Maître Zacharius ou l'horloger qui avait perdu son âme
Tale by Jules Verne
The story, an intensely Romantic fantasy echoing the works of E.T.A. Hoffmann, is a Faustian tragedy about an inventor whose overpowering pride leads to his downfall.
The clockmaker Master Zacharius lives on a small island in the middle of the Rhone within the town of Geneva, in an era "before new and regular buildings were constructed on this island". When the story opens, he is troubled by an inexplicable mystery: for several days, all of the many clocks he has made and sold have begun to suddenly stop, one by one. Unable to fix any of them or to find a reason for the phenomenon, Zacharius falls into mental torment and becomes seriously ill.
As he begins to think that his soul exists in the clocks that he created, Zacharius is wildly driven to preserve the only operable piece that remains - in hopes of achieving immortality.
As he begins to think that his soul exists in the clocks that he created, Zacharius is wildly driven to preserve the only operable piece that remains - in hopes of achieving immortality.
