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111:. Balzac's renowned attention to detail is used to describe a gambling house, an antique shop, a royal banquet, and other locales. He also includes details from his own life as a struggling writer, placing the main character in a home similar to the one he occupied at the start of his literary career. The central theme of
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is the conflict between desire and longevity. The magic skin represents the owner's life-force, which is depleted through every expression of will, especially when it is employed for the acquisition of power. Ignoring a caution from the shopkeeper who offers him the skin, the protagonist greedily
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that fulfills his every desire. For each wish granted, however, the skin shrinks and consumes a portion of his physical energy.
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surrounds himself with wealth, only to find himself miserable and decrepit at the story's end.
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67:(1799–1850). Set in early 19th-century
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100:elements, its main focus is a
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104:portrayal of the excesses of
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96:Although the novel uses
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125:More selected works
50:The Wild Ass's Skin
113:La Peau de chagrin
90:La Comédie humaine
85:sequence of novels
83:group of Balzac's
77:La Peau de chagrin
40:La Peau de chagrin
155:Literature portal
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18:Portal:Literature
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65:Honoré de Balzac
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109:materialism
106:bourgeois
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52:) is an
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69:Paris
57:novel
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54:1831
59:by
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