Review on Honore De Balzac’s Sarassine

Due to the incessant reference to Roland Barthes work on Balzac’s Sarassine, a curiosity arouse in me to read the text before reading the criticism by Barthes. My search was fulfilled by Feedbooks online that provided the translation of Sarassine by Clara Bell. The work runs to thirty five pages and one can read the work in single setting. The translation is impeccable with a clear flow of words and thereby it becomes a great joy to read the text. The striking part of the text is the introduction of Sarassine in the middle of the text. The initial part depicts the French society in 1830s and at the same time it does not miss to lead the readers towards the story plot of Sarassine in whose name the text is labelled. As the story of Sarassine began and when i was half way through, i could make a wild guess about the story as i have earlier watched the movie starring Arjun directed by Bharathiraja. Though I could vaguely collect the title of the movie as it was not a box office hit still i remembered the story which was very different from the traditional tamil movie story line. A boy will be posed as heroine in the movie following which all sorts of trouble will arise for the boy. A series of murder takes place and the actor Arjun appears to solve the case. The suspense will be revealed at the end. In the movie a girl has played the role both as a boy and girl. Now i can understand the source of the movie. The movie was not an exact copy or the adaptation of this work Sarassine. So, both the written text and the movie are unique in their ways. It is pleasure to read the text and simultaneously it is a thrill to watch the movie devoid of knowledge about the story of the text. This story no doubt has depicted the fall of a great artist but it is interesting to read an unusual story. Artist may fall as he is a human but the art is eternal which will sing his praise for ages. Balzac is also a true artist.