Trois Contes
Gustave Flaubert, n Rouen le 12 dcembre 1821 et mort Canteleu, au hameau de Croisset, le 8 mai 1880, est un crivain franais. Prosateur de premier plan de la deuxime moiti du XIXe sicle, Gustave Flaubert a marqu la littrature franaise par la profondeur de ses analyses psychologiques, son souci de ralisme, son regard lucide sur les comportements des individus et de la socit,...more
Paperback, French edition, 104 pages
Published
October 16th 2008
by Dodo Press
(first published 1877)
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I have the fire department coming around later for a lecture on electrical safety. Apparently, my unplugging policy needs revising. For fifteen years of my life, I never unplugged a single plug (even in multisockets) and encountered no raging conflagrations in my boudoir (except in the bed—wink wink). But now everyone’s telling me what a buffoon I was! That you must ALWAYS unplug your appliances at night in case spontaneous friction occurs and the whole neighbourhood burns to a crisp! So, lookin...more
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I was surprised at the number of biblical references in these stories though I probably shouldn’t have been given Flaubert’s time and place. He lived in a Catholic country during a religious era. I’ve read lots of contemporaneous Victorian fiction and though the Brits throw in many bible tie Flaubert out does them. In ‘A Simple Heart’ Felicite is goodness incarnate seeking only to love without seeming to need anything more than an other for which to care. She’ll even settle for inanimate obj...more
This was supposed to inspire Stein's Three Lives, so I read this one first. Of course, in some senses I've been reading it for a decade or two, given how many times I've read about, and read selections from "A Simple Heart." That story is as good as it would have to be to justify the talk about it, a real work of incredible clarity where Flaubert's attitude toward his subject becomes an incredible kind of pantomime or shadow puppet show; his stories have a way of turning from being abo...more
Flaubert is a rather cruel and beautiful writer who fascinates me. In these three stories you can find little morsels of his life's great preoccupations, which he developed further in his novels.
In Un Coeur Simple (a simple heart), his subject is a selfless and stupid peasant woman. For Flaubert it was a great intellectual and aesthetic challenge to shape something of enduring beauty from the rough material of the everyday and the banal. It was a challenge he was to pursue with obsessi...more
In Un Coeur Simple (a simple heart), his subject is a selfless and stupid peasant woman. For Flaubert it was a great intellectual and aesthetic challenge to shape something of enduring beauty from the rough material of the everyday and the banal. It was a challenge he was to pursue with obsessi...more
Tale, the first, is sweet, sad and a little strange.
Tale, the second, is not very sweet, quite sad and VERY strange. First the guy is completely psychotic, or a sociopath, I'm not sure which (I need to reference my old psych 101 book). Later he becomes a wandering monk. To find out what happens next you'll have to read the story, I'm not ruining it. Suffice it to say that the first two "tales" have really heavy Catholic overtones. Penance is seriously emphasized in tal...more
Tale, the second, is not very sweet, quite sad and VERY strange. First the guy is completely psychotic, or a sociopath, I'm not sure which (I need to reference my old psych 101 book). Later he becomes a wandering monk. To find out what happens next you'll have to read the story, I'm not ruining it. Suffice it to say that the first two "tales" have really heavy Catholic overtones. Penance is seriously emphasized in tal...more
My favourite story of this collection is 'The Legend of Saint Julian Hospitator'. It's almost like a Shakespeare play - it's the story of a man who's doomed by fate to suffer greatly and commit gruesome crimes but at the same time he's also destined for greatness and sainthood. Obviously, in a short story you can't get the same depth as you can in novels, but this story still sucks you in and makes you feel for the characters.
'A Simple Heart' is something completely different, more c...more
'A Simple Heart' is something completely different, more c...more
Book Closing: I was surprised by how much I liked these three stories from Mr. Flaubert. French Realism didn’t seem like it was going to be much of a fit for me, but these three stories provide enough sarcastic wit and unexpected turns to keep anyone intrigued.
The first story is about a maid who deals with clinging desperation to those who are around her, the second takes you into a half-fairy tale world of a man who seems to be half-Oedipus and half tortured saint, and the last gives a ...more
The first story is about a maid who deals with clinging desperation to those who are around her, the second takes you into a half-fairy tale world of a man who seems to be half-Oedipus and half tortured saint, and the last gives a ...more
I really liked the first two, but the last (Herodias) forced me to knock down my rating a little. The story presupposes a great deal of historical/biblical knowledge on the part of the reader. Characters and relationships arenot fleshed out because (presumably) the reader is supposed to already understand them and their implications, and a whole heft of characters are introduced all willy-nilly. Even the ending is meaningless without an understanding of the story of John the Baptist. I guess...more
It's all about the parrot.
I don't think it matters just what you read by Flaubert, but read something. I find his short stories wonderful and still remember these ones fondly.
I don't think it matters just what you read by Flaubert, but read something. I find his short stories wonderful and still remember these ones fondly.
A Simple Heart is a naturalistic story in the style of Madame Bovary, but perhaps told with more kindness towards the protagonist (though personally I think Flaubert was pretty kind to Emma anyway). It was quite lovely, but I don't think it succeeded as well as Emma because it was shorter and its subject less morally suspect. Though that implies that the reason Emma is so good is because of its sensational aspect, which is not true. It's the way he deals with someone behaving so... strangely? (w...more
No matter what Flaubert's opinion of this particular body of work was, the stories contained within attest to his mastery of the art of the short story. His writing style is both descriptive and succinct with an obsessive attention to detail in describing the story setting.
'A Simple Heart' is perhaps the best-known story of the three, detailing the the life of a gentle peasant woman named Felicite and her mistaking of a taxidermied parrot named LouLou for the Holy Ghost.
...more
'A Simple Heart' is perhaps the best-known story of the three, detailing the the life of a gentle peasant woman named Felicite and her mistaking of a taxidermied parrot named LouLou for the Holy Ghost.
...more
The first story in this book, "A Simple Heart," pretty completely flatlined for me. The dead parrot was more interesting than the main character. After finishing this one, I was rather dreading having to read two more in-depth looks at overly dramatized tragedies in the lives of mediocre characters. Fortunately, the stories get better as they go. Unfortunately, they don't get better enough to earn my undying devotion.
In "The Legend of St. Julian Hospitator," there...more
In "The Legend of St. Julian Hospitator," there...more
Flaubert's narrative is absolutely incredible. His attention to the details of a life, his attention to the details of a story give so much weight to the character in these stories. You know and understand Felicite so well in a "Simple Heart" and you know so well what she has gone through in life as well as the fact that you know what ends are in store for her but you will cry anyway, and I do not believe that my tears were for sentiment alone. Or in other words, not for my experiences...more
Flaubert, a notoriously slow writer, clearly took pains with each of the tales contained in this slim volume. All the fine construction and attention to detail can't disguise the fact that they're all just a bit dull, though. A Simple Heart has at least the parrot to spice it up a bit - the other two, drawn from religious sources, could have profited from a stuffed LouLou of their own.
I really enjoyed the experience of reading some short stories - and Flaubert deserves the hype. I will definitely be seeking out some of his novels in the future.
The three tales are all very different and I especially liked the second one about St Julian the Hospitator. The third story about Herod obviously entered my subconscious last night as I was dreaming about Roman emporers in Capri!
The three tales are all very different and I especially liked the second one about St Julian the Hospitator. The third story about Herod obviously entered my subconscious last night as I was dreaming about Roman emporers in Capri!
This compilation contains three works, but the description only mentions two. The third, "The Dance of Death," is virtually a prose poem about Death's state of mind as he does his work. He's weary and cynical, but he can't stop. It reminds me a bit of Chaucer's "Pardoner's Tale," but in most respects is remarkably modern in the way that it deals with consciousness.
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Of course, the language was way beyond me and I had trouble getting a feeling of the flow since I was reading it so slowly. keeping that in mind...
I admire Flaubert for "la recherche de la mot juste" - he would write and rewrite each line until it was perfect before going on to the next. meticulous. a man after my own heart, in that sense, but stylistically, I just don't like his decisions. I don't really like Realism in general, and found the descriptions and characters -...more
I admire Flaubert for "la recherche de la mot juste" - he would write and rewrite each line until it was perfect before going on to the next. meticulous. a man after my own heart, in that sense, but stylistically, I just don't like his decisions. I don't really like Realism in general, and found the descriptions and characters -...more
Three beautiful short stories all with a different mode. Two historical tales bring out the heroes - Saint Julian and Herodias (with a powerful Salome) are the stronger of the three but A Simple Heart never bends to sentamentalism.
Read it in late 1992. It was the last book I read while living in London before moving to the USA. Three short shories about the author's life in northern France. I found this book at a hotel I was working at the time in Gloucester Rd.
On ne m'ôtera pas de l'idée que Flaubert est un vieil emmerdeur.
son écriture est ennuyeuse à mourir.
Enfin, si vous voulez vraiment le lire, sachez que vous n'aurez nul besoin de somnifères pour passer une bonne nuit.
son écriture est ennuyeuse à mourir.
Enfin, si vous voulez vraiment le lire, sachez que vous n'aurez nul besoin de somnifères pour passer une bonne nuit.
3 pieces of perfection, exemplifying "subjective objectivity" and the quest for "Le Mot Juste" to the point where reading these deceptively simple tales becomes as much an exercise in detective work, as literature.
After reading "A Simple Heart", Felicite stayed on my mind for a long time. I used to know and love someone like her when I was a child. The writing is so simple, yet so touching.
Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller. It reads like an adventure story, a parable, full of symbolism and hidden meanings with many ways to interpret it.
Three masterful stories by Flaubert. I'd already read the first, A Simple Heart, but all three are excellent examples of his precise, realist style. Highly recommended.
This is the first book of Flaubert i've read. I was appealed by the parrott story (well, I was 13). I've read it few times then. Like it.
Most beautiful stories of Flaubert. Like three little rocks you meet in life, those journey bring you some material for apprehending the world in a better way.
Read this one in my sophomore english class. I loved all three stories, however I did not feel the want to read more Flaubert
This is rated so highly mostly for "St. Julian Hospitator," the middle tale, one of wild spiritual wonder, weirdness, and depth.
Basically for "A Simple Heart." What you want to read to foreground the Julian Barnes book.
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Gustave Flaubert (December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880) is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, in the Haute-Normandie Region of France.
Flaubert's curious modes of composition favored and were emphasized by these peculiarities. He worked in sullen solitude, sometimes occupying a week in the completion of one page, never satisfied with what he h...more
More about Gustave Flaubert...
Flaubert's curious modes of composition favored and were emphasized by these peculiarities. He worked in sullen solitude, sometimes occupying a week in the completion of one page, never satisfied with what he h...more
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