Shagreen skin theme. Philosophical issues shagreen leather

11.04.2019

Honore de Balzac conceived and almost brought to life a daring plan: to write a series of novellas and short stories in which a literary model of contemporary France would be created. He called the main creation of his life “ A human comedy", similar to " Divine Comedy» Dante Alighieri. The writer hoped that it would become as significant for the 19th century as the creation of the great Florentine was for the Middle Ages. The anthology was supposed to contain 144 works, connected by transitional characters, a single style and problems. However, Balzac managed to write only 96 of them. " Shagreen leather"(1831) is also included in this cycle and is located in the "Philosophical Studies" section.

This novel examines the conflict between the individual and society, which was the focus of contemporary literature (for example, Stendhal's The Red and the Black). However, the philosophy of this book and the multiple meanings make it seem like a parable with deep meaning. "Shagreen skin" summary which boils down to a truly Buddhist conclusion that desires kill, nevertheless carries a life-affirming message: happiness is possible without a “magic wand”; it can be found in selfless love and the desire to give, rather than take and own.

The main character of the work is Raphael de Valentin, an impoverished educated aristocrat. For several years he ekes out a poor man's existence in the attic of a small hotel, unaware that the owner's daughter, Polina, is in love with him. He himself became infatuated with the brilliant socialite Countess Theodora, and for her sake he began to play in the casino, spend madly on gifts, after which there was only one way out for his honor - suicide. This is how the novel “Shagreen Skin” begins.

For lack of best ideas, the hero enters an antique shop, where he purchases a piece of donkey skin, on the back of which is embossed in some oriental language the inscription: “When you take possession of me, I will take possession of you. I will fulfill your wishes, but with each of them I will decrease - just like your life. Therefore, balance your desires.” Not believing in the effectiveness of what was written, Rafael plans a revelry, and immediately meets his friends who invite him to have a drink. He traces the outlines of his talisman in ink and makes a wish to receive great wealth. The next morning, the solicitor informs him that his uncle died in India and bequeathed all his considerable savings to the young de Valentin. Raphael reaches into his pocket and takes out the antique dealer's gift. The shagreen skin has shrunk in size!

The subsequent narrative unfolds rapidly: having believed in the effectiveness of the talisman, Raphael tries to give up his desires. But an accidentally dropped polite phrase “I wish you happiness,” attraction to the woman he loves and the thirst to win a duel quickly wipe out his days.

Shagreen skin decreases in size; no physical experiments can stop this process. In the end, the hero dies in his luxurious home in the arms of Polina, who loves him without any miracles or talismans.

It seems that the entire work is a parable about soul-burning desires, symbolized by shagreen skin. An analysis of the style of the novel still shows that Balzac works in a narrative style and builds on the romanticism of his predecessors, writers early XIX century, using very realistic details coupled with a colorful and dynamic composition. The hero describes the story of his kind of ruin in such a way that anyone who knows the economic and political realities of France at the end of his reign will not doubt the veracity of his words. The sincerity of this novel, despite the fantastic plot, puts it among best works classical realism.

Shagreen skin plays with fate.
Balzac's novel is philosophical reflections clothed in literary form. Anyone reading this work faces a dilemma about the relationship between wealth and grief. I would like to find out: why a piece of miracle leather, saving the hero of the story from poverty, requires misfortune to pay for its good services, destroys the desire to enjoy life.
The hero of the work, Raphael de Valentin, presents a standard picture of a handsome young man from a good family, but for a number of reasons he ended up in difficult situation. It should be noted that among the reasons, not the least, are one’s own lack of management and the desire to quickly and earn a lot, for example, in gaming houses.

Mysterious talisman

The novel begins at the moment when a young man named Raphael de Valentin reached the edge. Failures and defeats plunged him into despair and the thought of suicide seems most suitable to Raphael. Having lost his last twenty-franc coin, the young man went out into the street and went wherever his eyes led him. You need to throw yourself off the bridge into the Seine, but during the day the boatmen won’t let you take your own life for fifty francs, and it was disgusting.
We must wait until twilight, then society, which failed to appreciate the moral greatness of Raphael, will receive his unidentified, lifeless body. In the meantime, we decided to finally amuse our eyes with city views. The doomed man admired the Louvre and the Academy, examined the turrets of Notre Dame Cathedral and the Palace of Justice. Here, on the path of the future drowned man, there was an antiquities shop where he sold antiques and various groceries.
The ominous-looking old man saw Raphael's spiritual breakdown and offered him a chance to become more powerful than the king. The merchant laid out the goods in front of the young man, a piece of shagreen with an intricate engraving in Sanskrit, the meaning of which sounded something like this: the owner of the piece will have everything, but his life will belong to the skin, all wishes will be fulfilled, but the piece of skin will melt, like the days of the life of the owner of the talisman.
Raphael shook hands with the prickly old man and first of all wished that the merchant would fall in love with the dancer, as long as fate did not change. Arriving at night on the bridge, Valentin was taken aback by the unexpected meeting with his friends. They were passionate about the project of creating a moderate opposition to King Louis Philippe and offered to participate in the matter as a newspaper employee. And to top it all off, they invited the rich banker Taillefer to a dinner party.
A motley bohemian audience gathered there, a rich dinner ended with exotic entertainment - a conversation with the courtesans Aquilina and Euphrasia about the frailty of existence.

Heartless woman

Only after experiencing strong emotional unrest does Rafael reveal to his friend memories from his childhood, mostly filled with disappointments. The dreamy boy did not receive his father's love. The domineering and tough parent, busy with machinations with the lands conquered by Napoleon’s army, did not leave any warmth to his sensually vulnerable son. When Napoleon lost everything, the elder Valentin's business ceased to generate income.
After the death of his father, Raphael was left only with debts that deprived him of his fortune. What we managed to save had to be stretched out for some time, eking out a semi-beggarly existence, renting an attic in a cheap hotel. Feeling his literary talent, Raphael devoted himself to creating a “great work,” while simultaneously pursuing the pretty daughter of his owner. The object of his passing desire was called Polina, but she was not the lady of his dreams. The young man, like Don Juan, needed an ideal social passion, and also a rich one.
A short time later, such a woman appears in Raphael's life. Countess Theodora attracted the attention of many Parisian suitors who suffered a fiasco in front of the inaccessible and rich beauty. At the beginning of their acquaintance, Valentin felt the favor of the enviable lady. Sweet dreams almost deprived him of his mind when a cynical calculation was revealed. Through Raphael, Theodora intended to establish a relationship with the Duke de Navarrene, who was a distant relative of the young man.
After a love failure, he moves to his friend Rastignac. Once won a large sum, the friends “got into all sorts of bad things”, quickly squandered the jackpot and ended up on social day. Sensitive Raphael considered life over. So the decision came to throw myself off the bridge into the Seine.
Having received the chance that was given young man a piece of shagreen, Raphael wished to receive one hundred and twenty thousand rent. In the morning, a message arrived from the notary about the inheritance left to Valentin by a certain Major O’Flaherty, who had died the day before. Having taken out a magical piece of skin, the newly-minted rich man noted a visible reduction in the flap. Suddenly there was a consciousness that the end was approaching. Now Raphael could have everything, but he lost his desires.

Agony

Having replaced the attic with a rich house, Raphael had to strictly control his emerging desires. Any expression of them led to an irreversible reduction in the piece of shagreen. Once at the theater, Valentin accidentally met the old man who sold him a piece of leather. He was walking arm in arm with a young courtesan. Having not changed much in appearance, the shopkeeper's gaze was greatly transformed. The old man's eyes sparkled like those of an inspired youth. It turns out that the matter lies in love, an hour of which is sometimes worth a lifetime.
Looking around at the elegant audience, Raphael fixed his gaze on Theodora, as brilliant as before. But the feelings no longer stirred; behind the external gloss there was a faceless emptiness. Then another socialite attracted attention; to his surprise, Valentin recognized her as Polina, with whom he whiled away the time in a modest attic. Now everything has changed, Polina inherited a considerable fortune. Having made a wish that Polina would love him, Rafael noticed that the piece of skin had become very small. In a fit of rage, Raphael threw her into the well, let fate decide everything.
Life sparkled with new colors, a sea of happiness washed over the young people. But the gardener accidentally reminded him of the inevitable; he took out a discarded piece of shagreen from the well. Raphael runs to the scientists with a request to eliminate the patch, but no one is able to help him. This leads to despair. Life, which until recently seemed unbearable to Raphael, suddenly became an enduring value.
Illnesses begin to overcome Valentin, doctors find consumption in him and wash their hands of him - his days are already numbered. Polina remained the only person who sincerely empathized with Rafael. This circumstance and his unbearable mental anguish force him to flee from his bride. When they met after a while, not having the strength to resist the desire, Rafael rushed to Polina. This desire ended his life.
In the epilogue, the author gave a vague hint of reflection about Polina’s fate.

“Shagreen Skin” by Honoré de Balzac and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde: literary parallels

1.1 Synthesis of fantasy and realism in “Shagreen Skin” by Honoré de Balzac

The work of Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) is a unique phenomenon not only in French, but also in world literature.

The world is ruled by passion - for love, money, success and martyrdom - and Balzac's creative Universe is imbued with the music and meaning of this passion, its dramatic harmony.

Balzac's artistic works, starting with Shagreen Skin, indicate that his understanding of the nature and possibilities of the novel genre implied free attitude to the boundaries between genres. Feature of the new art of the 19th century century - the desire for synthesis, for the fusion of various genre elements - turned out to be close creative individuality Balzac. He found that Walter Scott, whose artistic experience Balzac greatly respected, successfully combined in the novel “drama, dialogue, portrait, landscape, description; he included both the incredible and the true - these elements of the epic...”

Belinsky most clearly formulated the principles of the novel as an epic of modern times in the 40s. Considering the novel and story as the freest forms in which life is embodied, Belinsky believed that in these genres “better, more convenient than in any other kind of poetry, fiction merges with reality, artistic invention is mixed with simple, as long as it is faithful copying.” from life... This is the broadest, most comprehensive kind of poetry; in it talent feels limitlessly free. It combines all other types of poetry..."

Balzac's work already from the beginning of the 30s developed in line with artistic principles new art. He understood the novel as a means of understanding the whole world, as an expression complex connections between the individual and society, as the revelation of the “mysticism of the human heart,” to use Belinsky’s expression.

Fantasy and everyday life, tragedy and irony, lyricism and fury of a pamphlet, versatile erudition and journalisticism - the novel “Shagreen Skin” contains everything, which is preceded by a kind of epigraph - a horizontally snaking, wriggling black line and under it a link to a chapter from the strangest, ironic and a bizarre 18th-century book, Sterne's Tristrem Shandy. Such a line, but vertical, was thoughtfully drawn by the simple-minded sage of Stern, Corporal Trim, with the end of a stick, expressing his judgment about human life.

The depressing picture of the spiritual degradation of a brilliant, outwardly full of life society, gripped by the thirst for gold and pleasure, which made selfishness the main principle of existence, indicates that already in “Shagreen Skin” Balzac approached his most important task - to find a “social engine”, “ cover hidden meaning a huge accumulation of types, passions and events.”

Balzac called the philosophical story “Shagreen Skin” (1831) “the formula of our egoism.” The fantastic, all-powerful shagreen skin, while giving the hero relief from poverty, was actually the cause of even greater grief. It destroyed the ability for creative daring, the desire to enjoy life, the feeling of compassion that unites a person with his own kind, and ultimately destroyed the spirituality of the one who possesses it.

Honore de Balzac's novel, which brought him his first literary fame, tells the story of the impoverished young ambitious Raphael Valentin, who, on the verge of suicide, accidentally bought in an antique shop magic talisman- a piece of shagreen leather that fulfills all the wishes of its owner, but at the same time shortens his life every time.

“Signs in Sanskrit were written on the cellular tissue of this wonderful skin. It was written there: “By possessing me you will possess everything, but your life will belong to me, as God pleases. Wish and your desires will come true, but balance your desires with your life. She is here. With every desire I will decrease. Do you want to own me? Take it. God will hear you. So be it." (Balzac O. Shagreen leather).

Having acquired wealth and pleasure, Valentin very soon finds himself faced with a choice: to live for his own pleasure and thereby doom himself to imminent death- or “castrate your imagination”, indulge in self-restraint and, obeying the instinct of self-preservation, turn yourself off from life.

Depicting the rebirth of Raphael de Valentin after receiving millions, Balzac, using a convention permissible in philosophical genre, creates an almost fantastic picture of the existence of his hero, who became a servant of his wealth, turned into an automaton.

The combination of philosophical fiction and the depiction of reality in the forms of life itself constitutes artistic specificity stories. Connecting the life of his hero with fantastic shagreen skin, Balzac, for example, describes with medical precision the physical suffering of Raphael as a patient with tuberculosis. (Oblomievsky D. Balzac).

The novel is a life story, a story of struggle, disappointments, passions and irreparable errors, ending with the death of the hero, which came much later than his spiritual death.

A bold, very bold composition allows you to see the entire process of personal development, but it is structured in such a way that it focuses attention on the most important, turning points. The exposition of the novel highlights a dramatically tense moment when fate changes and a person’s life takes a different path. The scene in the gambling house that opens the novel is a rapid introduction to the action, it connects the past and the future, the hero here is on the border of life and death, he makes the last bet.

He is unknown to anyone, not named, he is a stranger. It does not yet have its own separate history, but only what is common to many - a cruel fate. And, like many unlucky people, he came to put his last piece of gold and his life on the line. If he wins, the generally banal story about a seeker of success may receive a continuation: new successes and failures will follow, transitions from joy to despair. He lost; therefore he died. This could be the end of the story told in the second part of the novel. But - it became the beginning of a novel about shagreen skin.

Later, the hero will acquire individuality, a realistically revealed story with many life details. It will be enclosed within the novel, form its core, and fill the second part of the book (“A Woman Without a Heart”).

Fantastic motifs in the first and third parts of “Shagreen Skin”, merged with amazing naturalness with realistic details, conveyed the meaning of the complex connections and relationships connecting the bourgeois individual with society, expressed the “movement of life” without giving an exact copy. And the system of sharp, bright, emotionally rich and philosophically significant contrasts that occupy such great place in the composition of “Shagreen Skin”, is determined by the same goal: “to express nature” without copying it.

Raphael's internal splitting, due to the duality of his position between the social “upper” and “lower”, gives rise to the deep tragedy of his image. The defeat of Raphael the poor man is perceived as tragic circumstance. The fate of Raphael evokes not only interest and curiosity, but also the deepest sympathy and pity. He turns out to be innocent of his fall, appears helpless in the face of the forces that have befallen him. These forces, embodied in the image of an old antiquarian who, with his gift, completes the moral fall of the hero of the novel, are not by chance portrayed as incommensurable with Raphael in their boundless superiority over him. To strengthen this incommensurability of them, Balzac makes them fundamentally different from the real phenomena among which Raphael lives, and at the same time makes these forces dominate over real people and things. Balzac frees these forces from subordination to the laws of nature, endowing them with a special, specific energy, attributing to them a power that goes beyond the ordinary, an unnatural, supernatural power.

And here the fantastic beginning and its role in the novel become decisive. The correlations and connections between fantastic phenomena and paintings and images that exist in the work come to the fore. real world. The two-dimensional nature of the novel, its combination of realism and fantasy, turns out to be decisive for its meaning.

Balzac's novel “Shagreen Skin” among his contemporary fiction, more precisely, among contemporary novels, it actually occupies a rather peculiar position. This situation is largely determined by the literary views that the writer shared at that time. Balzac, judging by his essays “On Literary Salons” and “Romantic Akathists,” took an active part in the struggle that many French writers waged in those years around the legacy of romanticism. He then joined the opponents of this trend. But for Balzac, what was most alien to romanticism were the elements of artistic idealism, unrealistic motives and tendencies characteristic of the entire romantic movement. He essentially objected to romanticism in general, to the romantic artistic method. Balzac directs his novel against the romantic disregard for reality, against the subjective emotions that supplant the objective image of the subject. No wonder it has this significant place are occupied by descriptions of the real situation in which the action takes place, descriptions of the things among which the hero lives, works and indulges in reflection. Balzac acts as a counterbalance to Planche's guidelines - to portray a person outside his environment - and in full accordance with the demands of those critics who argued that the environment of character is no less important for artistic image than the character itself; “Shagreen Skin” includes images of things that romantics left outside work of art. In an empty space devoid of material objects or among things neutral in relation to the character, the heroes of Chateaubriand (“René”), Constant (“Adolphe”), Nodier (“Jean Sbogar”) acted. Balzac makes a detailed account of the things that make up Raphael's costume. The condition of Raphael's hat, his shoes, his flannel shirts - all this interests the writer. He takes into account Raphael's food items - bread, milk, sausage, knows how much oil Raphael burns per night, knows what the weather is like on the street where Raphael walks - sleet or sleet. Theodora’s world is presented in an equally tangible way. A fragrant hairstyle, carpets, lace, jewelry - this is the complex of things of which she herself is an integral part. (Ionkis G.E. Honore Balzac. Biography of the writer).

And the point is not in the things themselves, which often only clarify the objective position of a person. The fact is that a person is limited in his actions by things, or, more precisely, by his position in the world. He acts in accordance with his real environment, subordinates his thoughts to the environment. So, for Theodora, “everything is” her own carriage, box, and hat. Raphael is forced to clean his room himself, buy provisions himself, take care of his suit, and reduce his expenses to a minimum, because he does not have enough material resources for a normal existence. Adolphe, Rene, Jean Sbogar dreamed, indulged in reflection, fell in love, and that’s all. Raphael thinks, falls in love, dreams, but, in addition, he is still in need and malnourished, that is, he is dependent on his financial situation, and this latter turns out to be decisive for his spiritual world.

But the originality of “Shagreen Skin” lies in the fact that, next to the circle of causally determined phenomena, it also contains a circle of phenomena that are not subject to material necessity, as if torn out of cause-and-effect relationships. Along with completely accurate, realistic descriptions and stories, we find in the novel all kinds of personifications, maximally freed from everything concrete, gravitating towards image-schemes. In this regard, it is worth recalling the description of Raphael’s life after his miraculous enrichment, the images of scientists who are trying to crush and burn a piece of shagreen leather, aristocrats at a resort, and peasants whom Raphael meets in Switzerland. This duality of the novel and its style is especially evident in the difference between Raphael and the old antiquarian.

If Raphael exists in the real world and his behavior is determined by the laws of this world, then the existence of the old antiquarian, who first appears before Raphael “from the darkness”, in the “center of the reddish circle”, “lighting up” against the background of “darkness”, seems completely different. When the antiquarian appears before Raphael, in the semi-darkness, at first only his face is visible. “One would have thought,” the author of Raphael’s impression summarizes, “that this face hung in the air.” The author directly states that he could not hear him enter: he “was silent and did not move.” It seems to Raphael that the old man “came out of a nearby sarcophagus.” The author speaks of the antiquarian as “like a ghost.” The shagreen leather that the antique dealer gives to Raphael seems just as wonderful, fantastic, and supernatural. What is striking about it is that in its existence it does not obey the laws of physics and chemistry; it cannot be flattened by a mechanical press, under the influence of which it scatters into tiny fragments steel plate. It is affected by fluoric acid, nitrogen chloride, strong electric shock, volt arc. And she retains her previous appearance. It is depicted as a phenomenon of a mystical, irrational order.

Another feature, also equally inherent in an antique and a piece of shagreen leather, is their incredible, fantastic power. Shagreen leather has, according to the antiquarian, formidable strength, the ability to shrink in size to a minimum and at the same time retains a mysterious influence on the fate of the person who owns it. She is able to turn him over in an instant life path, make a poor man rich. At the same time, it can destroy a person, turn a blooming young man into a seriously ill, dying man. The same omnipotence characterizes the antiquarian. At the sight of him, Raphael is born with “an inexplicable premonition of some kind of extraordinary power.” In the old man’s own words, he “walks through the universe as if through his own garden,” his foot “steps on the highest mountains Europe and Asia." He studied “all human languages”, “resurrects” in his imagination “entire countries, pictures of different places, views of the ocean”, “creates” a “universe” in his soul. He has the gift of “guessing the thoughts of the most secretive people.” On his face one can read “the calmness of an all-seeing god” or “the proud power of a man who has seen everything.”

In shagreen leather, just like in the old antique dealer, Balzac embodies a completely real phenomenon - power, the strength that money acquires in his contemporary society. The shagreen skin, as already mentioned above, transfers a colossal fortune into Raphael’s possession and separates him from the world of need. What should be noted about the old antique dealer is the close connection between his activities and the accumulation of money. This is not only a collector of art and culture, he is also a moneylender. The antiquarian tells Raphael about his endless travels, that he has been everywhere - in China, and in Arab countries, and in all European capitals, and in North America. And it is curious that wherever he goes, he is busy only with the acquisition of wealth - buying and selling, loans, bills - in the wigwams of the Indians he “leaves gold”, in European capitals he “signs contracts”, to the Chinese he “lends money” . By creating images of shagreen skin and an old antiquarian, Balzac clearly points to social evil, which dominates the surrounding life, provides an accurate diagnosis of this evil. The novel is not about a special sphere of existence and at the same time not about a special state of Raphael’s consciousness that gives rise to fantastic dreams. The fantastic is not here a product of the imagination, derived from the fantasizing subject. It reflects a process that occurs outside consciousness, regardless of the will and desire of a person, an objective process. Balzac's fiction reflects the real world. For him, fiction is subordinated to realism. Fantasy is only a form, and at the same time a form of the same real world, and not a special element of existence. This is the specificity of the fantastic in Balzac, which sharply distinguishes him from the reactionary romantics, for whom the fantastic always bore a religious-mystical imprint, was always present among real phenomena as a kind of messenger other world and at the same time it penetrated into the circle of real phenomena only through the consciousness of the subject, through his imagination, dreams. (Oblomievsky D. Balzac).

At the same time, creating images of an antique dealer and shagreen leather, Balzac especially emphasizes the spontaneous, irrational nature of the power of money. He views the power of money as a very real, earthly phenomenon, but only unknowable, inexplicable from the point of view of the human mind. Turning special attention that the power of money is modern society is one of the unusual phenomena that violates the usual, centuries-old course of things, Balzac, in accordance with this, decisively distances himself in “Shagreen Skin” from everyday realism, which depicted existing things as absolutely understandable, completely within the framework of generally accepted ideas. The very presence of the image of Raphael in the novel, his very life before his meeting with the antiquarian indicates that Balzac belongs to the realistic camp of literature of that time.

Back in to a greater extent than the image of Raphael, Balzac’s belonging to the realistic literary camp is emphasized by the images of an antiquarian and shagreen leather and, in general, the element of the fantastic in the novel. We must not forget that the death of Raphael lies in this element. It is she who breaks his fate and, in its function in the novel, is completely equal to the harmful influence that spreads to Raphael from Theodora and Rastignac. Balzac, as it were, declares with his novel about the trouble that reigns in a world where there are facts and phenomena that are disastrous for humans and at the same time incomprehensible, rationally inexplicable.

The presence of the fantastic in the novel and in this respect, therefore, is determined by the very nature of reality. By creating images of an antique dealer and shagreen leather, Balzac feels the objective need for a capitalist attack on old world, decrepit and gradually losing the right to exist. He feels the historical inevitability of the power of money, which the antiquarian and shagreen leather bring with them. The forces of the old world cannot do anything against the power of money. For in themselves they do not represent something fundamentally different from the new rulers. It is not at all accidental in this regard that Balzac’s Raphael is not just a poor man, not a peasant, not an artisan, but an impoverished nobleman. It is his origin, his childhood spent in a circle of financially secure people, that facilitate his transition into the circle of the rich. The germs of wastefulness in his mind stem from this.

In his book on Balzac, published in 1858, Gautier considers "Shagreen Skin" as the work that made Balzac's name "immortal." “Until now, novels,” writes Gautier, “have been limited to depicting a single passion - love, but have shown love in the ideal sphere, beyond the limits of vital necessity.” The characters of previous, “exclusively psychological” novels, according to Gautier, “did not eat, did not drink, had neither a home nor an account with a tailor.” They “moved in abstract space, as if in a tragedy. When they wanted to travel without worrying about getting a passport, they took with them several handfuls of diamonds and paid the coachmen with this coin.”

Balzac, Gautier argues, guided by a “deep instinct for reality,” realized that “in modern life... money reigns supreme.” He “had the courage to present in “Shagreen Skin” a lover who was concerned not only about how to touch the heart of his beloved, but also about whether he would have enough money to pay for a cab.” Gautier thus welcomes in every possible way Balzac's depiction of real modern life that surrounds the hero; more precisely, he welcomes the depiction of everyday life, the superficial phenomena of reality. He just does not want to admit any contradictions between the hero and his environment, and thereby erases from the novel the atmosphere of dissatisfaction and discontent that Raphael spreads around himself. The world and the hero are, according to Gautier, in complete agreement, in full accordance with each other. Fantasy in the novel also remains outside of Gautier's field of vision. And this is because Gautier considers the power of money not tragic, but a self-evident circumstance of modern life. He sees no need to portray it as a fantastic phenomenon. In the fantastic, as Gautier’s short stories from the cycle “Young France” (1833) show, he sees only a derivative of the abnormal, the painful state of mind hero. He ignores fantasy in “Shagreen Skin” precisely because of its realistic nature. (Oblomievsky D. Balzac).

The sources of Balzac's fiction are hidden in real everyday relationships. The fantastic form in “Shagreen Skin” summarized the essential aspects of reality and revealed such depths social phenomena, which, perhaps, would lose meaning if they were translated into the language of everyday life. "Form... is only a transmitter of ideas, sensations, elusive poetry...". This “only” does not at all detract from the active function of form in a work of art; rather, it emphasizes it. As a “transmitter” of ideas and sensations, a lot depends on it: it can neutralize, hide what constitutes true essence phenomena; or, on the contrary, to convey, express hidden meaning complex processes occurring in the life of the individual and society. The monstrous confusion, the absurdity of capitalist reality, in which a person, becoming a toy of elemental forces, himself is destroyed as an individual, created a majestic and gloomy image of a fantastic shagreen skin.

So, fantastic motifs live naturally and freely among the many realistic details of Raphael's life. They do not at all violate the realistic basis of the novel. The abundance of realistic details enhances the impression of authenticity of everything that happens and even gives it a touch of everyday life.

Shagreen skin has gained credibility as an active effective force, became a part of life, entered it as an immutable law. Realistic motivations for the miraculous do not cancel out the fantastic; they give the magical power of shagreen leather an even more absolute character. For, despite the fact that Raphael’s head was spinning from hunger, his consciousness was clouded and he was ready to perceive everything as a dream, shagreen skin is undeniable, it exists both as a romantic motive and as a materialized expression of the law of life.

Goethe, who knew the novel “Shagreen Skin,” separated Balzac’s fantasy from the romantic “miracles” in the works of his contemporaries. He found that “the author brilliantly uses fantasy, turning it into a means of purely realistic depiction of experiences, moods and events.

In "Shagreen Skin" - a novel amazing in the breadth and universality of its coverage of life, such circumstances, conflicts, situations are found in which the general laws of the social, philosophical, moral order are manifested clearly and clearly, and typical characters are realized with the greatest completeness.

Balzac in his novel presents a fantastic incident as the quintessence of the laws of his time and with its help reveals the main social engine of society - monetary interest that destroys personality.

Thus, in the hands of Balzac, the fantastic motif served as one of most important tasks realistic art: to express through personality the typical features of society.

Analysis of the works of Honore de Balzac

The focus of the literature of critical realism is the analysis of class structure, social essence through artistic worldview...

The genre-compositional nature and system of images in the work of “Romani Kulisha” by V. Petrov

The genre of literary biography, which is genetically rooted in the culture of antiquity, has a distinct history of formation and development. The dynamics of its evolution are intimately connected with the panicky mindset of the singing era. Yes, zocrema...

Genre originality novel by Vyacheslav Kilesa "Julka in the Land of Vitasophia"

The life and work of Balzac

What was the origin of realism in Balzac’s work? People, the main object of a realistic story or novel, cease to be a reinforced form of marriage and class. The whole social fabric is being monitored...

The problem of "fathers and children" in Honore de Balzac's novel "Father Gorio"

The artistic problems of the novel include the dismantling of the hidden human myth about those who can achieve fame and fortune by fair means. Throughout all the stories about this sizeable work, one of the main characters of the work is a young student...

Problems of synthesis of arts in the works of domestic art historians XX - beginning of the XXI century

Poetics of postmodernism in the novels “Perversion” by Yuri Andrukhovich and “The Remaining World” by Christophe Ransmayr: typological aspect

An important element of the aesthetics of postmodernism is the synthesis of “massism” and “elitism”. Having decided to create a novel that would be “revealing, delightful,” Andrukhovich and Ransmayr crossed into a new line of intellectual and popular literature. Є...

The work of Honore Balzac

Honore de Balzac was born in the ancient city of Tours, from the age of seven he was brought up in a boarding school in the city of Vendôme, and from the age of sixteen, at the request of his father, he came to Paris to study law. The father dreamed of a deputy career for his son...

The work of Honore Balzac

Determining Balzac's place in the world literary process, M. Gorky wrote: “The breadth of his plans, the courage of his thoughts, the truth of his words and brilliant foresights of the future, already largely justified by the present, make him one of the greatest teachers in the world”...

The work of Honore Balzac

Honoré de Balzac in his study "About Bayle" gave comparative characteristics creativity of his contemporary French writers. And he started with Stendhal. "Mr. Bayle, better known by his pseudonym Stendhal, is, in my opinion...

Functions of fiction in realistic prose by I.S. Turgenev and P. Merimee

If we understand fantasy as any invention, any violation of the proportions of reality, recorded in artistic form, then its distant origins should be sought not only in the medieval, but in in this case ancient Russian literature...

Written in 1830-1831, the novel “Shagreen Skin” is dedicated to the problem, as old as the world, of the collision of a young, inexperienced person with a society corrupted by numerous vices.

The main character of the work- the young, impoverished aristocrat Raphael de Valentin, goes through a difficult path: from wealth - to poverty and from poverty - to wealth, from a passionate, unrequited feeling - to mutual love, from great power to death. The character's life story is depicted by Balzac both in the present tense and in retrospect - through Raphael's story about his childhood, years of studying the art of law, and meeting the Russian beauty Countess Theodora.

The novel itself begins with a turning point in Raphael's life when, humiliated by the woman he loves and left without a single sou in his pocket, the young man decides to commit suicide, but instead acquires a wonderful talisman - a small piece of shagreen leather, the size of a fox. Containing the seal of Solomon on the reverse side and a number of warning inscriptions, they indicate that the owner unusual item gets the opportunity to fulfill all his desires in exchange for his own life.

According to the owner of the antiquities shop, no one before Raphael had dared to “sign” to such a strange agreement, which actually resembled a deal with the devil. Having sold his life for unlimited power, the hero, along with it, gives up his soul to be torn to pieces. Raphael's torment is understandable: having received the opportunity to live, he watches with trepidation as the precious minutes of his existence flow away. What just recently was of no value to the hero suddenly became a real mania. And life became especially desirable for Raphael when he met his true love- in the person of a former student, now a young and rich beauty, Pauline Godin.

Compositionally The novel “Shagreen Skin” is divided into three equal parts. Each of them is a constituent element of one large work and, at the same time, acts as an independent, complete story. In "The Talisman" the plot of the entire novel is outlined and at the same time a story is given about the miraculous escape from death of Raphael de Valentin. “A Woman Without a Heart” reveals the conflict of the work and tells the story of unrequited love and the same hero’s attempt to take his place in society. The title of the third part of the novel, “Agony,” speaks for itself: it is both a climax and a denouement, and touching story about unhappy lovers separated by evil chance and death.

Genre originality The novel “Shagreen Skin” consists of the peculiarities of the construction of its three parts. "Talisman" combines the features of realism and fantasy, being, in fact, a gloomy a romantic fairy tale in the Hoffmannian style. The first part of the novel raises themes of life and death, gambling (for money), art, love, freedom. “A Woman Without a Heart” is an exceptionally realistic narrative, imbued with a special, Balzacian psychologism. Here we are talking about true and false - feelings, literary creativity, life. “Agony” is a classic tragedy in which there is a place for strong feelings, all-consuming happiness, and endless grief, ending in death in the arms of a beautiful beloved.

The epilogue of the novel draws a line under two main female images works: pure, gentle, sublime, sincerely loving Polina, symbolically dissolved in the beauty of the world around us, and cruel, cold, selfish Theodora, who is a generalized symbol of a soulless and calculating society.

Women's images the novel also includes two minor characters who are persons of easy virtue. Raphael meets them at a dinner with Baron Taillefer, a famous patron of young scientists, artists and poets. The majestic beauty Aquilina and her fragile friend Efrasia lead free life because of his lack of faith in love.

The first girl’s lover died on the scaffold, the second girl does not want to tie the knot. Ephrasia in the novel takes the same position as Countess Theodora: they both want to preserve themselves, just at different costs. Poor Efrasia agrees to live as she wants and die, unwanted in the hospital. Rich and noble Theodora can afford to live according to her needs, knowing that her money will give her love at any stage - even in the most severe old age.

Love theme in the novel is closely related to the theme of money. Raphael de Valentin confesses to his friend Emile that in a woman he values not only her appearance, soul and title, but also wealth. The lovely Polina attracts his attention no sooner than she becomes the heiress of a large fortune. Until this moment, Raphael suppresses all the feelings that the young student evokes in him.

Countess Theodora kindles his passion with everything she has: beauty, wealth, inaccessibility. For the hero, love for her is akin to conquering Everest - the more difficulties Raphael encounters on the way, the more he wants to solve the riddle of Theodora, which in the end turned out to be nothing more than emptiness...

It is not for nothing that the Russian countess in her hard-heartedness correlates with high society society: the latter, like Theodora, strives only for contentment and pleasure. Rastignac wants to marry profitably, his literary friend wants to become famous at someone else's expense, the young intelligentsia wants, if not to make money, then at least to eat in the house of a rich patron of the arts.

The true realities of life, such as love, poverty, illness, are rejected by this society as something alien and contagious. It is not surprising that as soon as Raphael begins to move away from the light, he immediately dies: a man who knew true values life cannot exist within deception and lies.

“Shagreen Skin”, a summary of the chapters of the novel by Honore de Balzac

Written in 1830-1831, the novel “Shagreen Skin” is dedicated to the problem, as old as the world, of the collision of a young, inexperienced person with a society corrupted by numerous vices.

The main character of the work, the young, impoverished aristocrat Raphael de Valentin, goes through a difficult path: from wealth to poverty and from poverty to wealth, from passionate, unrequited feelings to mutual love, from great power to death. The character's life story is depicted by Balzac both in the present tense and in retrospect - through Raphael's story about his childhood, years of studying legal art, and meeting the Russian beauty Countess Theodora.

The novel itself begins with a turning point in Raphael's life when, humiliated by the woman he loves and left without a single sou in his pocket, the young man decides to commit suicide, but instead acquires a wonderful talisman - a small piece of shagreen leather, the size of a fox. Containing the seal of Solomon on the reverse side and a number of warning inscriptions, they say that the owner of the unusual item receives the opportunity to fulfill all desires in exchange for his own life.

According to the owner of the antiquities shop, no one before Raphael had dared to “sign” to such a strange agreement, which actually resembled a deal with the devil. Having sold his life for unlimited power, the hero, along with it, gives up his soul to be torn to pieces. Raphael's torment is understandable: having received the opportunity to live, he watches with trepidation as the precious minutes of his existence flow away. What just recently was of no value to the hero suddenly became a real mania. And life became especially desirable for Raphael when he met his true love - in the person of his former student, now the young and rich beauty Pauline Godin.

Compositionally, the novel “Shagreen Skin” is divided into three equal parts. Each of them is a constituent element of one large work and, at the same time, acts as an independent, complete story. In "The Talisman" the plot of the entire novel is outlined and at the same time a story is given about the miraculous escape from death of Raphael de Valentin. “A Woman Without a Heart” reveals the conflict of the work and tells the story of unrequited love and the same hero’s attempt to take his place in society. The title of the third part of the novel, “Agony,” speaks for itself: it is both a climax and a denouement, and a touching story about unhappy lovers separated by evil chance and death.

The genre uniqueness of the novel “Shagreen Skin” consists of the peculiarities of the construction of its three parts. “The Talisman” combines the features of realism and fantasy, being, in fact, a dark romantic fairy tale in the Hoffmannian style. The first part of the novel raises themes of life and death, gambling (for money), art, love, freedom. “A Woman Without a Heart” is an exceptionally realistic narrative, imbued with a special, Balzacian psychologism. Here we are talking about true and false - feelings, literary creativity, life. “Agony” is a classic tragedy in which there is a place for strong feelings, all-consuming happiness, and endless grief, ending in death in the arms of a beautiful beloved.

The epilogue of the novel draws a line under the two main female images of the work: the pure, gentle, sublime, sincerely loving Polina, symbolically dissolved in the beauty of the world around us, and the cruel, cold, selfish Theodora, who is a generalized symbol of a soulless and calculating society.

The female characters of the novel also include two minor characters who are persons of easy virtue. Raphael meets them at a dinner with Baron Taillefer, a famous patron of young scientists, artists and poets. The majestic beauty Aquilina and her fragile friend Efrasia lead a free life due to their disbelief in love.

The first girl's lover died on the scaffold, the second girl does not want to tie the knot. Ephrasia in the novel takes the same position as Countess Theodora: they both want to preserve themselves, just at different costs. Poor Efrasia agrees to live as she wants and die, unwanted in the hospital. Rich and noble Theodora can afford to live in accordance with her needs, knowing that her money will give her love at any stage - even in the most severe old age.

The theme of love in the novel is closely related to the theme of money. Raphael de Valentin confesses to his friend Emile that in a woman he values not only her appearance, soul and title, but also wealth. The lovely Polina attracts his attention no sooner than she becomes the heiress of a large fortune. Until this moment, Raphael suppresses all the feelings that the young student evokes in him.

Countess Theodora kindles his passion with everything she has: beauty, wealth, inaccessibility. For the hero, love for her is akin to conquering Everest - the more difficulties Raphael encounters on his way, the more he wants to solve Theodora’s riddle, which in the end turned out to be nothing more than emptiness...

The true realities of life, such as love, poverty, illness, are rejected by this society as something alien and contagious. It is not surprising that as soon as Raphael begins to move away from the light, he immediately dies: a person who has learned the true values of life cannot exist within deception and lies.