Le Centenaire Ou Les Deux Beringheld

by Honoré de Balzac

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.

Genres: Classics, Science Fiction

Nook

First published January 1, 1822

About the author

French writer Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac), a founder of the realist school of fiction, portrayed the panorama of society in a body of works, known collectively as La comédie humaine .

Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.

Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.

An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.

Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.

Reviews

[Aries Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concetto molto interessante, ma davvero troppo prolisso e lento, sembra riprendersi giusto nelle ultime 80 pagine quando ormai l'interesse è sfumato. La scrittura è semplice ma poco accattivante. Un peccato.

[Léna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un des romans de jeunesse de Balzac, dans lequel il expérimente sa technique du fantastique, écrit à des fins commerciales. On sent l’influence paternelle avec cette idée de longévité (son père en était obsédé) avec ce personnage d’un centenaire d’une force exceptionnelle toujours régénérée. Le roman n’a pas la même force ni la même maîtrise narrative que ses œuvres de la Comédie Humaine. C’est long, lent, parfois trop prolixe, et le style ne m’a pas captivée…mais intéressant de découvrir les débuts d’un auteur, et l’approche du fantastique de Balzac !

[Vinícius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, quase 1000 páginas depois, acabei.

Gente, que loucura esse livro, preciso pensar. Ele com certeza tá na cultura do folhetim, na do gótico, na cavalaria, tá por todo lugar.
Essa coisa do editor também ser um personagem é muito engraçado, enfim, veremos…

[Leonel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta obra me envolvió, como si Balzac fuera el hechicero centenario que hace y deshace a su voluntad. Es una novela con una oscuridad latente, con el destino como eje, con tintes de historia, de amor, pero sobre todo de desgracias.