The Elixir of Life

First published in 1830, this novella by best-selling author Honor de Balzac is a story that melds religious and supernatural elements into a horrific nightmares-inducing concoction. After the death of his father, a licentious man goes from amoral to outright immoral, but somehow convinces a priest to give him the titular elixir of life. On his death, he has his son anoint him with the liquid, and it brings him back to life, but the shock of the resurrection startles the son so badly he drops the elixir, leaving his father only alive to his neck...