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The Unknown Masterpiece
Paperback / softback
Main Details
| Title |
The Unknown Masterpiece
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| Authors and Contributors |
By (author) Honore De Balzac
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| Physical Properties |
| Format:Paperback / softback | | Pages:160 | | Dimensions(mm): Height 203,Width 125 |
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| Category/Genre | Classic fiction (pre c 1945) |
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| ISBN/Barcode |
9780940322745
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| Classifications | Dewey:843.7 |
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| Audience | |
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| Edition |
Main
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Publishing Details |
| Publisher |
The New York Review of Books, Inc
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| Imprint |
NYRB Classics
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| Publication Date |
31 August 2000 |
| Publication Country |
United States
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Description
One of Honore de Balzac's most celebrated tales, this is the story of a painter who, depending on one's perspective, is either an abject failure or a transcendental genius - or both. The story has served as an inspiration to artist as various as Cezanne, Henry James, Picasso, and New Wave director Jacques Rivette. Published here in a new translation by poet Richard Howard, The Unknown Masterpiece appears, as Balzac intended, with 'Gambara', a grotesque and tragic novella about a musician undone by his dreams.
Author Biography
Honore de Balzac was born in Tours in 1799 and died in 1850. Celebrated as one of the greatest French writers of the nineteenth century, in particular for his work La Comedie Humaine, He is best known for and credited with the invention of the modern realist novel. In more than ninety novels he set forth French society and life as he saw it. Somerset Maugham said, 'I suppose Balzac is the greatest novelist who ever lived'.
Reviews"The greatest novelist of the nineteenth century and perhaps of all time." -The New York Times "The hero of The Unknown Masterpiece, Frenhofer, is one of Balzac's archetypal artists. . ." -TheWashington Post
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