6.0709 Mme. Bovary (3/60)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 6 May 1993 18:36:13 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0709. Thursday, 6 May 1993.


(1) Date: Thu, 6 May 1993 14:52:17 +0800 (34 lines)
From: tunwin@uniwa.uwa.edu.au
Subject: Re: Madame Bovary and Birth Control

(2) Date: Wed, 5 May 1993 19:58:53 -0600 (17 lines)
From: mlbizer@bongo.cc.utexas.edu (Marc Bizer)
Subject: Kugelmass episode

(3) Date: Wed, 5 May 93 17:48:24 EST (9 lines)
From: LNESS@ucs.indiana.edu
Subject: re: Mdme. Bovary and birth control

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 May 1993 14:52:17 +0800
From: tunwin@uniwa.uwa.edu.au
Subject: Re: Madame Bovary and Birth Control

Bernard.van't.Hul@um.cc.umich.edu writes:

>As it happens, Emma Bovary bore many children to numerous lovers who,
>like the children, and along with an infinity of other goings on in
>her life, do not get mentioned in Flaubert's book.
>What is "this problem" to which Mr. Unwin seeks a solution in "the
>secondary literature on Flaubert"?

Of course, our colleague has missed the point. Since there is some
representation of recognizable realities - social, historical,
geographical, physical - in Flaubert's novel, the issue is why there should
be obliteration or obfuscation of others. Emma dies, as we might expect,
after ingesting arsenic. But she does not become pregnant, as we might
expect, after frequent and apparently incautious intercourse. To ask why
Flaubert has included one type of physical determinism but not the other
seems to me an entirely "legitimate" type of enquiry. The
"fiction-has-nothing-to-do-with-reality" approach, of which our friend
appears to be an exponent, is simply a cop-out. In fact, as a theoretical
position, it is about as satisfactory as coitus interruptus. If it produces
anything, it will no doubt be by accident.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr Tim Unwin Email tunwin@uniwa.uwa.edu.au
Department of French Studies
The University of Western Australia
Nedlands Tel +61 9 380 2174/6
WA 6009 Fax +61 9 380 1080
Australia

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------27----
Date: Wed, 5 May 1993 19:58:53 -0600
From: mlbizer@bongo.cc.utexas.edu (Marc Bizer)
Subject: Kugelmass episode

>As it happens, Emma Bovary bore many children to numerous lovers who,
>like the children, and along with an infinity of other goings on in
>her life, do not get mentioned in Flaubert's book.
>What is "this problem" to which Mr. Unwin seeks a solution in "the
>secondary literature on Flaubert"?

It would be interesting to study precisely which events from Madam Bovary's
life are mentioned in Flaubert's book. -:) "We all know" that there was one
new development which did find its way into the text: Emma's lover
Professor Kugelmass. According to Woody Allen, readers all over the world
were wondering at one point what a bald Jew was doing in Yonville...
--Marc Bizer

(3) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Wed, 5 May 93 17:48:24 EST
From: LNESS@ucs.indiana.edu
Subject: re: Mdme. Bovary and birth control

I seem to re-call that the author of _My Secret Life_ speaks of condoms
as in common use in France during his lifetime, which I believe over-laps the
years in which _Madame Bovary_ is set.
Lester Ness
lness@ucs.indiana.edu