The Fatal Skin

by Honoré de Balzac

Other authorsAtwood H. Townsend (Translator)

Paperback, 1963

Status

Available

Call number

843.7

Publication

Signet / New American Library (1963), Paperback, 284 pages

Description

Famous perfectionist Honore de Balzac labored for years to bring the fascinating idea behind The Magic Skin to life in a novel, and critics and fans alike agree that it is one of the French writer's masterworks. The story follows the experiences of a young man who finds a small piece of animal skin that magically fulfills his every desire. However, over time, he discovers that the seeming miracle has exacted a terrible toll on his body -- and his soul.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jkorta

I love this book! La peau de chagrin is one of the oddest of Balzac's novels (on par with La Recherche de l'Absolu and Le chef-d'oeuvre inconnu), and one in which he lays bare his debt to romanticism, the movement of Victor Hugo which he will later attempt to shed as rigorously as possible (with

dry "realist" works like Eugenie Grandet). Being a fan of Hugo and a greater fan of Rabelais, I was pleased to see Balzac pay homage to both of his illustrious predecessors while giving voice to his own unique style of writing in this early novel. I am dismayed, incidentally, by the remarkably low rating this novel has received!

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LibraryThing member mldg

I've only read a few books by Balzac and I found them depressing. This book I liked although it does have it's drawbacks. It's about a poor young man who overnight acquires the power to become rich. Not only rich, but he has the power to do or have anything he wants. There's one catch, as he uses

the power he also uses up his life. Do you think he would use that power to do great good in the world? Or at least give himself his heart's desire so that he, at least, could live a happy life? NO. The man is so paralyzed by the fear of losing his life, he never fully lives. The story is good. The setting is excellent, (Paris in the 1600's, I think.) The ending is very passionate. If this book hasn't already been made into a movie, it should be. Oh, the drawbacks- Balzac has his main character go up into the mountains to meditate on the meaning of life for pages and pages and pages. Very tedious reading. Just skip that part and you will find a very enjoyable story.

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LibraryThing member foomy

A miserable, poor young man goes through tough times but turns to a rich man. Not quite a happy ending but extremely complex in itself.

LibraryThing member jasonlf

Fortunes made and spent and made and spent, obsession, debauchery, Rastignac, and Bianchon--in other words The Wild Ass's Skin is classic Balzac. Which was not exactly what I expected, since I thought this relatively early novel that he categorized in his "Philosophical Studies" section of the

Human Comedy would be different from his "Studies of Manners" that is the category for most of his novels and stories. But the surprise was a mostly pleasant one.

The Wild Ass's Skin does have a fantastic basis, centering around a magical skin that confers wishes--but in doing so shrinks with each wish until when it is gone the owner will die. But the execution is purely realistic, as the wishes come about almost by coincidence and the descriptions are firmly rooted in Paris circa 1830.

It begins with Raphael de Valentin losing his last gold piece at the gambling table, going to commit suicide, and then ending up in a shop where he acquires the Wild Ass's Skin. He wishes for a debaucherous party--which is what is described over the course of the first part of the book, with interesting discussions of the role of journalism and art. In the second part of the book Raphael recounts the sequence of events that led him to his almost suicide, with the juxtaposition of a more simple, virtuous woman to a beautiful, heartless one who epitomizes "society". Finally the third part picks up Raphael sometime after the party when he is living in seclusion, walling himself off from the world and any possible desires--in an attempt to avoid making any wishes and thus shrinking the magic skin and killing himself.

The Wild Ass's Skin is mostly about obsession, desire, and the attempts to control and channel it. And it is also about society, wealth, love, art, Paris, politics, and all the other themes of the Human Comedy.

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LibraryThing member nosajeel

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LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick

Rich in realistic details and the atmosphere of its age (1830s Paris), this takes half a step up in the air from the comparatively grounded world of many of Balzac's other works, in order to see the nature of the world and its concerns all the better from this vantage. Power, money, fame, lust,

social standing, all of man's vain desires and concerns are examined here in their want and excess.
The story begins with Raphael on the verge of suicide, disgraced and having lost his final coin in gambling. Wasting time until it is dark enough for him to jump into the river, he wanders into an Alladin's cave of an antique shope, wherein he is offered the magic leather skin that grants every wish of its holder. As with all good Faustian tales, this bargain does not come without a catch – every expending of its power shrinks the talisman and correspondingly the lifespan of the holder. Despite being warned of this catch he is determined that if he is going to die anyway, he will make the most of life while he can. Thus begins his sordid tale.
This is not a story tale for children, nor is it told in anything less than a convincing fashion if we accept the premise of the skin. It is a lens on vice and the dark selfish side of human spirit, of the vanity and superficiality of society, and the folly of those not content with the things that really matter. When Raphael finally discovers this, it is too late and he cannot enjoy the happiness that has found him from unexpected quarters.
The main character is never particularly evil, but he is also not particularly likeable, and this story works all the better for his selfish rotten character. This is not to say that we cannot sympathise with him in parts throughout the story, and understand his actions, yet he plays the anti-hero well.
I thought this was a much better story than Balzac's Eugenie Grandet, and Village Curate, which are the two other longer novels of his Comedie Humaine that I have read so far. While there are some other short stories with a slightly supernatural twist, such as Melmouth Reconciled, this stands out in its conception, telling, and deeper implications. What lets it down are that some sections are a bit unneccessarily long, which do not add much to the novel. Though Balzac sometimes lacks the ways with words, the literariness of other writers, what he has in abundance is his Dickensian detail, understanding of human emotions, plot conception, and vision of reality. In total this is a good novel and an appealing introduction to Balzac's works for those who have not read him before.

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LibraryThing member jonfaith

He made fun of everything, his own prospects included. Always short of money, he remained, like all men with a future before them, wallowing in inexpressible idleness, condensing a whole book into one epigram for the benefit of people who were incapable of putting one witticism into a whole book.

Lavish of promises that he never kept, he had made his fortune and reputation into a cushion on which he slept, thus running the risk of coming to his senses, as an old man, in an almshouse. With all that, keeping faith with his friends to the point of death, a swaggering cynic and as simple-hearted as a child, he worked only by fits and starts or under the spur of necessity.

This marked my return to Balzac, a welcome one after many years. When I spend time with my friends' children I make point of telling them to avoid Zola and stick with Balzac.

The Wild Ass's Skin is simply stunning. The depictions of emotional uncertainty and the fluctuations of fortune were remarkable. The display of ornate and obscure objects, avocations and sundry theory were equally compelling.

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LibraryThing member leslie.98

This entry in Balzac's "The Human Comedy" (also known as "The Wild Ass's Skin") is the first of the Philosophical Studies division and I think that has a lot to do why I didn't really like it that much. Or maybe it was the character of Raphael (before he comes across the eponymous skin) - I was

frustrated while he described his relationship with Feodora since basically his attitude was because he loved her and she didn't love him, she must be a horribly heartless woman. His love was entirely selfish and when he hid himself in her bedroom so he could spy on her while she thought she was alone, I almost stopped reading right then.

Another small negative was the narration by John Bolen, which was done with a strong French accent but with very little difference in the voices of the varying characters. I'd give the narration (separate from the content) a 3* but it needed a better narration than that to bring up my rating for the book overall.

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LibraryThing member burritapal

It's possible that there's something less about this book because it's translated to english (this was said to me by a French speaker), but as for me, Balzac's words are like eating a piece of the delicious cakes I make for the birthday of a loved one: made from scratch, rich, delicious, sparing no

effort or cost.

If Pauline already loved raphael, why did the ass's skin shrink when she began to love him? My conundrum.

When the protagonist is not happy, his friend Rastignac recommends this woman to him, a Young Rich widow named Foedora. She's single and wants to stay that way, so no man, rich and handsome, gets to be her mate. But the protagonist, despite not having any money (but he does have a title), tries to pretend he does in order to hang around with her, determined that he will be the one to win her.
But there's no swaying her, despite his handsomeness. He devises a plan to hide in her bedroom, and wait till all visitors are gone, in order to observe her sleeping. Who knows why?
He later tries to impress her that he knows much about her, by spilling the beans to her. She's only more disgusted with him.

Raphael decides he's going to kill himself, because he's so poor and so miserable. But he doesn't want to throw himself in the Seine in the daylight, so he goes in an antique shop to pass the time until night falls. This antique shop has amazing properties inside of it, and Raphael meets the owner, who admits that there's thousands of millions worth of property inside of his shop. For some reason this owner gives Raphael a magic donkey skin, when Rafael admits that he was going to kill himself for his poverty. He tells him that the donkey skin will grant him any wish, but that it will at the same time shorten his life, For every wish granted. Raphael thinks it's pretty much a joke, but decides to try it out by wishing for a splendid party in a mansion with women and everything to eat and drink that goes on for 24 hours. Right away this happens, when he steps out the door, and some friends of him say "there you are! we've been looking for you" and sweep him off to a badass party in a badass mansion. But only let the people hear that Raphael is now rich, when a notary comes in the door and announces that he is so, then they all start asking him for money.
" 'oh, Raphael dear, I should like a set of pearl ornaments!' Euphrasia exclaimed.
'If he has any gratitude in him, he will give me a couple of carriages with fast steppers,' said Aquilina.
'Wish for a hundred thousand a year for me!'
'Indian shawls!'
'pay my debts!'
'send an apoplexy to my uncle, the old stick!'
'10,000 a year in the funds, and I'll cry quits with you, raphael!'
'Deeds of gift and no mistake,' was the notary's comment.
'He ought, at least, to rid me of the gout!'
'Lower the funds!' Shouted the banker.
These phrases flew about like the last discharge of rockets at the end of a display of fireworks; and were uttered, perhaps, more in Earnest than in jest."

There was a young girl named Pauline, living with her mother, in their house where they rented the Garret room to Raphael. She was a beautiful young girl, and she would do anything for raphael. He always saw her busy at work at some little hand paintings when he went in and out.
Well, sometime later, he sees her at the Opera, all grown up, and outshining even the beautiful Foedora. It turns out, as her mother always hoped, her father came back from India with riches, and set them up in style, before he died from tuberculosis.
Now Pauline and Raphael are both rich, and he finds out that she loved him all the time, and would do anything for him.
" 'Kiss me!' She cried, 'after all the pain you have given me; to blot out the memory of the grief that your joys have caused me; and for the sake of the nights that I spent in painting hands-screens -'
'those hand screens of yours?'
'now that we are rich, my darling, I can tell you all about it. Poor boy! How easy it is to delude a clever man! could you have had white waistcoats and clean shirts twice a week for three francs every month to the laundress? Why, you used to drink twice as much milk as your money would have paid for. I deceived you all around - over firing, oil, and even money. Oh Raphael mine, don't have me for your wife, I am far too cunning!' She said laughing.
'But how did you manage?'
'I used to work till 2:00 in the morning; I gave my mother half the money made by my screens, and the other half went to you.'
they looked at one another for a moment, both bewildered by love and gladness.

For all his wishing for wealth and love, Raphael loses many years off his life. He's already old and sickly and he's still in his late 20s. He calls in a set of specialists; they recommend him to go "take waters." this was the popular thing for rich people to do when they were sick or out of sorts, would be go to some lake that had a resort.
But he's surprised at people's treatment of him:
"he would no more meet with sympathy here for his bodily ills then he had received it at her hands [Foedora's] for the distress in his heart. The fashionable world expels every suffering creature from its midst, just as the body of a man in robust health rejects any germ of disease. The world holds suffering and misfortune in abhorrence; it dreads them like the plague; it never hesitates between vice and trouble, for vice is a luxury. Ill Fortune May possess a Majesty of its own, but society can belittle it and make it ridiculous by an epigram. Society draws caricatures and in this way flings in the teeth of fallen Kings their affronts which it fancies it has received from them; society, like the Roman youth at the circus, never shows Mercy to the fallen gladiator; mockery and money are its vital necessities. 'Death to the weak!' That is the oath taken by this kind of equestrian order, instituted in their midst by all the nations of the world; everywhere it makes for the elevation of the rich, and its motto is deeply graven in hearts that wealth has turned to stone, or that have been reared in aristocratic prejudices."

So Rafael has no sympathy, no he's rolling in dough.

I would say balZac is making a moral here for rich people who think that money will make them happy. And why they're so stingy when they have plenty of money: that first hit of money is like the first hit of cocaine: it makes you feel good. But after that you can't ever reach that same good feeling, all you have left is the aching need for more and more and more.

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