Flaubert's Parrot
by Julian Barnes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Julian BarnesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1990-11-27
ISBN: 0679731369
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Flaubert's Parrot
Book Review: A writer's obsession with another, over a hundred year's removed...
Summary: 5 Stars
Julian Barnes has written an immensely witty, erudite novel, in a tongue-in-cheek style, concerning his obsession with one of the greatest French novelists, Gustave Flaubert, whose most famous book was "Emma Bovery." As Barnes indicates however, it was "A Sentimental Education" that Flaubert considered his magnum opus. The `structure' of Barnes' novel, which is certainly an exaggeration for such a free-wheeling style, centers around the true identity of the stuffed parrot that Flaubert supposedly had on his desk when he wrote "A Simple Heart." For reasons that did not seem to be particularly necessary, Barnes tells the story from the point of view of a widowed, retired doctor, Geoffrey Braithwaite, who is depicted to be 20 or so years older than Barnes, and who, among other aspects of his life, participated in the Normandy invasion. One chapter is a straight, 10-page, chronology of Flaubert's life. Another is entitled "Braithwaite's Dictionary of Accepted Ideas," going from A-Z, with an entry for each letter, concerning some aspect of Flaubert's life. Another chapter concerns the musings of Braithwaite on a cross-channel ferry, and the nuanced differences between the French and the English. Barnes even structures one chapter as a school examination paper, in which the "student," (i.e., the reader) is supposed to answer questions on Flaubert's life and works. Quite clearly, such a style did not work for many readers; however, it worked very well for me. I was particularly impressed by two chapters of Barnes's, an imaginative description of the long-term affair between Flaubert and the much older Louise Colet, from her point of view, and the chapter entitled "A Pure Story," on Braithwaite, and his philandering wife.
Barnes' novel is short, at less than 200 pages, but so very rich in "take-aways." Early on, he asks fitting questions that the novel pursues: "Why does the writing make us chase the writer? Why can't we leave well enough alone? Why aren't the books enough? Flaubert wanted them to be..." Barnes metaphors are fresh and evocative: "Isn't the most reliable form of pleasure, Flaubert implies, the pleasure of anticipation? Who needs to burst into fulfillment's desolate attic?" Observations: "And yet sometimes I wonder if the wittiest, most resonant irony isn't just a well-brushed, well-educated coincidence." "The whole dream of democracy...is to raise the proletariat to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeoisie." And perhaps the ultimate observation, Barnes leaves it in French, and it purports to be about Braithwaite and his wife: "Les unions completes sont rares."
Literary references abound throughout. Flaubert was a friend with Georges Sand, and she supposedly said to him: "You bring them (the reader) desolation; I bring them consolation." In the "Dictionary" chapter, Flaubert is described as the "pontoon bridge linking Balzac to Joyce." Both Sartre and Nabokov pay more than their "passing respects" to Flaubert, and we even learn that the American writer, Willa Cather, discussed him with his niece, Caroline, when she was 84, in Aix-les-Baines, in 1930.
We also learn that Flaubert contracted syphilis during his stay in Egypt (it seems that most 19th century writers contracted this disease, at a time when the only treatment was slow-poisoning by consuming mercury, which turned Flaubert's saliva black.) In the "Dictionary," the Egyptian courtesan, Kuchuk Hanem, who gave him the disease, is defined, vis-à-vis, the Parisian poetess, Louise Colet: "Gustave had to choose sides between the Egyptian courtesan and the Parisian poetess - bedbugs, sandalwood oil, shaven pudenda, clitoridectomy and syphilis versus cleanliness, lyric poetry, comparative sexual fidelity and the rights of women. He found the issue finely balanced." Alas, such it the ying and yang of man.
And the parrot? Barnes uses the same technique, and returns to the subject at the end; as with so much that happened 150 years ago, it could have been this, or it could have been that, and we are left to pick the right one. Overall, Barnes has written an exquisite, insightful look into Flaubert, his times, his writing, and Barnes also looks at ourselves, and why we do what we do. Solid 5-stars.
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