Sentimental Education Week 3: Pt 2- Chapters 1 and 2

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Chapter 1:
Time has passed. Frederic returns to Paris after being away for a while and finds a lot of changes with his friends going in different directions and the Arnoux's have moved to a new location and Arnoux has started a new business-a porcelain factory, which is not really prospering.
Frederic manages to finally discover the new address and pays them a visit, which results in Arnoux taking Frederic to a costume ball, held by Arnoux's mistress, Rosanette. It's a very lively party and Frederic encounters some of his friends there.

Chapter 2: Frederic spends some of his inheritance on a new apartment with expensive furnishings suitable to his new status. Frederic visits the Dambreuse' and is made welcome there. He also visits Rosanette, also known as La Marechale, and catches up on more news about his old friends and acquaintances, including Senecal and Pellerin.
Frederic gets Arnoux to hire Senecal for an open position at his factory and commissions Pellerin to paint a portrait of Rosanette for Arnoux.
Frederic has decided he would like to get a position as a civil servant and asks Dambreuse for help, but apparently it's not that easy since he has to pass an exam.

Politically, there is more discontent and unrest in Paris.

Emotionally, Mme Arnoux is tired of her husband's cheating. Frederic witnesses a quarrel between the two and makes eye contact with Mme.
The chapter ends with Frederic and Mme Arnoux very aware of each other.
In French:
Ce muet échange de leur pensées était comme un consentement, un début d'adultere.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

As always, please comment on any aspects of these chapters and the book so far.
I'm still having trouble sorting out some of the characters, but generally I'm growing more familiar with some of them.

Arnoux seems an even shadier character than in previous chapters so I hope that Frederic doesn't get too closely involved with him.
However, this is highly unlikely since Frederic still has deep feelings for Mme Arnoux.

[Trev]

I am hoping that I don’t reveal any spoilers as my book is not sectioned in the same way. I have just read chapters 7 and 8 of part 1. However, the details above seem to align with my reading so it should be OK.

I am worried that my fears for Frederic seem to be materialising and that he is being negatively influenced by Arnoux.

’Frederic made desperate efforts to recognise those eyes, without succeeding in doing so. But already the dream had taken hold of him. It seemed to him that he was yoked beside Arnoux to the pole of a hackney-carriage, and that the Maréchale, astride of him, was disembowelling him with her gold spurs.’

His money has allowed him to set up an elegant bachelor pad and spend his time going off with Arnoux to raunchy parties. Frederic’s lusting after Rosanette became stronger and more concrete as the chapters progressed, most probably because of her shameless flaunting of herself in front of him. His merging of the two women into a Rosanette/Madame Arnoux lust-love entity felt rather sordid to me, as did his ongoing plans for setting up Madame Arnoux as his mistress.

I could understand his plans for Madame Arnoux if he also intended to get rid of Arnoux in some way.

There is no doubt that Monsieur Arnoux is a rogue who treats women with contempt, disguised by his silver tongue. His lies and deceits to his wife are particularly pathetic and Madame Arnoux must be miserable, with only the comfort of her children to console her. Moreau’s understanding of her plight may also become a comfort to her but I am intrigued about how she might react to his more amorous advances.

The ‘friendliness’ of Moreau’s so called friends seems to have evaporated somewhat during the period he was away. Or was it just his money that has created a yawning chasm between them?

’Frederic was left by himself. He was thinking about his friends, and it seemed to him as if a huge ditch surrounded with shade separated him from them. He had nevertheless held out his hand to them and they had not responded to the sincerity of his heart.’

Apart from Deslauriers the rest of his ‘friends’ seem to be too wrapped up in themselves and/or their politics to care much for Frederic and now that he is rich he may be seen more as a cash cow than a comrade.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

That is my concern as well. Many people will likely want to benefit from Frederic's money. He needs to be wary of shady investments, and with Arnoux in his life, that will be difficult.

[Neil]

Chapter one- a very lively party is an understatement. I thoroughly enjoyed the detailed description of the attendees at the fancy dress ball. There is no doubt about the stark contrast between the liberal Parisians and the die-hard contemporary English. All that flesh on display at the ball; In England it would have been deemed disgusting for a lady to show an ankle! I found the whole chapter thoroughly entertaining. For me, the descriptive writing is sufficient - I don’t really care about any plot.
I also enjoyed reading about Frederick‘s friends-against the background of unrest in France; but the actual people who are sounding off, don’t appear to be the peasantry but rather people who are relatively well off. Peter Turchin wrote in his book Secular Cycles (2009) that he saw the French Revolution not as a Peasant revolt but as a rebellion of surplus lawyers and frustrated intellectuals shut out of power. That becomes more apparent as a novel proceeds.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Thanks for the link to the book, Neil.

[Gary]

Neil wrote: "For me, the descriptive writing is sufficient - I don’t really care about any plot."

I agree.
The story line is, I think, not that engaging nor is Frederick all that interesting, which is not to say that the novel isn't well worth reading. Whether I like or relate to Frederick isn't really that important as Flaubert sees him as representative of aimless young men of this time. But for me, like Neil, it is the writing itself that holds me. I often find myself smiling while reading the novel. Its is a joy for me. So much so that I had to read ahead ... but no spoilers.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I agree about Flaubert's writing-it's wonderful. His detached descriptive style works for this book. We see Frederick making mistakes and fumbling along at times-he has faults but means well.

[Robin P, Moderator]

I remember getting quite tired of Frederick when I read this.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Robin P wrote: "I remember getting quite tired of Frederick when I read this."

Me, too!

[Trev]

In my edition of The Oxford Companion to English Literature Flaubert is quoted as saying that this novel is a ‘moral history of the men of my generation.’

During the 1840s, Flaubert himself would have been aged 19 to 29 and it is not unreasonable to assume that the attitudes, occupations and actions of his characters were observed first hand during that period of time. Whether Flaubert wrote himself into any of the characters is difficult to judge except for the fact that he did live in Paris from 1840 to 1846, studied law, and was ‘an indifferent student.’

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Frederic was certainly an indifferent student!

[Nancy]

I certainly agree that Flaubert's descriptions of Paris life are well done and that Frederic is generally a rather tiresome character. He wavers between the friendship he feels for Madame Arnoux and returning to his juvenile crush on her, while at the same time he is pursuing Roseannette (although the fascination there is probably more carnal there). He is an incredibly immature young man who seems to already have trouble managing his fortune.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Immature is exactly describes Frederic, Nancy.

[Bill]

Whenever we hear Frederic's friends venting their political opinions I feel huge deja vu, More like the 1960s than today. The utopian schemes like the Phalanx were also tried in America. Like the hippy communes, they found sharing every thing easier in theory than in practice.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I remember the 60s too, Bill. It was an exciting time to be young.
Flaubert has a wide variety of characters in this book-a whole cross-section of various classes, including the working class represented by Dussardier.
Although Frederic is technically the main character, he spends more time reacting than acting.