Seraphita

La Comédie Humaine #87

by Honoré de Balzac

Balzac begins with a travelogue of the fiords of Norway, concentrating ultimately on one valley that is isolated by the roaring waters of the Sieg River which rises in Sweden and by the forbidding mountains of Jarvis.

We begin with two figures cross-country skiing UP a mountain, past unimaginable abysses. One of them is Minna Becker, daughter of the village pastor. The other is a pale young male named Seraphitus, who expertly guides Minna up the slope to an Alpine meadow. (from a blog on Balzac)

Genres: Classics, Fiction, France, French Literature, Novels, Literature, Fantasy

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1834

About the author

French writer Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac), a founder of the realist school of fiction, portrayed the panorama of society in a body of works, known collectively as La comédie humaine .

Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.

Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.

An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.

Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.

Reviews

[A. Raca · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Bilim ya da mucizeler insanlığın amacı olsaydı, Musa size diferansiyel ve integral hesaplarını miras bırakmış, İsa Mesih bilimlerinizdeki karanlık noktaları açıklığa kavuşturmuş olurdu."

"Dünya mükemmel değilse bir yürüme veya ilerlemeyi kabul eder; ama mükemmelse durağandır."

Gerçekten çok farklı bir kitaptı. İncecik bir kitapta o kadar şey anlatmış ki Balzac...
Jaguar Kitap'a dilimize kattığı için ayrıca teşekkürler :)

💚

[Murat Dural · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kendi içinde yollar içeren, karanlıktan ışığa, ışıktan karanlığa geçen, dönüşen, dönüştüren bir Balzac kitabı. "Seraphita" için ".... benim ustalık eserim olacaktır. Bir "Goriot Baba" her gün yazılabilir ama "Seraphita" gibi bir yapıt bir ömürde ancak bir kez ortaya çıkar..." de,miş. Okuduktan sonra ne demek istediğini çok iyi anladım. Tekrar tekrar okunabilecek dünyanın kirine ruhun sınırsız öteliğine dair inanılmaz tanımlamalar, betimler var. Okumak, düşünmek, tatmak için güzel seçenek ama bu yola çıkarken her cümelede sarsılmaya da bir o kadar hazır olun :)

[Brodolomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Serafita” bi uslovno pripadala fantastičnim romanima „Ljudske komedije”, iako ne volim tu podelu, jer i oni najrealističniji Balzakovi romani imaju u sebi ezoterično-metafizičke podzemne tokove koji utiču da stvarnost u njima nije nikad puko preslikavanje spoljašnjosti. Jednostavno, nikad nisam voleo svođenje Balzaka na popisivača klasa i nameštaja jer je on imao daleko složeniju viziju sveta, a onda su ga tumači Engels i Marks i nastavljači upropastili, a školski programi dokrajčio.

U krugu Balzakovih fantastičnih priča, „Serafita” se izdvaja i što ovo i nije „pravi“ roman, već više ezoterično-religijski trakt sa zapletom. Iako nerazrađen, zaplet je dovoljno filast kao reform torta u ljubičastoj boji. Uključuje hermafrodita Serafitu-Serafitusa u koga su zaljubljeni, savremenim rečnikom, cis muškarac i cis žena, Vilfred i Mina - Mina u hermafroditu vidi super dasu prefinjenih manira, a Vilfred najlepšu devojku bogomoljku – stoga se i u tekstu varira rod zamenice i glagola shodno iz čije perspektive posmatramo. Ljubavni trougao se odigrava u nekom zavejanom selu u Norveškoj, a to sa stanovišta devetnaestovekovnog Pariza sugeriše da se radnja događa negde na kraju sveta. I nekako mi je krivo što radnja nije više razrađena, iako ima ovde i Balzakovih tekstualnih fotografskih portreta kao i melodramskih dijaloga (Jedva čekam prigodnu situaciji da kažem nešto tipa: „Zbog tvog ponašanja ne mogu mirno da izgovorim večernju molitvu”). Serafita-Serafitus ostaje nedorečena, misteriozna figura, što je u sklopu njene sumnjive ontologije sasvim opravdano. Razočaravajuće je što Mina ostaje nedorečena i jedna od nezanimljivijih Balzakovih heroina, dok Vilfred spada u varijacije ambicioznih, mladih Balzakovih i Stendalovih Napolenčića, nerazrađena varijacija Rastinjaka ili Ribamprea. U sklopu Kurcijusovog opažanja da „Ljudska komedija” počiva na nerazrešenom sukobu između magije (sticanje moći nad svetom) i misticizma (pretapanje sveta nad individuom) Vilfred bi bio predstavnik prvog, Serafita drugog, a ovde je laka i sigurna pobede otišla u šake drugom principu, bez neke prevelike borbe.

Veći deo romana obuhvata ezoterično-religijsko predavanje Serafite. Bilo bi možda preterano proglasiti taj trakt teologijom „Ljudske komedije”, jer Balzak nije bio sistematičan pisac (na svu sreću), ali u njemu ima mnogo toga što može da pomogne za razumevanje šire vizije najambicioznijeg projekta u književnosti. Bez sumnje, Svedenborgova teologija je centralna iako se tek vidi u esejističkim delovima romana da je ona bitno promenjena, pa su i Bog i onostranost, koji su kod Svedenborga poprilično enciklopedijski predstavljeni, pa i na nekom nastranom racionalizmu zasnovani, kod Balzaka pomereni u iracionalnost i nesaznatljivost. I interesanto je da je sa učenjem o korespondencijama koje je, većim delom, preuzeo od Svedenborga, Balzak na jedan korak od Bodlera, pa samim time i tri koraka od simbolizma. (Doduše Balzak je ovde i stopu udaljen od nekih aspekata nemačkog romantizma, što potvrđuje koliko te priče šta kome i koliko prethodi funkvionišu po principu krivo pa na ćoše ukrug). Mističko iskustvo u „Serafiti” vezano je i za traganje za novim, apsolutnim jezikom, idejom o molitvi koja sjedinju u sebi reč, misao i delo. Pošto nije bio u stanju da tog jezika i dođe, kraj romana u vidu Serafitine apoteoze i nebeskog venčanja Vilfreda i Mine ostvareni su u slikama koje, u boljem slučaju, nalikuju na Blejka (još jednog Svedenborgovca), u gorem slučaju, zaliče na ono kako gastarbajteri zamišljaju luksuz. Balzak se na kraju izvlači time što spozaju ne smatra završetkom i vrhuncem, već početkom traganja, te Vilfred i Mina mogu ruku pod ruku da krenu na svoj put ka apsolutnom jeziku kako bi stigli do Boga.

[Özgür · Rating 2 out of 5]

Çok etkileyici (çevirmenin de etkisiyle) tasvirler içeren ama hikayesinden pek keyif almadığım bir kitap oldu. Kitabın önemli bir kısmının mistik (tasavvufi??) monologlardan ibaret olduğunu da belirtmek gerek.

[Zeynep T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balzac'ın ne kadar yetenekli bir yazar olduğunu unutmuşum. Diğer eserlerini okuyalı çok olmuştu. Kendisine deha denildiği kadar var gerçekten.

Kitapta temel olarak karşımıza kimi zaman Seraphita kimi zaman da Seraphitus olarak çıkan karakterin ilahi/Tanrısal/mistik mertebeye ulaşma çabası anlatılıyor.

İlahi düşünceyi ve tanrı varlığını berraklıkla anlatan (ya da tartışan), felsefi altyapının başarılı bir şekilde metne yedirildiği, zamanının ilerisinde düşünceler barındıran bir eser. Kadın ve erkek ruhunun tek bir bedende birleşerek dünyada tanrıyı temsil etmesi fikrinin işlenişi güzel bir temaydı. Oldukça güçlü bir simgesel anlatım dili ve mantık yürütme kullanılmış metinde.

Açılış sayfaları muhteşem. Norveç kıyılarını bu kadar güzel betimleyen başka bir yazar var mıdır bilmiyorum. Doğa betimlemeleri kitabın bütününde hayranlık uyandırıcı durumda zaten.

Balzac atıf kısmında "güzel dilimizin duru derinliği içinde Doğu'nun göz kamaştırıcı şiirini vermek isteyen bu kitabı..." diyerek amacını ortaya koymuş durumda. Metinde tek sevmediğim husus çift cinsiyetli baş karakterin uzun tiradları oldu. Bu kısımlar uzun monologlar yerine diğer karakterlerle diyalog halinde olsaydı kitap daha kolay anlaşılır bir hale gelebilirdi.

Çevirmen İsmet Birkan'ı ayrıca anmak lazım. Bu sabır isteyen metni büyük başarıyla Türkçe'ye aktarmış. Zaten yayınevi de yerinde bir kararla kitabı çevirmenine ithaf etmiş. Kendisi de arka kapakta bugüne kadar çevirdiği en sıra dışı ve ilginç metin diyerek bahsediyor kitaptan.

Dilimize kazandırılmış olduğu için mutluluk duyduğum bir kitap. Din felsefesi ile hiç ilginiz yoksa oldukça sıkıcı gelebilir. Yine de başlangıç sayfaları için bile olsa herkesin bir şans vermesini dilerim bu esere.

[Mustafa Şahin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Çok ilginç bir eser bu, kafamı karıştırdı biraz. Ağır başlamasına rağmen ilerleyen bölümlerde ettiği metafizik laflarla başımı döndürdü (uçakta okumaktan da olabilir, kafam güzeldi, I was high, öff ne iğrenç bi' parantez oldu bu da). Zaten Balzac da kitap için 'benim ustalık eserim, hayatta bir kere yazılabilecek bir metin bu' demiş. Şöyle cümleler görmek mümkün:

Bütün dinlerin insana sunduğu o alternatif: ya gidip ebediyen bir kazanda kaynamak; ya da beyaz giysiler içinde, elinde hurma dalı, başının çevresinde bir hale, bahçelerde gezinmek. bu pagan uydurması, bir Tanrı'nın son sözü olabilir mi?

[Tim Pendry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know that Honore de Balzac is one of the giants of French literature (and so of European literature) but 'Seraphita' is truly dreadful. I only reached the end by speed-reading (frankly, not reading for large tracts) what seemed like acres of 'spiritual' garbage to get to its thanked-for end.

I can only surmise that Balzac was going through some sort of mental or 'spiritual' crisis. The literary world has been unkind perhaps in not drawing a thicker veil over the book. Yes, there are a few moments of skilled scenic observation but the bulk is hysterical romantic dross.

You should be grateful perhaps that I (half-)read it so that you do not have to unless, that is, you are a dedicated mid-nineteenth century Swedenborgian with time on your hands in which case you may love it.

The book has not been uninfluential. I initially struggled to see the attraction but it probably lies to some in the repressed erotic sub-text of androgyny, with the limp-wristed 'spiritual' and narcissistic heroine being a beautiful woman to men and a beautiful man to women.

It reminds me of Thomas Mann's story of Siegmund and Sieglinde which is a similar nineteenth century treatment of a sexual taboo and desire (in that case, incest) cloaked in 'high art' and romanticism ... just as ephebophiliac obsession would be in 'Death in Venice'.

Desire for the exceptional and the abnormal is a real problem in stratified societies which provide your market as an artist. Say what you are really feeling or thinking and a 'scandal' might ensue that costs you your place - so you use 'art' to give yourself cover.

Perhaps, with his first best-seller out of the way (Eugenie Grandet), where the writing was simple and the story complex, Balzac was getting something out of his system with a story that was simple but the telling of it verbose, complex and over-the-top. Who knows? Who cares by the end?

The Wikipedia has an entry on Seraphita but it seems inclined to ignore it in its biography of Balzac so one assumes that I am not alone in seeing this book as an unfortunate blip that, unfortunately, I have invested time in 'reading'.

However, for someone interested in the mental map of French middle class spirituality as the romantic era was coming to an end - since clearly people were reading and paying for this guff in the 'Revue de paris' in 1834 - it may yet have value.

My own guess is that Swedenborgian fantasy from the previous century was a most useful way of bridging the tension between an imperfect post-revolutionary Christianity, a continued yearning for the spiritual (whatever that may be) and the dictates of reason.

Balzac was also a romantic in his view of French society (legitimist, religious, right-wing) which, by the early 1830s, was falling into place as a very bourgeois and more obviously materialist society under the July Monarchy. The yearning for the 'spiritual' is a political position.

Filled with paradox, he was also a consistently useless businessman in his own right. Some of his worst business disasters had taken place only five years before the book's publication. People can often get 'spiritual' as a fall-back position after material failure.

1833 also saw him involved in an illicit affair that resulted in a child so, without being at all biographically determinist, this period look stressful to say the least. Seraphita has the feel of a work of self-psychotherapy in which Balzac is trying to integrate his world though myth.

Swedenborg is positioned (as he should be) as a highly intelligent man who led in the material sciences before having a revelation that took him into new realms of thought. It does not quite work today but then, with no sense that God was dead, it permitted a rational and angelic afterlife.

Jamming Swedenborg's spirituality with a sort of Nordic Gothicism and a spiritual eroticism based on gender confusion with a hint of anti-materialist politics (including a nice little rant against the nation of shopkeepers in India) might have seemed a good idea at this point in Balzac's life.

Instead of writing complex stories for the bourgeoisie, Balzac may have thought that he was going up-market into becoming a visionary literary lion but the damn thing crashes to earth (rather than ascending heavenwards like Seraphita) in verbosity and, frankly, cant.

Balzac once wrote: "Christianity, above all, Catholicism, being ... a complete system for the repression of the depraved tendencies of man, is the most powerful element of social order". There we have it in a nutshell. Repressed desire transmuted into religion through verbal legerdemain.

[Hande Kılıçoğlu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hayatım boyunca okuduklarım arasında karşılaştığım en ilginç metindi. Okuması, uzun felsefi paragrafları ve bol bol detay barındırması sebebiyle zordu. Kitapta o kadar fazla düalizm örneği vardı ki hatta bütün kitap karakterler ve barındırdığı felsefi düşünceler bakımında çıkış noktası aynı olan karşıtlıklardan oluışuyordu. Mistik ögeler yoğunluktaydı ki be beni biraz sıktı. İlerde tekrar okumayı planlıyorum.

[tripswithbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balzac ile tanışma kitabım.
Spiritüel de bir yanı olan ama bir o kadar da gerçekçi.
Garip duygularla okudum.
Tanrı ve varoluş üzerine epey çelişki yaratıyor insanda. Ne güzel!

https://benaygavazoglu.com/2020/07/11...

[Aslı Can]

Jaguar'ın Balzac'ı neden çevirdiğini merak edip, arkadaşımdan ödünç aldım bu kitabı. İlk sayfalarda anlamakta biraz zorlansam da, sonra anladım sebebini. Balzac beni epey şaşırttı bu metniyle. Seraphita edebiyat tarihinde görüp görebileceğiniz en queer karakterlerden biri ve öyle betimlemelerle anlatılıyor ki, ağzımın suyu aktı gerçekten. Bir kadın, bir erkek iki aşığı var Seraphita'nın ve birisi onu olabilecek en yiğit delikanlı haliyle görürken, diğeri narin kırılgan ve bir o kadar vahşi bir tanrıça görüyor. Bu yüzden her iki türe de bir o kadar ulaşılamaz kalıyor Seraphita. Ah Serapitha...

''Buzla güneşin birleşiminden mi doğmuş? Donduruyor ve yakıyor, kıskanç bir hakikat gibi kendisini bir gösterip bir çekiyor, ben hem çekiyor hem itiyor, bana bir hayat bir ölüm veriyor, onu hem seviyorum hem nefret ediyorum. Artık böyle yaşayamam, ya tamamen cennette ya tamamen cehennemde olmalıyım.''

Yer yer fazla retorik konuşmalara dalsa da, kapılıp gittiği duygularla inanılmaz güçlü bir metin Seraphita. Tavsiyeler...

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the only Balzac book I have ever regretted reading. It isn't a novel at all. It's a thinly disguised religious tract. Not even a good one either. I'm not in a position to judge the philosophy of the arguments, but this book is just a tiny skeleton of a novel with a whole bunch of sermons shoved in. Not even interesting ones either. I felt like I was reading Eliphas Levi again. It is dull. It drones on and on without anything interesting happening, just sermons that cause the eyes to glaze over. There is some good description of Norway at the beginning, but it is pure dressing to hide the sermons a little. The other characters are thin and useless. Really, the narrative has no function other than to prop up the sermons. I hated this. I love Balzac and this is so disappointing after what I expect from him. Read this if you want a religious tract. Otherwise, stay the hell away.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hmm.
At first I thought that Balzac was being rather brave (for a C19th author) by writing about a potential same sex relationship between Minna and Seraphita: this was because (after a long and convincing travelogue about Norway - had Balzac ever been there??) these two are ski-ing UP the mountain but Minna calls her companion SeraphitUS and 'he' says that theirs is a love that can never be, and that Minna should marry Wilfred. When they return to Pastor Becker's house, however, the Pastor addresses Seraphitus as mademoiselle.
Next we meet Wilfred, and he's in love with the same character, now called SeraphitA. Heavens, I thought, Balzac has created an intersex character - the first I've ever come across in C19th literature!
But *disappointment* no, Seraphita is a mystic, and so Balzac launches into a very boring rant about religious experience. I should have guessed, Seraphim and Cherubim etc...
Oh well...

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

a difficult review of a masterpiece and why is so.
a draft. I hope I can correct it as I get more to add.

With Seraphita (and Luis Lambert) Balzac is attempting a totally different endeavour. He is turning to the Spirit world, opposite to the mondane world he is so used to speak fluently about.
it does cost him a lot of "sweat" (his words) and it does take us into a Inner journey, to the highest peaks of Feeling and Understanding our huma Nature and Creation.

It is being said Balzac possesed what is called "Cosmic Consciousness" and with these 2 novels he indeed tries to portray 2 very different enlightened beings, Seraphita and Luis Lambert.

[Noustian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes it is more of a philosophical and religious exposé than a novel.. In here you'll get a mixture of Christianity and esoterics/ Gnosticism (let's say the Bible, Swedenborg and Blawatskaya). I enjoyed it to some extent because I appreciate the effort. The androginy idea is not really developed here though. In general it's too pompous to my taste. A bit like reading the later Tolstoy. I don't know ! reading the "non fictionalized" sourses of all these ideas is more exciting for my brain.

[Caner Sahin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Akıl yürütme ve aynı şekilde hissetme yetileri insa­na kullanması için verildiğine göre, çekilen acılara bir anlam aramak ve geleceği sorgulamaktan daha bağışla­nabilir bir hata olamaz; bu doğru ve kesin akıl yürütme­ler bizi böyle bir sonuca götürüyorsa, doğacak karışıklı­ğa bakın! Demek ki bu dünyada sabit hiçbir şey yokmuş;
hiçbir şey ne ilerliyor ne de duruyor, her şey değişiyor ve hiçbir şey yok olmuyor, her şey onarıldıktan sonra geri geliyormuş; zira zihniniz size açık ve kesin bir "son" gös­teremiyorsa, maddenin en küçük parçacığının bile yok olduğunu göstermek imkansızdır; madde dönüşebilir ama yok olamaz."

Kitap dolu dolu. Tavsiye ederim.

[Ebru · Rating 4 out of 5]

balzac tan böyle bir kitap okuyacağımı tahmin edemezdim.

[Dragos C Butuzea · Rating 3 out of 5]

un „studiu filozofic“ cu adevărat

nuvela aceasta este mai puțin o nuvelă literară, ci e mai mult un eseu ce omagiază doctrina mistică a teozofului suedez emmanuel swedenborg și caută să lămurească câteva idei ale lui balzac însuși (după părerea mea, destul de înaintate pentru vremea aceea și pentru cei 36 de ani ai săi).

dar, probabil, cel mai interesant aspect al romanului este ființa androgină séraphîta / séraphitüs, posesoare din naștere a înțelepciunii omenești care, pentru a urca la ceruri, în căutarea perfecțiunii, are nevoie de o dragoste pământească (pentru două persoane), pentru ca „moartea să-i pună capăt atunci când flacăra ei este cea mai puternică“ (p. 165)

așa încât, în castelul de lângă satul nordic și plin de ghețuri jarvis, androginul îi ademenește pe doi tineri - o fată, minna, și un bărbat, wilfried - care, desigur, se îndrăgostesc fiecare de un aspect al său și îi cer, la rândul lor, dragostea.

ce se întâmplă ar însemna un imens spoiler așa încât trec la câteva chestii care mi-au plăcut

mai multe http://chestiilivresti.blogspot.ro/20...

[Jazelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took such a long time reading this book because it was REALLY difficult! The language and sentence structure was very hard to comprehend. In the first page alone, I had to search for at least four words like 'fiord.'

To make matters even more complicated, it is filled with philosophical and religious discussions about love, wisdom and faith. These subjects were tackled by presenting "Seraphita," the protagonist of this story. S/he is an otherworldly creature who seems to be untouchable by earthly passions because of his/ her devotion to God. The story revolves around his/her (yep, I'm still not sure about the gender of the androgynous Seraphita/ Seraphitus) religious discussions with the people around him/her such as why s/he could not love Minna or Wilfrid and how s/he made Mr. Becket contemplate about his doubt for God's existence.

This definitely CANNOT be considered a 'light reading.' However, the discussions and arguments presented about religion is really enlightening and invigorating. I suggest that you take your time reading this piece of work.

[Ludmilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

en ayrıksı balzac bile benim kalemim değil.

[mohab samir · Rating 4 out of 5]

إنها أحد أهم الأعمال البلزاكية وهى رواية فلسفية ذات طابع ميتافيزيقى وصوفى صرف وهى قمة فى الأعمال الأدبية الفلسفية فى عصره .
ان ابداع بلزاك فى بناء شخصياته يتجلى بأقوى صوره فى سيراڤيتا فقدرة بلزاك على بناء هذه الشخصية التى تتماهى تماما مع فكرته الماورائية عن الوجود وهى لحمة أعماله التى تتمتع بالواقعية المأساوية مع تلك التى تتصف بالرومانسية والتجريد . فالتقاء سيرافيتا مع ولفرد ومينا وعلاقاتهم هى علاقة جدل بين الوجود والماوراء بين الجزئى والكلى . بين الزمنى والأزلى . وهى العلاقة التى تهدف الى عودة الأمر الجزئى الى الأمر الكلى كما انها علاقة حب خالص واشتياق لا يمكن للفرد مقاومته فعودة المحبوب الى حبيبه هى عودة الى الذات وهو اتصال لا متناهى .
كذلك كان سيرافيتا كائنا ليس ذو طابع محدد وهو يتفهم كل الطبائع الاخرى وهو يتبع حدسه واحساسه وفكره الخالص ويرى بنورها جميع الأشياء الدنيوية فيشملها كلها ولهذا فهى الأخرى تنجذب اليه لكنه لا ينجذب الا الى المطلق . وهو منذ ولادته وحتى صعوده الى السماء ليست حياته عباره عن كومة من الشعوذات والامور اللامنطقية بل على العكس فكل الظروف كانت تؤدى الى كون سيرافيتا على ما كان منذ وجود سويدنبرج النبى الذى بارك زواج والدى سيرافيتا ومن وجد سيراڤيتا النور والحقيقة فى ادراك تعاليمه حتى تربيته ونشأته ووفاة اهله المبكر ومحيط ميلاده الجغرافى فى الشمال .
كما أن واقعية معلومات بلزاك التاريخية عن سويدنبرج وجغرافية النرويج والسويد وعادات اهل الشمال والمعرفة بروحهم عموما قد أضفت واقعية على العمل الذى قد يبدو للوهلة الاولى ذا طابع خرافى .
كما كانت مجازاته الصوفية واضحة الدلالة وهى تتجنب الغموض وتميل الى كشف الاسرار ولكنها تدرك ان ليس من سبيل لذلك مع البشر وباستخدام لغاتهم العاجزة عن وصف وتعريف ما يخرج عن ادراكهم .
ومما لا يُغفل هو استشهادات بلزاك واقتباساته من أعمال كتاب اخرين كتبوا عن مواضيع فلسفية مشابهة لسيراڤيتا وهو ما يجعلنا نستنتج ان هذه المواضيع كانت اتجاها عاما للتناول مما يجعلنا ننظر نظرة أعمق الى الفكر الادبى فى أوروبا فى هذه الفترة وهو ايضا يجعلنا نفهم بلزاك بطريقة أوضح بمقارنة مضمون وسياق اقتباساته بمضامين وسياقات ما كتبه الاخرون وهى من أهم المواضيع التى تناولتها الهوامش والتعليق الملحق بالرواية وهو الضرورى لتأكيد ما استنبطه القارىء ذاتياً او مقارنته بالتدليل النقدى على غاية بلزاك نفسه وإبراز فكرته الفلسفية والأدبية النهائية .

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name]

Read next round 2

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Balzac has a wank over Swedenborg.

[estelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

C'est du grand n'importe quoi Swedenborg ???

[İlke · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ruh bu kitapların insanı kavrayıp yutan sayfalarında dolaşırken, bu dünyadaki her şey öyle küçük görünüyor ki..."

[Kurtar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sonra belki devam ederim.
Çok durağan, monolog ve uzun anlatımlarla yoğun felsefik düşünceler var.

[ranaemoranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro particolare.

[Aleksandra]

That is one really strange little book.
Well, it is not so strange when seen in the context of 19th century mystical trends (here revoking also earlier works of Swedenborg), but still, this philosophical tractate thinly veiled as a novel is rather fascinating. It starts as an unusual love story: over a faraway cold Norwegian village, amidst natural phenomena both stunningly beautiful and mortally dangerous, stands a stone house. There a beautiful young nobleperson lives almost alone, accompanied only by an elderly servant. Three other people, living in the nearby village, get to socialize with the young recluse: the village minister, his charming daughter Minna and Wilfrid, an active and energetic man in his mid-thirties, who travelled a lot and dabbled in various dangerous things on nearly all continents before settling in this faraway place. And both Minna and Wilfrid are rather madly in love with their mysterious friend - only she thinks him a boy, Seraphitus, while he sees in her a girl, Seraphita. In fact, Seraphitus/-a is both - an androgynous being of angelic nature, born for heavenly, not earthly existence. He/she was conceived as a result of the parents' mystical rituals through their connection with the great mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg, the man who walked around heavens and talked to angels; as such, Seraphitus/-a is not destined for human love and everyday existence; his/her impossible perfection is not of this world and the world will not enjoy it for long.
It is very much _not_ a typical Balzac novel (although not the only one such a book in his oeuvre). According to modern standards, it is not really a novel, rather a treatise: a long exposition on the ideas of Swedenborg forms the biggest part and the action as such is limited to introductory scene between Seraphitus and Minna, the meeting of Seraphita and Wilfrid and the final decision of Seraphitus/-a to die and ascend to the place of angels and God as well as this decision's effects on the lives of Minna and Wilfred. The rest is a long meditation on the nature of the world, angelic beings, God and humanity.
And yes, it is not the easiest book to read and for a reader uninterested in this kind of speculation it would be rather - let's be frank - unreadable. Still, an initial concept is fascinating and "Seraphita" lands on my little private list of 19th c. novels with concepts so inspiring that I would love to see them reworked in modern prose.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bit of a strange work in Honoré de Balzac's Human Comedy. Opening as a travelogue, taking readers on a tour of Norway's fjords, it becomes a work of fiction, advancing the philosophy/theology of Emmanuel Swedenborg. The characters in the work don't function so much as characters to advance any sort of plot, but to present Swedenborg's ideas. As such, the dialogue is stiff, but the content interesting for those with an interest in the writings and ideas of Swedenborg, and interesting as well for the way it deals with gender, something Balzac had dealt with just a few years prior in Sarrasine.

In fact, Balzac was no stranger to exploring gender and sexuality throughout the Human Comedy, through the character of Vautrin, who makes appearances throughout the Human Comedy as one of the first central gay characters in European literature, to the castrato Sarrasine, to Séraphîta, a perfect androgyne, who has transcended gender binaries, presented as a being close to perfection, with the young woman Minna falling in love with 'him' ( Séraphîtus) and the thirty-something Wilfrid likewise falling in love with 'her.' To each Séraphîta is seen as the opposite sex, by both as an object of desire; the name of course drawing on the angelic seraph (plural: seraphim), underscoring the degree to which the sexless Séraphîtus/Séraphîta is to perfection when compared to humanity.

I had once set and abandoned the ambitious task of tackling over the period of two or three years the whole of Balzac's Human Comedy. I never got to Séraphîta, and it was Henry Miller's Big Sur that drew me to it, for Miller speaks highly of the work, without any detail, only noting that the slim work made a huge impact on him (it seems more from a philosophical or theological angle than from a literary one). For those familiar with Balzac, who have read a handful of the titles in La Comédie humaine they will find that Séraphîta is one of those outliers, with rich prose that mirrors the language employed in Balzac's finest works, but with a substance and a style that are very strange indeed.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The total oeuvre of Balzac contains some works that are among the greatest penned by mortal men. I am talking about such novels as Pere Goriot, Lost Illusions, Cousin Bette, Cousin Pons, and The Wild Ass's Skin. But the same Balzac, when he decides to philosophize, can be stinko to the max. I'm afraid that Seraphita will -- if you try too hard to follow it -- cause blood to flow copiously from both ears.

As I wrote in my chapter summary for the Yahoo! Balzac group:

There is something about how profundity is conveyed in fiction of the time which doesn't work today. I found the same problem with Ossian, whom I found unreadable. And I have not been kind to Balzac's other philosophical studies. It was to take a few decades before writers like Dostoyevsky and Kierkegaard and Nietzsche could write about ultimate things without launching into the Ultimate Boredom of the Spheres in which abstractions transcend Matter and Spirit, not to mention Word and Number and the Square Root of Minus One.

If I were to quote directly from Seraphita, I'm afraid of repercussions and lawsuits. No, it is best to let sleeping (and soporific) dogs lie.

There can be no spoilers in a story in which nothing happens.

[Per · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1432

At times (mostly, honestly) more of a philosophical and theological treatise than a novel, relying heavily on and often directly quoting the writings of Swedenborg. The focus is on love and spiritual evolution, with both a male and a female character in love with Seraphita/Seraphitus, a mystic hermaphrodite (and the fictional child of a cousin to Swedenborg.)

The spiritual angels pass through three natures of love, because man is only regenerated through successive stages. First, the love of self: the supreme expression of this love is human genius, whose works are worshipped. Next, love of life: this love produces prophets,—great men whom the world accepts as guides and proclaims to be divine. Lastly, love of heaven, and this creates the Spiritual Angel. These angels are, so to speak, the flowers of humanity, which culminates in them and works for that culmination. They must possess either the love of heaven or the wisdom of heaven, but always Love before Wisdom.

August Strindberg referenced this book a couple of times in his The Inferno: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...