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La Comédie Humaine #84
The Elixir Of Life
The Elixir of Life is a novel written by the renowned French author, Honore De Balzac. The story is set in the early 19th century and revolves around the life of a wealthy and powerful man named Don Juan Faez d'Azhoza. Don Juan is obsessed with the idea of immortality and spends his life searching for the elixir of life, a potion that can grant him eternal youth and vitality.As the story unfolds, we see Don Juan's relentless pursuit of the elixir of life taking him on a journey that is both thrilling and dangerous. He travels to various parts of the world, meets with alchemists and sorcerers, and even goes to the extent of sacrificing human lives in his quest for the elixir.The novel also explores the themes of love, power, and morality. Don Juan's obsession with immortality leads him to neglect his family and loved ones, and he becomes increasingly isolated and detached from the world around him. His pursuit of power and immortality also raises questions about the morality of his actions and the consequences of his choices.Overall, The Elixir of Life is a fascinating and thought-provoking novel that delves into the human desire for immortality and the consequences of such a pursuit. Balzac's vivid prose and complex characters make this book a must-read for anyone interested in philosophy, literature, or the human condition.Or was it, perhaps, that at the outset of an orgy there is a certain unwonted lucidity of mind? Despite the taper light, the clamor of the senses, the gleam of gold and silver, the fumes of wine, and the exquisite beauty of the women, there may perhaps have been in the depths of the revelers' hearts some struggling glimmer of reverence for things divine and human, until it was drowned in glowing floods of wine!This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1830
26 people are currently reading
456 people want to read
About the author
Honoré de Balzac
9,536 books4,368 followersFrench 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
June 18, 2023
1st Tale. L'Élixir de La Longue Vie
I liked this fantastic story, where a dilemma is posed for Don Juan.
Will he save his father's life or keep this elixir that will allow him to live forever? I believe very sincerely that the temptation is great.
This excellent book asks us questions, leading us to reflect on the deceased's last wishes and our share of responsibility.
The end of this work is very unexpected when Don Juan calls on God.
I wish you a good reading discovery.
2nd Tale. El Verdugo
Fantastic Tale, not the most famous; Balzac gives us the image of the lurking death and the figure of the parricide.
A concise story worth reading because the author is not known for his fantastic tales.
Interesting to discover.
I liked this fantastic story, where a dilemma is posed for Don Juan.
Will he save his father's life or keep this elixir that will allow him to live forever? I believe very sincerely that the temptation is great.
This excellent book asks us questions, leading us to reflect on the deceased's last wishes and our share of responsibility.
The end of this work is very unexpected when Don Juan calls on God.
I wish you a good reading discovery.
2nd Tale. El Verdugo
Fantastic Tale, not the most famous; Balzac gives us the image of the lurking death and the figure of the parricide.
A concise story worth reading because the author is not known for his fantastic tales.
Interesting to discover.
May 1, 2019
Εδώ έχουμε μια ιδιαίτερα ανορθόδοξη εκδοχή του Don Juan. Και η αλήθεια είναι πως υπάρχουν πολλές και διαφορετικές λογοτεχνικές απεικονίσεις του συγκεκριμένου ερωτύλου καθάρματος.
Ένας από τους πρώτους “δονζουανιστές” είναι ο θεατρικός συγγραφέας και μοναχός Tirso de Molina που έγραψε, στα 1630 περίπου, το El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (Ο Απατεώνας της Σεβίλης και ο πέτρινος συνδαιτυμόνας). Σχεδόν εκατό βιβλιογραφικές αναφορές γίνονται σε διαφορετικές εκδοχές του συγκεκριμένου μύθου (θεατρικά, ποιήματα, όπερες κτλ) στο άρθρο του.Samuel M. Waxman με τίτλο "The Don Juan Legend in Literature", δημοσιευμένο στο The Journal of American Folklore, τόμος 21 σελ. 202 - 204. Ανάμεσα στους άλλους αναφέρονται τα ονόματα των Moliere, Corneille, Goldoni, Mozart, Haydn, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Byron, Merimee, Pushkin, Flaubert, Bernard Shaw και καθώς το άρθρο είναι παλιό, η λίστα σταματάει στα 1903, ο μύθος ωστόσο συνεχίζει να εμπνέει και να απασχολεί ακόμα και σήμερα.
https://archive.org/stream/jstor-5346...
Ο ίδιος ο Balzac επινοεί, στην εισαγωγή που προηγείται του έργου, ένα περιστατικό με το οποίο συνδέει την ιστορία του με εκείνη του E. T. A. Hoffmann:
“Στο ξεκίνημα της συγγραφικής του καριέρας ο συγγραφέας πήρε το θέμα του συγκεκριμένου έργου από έναν φίλο του, που πλέον δεν βρίσκεται στη ζωή. Αργότερα ανακάλυψε πως η ίδια ιστορία είχε δημοσιευθεί στις αρχές του παρόντος αιώνα (σσ. 19ος) σε μια συλλογή διηγημάτων. Πρόκειται για μια εκκεντρική σύλληψη, βγαλμένη από το μυαλό του Hoffmann του Βερολίνου. Πιθανώς να έκανε την εμφάνισή της σε κάποιο γερμανικό Αλμανάκ και στη συνέχεια, φαίνεται πως δεν συμπεριελήφθη στο βασικό κορμό των δημοσιευμένων έργων του. Καθώς η “Ανθρώπινη Κωμωδία” βρίθει από πρωτότυπες συλλήψεις ο συγγραφέας δεν έχει πρόβλημα να ομολογήσει ευθέως το αθώο αυτό δείγμα λογοκλοπής. Όπως ακριβώς κι ο La Fontaine που διηγήθηκε άθελά του, με τον δικό του τρόπο, ιστορίες άλλων”.
Στην πραγματικότητα η νουβέλα του είναι ένα μεν ένα hoffmannesque έργο, αλλά δεν αποτελεί στεγνή αντιγραφή. Τουναντίον. Δημοσιεύτηκε αρχικά στο La Revue de Paris στα 1830 κι αργότερα έγινε τμήμα των Φιλοσοφικών Σπουδών (Études philosophiques). Δεδομένης της τεράστιας επιτυχίας που είχε γνωρίσει ωστόσο το έργο του Hoffmann στην Γαλλία - ο Balzac είχε γνωρίσει σε κάποιο από τα λογοτεχνικά σαλόνια που σύχναζε τον μεταφραστή του, στα γαλλικά, τον M. Loève-Weimar - είναι λογική η διάθεσή του να προβάλει το δικό του έργο ως απότοκο της σύλληψης του μεγάλου Γερμανού. Αυτό βέβαια εκ των υστέρων, καθώς αρχικά ο Balzac ήταν ιδιαίτερα αρνητικός σε οποιαδήποτε κριτική του καταλόγιζε Χοφμανικές επιρροές.
Ποιο είναι όμως αυτό το τερατώδες πλάσμα, ο μπαλζακικός Don Juan Belvidero; Πάνω σε ποιες παρατηρήσεις βασίστηκε ο συγγραφέας για να τον δημιουργήσει; Δεν είναι μια μορφή που γεννά τον τρόμο. Είναι μια μορφή πάνω στην οποία απεικονίζεται η κοινωνία της εποχής του Balzac, μια προσωποποίηση της χυδαιότητας που συχνά καμουφλάρεται πίσω από ένα γοητευτικό προσωπείο:
“Μήπως η ανθρωπότητα, η οποία σύμφωνα με ορισμένους φιλοσόφους ολοένα και προοδεύει, θεωρεί ως ορθή την τέχνη της προσμονής ενός θανάτου; Σε ετούτη την τέχνη οφείλουμε πολλά ευγενή επαγγέλματα με τα οποία πολλοί επιτυγχάνουν να ζουν από τον θάνατο των άλλων. Υπάρχουν άνθρωποι που βασίζονται αποκλειστικά σε έναν επικείμενο θάνατο. Που τον σκέφτονται συνέχεια και που σκύβουν κάθε πρωί πάνω από ένα πτώμα το οποίο κάθε βράδυ χρησιμοποιούν σαν μαξιλάρι. Όλοι οι βοηθοί επισκόπων, οι καρδινάλιοι, οι εποχιακοί υπάλληλοι, όσοι πουλάνε σκάρτες ασφάλειες ζωής. Προσθέσατε στη λίστα όσους επενδύουν όσα έχουν και δεν έχουν επάνω σε ακίνητα με την ελπίδα να ανέβει η αξία τους, που υπολογίζουν με ψυχρή λογική το πότε επιτέλους θα πεθάνει ο πατέρας τους ή η μητριά τους που έχουν πατημένα τα ογδόντα ή ενενήντα, λέγοντας στους εαυτούς τους “σε τρία χρόνια από σήμερα θα τους κληρονομήσω”. Ένας φονιάς είναι λιγότερο απεχθής από τέτοιου είδους ρουφιάνους”
Μέσα από το φως αυτής της ερμηνείας ο Don Juan του Balzac είναι μια μορφή που συμπυκνώνει το κοινωνικό κακό και την ανθρώπινη απληστία. Εκεί όπου ο ανθρώπινος εγωισμός αποκτά σάρκα και οστά:
“Κάνοντας μια απογραφή της τεράστιας περιουσίας του, κατέληξε να γίνει φιλάργυρος. Μήπως τάχα δεν είχε να φροντίσει για τη δεύτερη ζωή του; Με το διαπεραστικό του βλέμμα διείσδυε στις αρχές που ορίζουν την κοινωνική ζωή. Αντιλαμβανόταν, καλύτερα από κάθε άλλον, τον κόσμο για τον έβλεπε μέσα από έναν τάφο. Μελέτησε τους ανθρώπους και τα πράγματα γιατί ήθελε να ξεμπερδεύει μια και καλή με το Παρελθόν που το αντιπροσωπεύει η Ιστορία, με το Παρόν που εκφράζεται μέσα από τον Νόμο και το Μέλλον που αποκαλύπτεται από τη Θρησκεία. Πήρε τη ψυχή και την ύλη και τα έριξε σε ένα χωνευτήρι και κατέληξε... στο Τίποτα. Από εκεί κι έπειτα, έγινε DON JUAN.”
“Για τον έμπορο ο κόσμος όλος είναι ένα πουγκί ή ένας πάκος χαρτονομίσματα. Για τους περισσότερους νέους άνδρες είναι μια γυναίκα, για κάποιες γυναίκες ένας άνδρας. Για ορισμένα πνεύματα είναι ένα κοσμικό σαλόνι, μια κλίκα, μια συγκεκριμένη γειτονιά ή κάποια πόλη. Για τον Don Juan όλος ο κόσμος ήταν ο ίδιος του ο εαυτός”.
Μια άλλη ερμηνευτική προσέγγιση, περισσότερο ψυχολογική, εστιάζει κυρίως στο ζήτημα περί μακροζωΐας. Κάποια από τα πρώτα έργα της νεότητάς του, τα οποία δεν ανήκουν στον κανόνα της “Ανθρώπινης Κωμωδίας” και τα οποία ως επί το πλείστον, ο συγγραφέας, τα δημοσίευσε κρυμμένος πίσω από κάποιο ψευδώνυμο, έχουν παρόμοια θεματική. Ανακάλυψα στην αναζήτησή μου για ένα τέτοιο συναφές έργο με τίτλο Le Centenaire ou les Deux Beringheld (Οι δύο Μπερενγκέν ή Η εκατονταετία), ένα άλλο βιβλίο, γραμμένο από την αδερφή του Balzac, τη Laure Surville, με τίτλο: Balzac, sa vie et ses oeuvres, d'après sa correspondance , όπου γίνεται αναφορά στην εμμονή που είχε ο πατέρας του συγγραφέα με τη μακροζωΐα:
“Είχε κι αυτός μια παρόμοια έμμονη ιδέα. Στην περίπτωσή του, αφορούσε το θέμα της υγείας. Οργάνωσε τη ζωή του με τρόπο ώστε να ζήσει όσο το δυνατόν περισσότερο. Είχε κάνει τους υπολογισμούς του για το πόσα χρόνια χρειάζονται ώστε να φτάσει κάποιος σε μια συγκεκριμένη κατάσταση τελειότητας, ώστε να ζήσει μέχρι τα εκατό ή ακόμα και να τα ξεπεράσει. Κατέβαλλε το μέγιστο των προσπαθειών του για να επιτύχει εκείνο που αποκαλούσε ως η ισορροπία των ζωτικών δυνάμεων. Σπουδαία υπόθεση μα την αλήθεια! (σελ. 7 - 8).”
Το έργο τελειώνει με έναν τρόπο που μοιάζει με φάρσα. Μια φάρσα φριχτή, γκροτέσκα, διαβολική. Θεωρώ πως είναι ο ιδανικός επίλογος σε μια ιστορία όπου, σε τελική ανάλυση, γράφτηκε για να διηγηθεί τη δημιουργία και την εξέλιξη ενός αποκρουστικού χαρακτήρα. Και για να καυτηριάσει εν γένει τα ανθρώπινα πάθη που καταλήγουν να απογυμνώνουν τους ανθρώπους από την ίδια τους την ανθρωπιά, την ουσία της υπόστασής τους. Μόνο που ο Balzac αντί να κάνει κήρυγμα και να ηθικολογεί, προσπαθεί να επαναφέρει την τάξη μοιράζοντας γροθιές στο στομάχι.
Ένας από τους πρώτους “δονζουανιστές” είναι ο θεατρικός συγγραφέας και μοναχός Tirso de Molina που έγραψε, στα 1630 περίπου, το El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (Ο Απατεώνας της Σεβίλης και ο πέτρινος συνδαιτυμόνας). Σχεδόν εκατό βιβλιογραφικές αναφορές γίνονται σε διαφορετικές εκδοχές του συγκεκριμένου μύθου (θεατρικά, ποιήματα, όπερες κτλ) στο άρθρο του.Samuel M. Waxman με τίτλο "The Don Juan Legend in Literature", δημοσιευμένο στο The Journal of American Folklore, τόμος 21 σελ. 202 - 204. Ανάμεσα στους άλλους αναφέρονται τα ονόματα των Moliere, Corneille, Goldoni, Mozart, Haydn, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Byron, Merimee, Pushkin, Flaubert, Bernard Shaw και καθώς το άρθρο είναι παλιό, η λίστα σταματάει στα 1903, ο μύθος ωστόσο συνεχίζει να εμπνέει και να απασχολεί ακόμα και σήμερα.
https://archive.org/stream/jstor-5346...
Ο ίδιος ο Balzac επινοεί, στην εισαγωγή που προηγείται του έργου, ένα περιστατικό με το οποίο συνδέει την ιστορία του με εκείνη του E. T. A. Hoffmann:
“Στο ξεκίνημα της συγγραφικής του καριέρας ο συγγραφέας πήρε το θέμα του συγκεκριμένου έργου από έναν φίλο του, που πλέον δεν βρίσκεται στη ζωή. Αργότερα ανακάλυψε πως η ίδια ιστορία είχε δημοσιευθεί στις αρχές του παρόντος αιώνα (σσ. 19ος) σε μια συλλογή διηγημάτων. Πρόκειται για μια εκκεντρική σύλληψη, βγαλμένη από το μυαλό του Hoffmann του Βερολίνου. Πιθανώς να έκανε την εμφάνισή της σε κάποιο γερμανικό Αλμανάκ και στη συνέχεια, φαίνεται πως δεν συμπεριελήφθη στο βασικό κορμό των δημοσιευμένων έργων του. Καθώς η “Ανθρώπινη Κωμωδία” βρίθει από πρωτότυπες συλλήψεις ο συγγραφέας δεν έχει πρόβλημα να ομολογήσει ευθέως το αθώο αυτό δείγμα λογοκλοπής. Όπως ακριβώς κι ο La Fontaine που διηγήθηκε άθελά του, με τον δικό του τρόπο, ιστορίες άλλων”.
Στην πραγματικότητα η νουβέλα του είναι ένα μεν ένα hoffmannesque έργο, αλλά δεν αποτελεί στεγνή αντιγραφή. Τουναντίον. Δημοσιεύτηκε αρχικά στο La Revue de Paris στα 1830 κι αργότερα έγινε τμήμα των Φιλοσοφικών Σπουδών (Études philosophiques). Δεδομένης της τεράστιας επιτυχίας που είχε γνωρίσει ωστόσο το έργο του Hoffmann στην Γαλλία - ο Balzac είχε γνωρίσει σε κάποιο από τα λογοτεχνικά σαλόνια που σύχναζε τον μεταφραστή του, στα γαλλικά, τον M. Loève-Weimar - είναι λογική η διάθεσή του να προβάλει το δικό του έργο ως απότοκο της σύλληψης του μεγάλου Γερμανού. Αυτό βέβαια εκ των υστέρων, καθώς αρχικά ο Balzac ήταν ιδιαίτερα αρνητικός σε οποιαδήποτε κριτική του καταλόγιζε Χοφμανικές επιρροές.
Ποιο είναι όμως αυτό το τερατώδες πλάσμα, ο μπαλζακικός Don Juan Belvidero; Πάνω σε ποιες παρατηρήσεις βασίστηκε ο συγγραφέας για να τον δημιουργήσει; Δεν είναι μια μορφή που γεννά τον τρόμο. Είναι μια μορφή πάνω στην οποία απεικονίζεται η κοινωνία της εποχής του Balzac, μια προσωποποίηση της χυδαιότητας που συχνά καμουφλάρεται πίσω από ένα γοητευτικό προσωπείο:
“Μήπως η ανθρωπότητα, η οποία σύμφωνα με ορισμένους φιλοσόφους ολοένα και προοδεύει, θεωρεί ως ορθή την τέχνη της προσμονής ενός θανάτου; Σε ετούτη την τέχνη οφείλουμε πολλά ευγενή επαγγέλματα με τα οποία πολλοί επιτυγχάνουν να ζουν από τον θάνατο των άλλων. Υπάρχουν άνθρωποι που βασίζονται αποκλειστικά σε έναν επικείμενο θάνατο. Που τον σκέφτονται συνέχεια και που σκύβουν κάθε πρωί πάνω από ένα πτώμα το οποίο κάθε βράδυ χρησιμοποιούν σαν μαξιλάρι. Όλοι οι βοηθοί επισκόπων, οι καρδινάλιοι, οι εποχιακοί υπάλληλοι, όσοι πουλάνε σκάρτες ασφάλειες ζωής. Προσθέσατε στη λίστα όσους επενδύουν όσα έχουν και δεν έχουν επάνω σε ακίνητα με την ελπίδα να ανέβει η αξία τους, που υπολογίζουν με ψυχρή λογική το πότε επιτέλους θα πεθάνει ο πατέρας τους ή η μητριά τους που έχουν πατημένα τα ογδόντα ή ενενήντα, λέγοντας στους εαυτούς τους “σε τρία χρόνια από σήμερα θα τους κληρονομήσω”. Ένας φονιάς είναι λιγότερο απεχθής από τέτοιου είδους ρουφιάνους”
Μέσα από το φως αυτής της ερμηνείας ο Don Juan του Balzac είναι μια μορφή που συμπυκνώνει το κοινωνικό κακό και την ανθρώπινη απληστία. Εκεί όπου ο ανθρώπινος εγωισμός αποκτά σάρκα και οστά:
“Κάνοντας μια απογραφή της τεράστιας περιουσίας του, κατέληξε να γίνει φιλάργυρος. Μήπως τάχα δεν είχε να φροντίσει για τη δεύτερη ζωή του; Με το διαπεραστικό του βλέμμα διείσδυε στις αρχές που ορίζουν την κοινωνική ζωή. Αντιλαμβανόταν, καλύτερα από κάθε άλλον, τον κόσμο για τον έβλεπε μέσα από έναν τάφο. Μελέτησε τους ανθρώπους και τα πράγματα γιατί ήθελε να ξεμπερδεύει μια και καλή με το Παρελθόν που το αντιπροσωπεύει η Ιστορία, με το Παρόν που εκφράζεται μέσα από τον Νόμο και το Μέλλον που αποκαλύπτεται από τη Θρησκεία. Πήρε τη ψυχή και την ύλη και τα έριξε σε ένα χωνευτήρι και κατέληξε... στο Τίποτα. Από εκεί κι έπειτα, έγινε DON JUAN.”
“Για τον έμπορο ο κόσμος όλος είναι ένα πουγκί ή ένας πάκος χαρτονομίσματα. Για τους περισσότερους νέους άνδρες είναι μια γυναίκα, για κάποιες γυναίκες ένας άνδρας. Για ορισμένα πνεύματα είναι ένα κοσμικό σαλόνι, μια κλίκα, μια συγκεκριμένη γειτονιά ή κάποια πόλη. Για τον Don Juan όλος ο κόσμος ήταν ο ίδιος του ο εαυτός”.
Μια άλλη ερμηνευτική προσέγγιση, περισσότερο ψυχολογική, εστιάζει κυρίως στο ζήτημα περί μακροζωΐας. Κάποια από τα πρώτα έργα της νεότητάς του, τα οποία δεν ανήκουν στον κανόνα της “Ανθρώπινης Κωμωδίας” και τα οποία ως επί το πλείστον, ο συγγραφέας, τα δημοσίευσε κρυμμένος πίσω από κάποιο ψευδώνυμο, έχουν παρόμοια θεματική. Ανακάλυψα στην αναζήτησή μου για ένα τέτοιο συναφές έργο με τίτλο Le Centenaire ou les Deux Beringheld (Οι δύο Μπερενγκέν ή Η εκατονταετία), ένα άλλο βιβλίο, γραμμένο από την αδερφή του Balzac, τη Laure Surville, με τίτλο: Balzac, sa vie et ses oeuvres, d'après sa correspondance , όπου γίνεται αναφορά στην εμμονή που είχε ο πατέρας του συγγραφέα με τη μακροζωΐα:
“Είχε κι αυτός μια παρόμοια έμμονη ιδέα. Στην περίπτωσή του, αφορούσε το θέμα της υγείας. Οργάνωσε τη ζωή του με τρόπο ώστε να ζήσει όσο το δυνατόν περισσότερο. Είχε κάνει τους υπολογισμούς του για το πόσα χρόνια χρειάζονται ώστε να φτάσει κάποιος σε μια συγκεκριμένη κατάσταση τελειότητας, ώστε να ζήσει μέχρι τα εκατό ή ακόμα και να τα ξεπεράσει. Κατέβαλλε το μέγιστο των προσπαθειών του για να επιτύχει εκείνο που αποκαλούσε ως η ισορροπία των ζωτικών δυνάμεων. Σπουδαία υπόθεση μα την αλήθεια! (σελ. 7 - 8).”
Το έργο τελειώνει με έναν τρόπο που μοιάζει με φάρσα. Μια φάρσα φριχτή, γκροτέσκα, διαβολική. Θεωρώ πως είναι ο ιδανικός επίλογος σε μια ιστορία όπου, σε τελική ανάλυση, γράφτηκε για να διηγηθεί τη δημιουργία και την εξέλιξη ενός αποκρουστικού χαρακτήρα. Και για να καυτηριάσει εν γένει τα ανθρώπινα πάθη που καταλήγουν να απογυμνώνουν τους ανθρώπους από την ίδια τους την ανθρωπιά, την ουσία της υπόστασής τους. Μόνο που ο Balzac αντί να κάνει κήρυγμα και να ηθικολογεί, προσπαθεί να επαναφέρει την τάξη μοιράζοντας γροθιές στο στομάχι.
November 27, 2017
Ho ascoltato L’elisir di lunga vita di Balzac ieri, e devo dire che mi è piaciuto molto. ( Sapete in passato non sono stata una grande fan di audio libri, ma di recentemente ho cambiato l'opinione. Adesso ascolto audio libri quasi ogni giorno. A volte sono davvero molto pratici- e questo racconto è ideale per ascoltare. Balzac e un narratore così eccellente, che avevo la sensazione di vederlo tutto con i miei propri occhi.)
Il titolo di questa opera è descrittivo, in senso che e davvero una storia di l’elisir di lunga vita e come potete immaginare questo significa un racconto sopranaturale. Wikipedia da questa definizione di L’elisir di lunga vita: "è una leggendaria pozione o elisir capace di donare vita eterna e immortalita." Naturalmente, l'elisir di lunga vita posso essere anche una metafora, ma nella trama è trattato come realtà . In ogni caso, troviamo qui una narrativa molto interessante e potente. Mi ha fatto pensare a Dorian Grey a altri protagonisti diabolici. Il protagonista di questa storia si chiama Don Giovanni ( Don Juan?), ma sua e una storia di battaglia per la vita eterna e non una storia dell’ amore.
Questo racconto un po 'gothic', ha anche elementi di orrore, ma tutte le descrizioni spaventose sono essenziali per la storia. Il autore non ha una intenzione di ‘scioccare’ per un effetto orrore, e come sempre con le suo opere, anche in questa si riflette la realtà sociale. Guardate per esempio, il relazione tra il figlio (protagonista ) e suo padre. La maniera in cui il figlio usa sua padre è
terribile- ma molto realistico. Una storia di magia scritta con molta ironia- Balzac non ha inventato questa tema fantastica (l’elisir di vita lunga) ma ha scritto un racconto molto originale. Per tutta la sua brevita, credo che ha un messaggio importante.
Balzac è uno di miei preferiti scrittori francesi. Ho letto molti romanzi di Balzac, ma questo è
stato il mio primo racconto. (Per dire la verità, non sapevo che Balazac ha scritto tanti racconti, ho conoscevo principalmente come i autore di romanzi. Adesso voglio leggere tutti i sui racconti. ) Che altro dire? Anche in questo romanzo, Balzac è un grande scrittore, resta sempre il grande Balzac.
ENGLISH (The Elixir of Life by Balzac):
I've been a fan of Balzac for a while know, but until now I've only been able to only admire him for his novels. Moreover, I wasn't even aware of how many short stories he wrote. Shame on me! I had no idea he was so talented when it came to short stories. It was only yesterday that I have read (or rather listened to- lately I've taken to audio books) to this short story and what a story it was! I'm deeply impressed by Balzac's ability to create such a successful story in terms of atmosphere, plot, character development and pretty much everything.
Balzac didn't invent the theme of elixir of long life, nor is he the first to write about it (Balzac even modestly credits another writer as a source in the introduction)- but what an original way he has of approaching the topic! Not to mention that this man can write. You can spot his signature style right away- the precise character development of the protagonist (all the more impressive for the brevity of the story ), the detailed account of inner psychological turmoil in the crucial moments, the masterful satire with which the paints the society and the other minor characters. The pacing of this story is absolutely flawless. The author knows how to keep his reader's interest. I was filled with a mid of fascination, dread and anticipation most of the time- and the ironic ending was simply perfect.
This short story is dark and not only for its two murders, or its horror and supernatural elements. More than anything, it is dark for its majestically maintained atmosphere, for its poignant exploration of human nature. A story that explores something as quintessentially human as fear of death without mercy, a story that satires family relations (and doesn't stop there, no...you know that Balzac's intellect will take it out on the society as well), a story that demystifies magic as much as it does religion. After all, both religion and magic are powerless in face of death.
It is a deeply ironic story with an ending that some might find even disturbing. The story opens with a description of a home: an old man lavishes a life of luxury on his son Giovanni who treats his father as a courtesan would an aging lover ( a comparison might seem strange, but that doesn't make it less true). Balzac does a great job of portraying the young but already decadent protagonist and his 'entourage' at the very start. Next scene: A spoiled son who watches his father die swears he would give his life for him if he could. The father says that it is possible to save him and gives away the secret about the elixir of long life that applied to the dead body can bring a man to life. The son thinks his father mad but still he finds the elixir, approaches his father's corpse and gives it a try....How he reacts to it will determine the fate of his soul much in the same that Dorian Grey's reaction to his portrait had. How do we react to power? What is hidden in the dept of our soul? This is one of those stories where there are no good heroes, and even if someone seems good - it is more out of innocence (not to say stupidity) than anything else. That is what is really scary, not those few terrifying or bloody scenes (as bold chilling as they might be)- what is really scary is the message that we don't know what others will do. The darkness that hides in the heart of an individual is often well hidden. There are elements of horror and supernatural in this story, but it is not a horror or supernatural story as such- rather it is, like much of Balzac's work, a study of human nature.
To conclude:
-great story idea and execution,
- good plot (logical as it can be considering the supernatural elements),
-perfect pacing and narrative,
-wonderful portraying,
-dark atmosphere mainteined throughout with a few extra chilling passages,
- rich in irony and satire,
- powerful (albeit disturbing) finish.
What more could you want in a short story?
Il titolo di questa opera è descrittivo, in senso che e davvero una storia di l’elisir di lunga vita e come potete immaginare questo significa un racconto sopranaturale. Wikipedia da questa definizione di L’elisir di lunga vita: "è una leggendaria pozione o elisir capace di donare vita eterna e immortalita." Naturalmente, l'elisir di lunga vita posso essere anche una metafora, ma nella trama è trattato come realtà . In ogni caso, troviamo qui una narrativa molto interessante e potente. Mi ha fatto pensare a Dorian Grey a altri protagonisti diabolici. Il protagonista di questa storia si chiama Don Giovanni ( Don Juan?), ma sua e una storia di battaglia per la vita eterna e non una storia dell’ amore.
Questo racconto un po 'gothic', ha anche elementi di orrore, ma tutte le descrizioni spaventose sono essenziali per la storia. Il autore non ha una intenzione di ‘scioccare’ per un effetto orrore, e come sempre con le suo opere, anche in questa si riflette la realtà sociale. Guardate per esempio, il relazione tra il figlio (protagonista ) e suo padre. La maniera in cui il figlio usa sua padre è
terribile- ma molto realistico. Una storia di magia scritta con molta ironia- Balzac non ha inventato questa tema fantastica (l’elisir di vita lunga) ma ha scritto un racconto molto originale. Per tutta la sua brevita, credo che ha un messaggio importante.
Balzac è uno di miei preferiti scrittori francesi. Ho letto molti romanzi di Balzac, ma questo è
stato il mio primo racconto. (Per dire la verità, non sapevo che Balazac ha scritto tanti racconti, ho conoscevo principalmente come i autore di romanzi. Adesso voglio leggere tutti i sui racconti. ) Che altro dire? Anche in questo romanzo, Balzac è un grande scrittore, resta sempre il grande Balzac.
ENGLISH (The Elixir of Life by Balzac):
I've been a fan of Balzac for a while know, but until now I've only been able to only admire him for his novels. Moreover, I wasn't even aware of how many short stories he wrote. Shame on me! I had no idea he was so talented when it came to short stories. It was only yesterday that I have read (or rather listened to- lately I've taken to audio books) to this short story and what a story it was! I'm deeply impressed by Balzac's ability to create such a successful story in terms of atmosphere, plot, character development and pretty much everything.
Balzac didn't invent the theme of elixir of long life, nor is he the first to write about it (Balzac even modestly credits another writer as a source in the introduction)- but what an original way he has of approaching the topic! Not to mention that this man can write. You can spot his signature style right away- the precise character development of the protagonist (all the more impressive for the brevity of the story ), the detailed account of inner psychological turmoil in the crucial moments, the masterful satire with which the paints the society and the other minor characters. The pacing of this story is absolutely flawless. The author knows how to keep his reader's interest. I was filled with a mid of fascination, dread and anticipation most of the time- and the ironic ending was simply perfect.
This short story is dark and not only for its two murders, or its horror and supernatural elements. More than anything, it is dark for its majestically maintained atmosphere, for its poignant exploration of human nature. A story that explores something as quintessentially human as fear of death without mercy, a story that satires family relations (and doesn't stop there, no...you know that Balzac's intellect will take it out on the society as well), a story that demystifies magic as much as it does religion. After all, both religion and magic are powerless in face of death.
It is a deeply ironic story with an ending that some might find even disturbing. The story opens with a description of a home: an old man lavishes a life of luxury on his son Giovanni who treats his father as a courtesan would an aging lover ( a comparison might seem strange, but that doesn't make it less true). Balzac does a great job of portraying the young but already decadent protagonist and his 'entourage' at the very start. Next scene: A spoiled son who watches his father die swears he would give his life for him if he could. The father says that it is possible to save him and gives away the secret about the elixir of long life that applied to the dead body can bring a man to life. The son thinks his father mad but still he finds the elixir, approaches his father's corpse and gives it a try....How he reacts to it will determine the fate of his soul much in the same that Dorian Grey's reaction to his portrait had. How do we react to power? What is hidden in the dept of our soul? This is one of those stories where there are no good heroes, and even if someone seems good - it is more out of innocence (not to say stupidity) than anything else. That is what is really scary, not those few terrifying or bloody scenes (as bold chilling as they might be)- what is really scary is the message that we don't know what others will do. The darkness that hides in the heart of an individual is often well hidden. There are elements of horror and supernatural in this story, but it is not a horror or supernatural story as such- rather it is, like much of Balzac's work, a study of human nature.
To conclude:
-great story idea and execution,
- good plot (logical as it can be considering the supernatural elements),
-perfect pacing and narrative,
-wonderful portraying,
-dark atmosphere mainteined throughout with a few extra chilling passages,
- rich in irony and satire,
- powerful (albeit disturbing) finish.
What more could you want in a short story?
September 5, 2014
A most curious story: I think perhaps it fits into that category of Balzac's horror stories told for amusement, to scare the ladies. I have read a later one of these by Balzac; they are bizarre because they stretch credulity in the service of the moral Balzac wants to portray.
In this one, a dissolute son, Don Juan, jests to his friends about wishing the long life of his indulgent father would end, and that very night the old man dies. But when Don Juan hypocritically dclares that he would give up his own life if it would prolong his father's, the old man on his deathbed reveals to his son that he has the 'eixir of life' and that the applcation of it after his death will bring life back to his body.
Don Juan, out of curiosity applies the exilir to the dead man's eye and it comes back to life. Appalled, he stops applying the liquid but the eye remains open, accusing him. He has to smother it to kill his father.
From this moment on evil taks hold and Don Juan is a changed man, not from remorse for the parricide but from his own ambition to live forever. He lives as before, with his 'extra life; in reserve (so that he can repent) and tells his wife and sone that they have an annuity so that they have no need to wish him dead to inherit.
When his time comes, the scene is replayed but this time the son drops and shatters the flask in shock when Don Juan's dead hand reaches out and grabs him. This leaves him in a kind of limbo because only the parts of his body that have been bathed in the liniment are alive. The people then interpret this mystery as a miracle and proclaim him a saint. As the ceremony of canonization begins the head detaches itself, bites the bishop and the bishop dies.
It is, to say the least, anincocnlusive ending.
The similarity to Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Dorian Grey and other Faustian bargains is obvious, but strange ending marred this story for me. Perhaps I missed the point?
In this one, a dissolute son, Don Juan, jests to his friends about wishing the long life of his indulgent father would end, and that very night the old man dies. But when Don Juan hypocritically dclares that he would give up his own life if it would prolong his father's, the old man on his deathbed reveals to his son that he has the 'eixir of life' and that the applcation of it after his death will bring life back to his body.
Don Juan, out of curiosity applies the exilir to the dead man's eye and it comes back to life. Appalled, he stops applying the liquid but the eye remains open, accusing him. He has to smother it to kill his father.
From this moment on evil taks hold and Don Juan is a changed man, not from remorse for the parricide but from his own ambition to live forever. He lives as before, with his 'extra life; in reserve (so that he can repent) and tells his wife and sone that they have an annuity so that they have no need to wish him dead to inherit.
When his time comes, the scene is replayed but this time the son drops and shatters the flask in shock when Don Juan's dead hand reaches out and grabs him. This leaves him in a kind of limbo because only the parts of his body that have been bathed in the liniment are alive. The people then interpret this mystery as a miracle and proclaim him a saint. As the ceremony of canonization begins the head detaches itself, bites the bishop and the bishop dies.
It is, to say the least, anincocnlusive ending.
The similarity to Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Dorian Grey and other Faustian bargains is obvious, but strange ending marred this story for me. Perhaps I missed the point?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2015
Este pequeno conto parece ser um esforço de provocação da Igreja. Embora o nome indicie um conto moral cristão, daqueles em que alguém, iludido com a promessa da vida eterna, buscando uma poção mágica, acaba por perceber o valor da vida, e (no fundo) que só Deus tem o poder da eternidade. A moral desses contos é a de nos fazer apreciar a vida que temos, os nossos dons, o que já temos, e de não nos iludirmos com as coisas inalcansáveis. Na verdade, um elixir da vida eterna é como provar de uma árvore proibida no Éden, é querer ser como Deus.
Aqui não se passa nada disso. Não vou falar demais, para não estragar a leitura de quem o queira conhecer. Foi publicado primeiramente em 1830. Balzac escreve uma história que mostra conhecer bem a moral cristã, mas que acaba por assumir contornos de blasfémia. A sua escrita é elegante e por vezes mesmo sumptuosa. Há um pouco de frankenstein e de terror, neste conto, mas a atmosfera geral do conto não é a de um conto de terror. A narrativa está muito bem estruturada e cada instante funciona muito bem. Incluindo as surpresas.
Aqui não se passa nada disso. Não vou falar demais, para não estragar a leitura de quem o queira conhecer. Foi publicado primeiramente em 1830. Balzac escreve uma história que mostra conhecer bem a moral cristã, mas que acaba por assumir contornos de blasfémia. A sua escrita é elegante e por vezes mesmo sumptuosa. Há um pouco de frankenstein e de terror, neste conto, mas a atmosfera geral do conto não é a de um conto de terror. A narrativa está muito bem estruturada e cada instante funciona muito bem. Incluindo as surpresas.
December 9, 2020
4/5
Gran crítica , un relato muy entretenido
Gran crítica , un relato muy entretenido
May 16, 2020
(The Human Comedy 22/98)
Not a lot to this short story - based in a roundabout way on the tale of Don Juan and a Hoffman fairy tale it teases with Juan as an interesting character, who murders his father after discovering, partway through resurrecting him, that he really HAS discovered the elixir of life, in order to keep it for himself.
But Juan’s debauched life isn’t elaborated upon, just a lot of philosophising with a monk and a very confused but oddly gruesome climax.
Not one to recommend.
Not a lot to this short story - based in a roundabout way on the tale of Don Juan and a Hoffman fairy tale it teases with Juan as an interesting character, who murders his father after discovering, partway through resurrecting him, that he really HAS discovered the elixir of life, in order to keep it for himself.
But Juan’s debauched life isn’t elaborated upon, just a lot of philosophising with a monk and a very confused but oddly gruesome climax.
Not one to recommend.
March 5, 2020
Historia corta magistralmente escrita. Revela, con un tono burlón, la profundidad de las intenciones y la debilidad del corazón humano, que la mayoría de las veces no es posible adivinar, al observar únicamente las acciones externas que una persona realiza.
_______________
Short story masterfully written. It reveals, with a mocking tone, the depth of the intentions and the weakness of the human heart, that most of the time it is not possible to guess, by observing only the external actions that a person performs.
_______________
Short story masterfully written. It reveals, with a mocking tone, the depth of the intentions and the weakness of the human heart, that most of the time it is not possible to guess, by observing only the external actions that a person performs.
July 14, 2018
новая версия истории о доне Жуане, богохульная и нечестивая. обязательно перечитать
October 30, 2023
Το ελιξίριο της μακροζωίας. Ονορέ ντε Μπαλζάκ.
When it comes to Bazac, it is impossible for me to be objective about his work. No other creator combines the astonishing capacity of expression with the absolute truth of existence. You can't just be "engaged to" Balzac, you can only "marry" him for life.
📚📚📚
Έχουμε και λέμε με δύο τρεις αράδες λέξεις. Είναι Μπαλζάκ, το θέμα είναι οι ατασθαλίες του Δον Ζουάν, ο άστατος χαρακτήρας του, οι διαπροσωπικές του σχέσεις και κυρίως εκείνη με τον πατέρα του και εδώ έρχεται και επικάθεται σαν ουσία προκύπτουσα ως συμπερασματική δήλωση-μάθημα-αφύπνιση συνείδησης -σοφία ενός τύπου που έφαγε τη ζωή του και ξοδεύτηκε μέχρι τελευταίας ρανίδας του αίματός του στα σαλόνια της υψηλής κοινωνίας του Παρισιού- η μεγάλη αλήθεια της ύψιστης αρχής του ατομικισμού, που όπως σε ανάγει στο σημαντικότερο παράγοντα της ζωής σου ταυτόχρονα σε διδάσκει πως μοναχός σου πρέπει να χορεύεις κι όσο θέλεις να πηδάς, μην περιμένεις χείρα βοήθειας γιατί ο μόνος τρόπος ζωής που υπάρχει είναι ο εγωιστικός τρόπος κι όσο γρηγορότερα το καταλάβεις θα εξασφαλίσεις μια αρτιμελή ύπαρξη χωρίς σοβαρές απώλειες, πέρα από έλλειψη ουσιαστικών σχέσεων, αγάπη, φιλίες και τα λοιπά τα οποία θα εναποθέσεις στον κάλαθο του συναισθηματισμού, και μπορεί μεν με κανέναν να μη "βαδίζεις αγκαλιά στους απέραντους δρόμους " αλλά θα έχεις το κεφάλι σου ήσυχο. Δεν ξέρω αν σας έπεισα αλλά έχει κάτι ανατροπές, εμπλοκές και συμπλοκές, κάτι αλήθειες με την ευγενική εκφραστική χορηγία της καλοδουλεμένης- στο βαθμό έργου τέχνης- ειρωνία του Ονορέ, κάτι τερτίπια και σουξου μούξου του μεγάλου αυτού τραγωδού της λογοτεχνίας, κάτι μελοδραματικά επεισόδια αναλλοίωτα στο χρόνο που τιμούν και το δημιουργό και το μελόδραμα το ίδιο.
When it comes to Bazac, it is impossible for me to be objective about his work. No other creator combines the astonishing capacity of expression with the absolute truth of existence. You can't just be "engaged to" Balzac, you can only "marry" him for life.
📚📚📚
Έχουμε και λέμε με δύο τρεις αράδες λέξεις. Είναι Μπαλζάκ, το θέμα είναι οι ατασθαλίες του Δον Ζουάν, ο άστατος χαρακτήρας του, οι διαπροσωπικές του σχέσεις και κυρίως εκείνη με τον πατέρα του και εδώ έρχεται και επικάθεται σαν ουσία προκύπτουσα ως συμπερασματική δήλωση-μάθημα-αφύπνιση συνείδησης -σοφία ενός τύπου που έφαγε τη ζωή του και ξοδεύτηκε μέχρι τελευταίας ρανίδας του αίματός του στα σαλόνια της υψηλής κοινωνίας του Παρισιού- η μεγάλη αλήθεια της ύψιστης αρχής του ατομικισμού, που όπως σε ανάγει στο σημαντικότερο παράγοντα της ζωής σου ταυτόχρονα σε διδάσκει πως μοναχός σου πρέπει να χορεύεις κι όσο θέλεις να πηδάς, μην περιμένεις χείρα βοήθειας γιατί ο μόνος τρόπος ζωής που υπάρχει είναι ο εγωιστικός τρόπος κι όσο γρηγορότερα το καταλάβεις θα εξασφαλίσεις μια αρτιμελή ύπαρξη χωρίς σοβαρές απώλειες, πέρα από έλλειψη ουσιαστικών σχέσεων, αγάπη, φιλίες και τα λοιπά τα οποία θα εναποθέσεις στον κάλαθο του συναισθηματισμού, και μπορεί μεν με κανέναν να μη "βαδίζεις αγκαλιά στους απέραντους δρόμους " αλλά θα έχεις το κεφάλι σου ήσυχο. Δεν ξέρω αν σας έπεισα αλλά έχει κάτι ανατροπές, εμπλοκές και συμπλοκές, κάτι αλήθειες με την ευγενική εκφραστική χορηγία της καλοδουλεμένης- στο βαθμό έργου τέχνης- ειρωνία του Ονορέ, κάτι τερτίπια και σουξου μούξου του μεγάλου αυτού τραγωδού της λογοτεχνίας, κάτι μελοδραματικά επεισόδια αναλλοίωτα στο χρόνο που τιμούν και το δημιουργό και το μελόδραμα το ίδιο.
January 20, 2021
Pas au niveau des autres neuves de l'auteur
February 17, 2024
Courte nouvelle interrogeant sur le rôle de l'argent et de l'hérédité. Intéressante. Légèrement déçu par l'excentricité de la scène finale, mais pourquoi pas.
October 28, 2024
Écouté en version livre audio
Une nouvelle fantastique à l'ancienne qui rappelle celles de Guy de Maupassant ou de Théophile Gautier, c'est assez bizarre et déroutant 👁️
Une nouvelle fantastique à l'ancienne qui rappelle celles de Guy de Maupassant ou de Théophile Gautier, c'est assez bizarre et déroutant 👁️
May 5, 2022
Balzac's "The Elixir of Life" is a short story that includes fantastical and a religious element which is rather saddening. The relationship of father and son is one that seems to be based on superficial regard on both sides. This is indeed a horror story that is indeed sickening. This story takes place during the 15th century.
Story in short - Duke Belvidero is extremely old and dying but requests his young son to help him live longer.
I did not read this edition but from a Delphi collection of his works which included the synopsis below.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185239
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1831, L’Élixir de longue vie is a short story concerning Grand Duke Bartolommeo Belvidero, who is ninety years old and living in the princely palace at Ferrara, Italy, with the young and handsome Don Juan Belvidero, the son of his old age. The prodigal
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185242
son occupies the lively rooms of the palace and fills it with beautiful women wearing gems and luxurious fabrics, fine foods and wines. Bartolommeo has lived quietly and frugally for many years, while indulging Don Juan’s tastes, but as the old man takes his deathbed, surprising secrets are about to be revealed.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185247
TO THE READER At the very outset of the writer’s literary career, a friend, long since dead, gave him the subject of this Study. Later on he found the same story in a collection published about the beginning of the present century. To the best of his belief, it is some stray fancy of the brain of Hoffmann of Berlin; probably it appeared in some German almanac, and was omitted in the published editions of his collected works. The Comedie Humaine is sufficiently rich
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185251
in original creations for the author to own to this innocent piece of plagiarism; when, like the worthy La Fontaine, he has told unwittingly, and after his own fashion, a tale already related by another. This is not one of the hoaxes in vogue in the year 1830, when every author wrote his “tale of horror” for the amusement of young ladies. When you have read the account of Don Juan’s decorous parricide, try to picture to yourself the part which would be played under very similar circumstances by honest folk who, in this
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185254
nineteenth century, will take a man’s money and undertake to pay him a life annuity on the faith of a chill, or let a house to an ancient lady for the term of her natural life! Would they be for resuscitating their clients? I should dearly like a connoisseur in consciences to consider how far there is a resemblance between a Don Juan and fathers who marry their children to great expectations. Does humanity, which, according to certain philosophers, is making progress, look on the art of waiting for dead men’s
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shoes as a step in the right direction? To this art we owe several honorable professions, which open up ways of living on death. There are people who rely entirely on an expected demise; who brood over it, crouching each morning upon a corpse, that serves again for their pillow at night.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185283
One winter evening, in a princely palace at Ferrara, Don Juan Belvidero was giving a banquet to a prince of the house of Este. A banquet in those times was a marvelous spectacle which only royal wealth or the power of a mightly [sic] lord could furnish forth. Seated about a table lit up with perfumed tapers, seven laughter-loving women were interchanging sweet talk. The white marble of the noble works of art about them stood out against the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185286
red stucco walls, and made strong contrasts with the rich Turkey carpets. Clad in satin, glittering with gold, and covered with gems less brilliant than their eyes, each told a tale of energetic passions as diverse as their styles of beauty. They differed neither in their ideas nor in their language; but the expression of their eyes, their glances, occasional gestures, or the tones of their voices supplied a commentary, dissolute, wanton, melancholy, or satirical, to their words.
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“Yes, when is that father of yours going to die?” asked the seventh, throwing her bouquet at Don Juan with bewitching playfulness. It was a childish girl who spoke, and the speaker was wont to make sport of sacred things. “Oh! don’t talk about it,” cried Don Juan, the young and handsome
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giver of the banquet. “There is but one eternal father, and, as ill luck will have it, he is mine.”
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During that brief pause a door opened; and as once the Divine presence was revealed at Belshazzar’s feast, so now it seemed to be manifest in the apparition of an old
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185309
white-haired servant, who tottered in, and looked sadly from under knitted brows at the revelers. He gave a withering glance at the garlands, the golden cups, the pyramids of fruit, the dazzling lights of the banquet, the flushed scared faces, the hues of the cushions pressed by the white arms of the women. “My lord, your father is dying!” he said; and at those solemn words, uttered in hollow tones, a veil of crape seemed to be drawn over the wild mirth.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185321
Bartolommeo Belvidero, Don Juan’s father, was an old man of ninety, who had devoted the greatest part of his life to business pursuits. He had acquired vast wealth in many a journey to magical Eastern lands, and knowledge, so it was said, more valuable than the gold and diamonds, which had almost ceased to have any value for him. “I would give more to have a tooth in my head than for a ruby,” he would say at times with a smile. The
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indulgent father loved to hear Don Juan’s story of this and that wild freak of youth. “So long as these follies amuse you, dear boy — — ” he would say laughingly, as he lavished money on his son. Age never took such pleasure in the sight of youth; the fond father did not remember his own decaying powers while he looked on that brilliant young life. Bartolommeo Belvidero, at the age of sixty, had fallen in love with an angel of peace and beauty. Don Juan had been the sole fruit of this late and short-lived love. For fifteen
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years the widower had mourned the loss of his beloved Juana; and to this sorrow of age, his son and his numerous household had attributed the strange habits that he had contracted. He had shut himself up in the least comfortable wing of his palace, and very seldom left his apartments; even Don Juan himself must first ask permission before seeing his father.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌
Duke Bartolommeo Belvidero had married at the age of 60 and had a young wife who died but left him a son, Don Juan which the old man spoils and denying himself gives all for the pleasures of his son. Though Don Juan has anything he wants he looks forward to his father's death and when it is near Don Juan refuses his father's last request, which is to spread the exilir all over his body. Don Juan not wanting to keep his father alive long refuses but his refusal has nothing but selfish motives, though a religious sentiment would suffice him not do so. His father dies and though Don Juan feels a little haunted, he lives life to the most and becomes more cynical. He repeats his father's life by marrying late but he instead he picks a pious Spanish wife and his son is brought up extremely religious and quite different than his youth. He looks forward to his son obeying his last request of spreading the elixir on him which he does because he loves and obeys but while in doing this his young son is frightened after just putting it on his father's face when his father starts to strangle him causing him to drop the bottle. Don Juan's head is youth but his body is old and all the pious people think they see a saint looking to canonize this devilish old man and even the Abbott thinks it is from God but the evil head kills him. The gullibility of the religious that follow blindly is a grand point but the atheistic and devilish worldly men are far worse and bring nothing positive to life. Religion needs faith to God but when men are involved caution is always needed, though faith indeed not be lessened in the whole. Don Juan was correct in not wanting to give his father an elixir that seemed wrong but his motives were selfish, it seems his father might have killed him as he tried to do to his son but not having the strength. Bartolommeo Belvidero counted on his son to grant his wish due to all he gave him throughout his life.
Story in short - Duke Belvidero is extremely old and dying but requests his young son to help him live longer.
I did not read this edition but from a Delphi collection of his works which included the synopsis below.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185239
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1831, L’Élixir de longue vie is a short story concerning Grand Duke Bartolommeo Belvidero, who is ninety years old and living in the princely palace at Ferrara, Italy, with the young and handsome Don Juan Belvidero, the son of his old age. The prodigal
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185242
son occupies the lively rooms of the palace and fills it with beautiful women wearing gems and luxurious fabrics, fine foods and wines. Bartolommeo has lived quietly and frugally for many years, while indulging Don Juan’s tastes, but as the old man takes his deathbed, surprising secrets are about to be revealed.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185247
TO THE READER At the very outset of the writer’s literary career, a friend, long since dead, gave him the subject of this Study. Later on he found the same story in a collection published about the beginning of the present century. To the best of his belief, it is some stray fancy of the brain of Hoffmann of Berlin; probably it appeared in some German almanac, and was omitted in the published editions of his collected works. The Comedie Humaine is sufficiently rich
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185251
in original creations for the author to own to this innocent piece of plagiarism; when, like the worthy La Fontaine, he has told unwittingly, and after his own fashion, a tale already related by another. This is not one of the hoaxes in vogue in the year 1830, when every author wrote his “tale of horror” for the amusement of young ladies. When you have read the account of Don Juan’s decorous parricide, try to picture to yourself the part which would be played under very similar circumstances by honest folk who, in this
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185254
nineteenth century, will take a man’s money and undertake to pay him a life annuity on the faith of a chill, or let a house to an ancient lady for the term of her natural life! Would they be for resuscitating their clients? I should dearly like a connoisseur in consciences to consider how far there is a resemblance between a Don Juan and fathers who marry their children to great expectations. Does humanity, which, according to certain philosophers, is making progress, look on the art of waiting for dead men’s
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185258
shoes as a step in the right direction? To this art we owe several honorable professions, which open up ways of living on death. There are people who rely entirely on an expected demise; who brood over it, crouching each morning upon a corpse, that serves again for their pillow at night.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185283
One winter evening, in a princely palace at Ferrara, Don Juan Belvidero was giving a banquet to a prince of the house of Este. A banquet in those times was a marvelous spectacle which only royal wealth or the power of a mightly [sic] lord could furnish forth. Seated about a table lit up with perfumed tapers, seven laughter-loving women were interchanging sweet talk. The white marble of the noble works of art about them stood out against the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185286
red stucco walls, and made strong contrasts with the rich Turkey carpets. Clad in satin, glittering with gold, and covered with gems less brilliant than their eyes, each told a tale of energetic passions as diverse as their styles of beauty. They differed neither in their ideas nor in their language; but the expression of their eyes, their glances, occasional gestures, or the tones of their voices supplied a commentary, dissolute, wanton, melancholy, or satirical, to their words.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185299
“Yes, when is that father of yours going to die?” asked the seventh, throwing her bouquet at Don Juan with bewitching playfulness. It was a childish girl who spoke, and the speaker was wont to make sport of sacred things. “Oh! don’t talk about it,” cried Don Juan, the young and handsome
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185302
giver of the banquet. “There is but one eternal father, and, as ill luck will have it, he is mine.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185308
During that brief pause a door opened; and as once the Divine presence was revealed at Belshazzar’s feast, so now it seemed to be manifest in the apparition of an old
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185309
white-haired servant, who tottered in, and looked sadly from under knitted brows at the revelers. He gave a withering glance at the garlands, the golden cups, the pyramids of fruit, the dazzling lights of the banquet, the flushed scared faces, the hues of the cushions pressed by the white arms of the women. “My lord, your father is dying!” he said; and at those solemn words, uttered in hollow tones, a veil of crape seemed to be drawn over the wild mirth.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185321
Bartolommeo Belvidero, Don Juan’s father, was an old man of ninety, who had devoted the greatest part of his life to business pursuits. He had acquired vast wealth in many a journey to magical Eastern lands, and knowledge, so it was said, more valuable than the gold and diamonds, which had almost ceased to have any value for him. “I would give more to have a tooth in my head than for a ruby,” he would say at times with a smile. The
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185324
indulgent father loved to hear Don Juan’s story of this and that wild freak of youth. “So long as these follies amuse you, dear boy — — ” he would say laughingly, as he lavished money on his son. Age never took such pleasure in the sight of youth; the fond father did not remember his own decaying powers while he looked on that brilliant young life. Bartolommeo Belvidero, at the age of sixty, had fallen in love with an angel of peace and beauty. Don Juan had been the sole fruit of this late and short-lived love. For fifteen
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 185328
years the widower had mourned the loss of his beloved Juana; and to this sorrow of age, his son and his numerous household had attributed the strange habits that he had contracted. He had shut himself up in the least comfortable wing of his palace, and very seldom left his apartments; even Don Juan himself must first ask permission before seeing his father.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌
Duke Bartolommeo Belvidero had married at the age of 60 and had a young wife who died but left him a son, Don Juan which the old man spoils and denying himself gives all for the pleasures of his son. Though Don Juan has anything he wants he looks forward to his father's death and when it is near Don Juan refuses his father's last request, which is to spread the exilir all over his body. Don Juan not wanting to keep his father alive long refuses but his refusal has nothing but selfish motives, though a religious sentiment would suffice him not do so. His father dies and though Don Juan feels a little haunted, he lives life to the most and becomes more cynical. He repeats his father's life by marrying late but he instead he picks a pious Spanish wife and his son is brought up extremely religious and quite different than his youth. He looks forward to his son obeying his last request of spreading the elixir on him which he does because he loves and obeys but while in doing this his young son is frightened after just putting it on his father's face when his father starts to strangle him causing him to drop the bottle. Don Juan's head is youth but his body is old and all the pious people think they see a saint looking to canonize this devilish old man and even the Abbott thinks it is from God but the evil head kills him. The gullibility of the religious that follow blindly is a grand point but the atheistic and devilish worldly men are far worse and bring nothing positive to life. Religion needs faith to God but when men are involved caution is always needed, though faith indeed not be lessened in the whole. Don Juan was correct in not wanting to give his father an elixir that seemed wrong but his motives were selfish, it seems his father might have killed him as he tried to do to his son but not having the strength. Bartolommeo Belvidero counted on his son to grant his wish due to all he gave him throughout his life.
May 16, 2018
This is one of Balzac's fantastic reality tales, not only resounding in the supernatural and the occult, in diabolical elixirs, eternal life or in a piece of the conscious body that returns to the life of a corpse.
Here there is a sharp criticism against some ways of living of the bourgeoisie and especially on the institution of the Catholic Church.
"The good abbot of San Lucar, in his pontifical habits, having his miter enriched with precious stones, surmounted by the golden staff, sat as a choir king in an imperial luxury armchair" and "the chapelmaster and the signatories of the chapter, adorned with the brilliants unworthy of their ecclesiastical vanities. "
Balzac makes another social critique, pointing out how the failing society in the ethics from this tale's time views some types of people: "Truly tender, delicate, fair, generous, prudent and brave did not deserve the least regard among men."
In other words, behind the beautiful curtain of fantasy and the satanic, there is a tale that defies the moral and common standards of the institutions that underpin that society.
Here there is a sharp criticism against some ways of living of the bourgeoisie and especially on the institution of the Catholic Church.
"The good abbot of San Lucar, in his pontifical habits, having his miter enriched with precious stones, surmounted by the golden staff, sat as a choir king in an imperial luxury armchair" and "the chapelmaster and the signatories of the chapter, adorned with the brilliants unworthy of their ecclesiastical vanities. "
Balzac makes another social critique, pointing out how the failing society in the ethics from this tale's time views some types of people: "Truly tender, delicate, fair, generous, prudent and brave did not deserve the least regard among men."
In other words, behind the beautiful curtain of fantasy and the satanic, there is a tale that defies the moral and common standards of the institutions that underpin that society.
April 20, 2015
Um pequeno conto que, aparentemente, não tem nada a ver com o estilo habitual de Balzac. É uma história com contornos de horror e de sobrenatural, mas com uma moral intrínseca (motivo pelo qual está inserida na série "Comédia Humana"). Dá-nos dois exemplos de relação pai/filho: a de D. Juan e o seu nonagenário pai; a de D. Juan e o seu filho Filipe. Ambas marcadas pela existência do "Elixir da Longa Vida", que deve ser passado no cadáver do pai entretanto falecido para que este renasça. Na primeira relação, o filho não cumpre o último desejo do pai e quando aplica o elixir num dos olhos do pai e este retorna à vida, acaba por cometer parricídio ao vazar o olho do pai; na segunda relação, o filho cumpre o último desejo do pai e quando aplica o elixir num dos braços do pai é estrangulado por ele quando regressa à vida.
Moral da história: mais vale deixar o elixir da longa vida na gaveta da mesinha gótica onde ele estava guardado...
Moral da história: mais vale deixar o elixir da longa vida na gaveta da mesinha gótica onde ele estava guardado...
December 13, 2023
Wasn’t a horrible read but also for a short story it did seem to have an awful lot of information that just wasn’t necessary. I didn’t feel as though the text flowed as I would like BUT I wouldn’t put it as low as a 1 star read as it was still a bit interesting and I wasn’t forcing myself to read it
January 31, 2012
A very enjoyable and strange short story by Honore de Balzac.
May 4, 2019
Jajajaja ase mucho que no leía algo tan genial
November 17, 2019
Brutal. Balzac era un monstruo de la literatura y la blasfemia. Qué relato tan degenerado y hermoso.
Read
May 10, 2025 No conto de Balzac, ele combina o mito de Fausto e Don Juan para criar uma história cativante e original. O personagem principal, Dom Juan, é retratado como o típico sedutor libertino, como em outras narrativas. No entanto, a reviravolta acontece quando é revelado que seu pai idoso possui o elixir da vida. A história começa com o pai de Dom Juan, muito doente, enquanto o filho desfruta de uma festa. Um criado o chama urgentemente, pois o pai parece estar à beira da morte. Com seu último suspiro, o pai faz o filho prometer que, imediatamente após sua morte, ele esfregará um certo líquido em seu corpo, garantindo que ele voltará à vida. A princípio, o jovem não acredita, mas decide experimentar, deixando cair uma gota em seu olho. Surpreendentemente, o olho ganha vida. Fascinado e intrigado, Dom Juan decide não cumprir a promessa e, em um ato impulsivo, esmaga o olho, matando assim seu pai. Ele então fica com o elixir para si. A partir desse momento, Dom Juan leva uma vida típica de sedutor, envolvendo-se em aventuras amorosas e prazeres mundanos. No entanto, ele acaba tendo um filho e decide repetir a cena que viveu com seu pai. Porém, há uma diferença significativa: ele não informa seu filho sobre as propriedades do elixir, temendo que a ambição pela vida eterna o leve a cometer os mesmos erros que ele cometeu. Infelizmente, essa decisão não traz bons resultados.
*
Trechos sublinhados: "...Mandou construir um monumento de mármore do mais branco sobre o túmulo de seu pai, confiando as figuras que o ornariam aos mais célebres artistas da época. Só se sentiu perfeitamente tranquilo no dia em que a estátua paterna, ajoelhada aos pés da Religião, impôs o seu peso enorme sobre a sepultura em que enterrou o único remorso que ainda poderia sobressaltar-lhe o coração nos momentos de maior lassidão... Procurou evitar o erro de certos homens poderosos que, supondo que as almas ingênuas creem nas almas fortes, das ideias efêmeras, aconselham a trocar os altos pensamentos do que há de vir pelas pequeninas moedas de nossos ideais transitórios. Poderia bem caminhar, como eles, com os pés sobre a terra e a cabeça a tocar os céus: contudo, preferia refestelar-se e devorar de beijos os lábios duma mulher meiga, fresca e perfumada, já que, semelhante à Morte, extinguindo impudentemente tudo por onde passava, exigindo só o amor que possuía, um amor à oriental, que lhe proporcionasse apenas amores longos e fáceis. Amando na Mulher só a fêmea, adotou a ironia como a atitude própria da sua alma... Nesse instante, a cabeça vivente de D. Juan separou-se violentamente do seu corpo inerte e foi cair sobre a cabeça do esbelto e jovem oficiante... Dize agora que existe um Deus! — rugiu ainda a voz infernal, quando o abade, atingido no crânio pela mordedura, expirava..."
*
Trechos sublinhados: "...Mandou construir um monumento de mármore do mais branco sobre o túmulo de seu pai, confiando as figuras que o ornariam aos mais célebres artistas da época. Só se sentiu perfeitamente tranquilo no dia em que a estátua paterna, ajoelhada aos pés da Religião, impôs o seu peso enorme sobre a sepultura em que enterrou o único remorso que ainda poderia sobressaltar-lhe o coração nos momentos de maior lassidão... Procurou evitar o erro de certos homens poderosos que, supondo que as almas ingênuas creem nas almas fortes, das ideias efêmeras, aconselham a trocar os altos pensamentos do que há de vir pelas pequeninas moedas de nossos ideais transitórios. Poderia bem caminhar, como eles, com os pés sobre a terra e a cabeça a tocar os céus: contudo, preferia refestelar-se e devorar de beijos os lábios duma mulher meiga, fresca e perfumada, já que, semelhante à Morte, extinguindo impudentemente tudo por onde passava, exigindo só o amor que possuía, um amor à oriental, que lhe proporcionasse apenas amores longos e fáceis. Amando na Mulher só a fêmea, adotou a ironia como a atitude própria da sua alma... Nesse instante, a cabeça vivente de D. Juan separou-se violentamente do seu corpo inerte e foi cair sobre a cabeça do esbelto e jovem oficiante... Dize agora que existe um Deus! — rugiu ainda a voz infernal, quando o abade, atingido no crânio pela mordedura, expirava..."
August 17, 2014
“L'Elixir de Longue Vie” was first published in the Revue de Paris for October 1830. It is, of course, better known today in America as the horror story called The Elixir of Life. In it Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) gives us an excellent story that melds religious and supernatural elements into a horrific concoction sure to induce nightmares. It is included in Middle Earth: The Best Fantasy Short Stories 1800-1849 that I edited.
Surely the ending will be remembered the next time any reader steps foot in their place of worship. In the horror story Balzac subjects his readers to a Gothic setting at the deathbed scene:
***SPOILER ALERT***
Before long Don Juan had crossed the lofty, chilly suite of rooms in which his father lived; the penetrating influences of the damp close air, the mustiness diffused by old tapestries and presses thickly covered with dust had passed into him, and now he stood in the old man's antiquated room, in the repulsive presence of the deathbed, beside a dying fire. A flickering lamp on a Gothic table sent broad uncertain shafts of light, fainter or brighter, across the bed, so that the dying man's face seemed to wear a different look at every moment. The bitter wind whistled through the crannies of the ill-fitting casements; there was a smothered sound of snow lashing the windows. The harsh contrast of these sights and sounds with the scenes which Don Juan had just quitted was so sudden that he could not help shuddering. He turned cold as he came towards the bed; the lamp flared in a sudden vehement gust of wind and lighted up his father's face; the features were wasted and distorted; the skin that cleaved to their bony outlines had taken wan livid hues, all the more ghastly by force of contrast with the white pillows on which he lay. The muscles about the toothless mouth had contracted with pain and drawn apart the lips; the moans that issued between them with appalling energy found an accompaniment in the howling of the storm without.
When the father passes away, the son grabs a "mysterious phial." He tries a dab of the liquid on her father's eye and it comes back to life. Unlike Nathaniel Hawthorne's Doctor Heidegger's Experiment, Balzac's elixir of life is not ingested, but rather spread on the body. This opens the door to the body only being partly animated and the terrifying results if the elixir is spilled part way through the process of reanimation. When the son is near death, he gets the elixir and has his own son spread it on his face and rest of his body. But when the face and first arm was covered, the following horrific event happens.
By the soft moonlight that lit strange gleams across the country without, Felipe could dimly see his father's body, a vague white thing among the shadows. The dutiful son moistened a linen cloth with the liquid, and, absorbed in prayer, he anointed the revered face. A deep silence reigned. Felipe heard faint, indescribable rustlings; it was the breeze in the tree-tops, he thought. But when he had moistened the right arm, he felt himself caught by the throat, a young strong hand held him in a tight grip—it was his father's hand! He shrieked aloud; the flask dropped from his hand and broke in pieces. The liquid evaporated; the whole household hurried into the room, holding torches aloft. That shriek had startled them, and filled.them with as much terror as if the Trumpet of the Angel sounding on the Last Day had rung through earth and sky. The room was full of people, and a horror-stricken crowd beheld the fainting Felipe upheld by the strong arm of his father, who clutched him by the throat. They saw another thing, an unearthly spectacle—Don Juan's face grown young and beautiful as Antinoiis, with its dark hair and brilliant eyes and red lips, a head that made horrible efforts, but could not move the dead, wasted body.
The partially animated corpse is taken to church and Balzac gives his readers a unique terror that will not be forgotten.
Te Deum laudamus! cried the many voices.
"Go to the devil, brute beasts that you are! Dios! Dios! Garajos demonios! Idiots! What fools you are with your dotard God!" and a torrent of imprecations poured forth like a stream of red-hot lava from the mouth of Vesuvius.
"Deus Sabaoth! . . . Sabaoth!" cried the believers.
"You are insulting the majesty of Hell," shouted Don Juan, gnashing his teeth. In another moment the living arm struggled out of the reliquary, and was brandished over the assembly in mockery and despair.
"The saint is blessing us," cried the old women, children, lovers, and the credulous among the crowd.
And note how often we are deceived in the homage we pay; the great man scoffs at those who praise him, and pays compliments now and again to those whom he laughs at in the depths of his heart.
Just as the Abbot, prostrate before the altar, was chanting "Sancte Johannes, ora pro nobis!" he heard a voice exclaim sufficiently distinctly: "0 coglione!"
"What can be going on up there?" cried the Sub-prior, ar he saw the reliquary move.
"The saint is playing the devil," replied the Abbot.
Even as he spoke the living head tore itself away from the lifeless body, and dropped upon the sallow cranium of the officiating priest.
"Remember Dona Elvira!" cried the thing, with its teeth set fast in the Abbot's head.
The Abbot's horror-stricken shriek disturbed the ceremony; all the ecclesiastics hurried up and crowded about their chief.
"Idiot, tell us now if there is a God!" the voice cried, as the Abbot, bitten through the brain, drew his last breath.
In the introduction Balzac refers to a “stray fancy of the brain” by German author E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) for the general idea of the story. He is referring to “The Devil’s Elixirs” (Die Elixire de Teufels) by Hoffmann that was first published in 1814. While Balzac is quick to give Hoffmann his due, he is being too humble. As with many Honoré de Balzac stories, “The Elixir of Life” has areas of slowness. Yet one can always rest assured that they are in good hands with Honoré de Balzac who forged new ground in the horror short story genre. Balzac's unique blending of religious and supernatural elements, along with an ending that rivals anything penned by Edgar Allan Poe, make this story one of the foremost elixir of life stories ever written.
Surely the ending will be remembered the next time any reader steps foot in their place of worship. In the horror story Balzac subjects his readers to a Gothic setting at the deathbed scene:
***SPOILER ALERT***
Before long Don Juan had crossed the lofty, chilly suite of rooms in which his father lived; the penetrating influences of the damp close air, the mustiness diffused by old tapestries and presses thickly covered with dust had passed into him, and now he stood in the old man's antiquated room, in the repulsive presence of the deathbed, beside a dying fire. A flickering lamp on a Gothic table sent broad uncertain shafts of light, fainter or brighter, across the bed, so that the dying man's face seemed to wear a different look at every moment. The bitter wind whistled through the crannies of the ill-fitting casements; there was a smothered sound of snow lashing the windows. The harsh contrast of these sights and sounds with the scenes which Don Juan had just quitted was so sudden that he could not help shuddering. He turned cold as he came towards the bed; the lamp flared in a sudden vehement gust of wind and lighted up his father's face; the features were wasted and distorted; the skin that cleaved to their bony outlines had taken wan livid hues, all the more ghastly by force of contrast with the white pillows on which he lay. The muscles about the toothless mouth had contracted with pain and drawn apart the lips; the moans that issued between them with appalling energy found an accompaniment in the howling of the storm without.
When the father passes away, the son grabs a "mysterious phial." He tries a dab of the liquid on her father's eye and it comes back to life. Unlike Nathaniel Hawthorne's Doctor Heidegger's Experiment, Balzac's elixir of life is not ingested, but rather spread on the body. This opens the door to the body only being partly animated and the terrifying results if the elixir is spilled part way through the process of reanimation. When the son is near death, he gets the elixir and has his own son spread it on his face and rest of his body. But when the face and first arm was covered, the following horrific event happens.
By the soft moonlight that lit strange gleams across the country without, Felipe could dimly see his father's body, a vague white thing among the shadows. The dutiful son moistened a linen cloth with the liquid, and, absorbed in prayer, he anointed the revered face. A deep silence reigned. Felipe heard faint, indescribable rustlings; it was the breeze in the tree-tops, he thought. But when he had moistened the right arm, he felt himself caught by the throat, a young strong hand held him in a tight grip—it was his father's hand! He shrieked aloud; the flask dropped from his hand and broke in pieces. The liquid evaporated; the whole household hurried into the room, holding torches aloft. That shriek had startled them, and filled.them with as much terror as if the Trumpet of the Angel sounding on the Last Day had rung through earth and sky. The room was full of people, and a horror-stricken crowd beheld the fainting Felipe upheld by the strong arm of his father, who clutched him by the throat. They saw another thing, an unearthly spectacle—Don Juan's face grown young and beautiful as Antinoiis, with its dark hair and brilliant eyes and red lips, a head that made horrible efforts, but could not move the dead, wasted body.
The partially animated corpse is taken to church and Balzac gives his readers a unique terror that will not be forgotten.
Te Deum laudamus! cried the many voices.
"Go to the devil, brute beasts that you are! Dios! Dios! Garajos demonios! Idiots! What fools you are with your dotard God!" and a torrent of imprecations poured forth like a stream of red-hot lava from the mouth of Vesuvius.
"Deus Sabaoth! . . . Sabaoth!" cried the believers.
"You are insulting the majesty of Hell," shouted Don Juan, gnashing his teeth. In another moment the living arm struggled out of the reliquary, and was brandished over the assembly in mockery and despair.
"The saint is blessing us," cried the old women, children, lovers, and the credulous among the crowd.
And note how often we are deceived in the homage we pay; the great man scoffs at those who praise him, and pays compliments now and again to those whom he laughs at in the depths of his heart.
Just as the Abbot, prostrate before the altar, was chanting "Sancte Johannes, ora pro nobis!" he heard a voice exclaim sufficiently distinctly: "0 coglione!"
"What can be going on up there?" cried the Sub-prior, ar he saw the reliquary move.
"The saint is playing the devil," replied the Abbot.
Even as he spoke the living head tore itself away from the lifeless body, and dropped upon the sallow cranium of the officiating priest.
"Remember Dona Elvira!" cried the thing, with its teeth set fast in the Abbot's head.
The Abbot's horror-stricken shriek disturbed the ceremony; all the ecclesiastics hurried up and crowded about their chief.
"Idiot, tell us now if there is a God!" the voice cried, as the Abbot, bitten through the brain, drew his last breath.
In the introduction Balzac refers to a “stray fancy of the brain” by German author E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) for the general idea of the story. He is referring to “The Devil’s Elixirs” (Die Elixire de Teufels) by Hoffmann that was first published in 1814. While Balzac is quick to give Hoffmann his due, he is being too humble. As with many Honoré de Balzac stories, “The Elixir of Life” has areas of slowness. Yet one can always rest assured that they are in good hands with Honoré de Balzac who forged new ground in the horror short story genre. Balzac's unique blending of religious and supernatural elements, along with an ending that rivals anything penned by Edgar Allan Poe, make this story one of the foremost elixir of life stories ever written.
May 16, 2018
This is one of Balzac's fantastic reality tales, not only resounding in the supernatural and the occult, in diabolical elixirs, eternal life or in a piece of the conscious body that returns to the life of a corpse.
Here there is a sharp criticism against some ways of living of the bourgeoisie and especially on the institution of the Catholic Church.
"The good abbot of San Lucar, in his pontifical habits, having his miter enriched with precious stones, surmounted by the golden staff, sat as a choir king in an imperial luxury armchair" and "the chapelmaster and the signatories of the chapter, adorned with the brilliants unworthy of their ecclesiastical vanities. "
Balzac makes another social critique, pointing out how the failing society in the ethics from this tale's time views some types of people: "Truly tender, delicate, fair, generous, prudent and brave did not deserve the least regard among men."
In other words, behind the beautiful curtain of fantasy and the satanic, there is a tale that defies the moral and common standards of the institutions that underpin that society.
Here there is a sharp criticism against some ways of living of the bourgeoisie and especially on the institution of the Catholic Church.
"The good abbot of San Lucar, in his pontifical habits, having his miter enriched with precious stones, surmounted by the golden staff, sat as a choir king in an imperial luxury armchair" and "the chapelmaster and the signatories of the chapter, adorned with the brilliants unworthy of their ecclesiastical vanities. "
Balzac makes another social critique, pointing out how the failing society in the ethics from this tale's time views some types of people: "Truly tender, delicate, fair, generous, prudent and brave did not deserve the least regard among men."
In other words, behind the beautiful curtain of fantasy and the satanic, there is a tale that defies the moral and common standards of the institutions that underpin that society.
May 16, 2018
This is one of Balzac's fantastic reality tales, not only resounding in the supernatural and the occult, in diabolical elixirs, eternal life or in a piece of the conscious body that returns to the life of a corpse.
Here there is a sharp criticism against some ways of living of the bourgeoisie and especially on the institution of the Catholic Church.
"The good abbot of San Lucar, in his pontifical habits, having his miter enriched with precious stones, surmounted by the golden staff, sat as a choir king in an imperial luxury armchair" and "the chapelmaster and the signatories of the chapter, adorned with the brilliants unworthy of their ecclesiastical vanities. "
Balzac makes another social critique, pointing out how the failing society in the ethics from this tale's time views some types of people: "Truly tender, delicate, fair, generous, prudent and brave did not deserve the least regard among men."
In other words, behind the beautiful curtain of fantasy and the satanic, there is a tale that defies the moral and common standards of the institutions that underpin that society.
Here there is a sharp criticism against some ways of living of the bourgeoisie and especially on the institution of the Catholic Church.
"The good abbot of San Lucar, in his pontifical habits, having his miter enriched with precious stones, surmounted by the golden staff, sat as a choir king in an imperial luxury armchair" and "the chapelmaster and the signatories of the chapter, adorned with the brilliants unworthy of their ecclesiastical vanities. "
Balzac makes another social critique, pointing out how the failing society in the ethics from this tale's time views some types of people: "Truly tender, delicate, fair, generous, prudent and brave did not deserve the least regard among men."
In other words, behind the beautiful curtain of fantasy and the satanic, there is a tale that defies the moral and common standards of the institutions that underpin that society.
May 16, 2018
This is one of Balzac's fantastic reality tales, not only resounding in the supernatural and the occult, in diabolical elixirs, eternal life or in a piece of the conscious body that returns to the life of a corpse.
Here there is a sharp criticism against some ways of living of the bourgeoisie and especially on the institution of the Catholic Church.
"The good abbot of San Lucar, in his pontifical habits, having his miter enriched with precious stones, surmounted by the golden staff, sat as a choir king in an imperial luxury armchair" and "the chapelmaster and the signatories of the chapter, adorned with the brilliants unworthy of their ecclesiastical vanities. "
Balzac makes another social critique, pointing out how the failing society in the ethics from this tale's time views some types of people: "Truly tender, delicate, fair, generous, prudent and brave did not deserve the least regard among men."
In other words, behind the beautiful curtain of fantasy and the satanic, there is a tale that defies the moral and common standards of the institutions that underpin that society.
Here there is a sharp criticism against some ways of living of the bourgeoisie and especially on the institution of the Catholic Church.
"The good abbot of San Lucar, in his pontifical habits, having his miter enriched with precious stones, surmounted by the golden staff, sat as a choir king in an imperial luxury armchair" and "the chapelmaster and the signatories of the chapter, adorned with the brilliants unworthy of their ecclesiastical vanities. "
Balzac makes another social critique, pointing out how the failing society in the ethics from this tale's time views some types of people: "Truly tender, delicate, fair, generous, prudent and brave did not deserve the least regard among men."
In other words, behind the beautiful curtain of fantasy and the satanic, there is a tale that defies the moral and common standards of the institutions that underpin that society.
January 22, 2024
”Deus Sabaoth! … Sabaoth!” cried the believers.
“You insult the majesty of Hell,” shouted Don Juan, gnashing his teeth. In another moment his living arm struggled out of the reliquary and was brandished over the assembly in mockery and despair.
“The saint is blessing us,” cried the old women, children, lovers, and the credulous among the crowd.
An extremely weird, blasphemous little Gothic tale (borrowing generously from Hoffman) about a cannibalistic undead severed head being canonized as a saint. Did not know Balzac had this in him!
Even as he spoke the living head tore itself away from the lifeless body and dropped upon the sallow cranium of the officiating priest.
“Remember Dona Elvira!” cried the thing with its teeth set fast in the Abbot’s head.
The Abbot’s horror-stricken shriek disturbed the ceremony; all the ecclesiastics hurried up and crowded about their chief.
“Idiot, tell us now if there is a God!” the voice cried, as the Abbot, bitten through the brain, drew his last breath.
“You insult the majesty of Hell,” shouted Don Juan, gnashing his teeth. In another moment his living arm struggled out of the reliquary and was brandished over the assembly in mockery and despair.
“The saint is blessing us,” cried the old women, children, lovers, and the credulous among the crowd.
An extremely weird, blasphemous little Gothic tale (borrowing generously from Hoffman) about a cannibalistic undead severed head being canonized as a saint. Did not know Balzac had this in him!
Even as he spoke the living head tore itself away from the lifeless body and dropped upon the sallow cranium of the officiating priest.
“Remember Dona Elvira!” cried the thing with its teeth set fast in the Abbot’s head.
The Abbot’s horror-stricken shriek disturbed the ceremony; all the ecclesiastics hurried up and crowded about their chief.
“Idiot, tell us now if there is a God!” the voice cried, as the Abbot, bitten through the brain, drew his last breath.
August 7, 2022
Don Juan Belvidero was a debauched, licentious, atheistic young man who had been completely spoiled as an only child by his very wealthy father. When his father was on his death bed he asked Don Juan to spread the ointment in the bedside table all over his body at the moment of his death. He said he had spent years developing this elixir of life, and if it was applied, he (the father) would be restored to life. The father died, Don Juan did not apply the elixir, but he did save it, hoping to extend his own life force at the appropriate time. When that time arrived…well, perhaps you will need to read this delightful little story. 3 stars.
October 7, 2025
Li como uma sátira à Parábola do Filho Pródigo (ou pela filosofia e razão do cristianismo em si) mas aqui não há o arrependimento final e o voltar aos braços da Santidade até o fim ele nega a redenção da pós vida e o paraíso (achei a cena final tão engraçada como se fosse ele tirando sarro do processo de canonizar os Santos para a igreja católica). É uma história muito curta e bem humorada (a comédia humana aha) sobre o pacto faustico e o nihilismo ao se negar a vida eterna.
December 31, 2020
Despite the taper light, the clamor of the senses, the gleam of gold and silver, the fumes of wine, and the exquisite beauty of the women, there may perhaps have been in the depths of the revelers' hearts some struggling glimmer of reverence for things divine and human, until it was drowned in glowing floods of wine!
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