Bouvard and Pecuchet
Gustave Flaubert, Mark Polizzotti
Language: English
Pages: 274
ISBN: B01IITGRCY
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In his own words, the novel is "a kind of encyclopedia made into farce . . . A book in which I shall spit out my bile." At the center of this book are Bouvard and Pécuchet, two retired clerks who set out in a search for truth and knowledge with persistent optimism in light of the fact that each new attempt at learning about the world ends in disaster.
In the literary tradition of Rabelais, Cervantes, and Swift, this story is told in that blend of satire and sympathy that only genius can compound, and the reader becomes genuinely fond of these two Don Quixotes of Ideas. Apart from being a new translation, this edition includes Flaubert's Dictionary of Received Ideas.
farther than its actual composition. At the age of nine, Flaubert was already telling a boyhood companion, “If you’d like us to work together at writing, I’ll write comedies and you can write your dreams. And since there’s a lady who comes to see papa and always says stupid things, I’ll write them too.” In his youth, he and his friends devised a fictitious persona, “Le Garçon” (“the boy”), which they took turns playing in order to mouth the most improbable absurdities to unsuspecting
she retorted. The mayor kept after her. She riposted his jokes tit for tat. Then she gave her recipe for gherkins. Moreover, her talents as a homemaker were widely known and she had a little farm that she kept admirably. Foureau called out to Bouvard, “Aren’t you thinking of selling yours?” “Goodness, for the moment, I’m not really sure…” “You don’t say! Not even the part at Les Ecalles?” answered the notary. “It would be ideal for you, Mme. Bordin.” The widow replied mincingly, “I fear Mr.
doing them favors, stopped answering altogether, and they pursued the question on their own, especially Pécuchet. His need for truth became an insatiable thirst. Swayed by Bouvard’s speeches, he abandoned spiritualism, took it up again only to abandon it anew, and cried out with his head in his hands, “Oh! This doubt! This doubt! I’d rather have nothingness!” Bouvard perceived the flaws inherent in materialism but tried to hold onto it, declaring that it was driving him off his nut. They tried
Ecalles would come later), they immediately paid off their debts, and were returning home when Farmer Gouy accosted them in the market square. He was just heading over to see them to deliver some bad news. The night before, the wind had knocked down twenty apple trees in the courtyard, demolished the distillery, and torn the roof off the barn. They spent the rest of the afternoon assessing the damage, and spent the following day with the carpenter, the mason, and the roofer. The repairs would
the virtues, first and foremost humility—in other words, to believe oneself incapable of any merit, unworthy of the slightest recompense; to immolate one’s spirit and place oneself so low that one is trampled underfoot like road dirt. He was still a long way from attaining such a state of mind. Another virtue he lacked was chastity. Deep down, he missed Mélie, and the pastel of the lady in the Louis XV dress with its low neckline troubled him. He shut it in the closet, pushed modesty to the