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Adventures with Flaubert's Novels 4/26/2016 3:53:40 PM
A publisher called the Modern Library used to bring out hard-cover editions of various literary classics. I believe that the rise of paperbacks forced them out of business. Even so, I still remember the winter's day when I was in high school and bought the Modern Library translation of Flaubert's "Madame Bovary".I read a few sentences before I crossed the street down the road from the book store, then closed the book, held it tightly in my hand, and said to myself, "This will be good."
(The volume I bought in the late 1950's is in front of me now. Here's the opening sentence, translated by Francis Steegmuller: ""We were in study hall when the headmaster entered, followed by a new boy not yet in school uniform and by the handyman carrying a large desk." Flaubert certainly knew how to capture the attention of a young reader.)
I bought an audio-book of "Madame Bovary" several decades later and became reacquainted with the great story. If there was ever a prose artist, Flaubert was he. I've also read his "Three Tales", "Salambo", and a vivid biography of him by Geoffrey Wall.
My most recent adventure with Flaubert has been another audio-book, this time of "Sentimental Education" -- a magnificent reading by the actor Michael Maloney, which brings the story to life and causes me to doubt a comment ascribed to Henry James that this novel doesn't, in fact, come to life.
Here are a few observations by a non-expert:
Flaubert's "Sentimental Education" seems to be an offspring of Balzac's "Cousin Bette", another story partly about people on the make in 19th century Paris, concerned with their comforts and pleasures and standing in society. At one point, the main character, Frederic Moreau, has four women on the string. He's a young man with many advantages, but it seems that nothing can satisfy him. Though he speaks a convincing line, he dedicates himself to no cause and no person. He's an example of what people want and do and hope for before we come to appreciate the values that make society function at its best.
Flaubert shows us Frederic's inner life as well as his actions. The reader sees him clearly along with other major characters in the story. I don't know how many people act the way Frederic Moreau and others he associates with do . As I move among ordinary folks in Toronto -- in malls, on sidewalks, on the subway -- I see many who are well pulled-together and so busy making their lives work that they don't have time or inclination to live for pleasure and social status.
Flaubert's great skill is his ability to present his characters and their actions without overtly judging them. A master of realism, he knows society and shows behavior and consequences and leaves the reader to form opinions. I suppose most readers are well aware of the failings of Flaubert's characters. Someone remarked that their wasn't a decent one in the book. Myself, I believe that Madame Arnoux is an exception in an amoral environment. I wouldn't have wanted to live in such a community.
Flaubert learned how to describe a society in turmoil with people fighting in the streets (The Revolution of 1848) and conservatives frightened and defensive. He has had many readers and followers and no doubt his work will still have influence in times to come. I can imagine that somewhere in the world today a young person is clutching a copy of one of Flaubert's books in his or her hand and is saying heartily, "Yes, this will be good."
