{"id":4225,"date":"2017-09-04T20:21:24","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T18:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/?p=4225"},"modified":"2020-05-30T22:56:04","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T20:56:04","slug":"drei-geschichten-gustave-flaubert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/2017\/09\/three-tales-gustave-flaubert\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Tales \u2022 Gustave Flaubert"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

One of my most eagerly awaited new releases this year was Three Tales<\/em> by Gustave Flaubert. His masterpiece Madame Bovary<\/a> still lingers very fondly in my memory. Beyond that, I love the Hanser Classics series, which\u2014with its high-quality new translations, extensive supplementary material, and bibliophilic production\u2014is simply always perfect. If you browse my reviews<\/a>, you\u2019ll find numerous posts on these classics there. Whether Three Tales<\/em> is, like the other books, also a clear buy recommendation\u2014you\u2019ll find out in this review.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When I first saw the title Three Tales<\/em>, I assumed Hanser had put together a small volume of their own to score again with a big name. Elisabeth Edl is a much-lauded translator whose highly praised new edition of Madame Bovary<\/a> surely remains memorable to many. And Gustave Flaubert\u2014well, there isn\u2019t much more to say about him. However, Three Tales<\/em> is in fact a book that Flaubert himself assembled in precisely this form. It contains three short stories that he published in 1877, burdened by financial worries. Due to political unrest, economic turbulence put the publishing industry under heavy pressure, and so the book did not pay off quite as hoped. Yet if you consider how these three stories came into being, it quickly becomes clear that Flaubert worked on them with his customary care and dedication. It was to be the last book he himself completed and published (Bouvard and P\u00e9cuchet<\/em> was published posthumously and unfinished).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The first story is called A Simple Heart<\/em> and is about the humble maidservant F\u00e9licit\u00e9, sketching her entire life in not even fifty pages. Flaubert does so in his typical, masterful style\u2014clear and precise in expression\u2014the very voice you know from Madame Bovary<\/em>. Through the various stations of her life, lived primarily in the service of Madame Aubain and her children, he characterizes a simple woman of modest disposition. He portrays her nature, her way of thinking, and creates a figure that seems utterly realistic and plausible. Set in the rural Normandy milieu, the reader gains insight into the customs of that environment, and the overall provincial setting also recalls Madame Bovary<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019m deeply enthusiastic about this first story; I found here again a masterpiece that completely pulled me in and is simply perfectly achieved. If you want to get to know Flaubert, this story is a must, because it contains everything that defines him. And if you already know his books, A Simple Heart<\/em> is likewise a clear recommendation\u2014this is Flaubert at his best.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Flaubert\u2019s aim was the perfect \u201couter beauty,\u201d the one right and possible formulation. The book includes some of his letters, and when you read them, it quickly becomes evident how he wrestled with his texts and how high his ambition was in this regard. He would spend days on a single page until the phrasing was exactly as he wished, working tirelessly. You can feel this in the prose: he describes scenes, landscapes, and thoughts with such precision, with so few and apt words, that I often reread a passage only to realize how little he needs to convey an atmosphere of striking density.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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As with Madame Bovary<\/em>, I couldn\u2019t help being reminded of Johann Sebastian Bach\u2019s fugues. If you read the text attentively but at a normal pace, the lines evoke a clear picture of the situation, the settings, and\u2014on an abstract level\u2014the emotional life of the people. It\u2019s like listening to a fugue as a whole. But if you examine individual sentences more closely\u2014the formulations and how he chooses words\u2014you inevitably lose sight of the whole. One can\u2019t quite focus on both the entire melody and the individual voices; this is the abiding impression of his style.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cIn the garden there is a terrace from which the Seine can be seen. Here Virginie walked at her arm, on fallen vine leaves. Sometimes the bursting sun made them squint as they looked at the sails in the distance and the whole horizon, between the Ch\u00e2teau de Tancarville and the lighthouses of Le Havre. Afterwards they rested in the arbor.\u201d (p. 37)<\/p><\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The second story, The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller<\/em>, is set in the Middle Ages and reads like a hero\u2019s legend. It tells of the life of Julian, who takes delight in hunting animals and then falls victim to a retaliatory prophecy he tries to avert. The tale is a curious blend of fairy tale, legend, and narrative. Flaubert works with many images and symbols, and I actually found the premise quite interesting. But in the end, it didn\u2019t really yield much for me, and according to the afterword there is no deeper meaning to the plot\u2014which, given the structure, I found rather odd. In a letter he writes that this story was merely a kind of finger exercise, composed \u201csolely to busy myself with something, to see whether I could still turn a sentence\u201d (p. 231). He was inspired by an image on a stained-glass window in Rouen Cathedral, though he did not follow a strict model. All in all, this story captivated me little.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The inspiration for the third story, H\u00e9rodias<\/em>, likewise came from the sculptures on the main portal of Rouen Cathedral. Its background is antiquity; it deals with Herod Antipas and his wife Herodias and the biblical story of the beheading of John the Baptist. Flaubert had already researched these historical topics extensively while writing Salammb\u00f4<\/em> and knew the terrain well. In addition, between 1849 and 1850 Flaubert undertook a grand journey to the Orient and was able to see Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem for himself\u2014something clearly felt in the descriptions here. This third story, however, didn\u2019t win me over at all; neither the background nor the reading experience worked for me. Flaubert uses numerous historical and biblical figures one simply has to know. The appendix documents and explains everything excellently, so you can certainly follow the content, but reading thus becomes correspondingly strenuous, slow, and not particularly enjoyable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The edition itself is as excellent as all those in the Hanser Classics series. The stories proper cover 159 pages. Then follow 52 pages with a selection of Flaubert\u2019s letters exchanged, while he was writing these three stories, with his niece, George Sand, and other close correspondents. I found them very interesting because they truly give insight into the creative process. The afterword also discusses the genesis and Flaubert himself very well. Overall, this is definitely worth reading\u2014likewise the notes, which repeatedly connect to Madame Bovary<\/em> and Flaubert\u2019s life. Together with the bibliophilic production, the book is once again superbly done.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Conclusion:<\/strong> The first of the three stories, A Simple Heart<\/em>, delighted me. Here the reader gets Flaubert the realist in pure form, and anyone who loves Madame Bovary<\/em> will love this story too. The typically precise, incisive sentences\u2014the \u201couter beauty\u201d of Flaubert\u2019s style\u2014are fully present. The second and third stories, The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller<\/em> and H\u00e9rodias<\/em>, did not win me over. In terms of story, background, and idea, they felt uneven to me, and I couldn\u2019t really sink into them. Reading H\u00e9rodias<\/em> is also rather bumpy, because many figures are introduced only via the notes. The letters, annotations, and afterword are once again of the highest quality and give the reader a strong sense of Flaubert\u2019s craft, the background of these stories, and his life. For Flaubert fans and anyone who was enthralled by Madame Bovary<\/em>, this book is an absolute must. Otherwise, I would give priority to Madame Bovary<\/em> or Sentimental Education<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Book information: <\/strong>Three Tales<\/em> \u2022 Gustave Flaubert \u2022 Hanser Verlag \u2022 315 pages \u2022 ISBN 9783446256590<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my most eagerly awaited new releases this year was Three Tales by Gustave Flaubert. His masterpiece Madame Bovary still lingers very fondly in my memory. Beyond that, I love the Hanser Classics series, which\u2014with its high-quality new translations, extensive supplementary material, and bibliophilic production\u2014is simply always perfect. If you browse my reviews, you\u2019ll … <\/p>\n

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