Thomas Luong's CV

Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac was a French writer, born on May 20, 1799, in Tours and died on August 18, 1850, in Paris. He is considered one of the fathers of the modern novel and is best known for "La Comédie humaine," a collection of novels and short stories about French society in the early 19th century.

I chose his work, "La Peau de chagrin" (1831)

"La Peau de chagrin" is about Raphaël de Valentin, who finds a magical skin in an antique shop. This skin can grant any wish, but each wish makes the skin shrink. When it disappears completely, he will die.

Valentin is feeling sad, so he decides to enjoy life and focus on material things. At first, Raphaël is very happy. He becomes rich and famous and enjoys Paris. But he soon realizes that every pleasure has a cost, and he might die if he keeps making wishes. One line from the book that stood out to me is: "To want to burn is to have power that kills."

But this happiness doesn’t last. He will realize his mistake too late and die in the arms of the one he loves. The story teaches us to be careful with our desires because dreams can be harmful if they are short-lived. It shows us the value of life and what true happiness means.

Why I chose this book

I chose this work because for the Bac exam, we need to learn six works by heart, and I happened to come across this one. I really enjoyed it, as I had never read a novel from La Comédie humaine before.

Additional Images of Balzac

My Favorite Movie

Tenet follows a secret agent who embarks on a time-bending mission to prevent World War III. Using "inverted" technology, he manipulates time, facing twists and paradoxes to stop a villain from triggering catastrophic events. A thrilling sci-fi action story.