1986)” ↗…rimes, but I believe my age and my larger culture was necessary to fully enjoy it. On the other side, I read quite a few of Balzac's novels when in high school, and my favorites were "Eugénie Grandet" and "La peau de chagrin". Somewhere in my thirties, I reread the latter and thought it was awful, so pretentious and pseudo-philosophical that I dropped it before the end That's interesting to me, I hated Balzac when I had…
on “Why Read the Classics? (1986)” ↗…was also quoted by Balzac as the epigraph to [3] his novel _The Wild Ass's Skin_ (1832). Wikipedia [4] says: "Balzac never explained his purpose behind the use of the symbol, and its significance to _La Peau de chagrin_ is the subject of debate." [1] https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/36/schuster.php [2] https://archive.org/details/lifeopinionsoft00ster/page/554/ [3] https://archive.org/details/tudesphilosoph01balz/page/n12…
on “A Font Book of Squiggles in Tristram Shandy” ↗Most of Balzac is highly realistic, but La peau de chagrin[0] comes to mind as an example of his work that includes magical elements, in this case a talisman that grants wishes at the cost of its owner's life. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Peau_de_chagrin
on “I'm Ready for You: On Balzac” ↗