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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
Una forma exquisita, muy francesa y todo lo que eso significa (no a lo Houellebecq sino más bien a lo Balzac, claro).
Mentiría si dijera que me ha embaucado, como tampoco lo haría un francés pegajoso. Pero por algo es un clásico de la literatura universal (la occidental, ya sabemos). Supongo que para finales de siglo XIX esto debió ser una bomba. Tal vez aún a día de hoy pueda encontrarse una lectura feminista e incluso /revolucionaria/ en el personaje de Emma, tan poco dispuesta a asumir una vida tan pobre a todos los niveles que se le había dado impuesta sólo por su condición de mujer, pese a mostrar desde el principio aptitudes (ya sabemos que no debería sólo tratarse de tenerlas, sino desearlas) como ganas de escaparse de una narrativa de vida ya determinada al nacimiento.
Entiendo las ambivalencias de Emma; creo que puedo empatizar con la incoherencia y el sufrimiento que supone querer encajar en cierto molde y sin embargo encontrarte desparramada por fuera constantemente (a conciencia además); entiendo su deseo de trascender y su ambición insaciable. Y no estoy de acuerdo con estas lecturas en las que se pone de relieve la idea de que el deseo insatisfecho te conduce a la infelicidad. Por el contrario, yo creo que, bien dirigido, te lleva a una vida mucho más rica y plena.
Aquí estamos pasando por alto un punto importante, y es el de que Emma probablemente padecía algún tipo de enfermedad mental (se relatan varios episodios a lo largo de la novela que recuerdan a cuadros depresivos graves, y por supuesto, el culmen final tipiquísimo de muchos de estos cuadros), ya sea secundaria a la represión enfermiza que conlleva su estilo de vida o a una cierta predisposición a la vulnerabilidad en su salud mental (o a ambas, como casi siempre sucede). El caso es que no debemos confundir esto con niñaterías o el fracaso ineludible de una ambición poderosa.
En fin, ha sido una lectura algo ardua en ocasiones porque Flaubert es un gran narrador que gusta de explayarse con relatos de la Francia costumbrista de finales del siglo XIX y no es algo que me interese particularmente, pero entiendo el valor ya no sólo literario sino histórico de este testimonio.
Un... 3,5-4/5?
Mentiría si dijera que me ha embaucado, como tampoco lo haría un francés pegajoso. Pero por algo es un clásico de la literatura universal (la occidental, ya sabemos). Supongo que para finales de siglo XIX esto debió ser una bomba. Tal vez aún a día de hoy pueda encontrarse una lectura feminista e incluso /revolucionaria/ en el personaje de Emma, tan poco dispuesta a asumir una vida tan pobre a todos los niveles que se le había dado impuesta sólo por su condición de mujer, pese a mostrar desde el principio aptitudes (ya sabemos que no debería sólo tratarse de tenerlas, sino desearlas) como ganas de escaparse de una narrativa de vida ya determinada al nacimiento.
Entiendo las ambivalencias de Emma; creo que puedo empatizar con la incoherencia y el sufrimiento que supone querer encajar en cierto molde y sin embargo encontrarte desparramada por fuera constantemente (a conciencia además); entiendo su deseo de trascender y su ambición insaciable. Y no estoy de acuerdo con estas lecturas en las que se pone de relieve la idea de que el deseo insatisfecho te conduce a la infelicidad. Por el contrario, yo creo que, bien dirigido, te lleva a una vida mucho más rica y plena.
Aquí estamos pasando por alto un punto importante, y es el de que Emma probablemente padecía algún tipo de enfermedad mental (se relatan varios episodios a lo largo de la novela que recuerdan a cuadros depresivos graves, y por supuesto, el culmen final tipiquísimo de muchos de estos cuadros), ya sea secundaria a la represión enfermiza que conlleva su estilo de vida o a una cierta predisposición a la vulnerabilidad en su salud mental (o a ambas, como casi siempre sucede). El caso es que no debemos confundir esto con niñaterías o el fracaso ineludible de una ambición poderosa.
En fin, ha sido una lectura algo ardua en ocasiones porque Flaubert es un gran narrador que gusta de explayarse con relatos de la Francia costumbrista de finales del siglo XIX y no es algo que me interese particularmente, pero entiendo el valor ya no sólo literario sino histórico de este testimonio.
Un... 3,5-4/5?
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
For French A Level I read eg Emile Zola, Therese Raquin, and to this day I still love Zola eg La Bete Humaine, Germinal, Nana, L'Assomoir etc. My love of Zola first brought me to one of Zola's contempories, Gustave Flaubert (though Flaubert was writing before Zola). Madame Bovary is a classic of French literature. I enjoy it, but it's not on a par with Zola. Maybe Zola, who was writing slightly later, could get away with more.
Emma Bovary is a lonely woman living in a remote farm with her father, eager to escape the boredom of provincial life. Charles Bovary, the local doctor, arrives when her father has had an accident. Charles, who is already married, takes quite a shine to the family. When his older wife dies, he sees the opportunity of marrying Emma.
This is also an opportunity for Emma to escape the boredom of the family and join (some) society as the local doctor's wife. But soon she tires of this life and Charles, neglecting their child. She seeks excitement in relationships with other men, but they soon become tired of her. She is attracted to the attentions of the clerk of the local lawyer but nothing comes of this. The clerk leaves the area. The doctor's practice is in debt so Charles and Emma are forced to move. After relocating she rediscovers the clerk and they form a relationship.
I'm not really sure what to think of Emma. We're probably expected to feel sympathy for her. Today, women have much more autonomy and opportunities than they had in the 19th Century, so now Emma would have been much more free to choose who to marry, if at all. But there is a sense that we're not meant to like her, at least completely eg she never seems satisfied with what she has. But, today, we would probably say she suffers from depression, which, depending on the severity of the depression, is entirely treatable.
Emma Bovary is a lonely woman living in a remote farm with her father, eager to escape the boredom of provincial life. Charles Bovary, the local doctor, arrives when her father has had an accident. Charles, who is already married, takes quite a shine to the family. When his older wife dies, he sees the opportunity of marrying Emma.
This is also an opportunity for Emma to escape the boredom of the family and join (some) society as the local doctor's wife. But soon she tires of this life and Charles, neglecting their child. She seeks excitement in relationships with other men, but they soon become tired of her. She is attracted to the attentions of the clerk of the local lawyer but nothing comes of this. The clerk leaves the area. The doctor's practice is in debt so Charles and Emma are forced to move. After relocating she rediscovers the clerk and they form a relationship.
I'm not really sure what to think of Emma. We're probably expected to feel sympathy for her. Today, women have much more autonomy and opportunities than they had in the 19th Century, so now Emma would have been much more free to choose who to marry, if at all. But there is a sense that we're not meant to like her, at least completely eg she never seems satisfied with what she has. But, today, we would probably say she suffers from depression, which, depending on the severity of the depression, is entirely treatable.
dark
emotional
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
another time, i really can't deal w a european novel of manners rn
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of those classics that I am glad that I read - more so that I understand the cultural references than because I enjoyed it or felt I got a lot out of it. For it's time it was so scandalous to portray such a character. But really I found the characters so flat, their emotions and motivations felt so under developed and distanced. One thing that struck me was the timelessness of the culture of debt - often there is this idea now that people now live in more debt than ever - as if living beyond your means and burying yourself alive in debt is a new idea that we just invented. There is also a element of the struggles of love and marriage that extend past the time of the writing.
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes