La Peau de chagrin
Because it was among the first novels he released under his own name, Balzac did not use characters in "La Peau de chagrin" from previous works. He did, however, introduce several individuals who resurfaced in later stories. Most significant of these is Eugène de Rastignac, the older gentleman who tutors Valentin in the vicious ways of high society. Thirty pages into the writing of his 1834 novel "Le Père Goriot", Balzac suddenly crossed out the name he had been using for a character – Massiac – and used Rastignac instead. The relationship between teacher and student in "La Peau de chagrin" is mirrored in "Le Père Goriot", when the young Rastignac is guided in the ways of social "realpolitik" by the incognito criminal Vautrin.