The
immortal wanderer John Melmoth makes a deal with an embezzling
cashier, who takes on Melmoth’s curse and all the power that goes
with it. Melmoth dies in peace. The cashier works for the banker
Baron Nucingen, and observes Nucingen’s wife flirting with the
unscrupulous Rastignac. Also appearing are prostitutes Aquilina and
Euphrasie and devious money lender Charles Claparon. This crossover
connects Charles Robert Maturin’s Melmoth
the Wanderer to Balzac’s La
Comédie Humaine cycle of novels. Madame
Nucingen and Rastignac began their affair in Balzac’s Père
Goriot. Aquilina and Euphrasie first appeared
in The Magic Skin,
while Charles Claparon went on to appear in César
Birotteau.
You know for a writer famous for being a realist, if not a naturalist, Balzac wrote a lot of fantasy.
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