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A review by flok
Trois contes by Gustave Flaubert
3.0
I first read this years ago, and have just finished re-reading it.
Three very different tales with Christianity as a common thread.
Un Coeur Simple takes place in the 19th c and it's a realist tale following the life of dumb and selfless Félicité. While it's unsurprisingly very well-written, and I enjoyed the depiction of small town life in Normandy, I do have a little problem with it in that it feels quite patronising even if the narrator does not pass judgement. I could draw parallels with dull and unimaginative Charles Bovary in that respect.
La Légende de St Julien L'Hospitalier is brutal. As a fairy-tale retelling of the legend of this saint, dates and places remain vague, and there are supernatural elements in the forms of prophecies and talking animals. Again, our central character ends up personifying selflessness, but only after the fulfilling of that terrible prophecy breaks him and makes him renounce his previous cruel and very bloodthirsty ways.
Hérodias is probably what drew me to these tales in the first place, as the biblical story of Salomé (yes I'm aware she stays unnamed in the Gospels) inspired many artists over the centuries, and especially in the late 19th century. Mallarmé's Herodiade and Moreau's paintings both pre-date Flaubert's tale. Whereas Wilde or Huysmans saw Salomé more as the archetype of the evil temptress, Flaubert sticks to the biblical story in which she only does as instructed by her mother.
This time the tale is a historical one. It's actually fairly difficult to follow unless you have a good knowledge of the Bible and/or history around that time - I don't. Even so, I accepted that some things would fly over my head, but I'd keep focusing on the central story, and I grew to enjoy it more as I kept reading.
Three very different tales with Christianity as a common thread.
Un Coeur Simple takes place in the 19th c and it's a realist tale following the life of dumb and selfless Félicité. While it's unsurprisingly very well-written, and I enjoyed the depiction of small town life in Normandy, I do have a little problem with it in that it feels quite patronising even if the narrator does not pass judgement. I could draw parallels with dull and unimaginative Charles Bovary in that respect.
La Légende de St Julien L'Hospitalier is brutal. As a fairy-tale retelling of the legend of this saint, dates and places remain vague, and there are supernatural elements in the forms of prophecies and talking animals. Again, our central character ends up personifying selflessness, but only after the fulfilling of that terrible prophecy breaks him and makes him renounce his previous cruel and very bloodthirsty ways.
Hérodias is probably what drew me to these tales in the first place, as the biblical story of Salomé (yes I'm aware she stays unnamed in the Gospels) inspired many artists over the centuries, and especially in the late 19th century. Mallarmé's Herodiade and Moreau's paintings both pre-date Flaubert's tale. Whereas Wilde or Huysmans saw Salomé more as the archetype of the evil temptress, Flaubert sticks to the biblical story in which she only does as instructed by her mother.
This time the tale is a historical one. It's actually fairly difficult to follow unless you have a good knowledge of the Bible and/or history around that time - I don't. Even so, I accepted that some things would fly over my head, but I'd keep focusing on the central story, and I grew to enjoy it more as I kept reading.