In the collection "Thoughts, themes, excerpts from Honoré de Balzac," published by Jacques Crépé in 1910, there is this note from Balzac: "An invention: the skin that symbolizes life. Oriental myth." This is the first idea for "The Magic Skin." It seems that initially, Balzac had it in mind as a fantastic story. The fantastic originates from the supernatural, and the supernatural cannot be verified. Its manifestations, therefore, must be placed in some inaccessible area to observation, much far away in time or space, such as in the East, according to the author's original plan. However, Balzac did not write an Oriental story, based on the idea we noted above. Nor did he take the theme from ancient times. On the contrary, he wrote a modern Parisian novel.