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Flaubert's Concept of The Novel
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
Ever since the first appearance of Madame Bovary, Flaubert's concept of the novel has occasioned so many and such persistent misunderstandings that it seems well, now that a century or more has elapsed, to seek once again to understand what he did conceive the novel to be. Flaubert made numerous, isolated statements on the subject throughout his life, but these are scattered and in a sense always random, related only to the particular aspect of general theory which happened at the moment to be attracting his attention. It has even been urged that these should not and cannot be used to establish his concept of the novel. Moreover he did state that he execrated what was called realism; and he had no greater use for any of the other schools of his day, naturalism or impressionism or even those which baptized him their “chef d'école.”
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References
1 The present article in reduced form was read at the French 6 Section of the MLA in Chicago in December 1963.
2 E.g., Margaret Tillett, On Reading Flaubert (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 2. I should note that this is one of my very few points of disagreement with this otherwise excellent study.
3 Flaubert, Correspondance, 9 vols. (Paris: Conard, 1926–33), vii, 285. References to his letters will be in terms of this edition, abbreviated Corr., or to its Supplément (1954), abbreviated Suppl. Occasionally it has been important to correct the printed text (particularly in the matter of capitalization) from the originals in the Lovenjoul Collection at Chantilly. All departures from the printed text have this as their basis. It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to thank the Curator of the Lovenjoul, Professor Jean Pommier, both for permission to use the Collection and for his wise counsel. My thanks are also owing to the ACLS, which has on three occasions made possible trips to France to study these documents.
4 Corr., vii, 281, 377; viii, 370; Suppl., iv, 52, 84.
5 E. and J. de Goncourt, Journal, ed. Robert Ricatte, 22 vols. (Monaco: Imprimerie nationale, 1956), vi, 69, 159. All references will be to this edition.
6 E.g., Corr., vii, 369; Suppl., ii, 167; iv, 52.
7 Almost the entire article will consist of direct quotations or paraphrases from Flaubert's letters. As an isolated statement on his part could readily be considered of little significance, I shall offer in the footnotes references not only to the particular source but also to some of the (usually numerous) similar statements which abound in his letters.
8 Corr., iv, 165; vii, 294.
9 I am here following the persuasive analysis of Jean Bruneau, Les Débuts littéraires de Gustave Flaubert, 1835–1845 (Paris: Colin, 1962), esp. pp. 458–464. See also his Index under Cousin, Hegel, and Spinoza.
10 Corr., i, 307; v, 367. While this latter reference is from 1868, it suggests Cousin's translation of Plato as still the best. It seems justified to infer that Flaubert had used it from the start, given his contact with Mallet. It will be recalled that Louise Colet, his mistress from 1846 to 1854, had previously been the mistress of Cousin. He was the father of her child and continued to be on fairly close terms with her during the nearly ten years of her liaison with Flaubert. Of the young Frédéric Moreau in the Education sentimentale Flaubert wrote: “Une traduction de Platon ouvert au hasard l'enthousiasma” (Paris: Conard, 1910), p. 18.
11 La Tentation de Saint Antoine (Paris: Conard, 1924), p. 460.
12 Corr., ii, 339; iii, 21.
13 Goncourt, Journal, iv, 166–167; xi, 71. Cf. Baudelaire in his article, “Madame Bovary,” and speaking in Flaubert's name: “je prouverai ainsi que tous les sujets sont indifféremment bons ou mauvais, selon la manière dont ils sont traités, et que les plus vulgaires peuvent devenir les meilleurs.” L'Art romantique (Paris: Conard, 1925), p. 400.
14 Corr., ii, 457. While the letter is of 1852 and thus antedates the “conception” of Salammbô, the Education sentimentale of fifteen years later shows that he could have written the sentence at almost any time in his life.
15 Corr., ii, 339, 345–346; iii, 21, 52, 249, 344.
16 Corr., ii, 339; iii, 21.
17 Corr., v, 111; viii, 128.
18 Corr., vii, 284–285.
19 Corr., v, 179, 257.
20 Corr., ii, 395–396; iii, 158; iv, 243–244. See also Tentation de Saint Antoine, version of 1849, passim. It is included in the Conard edition noted above.
21 Corr., v, 396–397; ix, 3. See also the first version of the Education sentimentale (1843–45), Œuvres de jeunesse, 3 vols. (Paris: Conard, 1910), iii, 266 ff.
22 Corr., iii, 249, 360; iv, 243; vii, 294. In addition he was anxious for wide knowledge because of the wealth of comparisons upon which one could then draw for images, the basis of that “plastic quality” he sought in his writing. The idea came to him from Ronsard (Corr., iv, 52).
23 Corr., iii, 263; vii, 281–282, 285.
24 Corr., iii, 149; v, 179, 257; vii, 285.
25 Corr., iv, 171.
26 The distinction can be inferred from Corr., iv, 292. It is explicitly stated in an unpublished letter to Louise Colet of 28 Nov. 1852, formerly owned by René Descharmes and now in the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, N.A.F., 23,825, fol. 22verso.
27 Corr., iv, 210.
28 Corr., v, 36.
29 Corr., iii, 263; iv, 171; vii, 281–282, 351; viii, 309. 30 Corr., iv, 23.
31 Corr., viii, 309.
32 Corr., viii, 370, 374; Suppl., iv, 52.
33 Corr., iii, 8, 269, 360.
34 Goncourt, Journal, iv, 166–167.
35 Corr., iii, 230.
36 Corr., iv, 15, 125, 243–244; v, 396–397.
37 Corr., iv, 15. Cf. Baudelaire: “Pays singulier, supérieur aux autres, comme l'art est à la Nature, ou celle-ci est réformée par le rêve, où elle est corrigée, embellie, refondue.” “L'Invitation au voyage,” Petits Poèmes en prose. Like Flaubert Baudelaire rejected entirely the alleged esthetics of realism: “certain procédé littéraire appelé réalisme—injure dégoûtante jetée à la face de tous les analystes.” In “Madame Bovary,” L'Art romantique, p. 399.
38 Corr., iii, 137–138, 180, 336.
39 Corr., iii, 157–158.
40 Corr., v, 253.
41 Corr., iii, 61–62; v, 227–228; viii, 280–281.
42 Corr., v, 396–397.
43 Corr., iii, 183; iv, 425; vii, 363.
44 Suppl., ii, 118.
45 Corr., v, 379. See also H. Taine, Sa Vie et sa correspondance, 2 vols. (Paris: Hachette, 1904), ii, 232.
46 Corr., iii, 263, 401; vii, 281. Italics mine.
47 Corr., iii, 174; v, 277.
48 Corr., ii, 379; iii, 163; iv, 3, 183; v, 111, 227–228; viii, 327.
49 Corr., iii, 407; iv, 315.
50 Corr., ii, 339, 416; iii, 141; v, 257.
51 Corr., ii, 339; iii, 141; iv, 164–165, 243; Goncourt, Journal, ii, 68. See also E. Zola, Les Romanciers naturalistes (Paris: Bernouard, 1928), pp. 159–160. “Le Beau est la splendeur du Vrai” was a maxim frequently repeated by Pelletier, Flaubert's professeur de seconde; see F. V. Bouquet, Souvenirs du Collège de Rouen par un élève de pension (1829–35). Nouv. édit. (Rouen: Imprimerie Cagniard, 1895), pp. 60–62, 72–74, 84–86.
52 Corr., iv, 171.
53 Corr., iv, 136, 182; vii, 294.
54 “Madame Bovary,” L'Art romantique, p. 401.
55 Corr., vii, 285, 397.
56 Corr., ii, 396; iii, 165; iv, 171; viii, 343.
57 Corr., v, 397; vi, 296; vii, 282; Suppl., iv, 84.
58 Con., iii, 62; iv, 314–315; v, 108, 260.
59 Corr., ii, 398, 451; iii, 340.
60 Corr., iii, 249.