Author: Olivia Pataki
Honoré de Balzac, most known for being the writer of the awe-inspiring Comédie Humaine, is rarely lauded for his complex, multi-faceted novellas and short stories. In the 19th Century, a notable shift had occurred in popular literature – especially in the fact that it had become popular in the first place. Indeed, as political and social revolutions had wreaked havoc on French society, and as a new class, the Bourgeoisie, emerged, readers had gradually begun encompassing all people in society, from nobles to the nouveau riche, and those of the educated class. Many of these readers were women.
Sarrasine, a 70-page novella, is a prime example of this shift. Although narrated by a man, the story is one written for women; it is full of deep emotional sensibility and intelligence, and follows themes which the 19th century woman could relate to or be inspired by. It follows the nameless narrator as he tells an oriental fable to a beautiful woman at a high society soirée. The story goes as follows: Sarrasine, a lonely, profoundly romantic and misunderstood sculptor, decides to travel to Italy with hopes that opera, the warm ocean air, and beautiful women will inspire him to hone his craft and produce a statue worth a million times its weight. However, his journey turns into a monomaniac episode when Sarrasine meets the beautiful and imposing opera singer, Zambinella.
Sarrasine is before anything else, a tale of oppositions. From the first scene we are met with vivid descriptions of the soirée – contrasts between death and life, men and women, the young and old reinforce the ambivalence of life itself, noting how every moment is infinitely complex if one can observe the world with full attention and awareness.
Sarrasine himself is the embodiment of an idealist who was wronged by his own ambitions – a tale as old as time yet treated differently by Balzac, as he makes Sarrasine the hero of a fable told directly by the nameless narrator. We thus have two stories, a process French people know as a „mise en abyme.” This creates an interesting metaphysical structure which adds to the oxymoronic nature of the text as it stresses the line between fiction and fact.
Balzac thus makes us question the complexity of life in less than a hundred pages. He also reveals the intricacies of love, obsession, and art.
Edited by: Olivia Pataki
Cover Image by: jarmoluk from Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/photos/old-books-book-old-library-436498/
