1 h 30 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the perfect beauty you love exists only in the image you have made?
At a grand Paris party, a strange old figure unsettles Madame de Rochefide. The wealthy Lanty family has no known past, and this guest seems to hold its secret. A narrator offers an explanation, hoping to win her favor. His story carries her from the bright rooms of Paris to the opera stage in Rome.
There, Ernest-Jean Sarrasine, a gifted and headstrong French sculptor, searches for perfect beauty. The singer La Zambinella captivates him, and he returns to the theatre until his work falls aside. But powerful men stand in his way. In Honoré de Balzac’s short tale, desire feeds on art, and an imagined ideal threatens to blot out the person before him.
What you’ll discover
- A mystery among guests Enter a glittering Paris gathering where an old figure disturbs the elegant scene.
- An artist consumed Follow Sarrasine as his longing for beauty turns from artistic purpose toward obsession.
- The spell of song Meet La Zambinella, whose voice and presence draw the sculptor back to the theatre.
- Desire and its illusions Explore the gap between loving a person and loving an image shaped by art.
- A story within a story Watch the narrator use a mysterious past to seek favor in the present.
Who will love it
For readers who love short, strange stories, artists consumed by obsession, and French writing of the nineteenth century. It also suits anyone curious about literary theory, frame stories, and the mysteries of desire and identity.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ball and a family without a past
- A strange old figure frightens the guests
- A bargain: a story for a night
- Sarrasine, the sculptor with a violent will
- Rome, the opera, and a voice
- Obsession grows, and powerful men stand in the way
- What the tale is about and how it is told
Who’s who
- The narratorA man at a Paris ball who tells the tale to a woman beside him, hoping it will win him her favor.
- Madame de RochefideA young, elegant guest at the party who is shaken by the old figure and presses the narrator to explain.
- Ernest-Jean SarrasineA gifted, headstrong French sculptor who goes to Rome and longs to find a perfect beauty in life.
- La ZambinellaA celebrated singer on the Roman stage whose voice and presence captivate Sarrasine and set his fate.
- Cardinal CicognaraA powerful Roman churchman who protects the singer and stands in the way of the sculptor's plans.
- The Lanty familyA wealthy Paris household with no known past, admired by society and ruled by a strange old figure.
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Sarrasine
by Honoré de Balzac · 1830
A sculptor in Rome falls for an opera singer, and his love grows into an obsession that blinds him.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 7
A ball and a family without a past
The story opens at a grand party in a mansion in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, a wealthy district of Paris. The tale is told by a man who sits in a window recess. Behind him is a garden in the cold. In front of him are the dancers, the jewels, and the glitter of the ball. He is between two worlds, and he feels it.
The house belongs to the Lanty family. They are very rich, and everyone in Paris society accepts their invitations. Yet nobody knows where the money comes from or where the family was before it came to France. Madame de Lanty is a woman of fading beauty. Her daughter Marianina is young, talented, and admired. Her son Filippo is handsome. Guests whisper, guess, and invent stories, but no one has a firm answer.
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What is Sarrasine about?
It is about a young French sculptor in Rome who falls obsessively in love with an opera singer. The tale is told by a man at a Paris party who uses it to explain a family's mystery.
Who is La Zambinella in Sarrasine?
La Zambinella is the celebrated singer on the Roman stage who captures the sculptor's heart. Sarrasine sees in the singer the ideal beauty he has long sought, and his love for that image drives the plot.
When was Sarrasine written?
Balzac published it in 1830. It is a work of fiction, though it uses real settings such as Paris and Rome, and it later became part of his cycle The Human Comedy.
The author
Honoré de Balzac
1799–1850 · French novelist
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright born in Tours in 1799. He lived and worked in Paris, where he died in 1850. He wrote The Magic Skin in 1831, Eugénie Grandet in 1833, and Father Goriot in 1835. Many of his works belong to La Comédie humaine.
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