Sarrasine (1758,1830)

Picked apart sentence by sentence by Barthes in the French classic of narratology "S/Z". This story is about a castrati opera singer who captivates a young sculptor who is determined to possess her, I mean him. As a joke some people try to set him up with the castrati. The truth eventually becomes apparent but too late to avert tragedy at the hands of the castrati's powerful protector. The whole tale is told to a young woman with amorous intentions, but the tale itself kills all romantic feelings in her. Camille Paglia calls this the first work of the decadence and Balzac the first post-modernist. (Short, Sarrasine, srrsn10.txt).