Séraphîta

{{short description|1834 novel by Honoré de Balzac}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}} {{italic title}} {{Infobox book | name = Séraphîta | title_orig = | image = BalzacSeraphita01.jpg | caption = Illustration from ''Séraphîta'' by [[Édouard Toudouze]] | author = [[Honoré de Balzac]] | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = France | language = French | series = [[La Comédie humaine]] | genre = [[Fiction]] | publisher = | release_date = [[1834 in literature|1834]] | media_type = | pages = | isbn = | preceded_by = | followed_by = }}

'''''Séraphîta''''' ({{IPA|fr|seʁafita}}) 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]] 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.{{sfn|Frèches-Thory|1988|p=371}}

From 2010 to 2014 [[Ouriel Zohar]] 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 == {{reflist}}

== Sources == * {{cite book|last=Frèches-Thory|first=Claire|others=with Peter Zegers|title=The Art of Paul Gauguin|publisher=[[National Gallery of Art]]|date=1988|pages=[https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_d8s2/page/369 369–73]|chapter=The Return to France|isbn=978-0-8212-1723-8|lccn=88-81005|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_d8s2/page/369}}

== External links == {{gutenberg|no=1432|name=Séraphîta}}

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Seraphita}} [[Category:Androgyny]] [[Category:Books of La Comédie humaine]] [[Category:Novels first published in serial form]] [[Category:Works originally published in Revue de Paris]] [[Category:1834 French novels]] [[Category:Novels set in Norway]] [[Category:French LGBTQ novels]] [[Category:Bisexual fiction]] [[Category:Emanuel Swedenborg]] [[Category:Novels by Honoré de Balzac]] [[Category:French novels adapted into plays]] [[Category:1830s LGBTQ novels]]