{"product_id":"2026200010031-secondhand-prometheus-the-life-of-balzac","title":"Prometheus: The Life Of Balzac","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good to fair. Jacket: good, worn\/faded (refer to image). Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew literary lives burn as brilliantly — or as recklessly — as that of Honoré de Balzac, the titan of French letters whose colossal ambition matched only his colossal debts. André Maurois' Prometheus: The Life of Balzac chronicles the extraordinary existence of the man behind La Comédie Humaine, painting a vivid portrait of a writer who consumed life voraciously: working through the night on caffeine and obsession, pursuing impossible loves, and single-handedly constructing one of the most ambitious literary monuments in Western history.\n\nTranslated by Norman Denny, this biography stands as one of the definitive accounts of Balzac's turbulent genius, illustrating how his personal excesses and financial catastrophes fed directly into his unparalleled literary output. Maurois writes with the elegance and psychological acuity that defined his long career as France's pre-eminent literary biographer, drawing sharp connections between the man and the myth. For anyone captivated by the intersection of genius and self-destruction, this is an indispensable portrait — one that leaves the reader wondering whether Balzac's greatest creation was not his fiction, but himself.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49130626318555,"sku":"2026200010031-SECONDHAND","price":20.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/a680b374-439c-42a4-bcf7-14b79ef6dcb3.png?v=1786587857","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200010031-secondhand-prometheus-the-life-of-balzac","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}