The Unknown Masterpiece

Honore De Balzac, Arthur Coleman Danto, Richard Howard

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Paperback

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French

Granta
15 September 2006

Fiction & Literature; Classic fiction (pre c 1945)

A New York Review Books Original

One of Honore de Balzac's most celebrated tales, ""The Unknown Masterpiece"" 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, which has served as an inspiration to artists as various as Cezanne, Henry James, Picasso, and New Wave director Jacques Rivette, is, in critic Dore Ashton's words, a ""fable of modern art.""

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.

By: Honore De Balzac
Introduction by: Arthur Coleman Danto
Translated by: Richard Howard
Imprint: Granta
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 125mm, Spine: 10mm
Weight: 190g
ISBN: 9780940322745
ISBN 10: 0940322749
Pages: 146
Publication Date: 15 September 2006
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

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 for The Unknown Masterpiece

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 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