By analyzing, down to the smallest detail, the novel Sarrasine by Balzac, Barthes proceeds to dissect a literary text as only he is capable of doing. He thus provides a precious lesson in textual interpretation. This book results from a two-year seminar (1968 and 1969) held at the École Pratique des Hautes Études. This in-depth reading gave me a more precise and realistic notion of the novel "Sarrasine" by Honoré de Balzac.