''Séraphîta'' () is a French novel by
Honoré de Balzac with themes of
androgyny. It was published in the ''
Revue de Paris'' in 1834. In contrast with the realism of most of the author's best known works, the story delves into the fantastic and the supernatural to illustrate philosophical themes.
In a castle in Norway near the
fjord Stromfjord, Séraphitüs, a strange and melancholic being, conceals a terrible secret. Séraphitüs loves Minna, and she returns this love, believing Séraphitüs to be a man. But Séraphitüs is also loved by Wilfrid, who considers Séraphitüs to be a woman (Séraphîta).
In reality, Séraphitüs-Séraphîta is a perfect androgyne, born to parents who by the doctrines of
Emanuel Swedenborg have transcended their humanity, and Séraphitüs-Séraphîta is the perfect example of humanity.
Ruggero Leoncavallo wrote a
symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...
based on the story.
An early drawing of
Paul Gauguin's ceramic sculpture ''
Oviri'' bears the inscription ''Et le monstre, entréignant sa créature, féconde de sa semence des flancs généreux pour engendrer Séraphitus-Séraphita'' ("And the monster, embracing its creation, filled her generous womb with seed and fathered Séraphitus-Séraphita"), referring to the novel.
[Frèches-Thory p. 371]
From 2010 to 2014
Ouriel Zohar
Ouriel Zohar (born 1952), is an Israeli and French theater director, playwright, poet and translator from French to Hebrew. Professor at the Department of Humanities & Arts at the Technion University, created the Technion theater in 1986. Has be ...
staged ''Seraphita'', his adaptation of the novel starring Barbara Heman at the Théâtre de l'Île Saint-Louis in Paris, and then in several countries around the world.
References
Sources
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External links
Androgyny
Books of La Comédie humaine
Novels first published in serial form
Works originally published in Revue de Paris
1834 French novels
Novels set in Norway
French LGBT novels
Bisexuality-related fiction
Emanuel Swedenborg
Novels by Honoré de Balzac
French novels adapted into plays
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