Memoirs of a Madman and November by Gustave Flaubert

Author:Gustave Flaubert
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781847493255
Publisher: Alma Classics
Published: 2017-05-25T04:00:00+00:00

Note on the Texts

This translation is based on the texts found in the Pléiade edition of Flaubert’s Œuvres complètes, vol. I, ed. by Claudine Gothot-Mersch and Guy Sagnes (Paris: Gallimard, 2001).

Notes

p. 9, earth: Where this translation reads “earth” in the phrase “to that earth of ice”, there is a word missing in Flaubert’s original text.

p. 12, houris: Houris are the virgins of the Muslim paradise, promised as wives to true believers in the Koran. Here, simply, a beautiful woman.

p. 17, I devoured… aflame with enthusiasm: Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) and Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812–18) and The Giaour (1813), like Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, feature melancholy, alienated or lovelorn young protagonists.

p. 30, how right Molière was to compare her to a bowl of soup: Molière makes this comparison in Act II, Sc. 3 of his L’École des femmes (1662).

p. 41, Antony: Antony is the name of a typically romantic hero, and the protagonist of the 1831 play of the same name by Alexandre Dumas père (1802–70).

p. 41, as Marot says… fresh and bright: Clément Marot (1496–1544) was a French poet who enjoyed great popularity in the sixteenth century. This quotation is taken from the first two lines of his epigram 104, entitled ‘Du beau tétin’.

p. 45, Lovelace: Lovelace is the handsome, dashing rake in Samuel Richardson’s epistolary novel, Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady (1748). Lovelace initially courts Arabella Harlowe, but later transfers his affections to her younger sister, Clarissa. The comparison enhances the notion of Flaubert’s madman as prematurely jaded roué.

p. 51, Carlists: Carlism was a Spanish counter-revolutionary movement originating in support of Don Carlos, the brother of King Fernando VII. It was adopted in France to describe the supporters of the reactionary French King, Charles X, who derived much of his support from the traditionalist Catholic clergy.

p. 65, Barcelona: It is uncertain how much Flaubert knew about Barcelona at the time of his writing ‘Bibliomania’. His “Place Royale” certainly has an equivalent in the Plaça Reial, but his “barrière des Arabes” or “Gate of Arabs” is more problematic. He might have the Catalan barrì (“district”) in mind, but unlike other Spanish cities, Barcelona has no Moorish Quarter.

p. 65, Hoffmann: E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) was a German novelist and music critic, whose tales, in particular, are famed for their grotesque and bizarre elements.

p. 68, Chronicle of Turpin: The Chronique de Turpin is a book that does exist, and, in 1835, a new edition reproducing the text of 1527 was published in Paris. It is not known whether Flaubert knew of the work when writing this story.

p. 79, to indulge… Montaigne: Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) was one of Flaubert’s favourite authors. This quotation is from the Essays, Book II, Chapter 3, where Montaigne writes, “If to philosophize is to doubt, as they say, then to indulge in foolery and fantastication – as I do – must be an even better way of doubting.”

p. 95, the sorrow of René… strong enough for anything: René was the hero of Chateaubriand’s story of the same name (first published separately in 1805).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.