I've officially jumped on the Madame Bovary bandwagon and am reading away. At least I'm taking the book along with me to work every day to read during lunch and or breaks. It sounds as though the schedule is to read to the end of part two this week, and while I have a feeling I won't manage to get that far, I will at least try (and hopefully not be too far behind everyone else). I always lament how little I take away from a nonfiction book, but I have the same problem when reading fiction. Nonfiction feels worse somehow, all those facts and figures, but it's amazing how little I remember from the first time I read this book (which wasn't really all that long ago). I'm always left with just impressions and feelings as time passes. It's almost like reading it for the first time, but as I read more and more things are coming back to me.
From what I remember Charles is going to be an ineffectual character. He doesn't seem a bad sort, maybe lacking in discipline in his studies, a little lazy, but as a schoolboy he tries hard, at least to the best of his abilities. I'm still at the very beginning, so I've just "met" Emma again. I thought for my teaser today I would share first looks at the pair. Charles first, since we meet him as a young lad--a somewhat indulged little boy.
"When she had a child, he had to be put out to nurse. Back in their house, the little boy was spoiled like a prince. His mother fed him on jams; his father let him run around without shoes, and, imagining himself an enlightened thinker, even said that he could go quite naked, like the young animals. In opposition to the mother's inclinations, he had in mind a certain manly ideal of childhood, according to which he tried to mold his son, wanting him to be brought up ruggedly, in a spartan manner, to give him a good constitution. He sent him to bed without a fire, taught him to drink great drafts of rum and jeer at church processions. But, peaceable by nature, the boy responded poorly to his efforts. His mother kept him aways trailing after her; she would cut out cardboard figures for him, tell him stories, converse with him in endless monologues, full of melancholy whimsy and beguiling chatter. In the isolation of her life, she transferred into that childish head all her sparse, shattered illusions. She dreamed of high positions, she saw him already grown, handsome, witty, established, in bridges and roads or the magistracy. She taught him to read and even, on an old piano she had, to sing two or three little ballads. But to all this, Monsieur Bovary, little concerned with literature, said it was not worth the trouble! Would they ever have enough to keep him in a state school, to buy him a practice or set him up in business? Besides, with a little nerve, a man can always succeed in the world. Madame Bovary would bite her lips, and the child would roam at will through the village."
So, already there are high hopes and expectations for little Charles. I'm not sure if I read anywhere what he wanted--that doesn't seem to have been part of the equation until later when he is preparing to become a doctor. He is tempted by taverns and public rooms when he should have be making the rounds in the hospital and studying for exams, which he fails the first time around. He eventually passes and qualifies to become a "health officer", and becomes a country doctor, marries a wealthy widow and goes on to meet Emma Rouault.
Charles is called to the Roualt farm, as M. Roualt has broken his leg. Luckily for Charles it is a simple fracture as he must think out in his mind ahead of time what he will do and how his bedside manner must appear. And Charles's first look at Emma,
"Charles was surprised by the whiteness of her fingernails. They were glossy, delicate at the tips, more carefully cleaned than Dieppe ivories, and filed almost into almond shapes. Yet her hand was not beautiful, not pale enough, perhaps, and a little dry at the knuckles; it was also too long and without soft inflections in its contours. What was beautiful about her was her eyes; although they were brown, they seemed black because of the lashes, and her gaze fell upon you openly, with a bold candor."
and,
"Her neck rose out of a white, turned-down collar. Her hair whose two black bands were so smooth they seemed each to be of a single piece, was divided down the middle of her head by a think part that dipped slightly following the curve of her skull; and just barely revealing the lobes of her ears, it went on to merge in the back in an abundant chignon, with a wavy movement near the temples that the country doctor noticed for the first time in his life. Her cheeks were pink. She wore, like a man, tucked between two buttons of her bodice, a tortoiseshell lorgnette."
I'm still at the very beginning, but I must say I am greatly enjoying this. Just as I read in the NYTBR Flaubert shows a great attention to detail, which I quite like. I think this is just what I need to ease myself back in a 'classics' mode of reading. As usual my teasers are far too long, but at least you can get a sense of Davis's translation style. It feels nice and smooth, not at all clunky.
I'm waiting to read the introduction until the end, even though I know how things end. I've forgotten enough for there still to be surprises, so why ruin anything. One thing I'm curious about--why are some words and phrases in the text italicized? Perhaps that's explained in the introduction? I don't recall it from my first read and am not sure if it's meant as special emphasis. It's also curious that Davis is herself an award winning author and not just a translator. Surely that must have an effect on her translation. I think there is going to be lots to think about with this read!