peau de chagrin
E1009618
Peau de chagrin is the magical, wish-granting piece of shagreen leather at the center of Honoré de Balzac’s novel, which shrinks with each fulfilled desire to symbolize the gradual consumption of life itself.
Observed surface forms (1)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Peau de chagrin | 0 |
Statements (40)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
fictional magical object
ⓘ
literary artifact ⓘ |
| appearsInWork |
La Peau de chagrin
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
The Wild Ass's Skin NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedWithTheme |
bargain-like pact without explicit devil
ⓘ
consumption and exhaustion ⓘ desire ⓘ free will and determinism ⓘ mortality ⓘ |
| comparedTo |
Faustian bargains
ⓘ
The Monkey's Paw NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| createdByAuthor | Honoré de Balzac NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| effectOfUse |
shortens the owner's lifespan
ⓘ
shrinks with each granted wish ⓘ |
| firstAppearsIn | La Peau de chagrin (1831) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| genreContext | French realist literature with fantastic elements ⓘ |
| grants |
desires
ⓘ
wishes ⓘ |
| hasCondition | cannot be stretched or altered without losing power ⓘ |
| hasLimitation |
size decreases irreversibly
ⓘ
when fully consumed, the owner dies ⓘ |
| hasProperty |
magical
ⓘ
shrinks when wishes are fulfilled ⓘ wish-granting ⓘ |
| hasTitleMeaning |
shagreen skin
ⓘ
wild ass's skin ⓘ |
| influenced | later literary treatments of wish-granting objects ⓘ |
| isCentralMotifOf | La Peau de chagrin NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| languageOfWork | French ⓘ |
| locatedInFiction | Paris NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| material | shagreen leather ⓘ |
| narrativeFunction |
drives the plot of Balzac's novel
ⓘ
tests the protagonist's moral choices ⓘ |
| ownedByCharacter | Raphaël de Valentin NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| partOf | La Comédie humaine NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| symbolizes |
fatalism
ⓘ
finite vital energy ⓘ gradual consumption of life ⓘ self-destruction through excess desire ⓘ the cost of desire ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.