{"product_id":"the-death-of-balzac-paperback","title":"The Death of Balzac - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eOctave Mirbeau\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eBrian Stableford\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere, presented in English for the first time in a translation by Brian Stableford, is one of Octave Mirbeau's darkest works: a fictionalized account of the death of the giant of French letters, ­Honor  de Balzac.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmong his journalistic endeavors, Mirbeau contributed a large number of short stories to the newspapers in the \u003cem\u003efin-de-si cle \u003c\/em\u003eperiod, and he honed his skill in that kind of work to near-perfection. Many of his anecdotal short stories make the customary tokenistic pretences to be \"true,\" and there is a considerable gray area between his explicit works of fiction, and articles that represent themselves falsely as reportage. None of his other impostures of that ­ambiguous kind, however, are quite as brazen or as seductively ­persuasive in their deception as the triptych making up \u003cem\u003eThe Death of Balzac\u003c\/em\u003e, which, seen purely as a literary exercise, is a masterpiece of sorts, in terms of the persuasiveness of its mendacious execution and the elegance of its narration. It is a gripping and affectively powerful story, artful in its very atrocity; a prime specimen of the work of an exceptional writer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 92\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.22 x 8 x 5.25 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 16, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42712216076351,"sku":"9781943813568","price":20.74,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/c47270c24bf38793a79ad0ae68ad6714.webp?v=1765061030","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/the-death-of-balzac-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}