Dreaming of a Better Future

Honoré de Balzac would eventually become a celebrated writer in post-Napoleonic France. He was renowned for his complex characters and realistic writing style. Like most young artists, de Balzac lived the stereotypical “starving artist” lifestyle in Paris in the 19th century. As a different illustration demonstrated, his extremely dire living conditions in an unfinished attic led him to lose a significant amount for his first commissioned novel.

Nevertheless, de Balzac had aspirations of better living. To help him conjure up this preferred future, he decided to write on the wall what…