Scaramouche (novel)

Scaramouche (novel)

Scaramouche is a historical novel by Rafael Sabatini, originally published in 1921.

It was subsequently adapted into a play by Barbara Field and into feature films, first in 1923 starring Ramón Novarro, Scaramouche (1923), and a remake in 1952 with Stewart Granger. A romantic adventure, Scaramouche tells the story of a young lawyer during the French Revolution. In the course of his adventures he becomes an actor portraying "Scaramouche" (also called Scaramuccia, a roguish buffoon character in the commedia dell'arte). He also becomes a revolutionary, politician, and fencing-master, confounding his enemies with his powerful orations and swordsmanship. He is forced by circumstances to change sides several times. The book also depicts his transformation from cynic to idealist. The later film version includes one of the longest swashbuckling sword-fighting scenes ever filmed.

The three-part novel opens with the memorable line: "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." This line was to become Sabatini's epitaph, on his gravestone in Adelboden, Switzerland.

In 1922, after a trip to the United States, composer Darius Milhaud wrote a theatrical piece, Scaramouche, for saxophone and orchestra.