List $45.00

Written by Honoré de Balzac - Audio book performed by John Bolen - Unabridged Fiction - 9 COMPACT DISCS - 10 hours, 1 minute

Publisher, Tantor Media (April 2001)

Listen to an audio clip NOTE: You will need RealPlayer Basic to listen. It's FREE !

"The possession of power, no matter how enormous, does not bring the knowledge how to use it." Raphael, a failed writer, deep in debt, and unrequited in love, is about to take a suicidal plunge into the Seine River. Just in time, he discovers the Magic Skin in an antiquity shop. Its supernatural powers grant every wish but it extracts a terrible toll! This parable depicts the malaise of 19th century France.

About the Author: French journalist and writer, Honoré de Balzac was one of the creators of realism in literature. Balzac referred to his own huge production of novels and short stories as La Comédie Humaine, which originated from Dante´s The Divine Comedy. Balzac was born in Tours in 1799. He studied at the Sorbonne, then worked in a law office for several years. In 1819, when his family moved for financial reasons to the small town of Villeparisis, Balzac announced that he wanted to be a writer. He returned to Paris and settled in a shabby room at 9 rue Lediguiéres, near the Bibliothéque de l'Arsenal. In 1831 he described the place in The Magic Skin (La Peau de Chargin), a fantastic tale owing much to E.T.A. Hoffmann. By 1822 Balzac had produced several novels under different pseudonyms, but he was ignored as a writer. In 1833 Balzac conceived the idea of linking together his old novels to portray a comprehensive view of all aspects of society. Eventually this plan led to 90 novels and novellas, which drew a picture of the customs, atmosphere, and habits of the Bourgeois. Among the masterpieces of The Human Comedy are Le Pére Goriot, les Illusions Perdues, and Eugénie Grandet. In these books, Paris is the primary landscape but Balzac also covered the Provinces. He wrote vivid descriptions of the world populated by the old aristocracy, the Nouveau-riche, middle-class traders, professionals, servants, young intellectuals, clerks, and criminals. During his later years, Balzac lived mostly in his villa in Sèvres. Among his friends was a rich Polish lady, Eveline Hanska, with whom he had had corresponded for more than 15 years. She was a model for some of his female characters, including Mme Hulot in La Cousine Bette. Although he was in poor health, they were married in 1850. Balzac died three months later in Paris, on August 18, 1850.