Sarrasine

Honoré de Balzac published his novella Sarrasine in 1831, but it was largely overlooked until 1970, when Roland Barthes used it as the centerpiece for his groundbreaking work of literary analysis S/Z.  As Barthes argues, Sarrasine exposes the deception inherent in representation, artistic or otherwise. The story’s eponymous protagonist, French sculptor Ernest-Jean Sarrasine, falls in love with opera singer La Zambinella. He imagines her as “Pygmalion’s statue descended from her pedestal,” but Zambinella harbors a secret that will shatter the sculptor’s illusions and have deadly consequences.

On a winter’s evening in early nineteenth-century Paris, the unnamed narrator of Sarrasine attends a magnificent ball in the home of the mysterious de Lanty family. During the ten years since Count de Lanty purchased the expensive estate of Marechal de Carigliano, all of Parisian society has speculated on the family’s undisclosed particulars: Where did they come from? Who are they? How did they acquire their fortune? There’s no question, however, that “the beauty, the fortune, the wit, the grace” of the de Lanty children come “solely from their mother,” as Count de Lanty is an unremarkable man.

Sixteen-year-old Marianina de Lanty and her brother Filippo “inherited […] the Countess’ marvelous beauty,” speak five languages, and additionally, Marianina sings exquisitely. Her beautiful voice lures from his private apartment another member of the household, an almost spectral figure who appears publicly only during de Lanty parties when Marianina sings. Rumored to be a ghoul of sorts, the emaciated old man dresses in black, wears a blond wig, and garnishes himself with make-up and jewelry. His arrival always creates a ripple of anxiety among the de Lanty’s. They watch him carefully, attentive to his every move and seemingly impatient for his departure.



Seated in a window recess, the narrator watches Marianina sing. Nearby is the woman he brought to the ball and hopes to seduce, Madame de Rochefide. The mysterious, black-clad old man creeps into the room and sits beside Madame de Rochefide. Alarmed, she turns to the narrator and gasps, “He smells of the cemetery!” When she touches his arm to discover if he’s actually an apparition, he cries out, creating panic among the de Lantys. Madame de Rochefide rushes from the room and into a boudoir, followed by the narrator.

In the private room, Madame de Rochefide’s agitation recedes as she admires a painting of Adonis, marveling that he’s “too beautiful for a man.” The narrator reveals that the model for the painting was actually a statue of a woman related to Countess de Lanty. He then enigmatically suggests he knows more secrets about the de Lantys, which he will disclose if Madame de Rochefide invites him to her rooms the following night. She agrees.

The next evening, the narrator sits with Madame de Rochefide in her salon. She implores him to share what he knows. He obliges by telling her the story of Ernest-Jean Sarrasine, the only son of a wealthy Parisian attorney.



Having decided on a law career for his young son, Sarrasine’s father sends him to the Jesuits for a solid education. Sarrasine proves an unruly and uncooperative student, however, and is finally expelled when he carves the figure of Christ from a stick while waiting his turn at the confessional. A natural artist, Sarrasine goes to France to pursue his talent and escape his father’s fury.

Sarrasine joins the studio of the famous sculptor, Bouchardon, who quickly recognizes Sarrasine’s artistic genius, as well as his passionate, potentially violent impulsiveness. Bouchardon takes on Sarrasine as his pupil, and for six years, Sarrasine devotes himself to developing and refining his sculpting skills. His work wins a prestigious prize and, in 1758, he departs for Rome to study masterpieces by the likes of Michelangelo.

Italians, the narrator notes, are fond of the theater. One evening, a large crowd swarms about the Argentina Theater, piquing Sarrasine’s interest. He attends the performance and is entranced by the diva on stage, La Zambinella. Back in his rooms, Sarrasine sketches Zambinella, inspired by what he regards as her ideal beauty. Night after night, he goes to the theater to gaze at the diva, and day after day he works on a sculpture of her.



His repeated attendance at the performances draws attention, and he is invited to a gathering of the production’s singers. Aware of Sarrasine’s fascination with Zambinella, they seat him beside her at dinner, eagerly encouraging him to try his luck with her. Zambinella responds with shyness to Sarrasine’s overtures, and he is increasingly enticed by her modesty and delicacy. Finally, after several hours of drinking, Sarrasine audaciously carries her off to a private room, but she produces a knife and escapes from him. When he reappears in the dining room, the other singers laugh at him.

The next day, Sarrasine speaks privately with Zambinella. She tells him she welcomes his friendship, but nothing more. Referring to herself as an accursed creature, she urges Sarrasine to stop attending her performances.

Nevertheless, when he receives an invitation to see Zambinella sing at an event hosted by Cardinal Cicognara, Sarrasine goes, even organizing a scheme to abduct her afterward. Zambinella performs dressed as a man, eliciting a surprised remark from Sarrasine. This, in turn, prompts a Roman nobleman to ridicule Sarrasine’s ignorance of state customs: women are not allowed on stage here; eunuchs “play female parts within the domains of the pope.”



Appalled, but unable to accept that Zambinella is a “castrato,” Sarrasine proceeds with his plan and kidnaps the diva. He demands the truth, and the singer admits he’s not a woman. Enraged, Sarrasine raises his sword to kill him, but not before guards sent by Zambinella’s protector, Cicognara, burst in and stab Sarrasine to death. Cicognara eventually acquires Sarrasine’s bust of Zambinella, and it serves as the model for Madame de Lanty’s painting of Adonis.

The narrator tells Madame de Rochefide that the old man in the de Lanty household is Zambinella. He is Madame de Lanty’s uncle, and the family’s fortune comes from his opera career. Instead of rewarding the narrator for his disclosures, Madame de Rochefide replies, “You have disgusted me with life and passion for a long time to come.”

Over the course of his writing career, Honoré de Balzac created an elaborate fictional society in a series of interlinked stories titled La Comédie Humaine. More than ninety complete works comprise the collection. Balzac originally included Sarrasine in series called “Scenes from Private Life,” which would become the beginning of La Comédie.