Daily Archives: January 5, 2009

The Story of a Tree-Hugging Soldier Facing Camus’s First Question of Philosophy: Balzac’s “A Passion in the Desert” (1830)

In Honore de Balzac’s short story, “A Passion in the Desert” (1830), a French soldier finds himself, by a series of unfortunate circumstances, alone on a desert oasis in Egypt, and with little prospect of ever being discovered. Balzac sets the … Continue reading

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Without a Doubt?: Honore de Balzac’s “A Passion in the Desert” and The Value of Close Reading

In Honore de Balzac’s short story, “A Passion in the Desert” (1830), is a vivid—and unsettling—description of an old, one-legged Napoleonic soldier: “He was without a doubt one of those troopers who are surprised at nothing, who find matter for laughter in … Continue reading

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