tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post8690806511400938104..comments2024-03-28T05:13:13.921-04:00Comments on Books, Inq. — The Epilogue: FlaubertFrank Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-52968030902760525232011-06-22T16:24:36.390-04:002011-06-22T16:24:36.390-04:00I agree, Daniel, that it's unfair to demand of...I agree, Daniel, that it's unfair to demand of a nineteenth century novel the sort of sexual content that we've come to expect (for better or worse) today. <br /><br />Still, my point is that, within the context of the book itself, Bovary's motivation is unclear. <br /><br />The result is a confused sexuality, one which assumes a two- (as opposed to a three-) dimensional quality.Jesse Freedmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13626277740665307336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-36870539748643558982011-06-21T21:32:24.329-04:002011-06-21T21:32:24.329-04:00Well, we don't get to watch Lizzie getting dow...Well, we don't get to watch Lizzie getting down with Mr. Darcy, either.<br /><br />In the pre-porn age, small stimuli meant a lot more. Doesn't Henry James have a passage where the protagonist is intoxicated when his hand brushes the woman's?<br /><br />I'm reading René Girard's <i>Deceit, Desire, and the Novel</i> – the point he makes is that Madame Bovary doesn't have an interior life. It's all based on imitation. Even her desires are imitation.Cynthia Havenhttp://bookhaven.stanford.edunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-91293356213776116702011-06-21T12:36:54.235-04:002011-06-21T12:36:54.235-04:00Flaubert and the publisher were tried by the Frenc...Flaubert and the publisher were tried by the French government in 1856 for blasphemy and crimes against public morals. Asking MB to be scandalous by modern standards is more than unfair.Daniel Pritchardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02171613044501024248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-61109978271565507842011-06-21T12:05:08.337-04:002011-06-21T12:05:08.337-04:00I agree; especially when Flaubert himself proclaim...I agree; especially when Flaubert himself proclaimed, "Madame Bovary, c'est moi..." If that were true couldn't we expect more insight into her interior life?John Brumfieldnoreply@blogger.com