La Peau de chagrin
In 1831 Balzac published a short story called "Les Proscrits" ("The Exiles"), about two poets named Dante and Godefroid de Gand who attend the Sorbonne at the start of the fourteenth century. It explores questions of metaphysics and mysticism, particularly the spiritual quest for illuminism and enlightenment. Balzac had been influenced greatly as a young man by the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, whose theories permeate "Les Proscrits". The story was published – alongside "La Peau de chagrin", which also delves into metaphysics – as part of an 1831 collection entitled "Romans et contes philosophiques" ("Philosophical novels and stories").