The Quest of the Absolute

The Quest of the Absolute (French: La Recherche de l'absolu) is a novel by Honoré de Balzac. The novel first appeared in 1834, with seven chapter-divisions, as a Scène de la vie privée; was published by itself in 1839 by Charpentier; and took its final place as a part of the Comédie in 1845.

The astronomer Ernest Laugier helped Balzac in the use of chemical terminology in this novel.

In Popular Culture
In François Truffaut's 1959 film The 400 Blows, teenager Antoine Doinel idolizes Balzac's work and depicts 'my grandfather's death' in a school essay, based on the plot of The Quest of the Absolute, leading his teacher to accuse of him of plagiarizing, causing him to quit school.