OUP References THE WILD ASS´S SKIN (Oxford World´s Classics New Edition) - ...

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Publikace: THE WILD ASS´S SKIN (Oxford World´s Classics New Edition) - BALZAC, H. de. The first new English translation for more than 35 years of Balzac's extraordinary novel, a compelling mixture of psychological realism, wild fantasy, romance, and philosophy. One of the key novels in Balzac's Comédie humaine, The Wild Ass's Skin is freshly translated by Helen Constantine, capturing Balzac's stylistic energy and exuberance. Wide-ranging introduction considers the multiple perspectives of the novel, from its initial cultural and material contexts, its conceptualization of historical change and satirical commentary on contemporary society, to its variety of literary genres. The first edition in English to include Balzac's original Preface of 1831 in which he defined the challenges facing the writer in a disenchanted world of political cynicism and commercialized art. Extensive notes clarify Balzac's many allusions to the culture and society of his time. Up-to-date bibliography and helpful map of Paris in 1830. 'Who possesses me will possess all things, But his life will belong to me...' Raphael de Valentin, a young aristocrat, has lost all his money in the gaming parlours of the Palais Royal in Paris, and contemplates ending his life by throwing himself into the Seine. He is distracted by the bizarre array of objects in a chaotic antique shop, among them a strange animal skin, a piece of shagreen with magical properties. It will grant its possessor his every wish, but each time a wish is bestowed the skin shrinks, hastening its owner's death. Around this fantastic premise Balzac weaves a compelling psychological portrait of his hero, a prisoner of his own Promethean imagination, and explores profound ideas about the human will, vice and virtue, love and death. Helen Constantine's new translation captures the energy and exuberance of Balzac's novel, one of the most engaging of his 'Études philosophiques' from the Comédie humaine. The accompanying introduction and notes offer fresh insights into this remarkable work. Readership: Readers of classic fiction and literature in translation, and students and teachers of French literature and the 19th-century European novel, fantasy and the gothic. Publikace: THE WILD ASS´S SKIN (Oxford World´s Classics New Edition) - BALZAC, H. de. A young man, in despair over gambling debts, buys a magical animal skin that grants his every wish but hastens its owner's death in the process. Balzac's compelling tale is here presented in an exuberant new translation, with an illuminating introduction and notes.