Sarrasine is a novella written by Honore de Balzac. It was published in 1830, and is part of his Comedie Humaine. Balzac, who began writing in 1819 while living alone in the rue Lesdiguieres, undertook the composition of Sarrasine in 1830. Although he had steadily produced work for over a decade (without commercial success), Sarrasine was among his earliest publications to appear without a pseudonym. During the period in which the novella was written, Balzac was involved in many salons, including that of Madame Recamier. Around the time in which Sarrasine was published, Balzac experienced great success with another work, La Peau de Chagrin (1831).