Details
The Treatise is the first true philosophical expression of dandyism, and is full of well-crafted aphorisms: “Elegant living is, in the broad acceptance of the term, the art of animating repose,” runs one classic definition of dandyism, and “One must have studied at least as far as rhetoric to lead an elegant life” asserts the importance of verbal pirouette and dexterous quipping to the dandy.
Further embellished with anecdotes and historical and personal illustrations, Balzac's Treatise even features a fictitious encounter with the original dandy himself, Beau Brummell. Never before translated into English, this witty tract makes for an illuminating cornerstone to Balzac's Human Comedy (which was originally to have included a never-completed four-part philosophical “Pathology of Social Life”).
Above all, it represents a decisive moment in the history of dandyism, and an entertaining exposition on the profundities of what lies deepest within all of us: our appearance.
Additional Information
| Author | Honore de Balzac / Napoleon Jeffries (translator) |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Wakefield Press |
| Page Count | 86pp |
| Publication Size | 4.5 x 7 |
| Publication Notes | softcover, with flaps |
| Publication Date | February 28, 2010 |
| ISBN | 978-0984115501 |
You may also be interested in the following product(s)
Mustaches: For Fun and Profit
$4.00
|
Pocket Stache
$7.95
|
One Thousand Beards: A Cultural History of Facial Hair
$19.95
|
Sweet 'Stache: 50 Badass Mustaches and the Faces Who Sport Them
$10.95
|
Related Products
My Cart
You have no items in your shopping cart.