The Elixir of Life

The Elixir of Life

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The Elixir of Life by Honoré de Balzac

Published:

1897

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The Elixir of Life

By

2.3333333333333
(3 Reviews)

Book Excerpt

p> One seemed to be saying--"The frozen heart of age might kindle at my beauty."

Another--"I love to lounge upon cushions, and think with rapture of my adorers."

A third, a neophyte at these banquets, was inclined to blush. "I feel remorse in the depths of my heart! I am a Catholic, and afraid of hell. But I love you, I love you so that I can sacrifice my hereafter to you."

The fourth drained a cup of Chian wine. "Give me a joyous life!" she cried; "I begin life afresh each day with the dawn. Forgetful of the past, with the intoxication of yesterday's rapture still upon me, I drink deep of life--a whole lifetime of pleasure and of love!"

The woman who sat next to Juan Belvidero looked at him with a feverish glitter in her eyes. She was silent. Then--"I should need no hired bravo to kill my lover if he forsook me!" she cried at last, and laughed, but the marvelously wrought gold comfit box in her fingers was crushed by her convulsive clutch.

"When are you to be Grand Duke?" asked the sixth. Ther

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(1897) Sci-fi (Resurrection)


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Plot bullets

Don Juan's father is dying.
His father believes that he has created an elixir to restore himself to life, after death.
The father leaves the task of his resurrection to his son, who must apply the fluid shortly after death..
Don Juan saves the elixir for his own use, to ensure his return from the dead.
Will Don Juan's son fulfill his duty when the time comes, or will he repeat his father's sin?
This potion may be the elixir of life or the work of the devil.

Not really a science fiction story, more of a fantasy ghost story. The story itself begins a quarter of the way through the book and is quite dull, with nothing too much in the way of characterization, just a magic bottle of liquid that restores life when rubbed upon a corpse.