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BOVARY

                                             September 15, 1998

                         
Flaubert's Madame Bovary is clearly a very         
good book, but the reputation that preceeds        
it is the really fascinating thing about it.       (Trans. by Paul de Man.) 
                                                   
This is a profoundly cynical work.
The main character is 
completely lacking in anything like 
virtue -- for want of a better word.           She has our sympathies
                                               often, but rarely our
And the narative makes many assaults           respect.
on science and philosophy: declaring   
it all the ranting of pompous fools.    
The scientist as charlatan.            Is it any wonder that
        			       this book is beloved
So Flaubert is the                     by the humanities,
father of realism?      	       given their intense
Flaubert is the next    	       jelousy of the social
step after Balzac?      	       status of scientists,
				       and intense suspicion
    Yes, Flaubert's     	       of all things technical?
    language seems more
    polished (even in
    translation, much of           
    it is really beautiful    Though... doesn't it              
    prose poetry)...          seem a bit lifeless?    Flaubert was       
                                                      renowned for the 
    But to me the               Or perhaps,           agnonies he went 
    big difference              Flaubert's            through in choosing 
    is Flaubert's               precision is          just the right 
    rejection of all            untranslatable?       word... 
    systematized                                   
    knowledge                      A looser work 
    compared to                    might allow   
    Balzac's                       more scope.            Maybe this was 
    attempt to                                            all counter- 
    comprehend all.                                       productive. 
                                                                          
                                                            AEOLIAN_EXHAUST
                                                                          
      Even Tolstoy --                                                     
                                                                   
         for all his assault on                     
         conventional wisdom and                    
         romantic individualism in                  
         favor of a philosophy of          (humanity 
         historical inevitability          in the   
                                           grip of  
                                           fate...?)
            Even Tolstoy is an                      
            optimist in comparison:                 
            At least he holds out                   
            some hope for a science                 
            of history to develop.                  
                                                    
                            
                            

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