Abstract
Around 1820–1821, a young and not quite experienced Balzac writes a short story in prose, a draft which will remain unfinished and which we know as Corsino. It is one of Balzac’s experimental texts in prose (Sténie ou les Erreurs philosophiques; Une heure de ma vie; Agathise; Falthurne) revealing his artistic quest and announcing some important traits to be found in his later official works. Corsino is influenced by Balzac’s philosophical lectures and reflections present in his notes known as Discours sur l’immortalité de l’âme from 1818, where the topics such as religion, God, morality, science, epistemology, materialism, or scepticism are discussed.