Madame Bovary Readalong - crinolines, carriages and lovers this way, 1 October

[StColumbofNavron]

Following the successful Anna Karenina readalong (almost coming to a close), Emma Bovary has come up in conversation as a comparison piece. You don't need to have read Anna Karenina though to join in.

We start on 1 October, mark your spot.

The goal is to read one chapter per day. There are three parts, 35 chapters and we'll take a day break between each part. It is fine to post as we go along but no further than the chapter for that day.

I have opted for the Aveling Marx translation (Wordsworth Classics) as that is what is on my shelf, however, more on translations below.

https://welovetranslations.com/2022/04/08/whats-the-best-translation-of-madame-bovary-part-1/
https://welovetranslations.com/2022/04/08/whats-the-best-translation-of-madame-bovary-part-2/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/21/translating-madame-bovary-adam-thorpe

Part 1
1 01-Oct
2 02-Oct
3 03-Oct
4 04-Oct
5 05-Oct
6 06-Oct
7 07-Oct
8 08-Oct
9 09-Oct

BREAK 10-Oct

Part 2
1 11-Oct
2 12-Oct
3 13-Oct
4 14-Oct
5 15-Oct
6 16-Oct
7 17-Oct
8 18-Oct
9 19-Oct
10 20-Oct
11 21-Oct
12 22-Oct
13 23-Oct
14 24-Oct
15 25-Oct

BREAK 26-Oct

Part 3 27-Oct
1 28-Oct
2 29-Oct
3 30-Oct
4 31-Oct
5 01-Nov
6 02-Nov
7 03-Nov
8 04-Nov
9 05-Nov
10 06-Nov
11 07-Nov

I completely agree about the convent education, Fuzzy!

And people's thoughts about bipolar. Chapter 9 was depressing to read, but it did an amazing job of conveying Emma's unhappiness.

I confess I barely registered the italics; I must not be reading closely enough 😳😄

A quick google reveals that there is a scholarly article entitled, 'The Function of Italics in Madame Bovary', so it must be a point of scholarly debate, ha!

I also found a section in the 'What's the best translation of Madame Bovary webpage that StColumb linked to in the opening post of the thread. It quotes De Man (a very famous literary scholar) on Flaubert's use of italics:

Flaubert and Italics

De Man says, in the note in his 1965 edition: “[Flaubert] italicizes certain words, especially when he is reporting someone’s speech, in order to catch a nuance which is particularly important to him: the use of stilted, inert speech that reveals the degradation of the character’s relation towards language. Sometimes entire expressions are italicized… but at other times it is a single word, quite inconspicuous at first sight, whose cliché-like nature is revealed only by the use of this typographic device…. Except in some more obvious instances, the effect is irrevocably lost in translation.”

“In the novel’s opening passage Flaubert italicizes ‘nouveau,’ as he does many phrases in Madame Bovary—generally signalling a habitual or hackneyed expression. But in English italics function differently: they provide emphasis or indicate words kept in the original language. Marx generally chooses to place Flaubert’s italicized phrases in quotes, while Davis provides italics wherever Flaubert does. Paradoxically, Marx’s quotes seem like a closer English equivalent to Flaubert’s intended meaning than do Davis’s more literal italics. (Hopkins and Steegmuller are inconsistent; often, as in the opening passage, they silently ignore Flaubert’s italics altogether.)”

So there you go! My (inexpert) summary of De Man's argument: if Flaubert puts it in italics, it means it's a massive cliche.

Oh my goodness! It's clearly no laughing matter! (I take back my lol from earlier!)
Thanks cassandre. I'm going to have to take a minute to take that in.

😂Fuzzy

The ironic thing is that I'm meant to be prepping a class I'm teaching this afternoon, not researching italics in Bovary. Not sure why researching a literary text for MN purposes is so much more enticing than researching a literary text for my job. Procrastination 😧

😂 Fuzzy

You’ve hit the nail on the head cassandre.

🤣

The italics have passed me by, I'm listening instead of reading 😳 too many other books are occupying my eyes atm!

😂@CornishLizard , I see what you did there!

Part Two, Chapter Two

• Emma, Charles, Félicité, and Monsieur Lheureux get out of the Hirondelle for the Bovarys’ first glimpse of Yonville. Monsieur Homais is on hand to introduce himself.
• Emma checks out the inn. Meanwhile, a blond young man checks her out.
• Who is this guy, you may ask? Flaubert tells us. It turns out that this is the Monsieur Léon (Dupuis) mentioned earlier. He’s a clerk who works for the notary in town. He, like Emma, is a bored young person trapped in a town full of aging, dull people.
• The dinner party, comprised of Emma, Charles, Homais, and Léon, make polite chitter chatter about their trip, and about the town. Homais goes off on a long spiel about Yonville. We realize that his primary mode of communication is probably by long spiel.
• Léon and Emma are clearly on the same wavelength – one that nobody else is on. They seem to have similar ideas and interests.
• It turns out that Léon is an amateur musician, like Emma. Monsieur Homais, with whom the young clerk lives, claims that Léon is a beautiful singer. Emma is intrigued.
• Emma and Léon have a little moment, in which he reveals that he loves German music, "the kind that makes you dream" (II.1.9) – what an Emma-like thing to say! He also tells her he’s going away to Paris to study to be lawyer.
• Homais and Charles have obviously been conversing on their own. Homais attempts to include everyone in the conversation; Emma and Léon aren’t interested, and soon get caught up in their private conversation again.
• Like Emma, Léon is a big reader, and it seems like they have pretty similar thoughts about literature, as well.
• Homais tries to break into their conversation again, offering the use of his personal library to Emma.
• Emma and Léon are sitting so close that he has his feet on one of the rungs of her chair.
• After dinner, the guests all go their separate ways. Emma and Charles go into their new house for the first time. It doesn’t sound too thrilling. We are unsurprised.
• Emma philosophically muses that, since her life so far hasn’t been too hot, it has to get better.

Homais is insufferable. His little speech has much in common with the emanations that come off the cattle in the meadows. Gasbag!

I love these summaries. They are so witty.

The italics really made me laugh today:

Never ... had he chatted for two hours in succession to a lady

My italics voice came into its own there.

I know! I was thinking the same 😄

Emma also really needs to post on a MN baby names thread.

Hello MN . DH and I can't agree on a baby name. What does everyone think? I like literary names, like Yseult with all its Celtic beauty , or - if not-names that end in A, like Atala, but I fear that may be a bit common.

My name is rather dull , but DH wants to name our DD after me. Is this sweet, or a bit weird. It does, at least, end in an A.

Thoughts?

@Piggywaspushed should you ever entertain a career change, I think a volume of Emma Bovary’s correspondence or a diary could sell well.

Part Two, Chapter 3

• The next morning, Emma sees Léon through her bedroom window; they bow to each other.
• Léon, hopeful that the Bovarys will turn up for dinner at the inn again, can’t wait for six o’clock. However, dinnertime rolls around, and Emma is nowhere to be found. He’s deeply disappointed.
• Apparently, Léon isn’t exactly a lady’s man. His conversation with Emma the previous night was the most intimate situation he’s ever been in with a "lady." Everyone in the town likes him for his many fine qualities, but he felt a different kind of connection with Emma.
• Homais turns out to be a very, very attentive neighbor. He gives Emma all kinds of assistance with the house, and is oh-so-friendly. However, he’s not exactly Ned Flanders. It seems that his kindly guy-next-door act is a front; he’d been accused previously of illegally practicing medicine without any certification, and was threatened with legal action. A lot of townspeople, including the mayor, are out to get him, so he’s careful to keep Charles on his side.
• Speaking of Charles, the poor guy isn’t so happy. He doesn’t have any patients yet, and spends most of his time hanging about the house. He’s worried about money – the move from Tostes was expensive, and all the money that Emma brought with her to the marriage is gone.
• The only thing that cheers Charles up is the thought of Emma’s pregnancy. He feels that his whole life is complete now that a baby is on the horizon.
• Emma, on the other hand, traversed a whole range of emotions, from astonished to bitter, before settling on indifferent. She decides that if she must have a baby, it should be a boy, so it can have the power to escape the rules that govern women.
• Instead, it’s a girl.
• Emma passes out, presumably from disappointment, as well as the rigors of childbirth. Madame Homais and Madame Lefrançois rush in to see how things are going. Everyone is excited except Emma.
• Emma can’t even think up a name for the poor kid. She has all kinds of romantic ideas about what she’d like to call the daughter (um, Galsuinde? Seriously?). Homais has all kinds of crazy ideas, naturally, having named his children all kinds of crazy things. Emma eventually settles haphazardly on "Berthe."
• Little Berthe is baptized. Her godfather is Homais, since Emma’s dad couldn’t make it for the birth, and her godmother is old Madame Bovary, who’s visiting with her husband.
• Charles's father gets along pretty well with Emma, who’s interested in his stories of travel in the army. Charles’s mom is worried that her husband will be a bad influence upon Emma, and they peace out pretty quickly.
• One day, as Emma is going to visit the baby (who’s staying with Madame Rollet, a wetnurse in another part of town), she runs into Léon. She invites him to come with her, which causes quite the scandal among the gossips of the town.
• The wetnurse lives in an unsavory little cottage. Léon is thrown off by the image before him, of the beautiful lady in a fancy dress surrounded by squalor. The baby makes a spectacular entrance by promptly spitting up on Emma. The visitors head out.
• As they’re leaving, Madame Rollet comes up and wheedles the promise of some brandy out of Emma.
• Emma and Léon head back to Yonville. They obviously have an intense connection already.
• When they get back to town, Emma heads home, while Léon keeps wandering, pondering his boredom and the dullness of the other people he knows in town. He has quite the crush on our young Madame Bovary.

Hi Op, I think you really should think of a four syllable name to go with your surname. Berthe Bovary sounds very clunky and in an English accent it will sound like 'Berta'. Who wants to be called 'Berta'? Think of this baby who will one day be an adult, maybe even a doctor or a judge. Have you thought of Elizabeth? It's a classic name with so many pretty nicknames. Congratulations on your baby girl.

Oh, yes great idea. Elizabeth nn Berthe?

Yes that way she can choose the full version when she's grown up if it suits or you could go out on a limb and call her Elizaberthe altogether. A nice new twist on the classic.

forgot italics

I am dying - Elizaberthe!

I don't have any italics - I'm feeling deprived now!
I can't help feeling sorry for Charles, he may not be the sharpest tool in the box, but he seems kind, genuinely devoted & trying to do his best in a baffled sort of way.
Sorry for Emma too of course in her unhappiness. I don't find her unlikable, but someone who's had a really restricted upbringing & few opportunities for mental stimulation, together with a tendency towards depression.

I wonder whether putting a baby out to a wet nurse was standard then/there - it doesn't seem to attract any comment. I was surprised by it given that Emma/Charles aren't of that high a social status, at the least I would have thought it a specific choice, but it appears not.