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A review by jlmb
Sentimental Education by Kathleen Rustum, Gustave Flaubert
3.0
It's no Madame Bovary, which I adore, but Sentimental Education is still worth the read. Once you realize that all of the characters are flawed and not heroic figures to root for, then you can read without getting miffed at their behaviors. Flaubert has a keen eye for human foibles and writes about them with a universal truth and understanding.
I I had read an edition with more comprehensive annotations. There are many, many references to mid 19th century French politics that you have to google in order to have an idea about what you are reading. This edition had very cursory notes, when it had any at all. Very frustrating. There are also many references to magazines, stores, brands, restaurants, clubs etc that I knew had to be telling the reader what a character was like so those had to be looked up as well. Very time consuming. You know, something along the lines of how we would know something about a fictional character if the author said they listened to NPR & drove a Volvo vs listened to Sean Hannity & drove a pick up truck. The author doesn't have to spell it out. By knowing how a character lives, we know more about their values, education, political leanings etc. Flaubert does this in Sentimental Education but since I don't know the minutiae of daily Parisian life back then, I'm sure many references flew right over my head.
Some quotes that stood out to me:
He found that the happiness he deserved by virtue of his sensitive soul was slow in coming.
Senecal wore the gloomy look of a Puritan arriving in the midst of a party.
He wanted to burst out, to do generous deeds. He looked around him to see if there was anyone near whom he could help. No wretch happened to be passing by; and his generosity of spirit evaporated, for he was not a man to go out of his way to find opportunities for benevolence.
He paid deference to him in order to control him.
HIs intelligence was not high enough to attain to art, nor commonplace enough to look to merely profit, so that, without satisfying anyone, he had ruined himself.
Senecal considered only the masses and exhibited an utter absence of pity for individuals.
He imagined he had offended them, not realizing what vast reserves of indifference society possesses.
There are some men whose only mission amongst their fellowmen is to serve as go-betweens; people use them in the same way as if they were bridges, by stepping over them and going on further.
Certain men take delight in making their friends do things which are disagreeable to them.
Deslauriers preferred Frederic in a position of mediocrity. In this way he remained his friend's equal and in a more intimate relationship with him.
Property rose to the level of religion and was indistinguishable from God.
The casual style of dress blurred differences of social position.
Frederic was fascinated and exceedingly amused by the scene around him. The wounded who sank to the ground, the dead lying at his feet, did not seem like people really wounded or dead. The impression left on his mind was that he was watching a show.
The smock was full of spite against the tailcoat.
All the luxuries seemed more precious after the emotion of the past few days. They felt a fresh delight at possessing things which they had been afraid of losing.
They glorified a rural existence on the assumption that the uneducated man had naturally more sense than other men.
I I had read an edition with more comprehensive annotations. There are many, many references to mid 19th century French politics that you have to google in order to have an idea about what you are reading. This edition had very cursory notes, when it had any at all. Very frustrating. There are also many references to magazines, stores, brands, restaurants, clubs etc that I knew had to be telling the reader what a character was like so those had to be looked up as well. Very time consuming. You know, something along the lines of how we would know something about a fictional character if the author said they listened to NPR & drove a Volvo vs listened to Sean Hannity & drove a pick up truck. The author doesn't have to spell it out. By knowing how a character lives, we know more about their values, education, political leanings etc. Flaubert does this in Sentimental Education but since I don't know the minutiae of daily Parisian life back then, I'm sure many references flew right over my head.
Some quotes that stood out to me:
He found that the happiness he deserved by virtue of his sensitive soul was slow in coming.
Senecal wore the gloomy look of a Puritan arriving in the midst of a party.
He wanted to burst out, to do generous deeds. He looked around him to see if there was anyone near whom he could help. No wretch happened to be passing by; and his generosity of spirit evaporated, for he was not a man to go out of his way to find opportunities for benevolence.
He paid deference to him in order to control him.
HIs intelligence was not high enough to attain to art, nor commonplace enough to look to merely profit, so that, without satisfying anyone, he had ruined himself.
Senecal considered only the masses and exhibited an utter absence of pity for individuals.
He imagined he had offended them, not realizing what vast reserves of indifference society possesses.
There are some men whose only mission amongst their fellowmen is to serve as go-betweens; people use them in the same way as if they were bridges, by stepping over them and going on further.
Certain men take delight in making their friends do things which are disagreeable to them.
Deslauriers preferred Frederic in a position of mediocrity. In this way he remained his friend's equal and in a more intimate relationship with him.
Property rose to the level of religion and was indistinguishable from God.
The casual style of dress blurred differences of social position.
Frederic was fascinated and exceedingly amused by the scene around him. The wounded who sank to the ground, the dead lying at his feet, did not seem like people really wounded or dead. The impression left on his mind was that he was watching a show.
The smock was full of spite against the tailcoat.
All the luxuries seemed more precious after the emotion of the past few days. They felt a fresh delight at possessing things which they had been afraid of losing.
They glorified a rural existence on the assumption that the uneducated man had naturally more sense than other men.