I just finished reading Madame Bovary by Flaubert. Thorpe’s translation. Needless to say, I was confused with how flowery the language feels, but perhaps it is because this is my first French classic. It feels more dry than something like Of Mice and Men or Crime and Punishment. Emma’s inner turmoil does not feel as deep as I thought it is. We see her wasting her fortune away, sleeping with not-her-husband, and yet she’s not satisfied, even finding adultery as dull as marriage towards the end. It feels like some sort of mid-life crisis, always craving for something more and never satisfied with what she already has. It feels somewhat mundane.
Her getting hounded for her credits from luxury spending feels relatable to modern times where it is easy to just splurge on something online and worry about the bill later.
I actually enjoyed seeing Emma’s lack of love for Berthe, it is more realistic than her unconditionally loving the child as how modern day reddit insists is the case for motherhood. Emma pushing Berthe aside such that she scraped against something and bled, now that was refreshing. Even to the point of Berthe being sent to a cotton mill felt fitting.
As for Charles, I don’t know. Does he blindly love Emma? From what I understand, he has his own trysts as a student before his first marriage. And I think he’s at least 6 years Emma’s senior? He had his eye on her when Emma was what, 15, when he came to help her father with the broken leg? So when he discovered Emma’s love letters from Leon and Rodolphe, I somewhat expected him to go on a sex spree with just about any woman instead of being miserable and eventually dying off himself.
And Homais? Does he actually like the Bovary household? He won against other potential doctors after Charles died, and he clashed with the Church guy Bournisien, but what about his relationship with Bovary? He did not keep in touch with Bovary after Emma’s death, and it was on his insistence that Charles tried to heal Hippolyte’s club foot. Was that a scheme to drive Charles away so he is the only medic in town?
On a side note, much like how I had to adapt to Russian names, I had to adapt to roughly learning what Mere, Monsieour, etc mean as it is sometimes confusing when Mere Bovary or Madam Bovary are mentioned but referring to different people.
Overall I enjoyed the book, just not as much as I thought I would given how hyped up it is from what I’ve seen other people post about it.
by NommingFood
2 Comments
One of my favorite books! Emma’s shallow selfishness, materialism and romantic delusions are the point. Charles being pathetic and Homais being an amoral opportunist are the point. Flaubert is commenting on the maliciousness and stupidity of mundane life and mundane people. So I think you got it!
As a side note, I think there’s no book where the translation matters as much. If you ever read it again, try the Steegmuller translation. I would say it’s so definitive that’s it’s almost not worth reading other translations.
I tried reading it but lost interest as I just didn’t care about any of the characters.