Written for serial publication in 1822 under the pseudonym Horace de Saint-Aubin, this Faustian tale by Balzac has never before been available in English. More than a long-lost curiosity by an important writer, The Centenarian is also a seminal work of early science fiction, crucial to understanding both the development of the genre and the craft of this great author. Beringheld, a 400-year-old “mad scientist,” discovered the fluid necessary to human life, but he must extract the vital fluid of others to enlarge his own powers. Balzac intertwines the mythic and the modern in ways that would prove enormously influential to science fiction. Like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this novel bridges the gap that separates alchemy and magic from the practice and problems of science. It is also crucial to an understanding of Balzac’s oeuvre, as it anticipates significant themes of power, knowledge, and secrecy. This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices, and a critical introduction.

The Centenarian: Or, The Two Beringhelds (Early Classics of Science Fiction)

Literature & Fiction

BALZAC, Honoré

Genre Fiction

Wesleyan University Press

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Seraphita

Literary

SteinerBooks

<p>Balzac's first collection of short stories exploring women's role in society in various conjugal situations -- the daughter marrying against the father's wishes; the young woman marrying for love only to find she is no match for her husband's philandering; the unfaithful wife who brings her family to the brink of ruin; the religious zealot who so poisons her husband's existence so that he decides to lead a double life; the young woman who wishes at all costs to marry an aristocrat and who rejects the man she loves because she does not deem him of noble birth; the lovely, intelligent wife who uses her wiles to bring her straying husband back into the fold. This edition reproduces the text of the 1830 first edition. It comes with a cd-rom containing the scholarly apparatus prepared by Andrew Oliver, a renowned Balzac scholar.</p>

Scènes de la vie privée (French Edition)

Short Stories & Anthologies

Éditions de l'originale

A woman of thirty and A start in life

History

BiblioLife

Béatrix

César Birotteau

Wormeley, Katharine Prescott

The Village Rector

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

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