Other than that, I haven't formed much of an opinion on the book. I dig Madame Bovary's first name ; ) I hope she does it justice.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Flaubert vs. Bronte
So far-- I'm having a great deal of trouble reading Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary. Whether it be the style of his writing, a slow plot, or my short attention span, I've found that it takes severe concentration on my part to get into the text--and once I DO, after merely a page, a paragraph or even a sentence later, my thoughts are already elsewhere. However, I am only on page 50- so we shall see if I get more into it later. With Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, it was much easier to get into, thus much easier to read. Once I was transported to Bronte's world, I was there and could only be interrupted by my mother, summoning me to complete some task. My thoughts hardly drifted while reading Jane Eyre unless I was stupendously sleepy.
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3 comments:
I completely agree. I feel like the descriptions are awesome if you take them paragraph by paragraph, but if I want to finish this book before I die, I have to suffer through the pages and pages of descriptions. An excerpt from this book, in comparison to many books, would show a sample of beautifully artistic language, and I have to appreciate it for that; but, I can’t help feeling like there could be the same story in one third of the number of pages. As I read, I am constantly imagining a depressed unshaven Flaubert with nothing better to do but drink and write mountains of never-ending descriptions. I enjoy the book when I have the patience to read it, but by the time I put it down it has sucked all of the life out of me.
Emma, you're crazy. You have to look for the humor in this book and enjoy Flaubert's style. By the way, Emma sucks and does your name no justice. She dies, and deserves it completely. Just look for the funny stuff, it's pretty entertaining.
I see that you and Hannah are (literally?) on the same page. This is a real risk that Flaubert runs: boring his reader to death. But what makes it so "boring"? Is it the absence of a first person narrator, or at least a narrative 'voice' to give us guidance on HOW to read the book? Does it take a twisted mind like Walker's to appreciate this seemingly objective depiction of a tawdry life?
(I'm sure your parents named you after Austen's heroine, not Flaubert's!)
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