intromadamebovary

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NORTON CRITICAL EDITIONS v » - A NORTON CRITICAL EDITION « < -

AUSTEN EMMA edited by Stephen Parrish.

<l.USTEN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE edited by Donald Gray

Dll.ONTE WUTHERING HEIGHTS edited by William M, Sale, [r .

CUMENS

ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN edited bySculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long

CONRAD HEART OF DARKNESS edited by Robert Kimbrough

CONRAD LORD JIM edi ted by Thomas Moser

CRANE THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE edited by Sculley Bradley,Richmond Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long

DICKENS GREAT EXPECTATIONS edited by Edgar Rosenberg

DICKENS HARD TIMES edited by George Ford and Sylyere Monod

DONNE THE POETRY: A SELECTION edi ted by Arthur L. Clements

DOSTOEVSKY CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (The Coulson translation)edited by George Gibian

HAUBERT MADAME BOVARY edited with a substantially newtranslation by Paul de Man

U ....RDY TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES edited by Scott Elledge

HAWTHORNE THE SCARLET LETTER edited by Sculley Bradley,Richmond Croom Beatty , and E. Hudson Long

JAMES THE AMBASSADORS edited by S. P. Rosenbaum

J . . . .MES THE TURN OF THE SCREW edited by Robert Kimbrough

MELVILLE MOBY DICK edited by Harrison Hayford and Hershel Parker

SHAKESPEARE HAMLET edited by CYT!~~Hoy

SHAKESPEARE HENRY IV, Part I edited by James L_SandersonSWIFT GULLIVER'S TRAVELS edited by Robert A. Greenberg

THOREAU WALDEN AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE edited byOwen. Thomas

TOLSTOl:" ANNA KARENINA (the Mallde translation'; edited byGeorge Cibian

TOLSTOY WAR AND PEACE ( the Maude translat ion) edi ted byGeorge Gibian

TURGENEV FATHERS AND SONS edited 'with <l subsiantiallv newtranslation by Ralph E. M(l~/alV

VOLT.fr.IRE CANDIDE translated and edited by Robert M. Adams

A NORTON CRITICAL EDITION OF MODERN DRAMA edited byAnthony Caputi

A NORTON CRITICAL EDITION OF TUDOR AND STUARTDRAMA edited by Ephim G. Fogel

GUSTAVE F LAUBERT

MADAME BOVARY

BACKGROUNDS AND SOURCES

ESSAYS IN CRITICISM

Edi ted with a s l .l -h st an tud l y

n ew t ra n s la ti o n b y

PAUL DE MANCORNELL UNIVERSITY

w . W . NOR TON & COM PAN Y . 1N C . N . e w Y Q rk



J

Contents

*w. W. Norton & Company, Inc. is also the publisher o f

The Nor ton An tho logy of English Lit~rature, .edited by M, H,

Abrams, Rober t M. Adams, David Daiches, E.' Talbot Donaldson,

George H. Ford, Samuel Holt Monk, and Hallett Smith; TheAmerican Tradition in Literature, edi ted by Sculley Bradley, Rich-

mond C~oom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long; Wor ld Masterpieces,

edited by Maynard Mack, Kenneth Douglas, Howard E. Hugo,

Bernard O M . W. Knox, John C. McGalliard, P. M. Pasinetti, and

Rene Wdlek; and The Norton Reader, edited by Arthur M. East·

man, Caesar R. Blake, Hubert M. English, J r . , Alan E, Howes,

Rober t T. Leneghan, Leo F. McNamara, and James Rosi er .

Introduction vii

The Text of Madame Bova r y

A Note on the Translation

Madame Bovary

XV i1

! ;

Back gr ou nd s and Sources

Earlier.Versions of M a d4 m e .B ov ar yGUSTAVE FLAU1IERT • Scenarios and Scenes.

[The Earliest Known. Outline] :r59 . [Thepance; at

Vaubyessard=-First Outline} 261 . [Projected-Epilogue]262

[1 . Charles's Youth in Rouen 1 263 . [2 . Charles on His

Way to the Bertaux FarmJ264 . [3. Emma, at Testes]

265 . [4 · Conversations at Vauby essard]z65· .

[s.·Emma,and the Colored Window.Panes ..~LVaubyessard] 268 . [6. Leon after H is First Encounterwith Emma] 270 . [7 . Leon and Emma During the

Evenings at Homais's House] 271 . [8. Emma after the

Departure of L6Qn] 27 2 . [9. Emma's Happiness with

RodolpheJ 274 . [10. Emma and Rodolphe] 275 .

[lL.Ernrha's:Mystical Visions During Her .Illness]. 276 ,

[12. Leon in the Cathedral] 277 ' [13 . Emma'sFinalReminiscences] 277 . [14. Charles at Emma's.' .

. Deathbed] '27 8 . [15. The FiQal Meetiri&--::).•. een °

C·'arles and Rodolphe] 279 . .

DEMOREST' [Struct9res,of Imagery in Ma d a m e. Bo va ry ] ... . .. . . . ~ 28 0

.. ' RTBEGUIN· [On Rer~~4ing..M 4 a 4 n w Bo va ry ] . 292

Biographical Sources - . . .

REm. DUMESNIL. • [111e RealSource of Ma d a m e Bova ry]

298

~~JEAN-PAUL SAR'l"RE • [Flaubert and Ma d a m e Bo va r y :

-Outline of a New Method] 302

v

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· · : i . t :' ... ;(, .. , ..

, : 1 ,:.,

I'

~ Content,

GUli'l'AVE FLAUBERT ' Letters About M adam e Bo va ry

To Louise Colet 3 0 < )

T o L eon Laurent-Piehat 319To Madame Maurice Schlesinger 320

~ - - - - - . .Essays in Criticism \

Contemporary Reactions YCharles Augustin Sain te -B eu ve ' M ad am e B ova ry , fY, ,

" , ), Gustave Flaubert ' j 3 2 5

",(~;Charles Baudelaire, M a ckl me B ov ar y, by Gust,;;w€ ;

~ , Flaubert '336

_Stylistic Studies

,\ ..9Henry James" [Style and Morality in,Madame B ov ar y] ,

r';: ,/ j/"" " - , '344

~/,,, . . -Pe rcy L ubb ock ' [T he Craft of FictioninMzrdrme.'., '. ' B a va r y ] - , '

W~ Von Wartburg , [Flaubert's Language]

Thematic Studies1 2 7 Charles du Bos . On the "Inner Environment" in the

_ Work of Flaubert '360

~lbe~.~" Thibaudet " Madame~r" '-: :---'--~'-'--- : "__~ 37 1

ct.,EriCh Aiie t '~[4=1re"Reahsm of FIaubert] ",,- - " " 3 - 8 - 3 - - -

C D Georges Poulet . The Circle and the Center: Reality and

, _ . . : -- - M C } c l ~ ' " B6vil1)k~-, ~ ""_-'-~"--'~'-;""'"~_~_~''_39:2cgHa:rry Levin' M a da me B ova ry ; T h e Cathedral and the '--.-----.

: Hospital, " " 407

® J e a n Pierre Richard· [Love and Memory.in Madame _

- ' , Bo va ry J - ,." ,," 426

~ J e a h Rousset ,",Madame Bovary: .Flaubert's Anti"Novel.~

43 9

34 9

35 7

.. .-. _ ... :. ~

Bibliography 45 9

.. -~-- ... ..!I

_ .. ~~ . :~

Introduction

,.....: ..~

Ever since its publication in 18S7, Madame BovaT}' has been one

of thc most discussed books in the history of world literature. ' D e - -spite thedistinction arid importance of his other novels, Flaubert

had to reconcilehimself to the fact that he becameknown, once

and foreveryas the author of Madame Bovary. The populari ty of

the novel has increased rather than diminished withtime, Number-

less translations exist in variousJanguages; theword "'bovarysme"

has became part 'ofthe Frenchlanguage, the mythsurrounding th efigureof Emma Bovaryisso powerful that, as in the case of Don

Quixote., or Don [nan, or Faust; one has to remind+oneself that

she is a fiction and not an actual historical person; the literary in-

tluence onsubsequent ' noveli st sm France and elsewhere is of de-_

termining importance and the cri tical response to th e book is of

such high quality that it cap be said, without-exaggeration, that

contemporary criticism of fiction owes more to: this novel- than to

any other nineteenth century work, '

Why this extraordinary response to a work which; for i ts author,

was to be primarily an exercise prepara tory to laternovels? The' f irst

notoriety of Madame Bova r y was due to a sucoee de-icandale, the

curiosity awakened by a publication judged scandalous enough to

excite theireof the censors. The twenty or thirty thousand leaders

who' bought :the earliest edition published byMichelUvy .may

have been' somewhat disappointed to discover a book that was

severe rather than salacious. But the universali ty of tlretheme, the

q!:l_a~ityof;the style, the truthfulness of the real~tjc;::al!d"satirical

detalI;"ha 've QpFtheir appeal long after extra-l iterary 'motives for

iftdi.cting atten tion to Madame Bo va r y had died down.-Somethingin-the' destiny of the heroine and of the main-supporting. characters,

aswen as in the destiny of the book 'itself; surrounds itwith-the aura

of"immortality' 'iliat belong's only to truly ll1lljor'creations. Though

somecri ticshaveexpressed th~*pr,!!fereQce:; for The' Sen t imen ta lEduca t ion ' over '.'Ma d am e Bovary/s,Oqlething'exern'plary' about the

latter novel makes it into a' main-articulation of l iterary history,

perhilpsbecawfil ik ii tsmodeF'Ppn ,QuiXote; i t Cap t u r e s the full

'.' intriCacy oftherela!jonshipbetWeeq::teality and fiction out of which

-; I:L_!h~.;eri!!~~·,geni :e noveloI igi iiil tes>'c-, .."-"',

'I'he-genesis=of Madame· BbvaTy' is' well known' and <abundantly

dotllm~llt&L iii,'Fjallbqrs' letters.vas: wel l as in numerous eye-

witness' accounts from his friends and contemporaries, Flaubert was

vii



viii Introduction

thirty years old and far from <!begirmer, <lthi~ ,fnlft, \yhen,pe:

started ou];on Mad a J 1l e ~ o : ya r y j 9~h,~dcpmpl¢t~dthe f irstversipl1,s

of the S~ntimental $ducittio~an.d o f th e Temptanonof S f J t i J t

Anthony, ;and written several shorter tales, m a n y of them, ~i~henou~,h tq be considered first outlines for complete novels:_Buf:he

had never published, although his literary "v6cati6nha~f"ass¢Xted

. .. . !

"-"'-::~~,"'" Introduction, ix

' j<~1~~liwl~(S~n;nCl)~QcliILjp;ept prosecutor "t\IQle;9the: tide.Flaubert and -th,e

~l~~lt{;l~:rrors: 'of thedi-rst e d i t i on would be correctedand a n .accurateedition

O:f,~~t~~!l~:~~:;i~~~,.'.,~r!~:l~~;k,' ' ; ~ ~ ' ; " . I ~ i x e ~ i : - , : t h O U g ~' " P ~ ' , 'h ewhOIe :n_q t" lmfavorab l e . : The viol ence of ,',tone a 'udae t ion , u_psetmany,

j~Jiit~~isoes ",:not, ~1'E)}~L,~rtll: : ,~thp~,h:;u: ,ilip¥~_Jlc..9J:Jh_(kI!ahsm.,;¥?st ,of theotherho~.hle'cii tiG~mefeHP(ltoatta~ th_G'p-o l i t ica l , ' iubver s i '@l! i ss a ~ c _

sociated: w i th "realism rather, thaQ.Mad am e BOVd t y itself: "M a d am e

~q ;Cl ry, ", ;-wIi t 9SA . .. .d ~ ' r ~ ~~ ; , , ~ t h - ; , -iIJJh~··CQT1~spoJ tdan t , ';is· tlI~pathologiQLglolification ( lE th e s e l1 Se s an d , of thej~inatiqIl"ipa

,! disflPppi,Q:te¢l_d!'l11Q.cracy: ' ' l "'.it royes~I}Et¥R.9-1~ an,!!!~I~: ~ a l " ,

1C Tsin1n~~ms1i~¥~!O~<!W .'~~S~j9e - ; B e ~tY e ' OWn~ ar t iC l e tef l.eqts

m a il y :Q W h ! O hesi ta t ions with ,w hich.a . I a te roman t ic . temperamen LIe-



.r.

x • Introduction (

I1l1d Pecuchet, none o f~~ch fO l~nd . an e ve n-remo te ly : compa~~~~, ..

' : : - , ; : r ~ e t : : ~ : ; ,: P s : : : . : e u ; e ' B " b ' ~ ' d : £ : ' : : I ; ~ . ' ; E : , . · ,Baudelaire. the amoun t of critical.and, scholarly ,publication~'9il

Ma d am e " ' \~ o v a r y has reached . .s t aggeF i :og, · ,P io 'P i ( iEt i ons , ' ;' ,Scho lar~hip

and literary erudition have put the critic.ismof . M a @ 1 h _ e . ~ B q ¥ 4 ry r i9 : o

a sound basis: the critical edition estaNishe,d _by,,;Rerie;D:ulllcsfJ..il(1945~48)gives an authoritat ive text; the -publica:tippk:6£ -the

CorreSPQ'f l iJerWf; has··considerably extended.cour-dnsight.dnto, the

mind,of'1fla:u~rt,and; in the g en e si s . of ;,his,:,novcL'-1llib,C:on:u:d

epition ',a1r¢<lCly;"cont;Jil!edsamples 'O f Flaubert's voIUl~inoi1s'n6tes

for Ml1daqw Bovary,_and ,seveqlL,speci<llis.ts,oLl'1aubert;'shidies;

amon? th~~ most promin~nily:O'; L:_D~.I}l0_!~t'il!~is 'l9Jr;,~hesis [011 Flgura f rv e l1mj Syrnbobc , lJ , xp r,es f lWr t ; ,l , ndhe , :"Wo rk ;o fi 'F l aube it ; )

;~f~e1!~i~g~'i i l l Y . economical Mal .version, A' highly technical;tditioji;;of1:,t!ie

early drafts was p\lbl4;hed-in1936 by MIle; (;abriell<:vLelclli;i1i:brarian at"Rouen, entitled M a da m e B ov ar y, Sk~t9hes 'dna;: :U ! ip i lb~l i s hed Fragmen t s . Later, with the assistance of the eminen t" Flaiibert

scholar [can Pommier, the same authotcompiledaso-calledovnew

=%~lr~!i~~~~~~"~;'~f~li~~:r~a1~:e~~~.~;~t~~~~5;:~~:~ll~f' : J : ; ~ o ~ ( I ~ ~ ! ~ r : ; ~ t ~ ~ r ~ ~ : ~ ~ f i ~ ~ ~ e : 1 ~ p : ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ = ~ e ) : r l ; · .versions, together with-an eval\latio:o":ohh~sever#on8\by tlie'critic

tor whose wife DeIpl,:llne Couturier committed';-siiiCide, by: poison:

, J -h .'w v ,, - i~,!.A! .

'd ~~j ( & ' " - ? ; ~ ) f t h J - : IntrQduction' . "X i

(\\/ '~:nd w~ti'l~i~in aNorman towncalled Ry that has much in C~1U-

-, mort with Yonville: rAbbaye. -.B,ut .many other sources have been

", proposed, and -th,e entire question is far fro~ being clearly. ~ettle~.

'~--Morebver,<the'whole problem of theexegetic value of such investi-

gations, luis :be¢n.raised .:'Rather .than inyolvingtbestuden_t in .the

minutiao£: source mvestigation (quite' fascinating when fond].l9ted

by specialists .such as Pommier or Dumesnil}, we~ave'pref~rr,~d

to include the essays by [ean-Paul Sartre and Rene Dumesnil 1 ! J .which the ' importance of . source J;Ilaterial for anllnderstallding of

Ma d a m e Bovsry is discussed in more gener;d t e rms ,

TheSartre essay may seem difficult to, followfor readers who

are not familiar.with Sartre's recent thought and vocabulary. Yet

it'.ndicates how soc io logica] _()_!:,p~y~ho19gig;!l_m\'::%hQ211~:..qt)nter-

prefiiticinc]l1-:-be .c~'Il-iJ?:i!l~dwithintriJlsic (}r _~~ylistical1alysi~_o

s; reacn:--a:f\_ilrl1:rta{-i~st~I_l~l~_ng_of"la_~b~rf~ prgi«ct when-he ,l'lIl,.g_ert.Qgk

- t c r : , , ; r l t e L M , 4 i : 1 4 m e ;,BQ¥ar),. Sartre bluepr in t s a method-that ..moves

b--;;ckwa~ds-nd forwards between the work and the' life, wi$,a-high

degree of.awarenessof the, :comj_)rtti"i:'elinOiiShiphet;eell both; ',We ii

are f ar . re m ov ed f ro m ' oversimplified detcrministicschemesth'at con-

sider -the work as the-reSlllt of outside forces. Still; Sartre's i nqui ry

is in - t h c : la___£La~lalvsis':o:r iep_t~(L:._t.9:w~!dsh § - 1 I 1 . ? , J : l ' m:l~uqeit,i_ath<,;r':than towardHhe work M~ d a m e , B o v ar y . One may, think that tela":

t{6ns111p:;~$iicI1.'-asi:fl(l 'sc f' j ! 1 . d i c a t e d -~by.Rene Dumesnil, wheri "he

points out the similarity between the early story Passionei Veituand the' lator: M d da m~ B ova ry , are even'more· revealing -than therelatinnsbips-between .Flaubert' s milieu" his: childhood,' -,and •his

novels that Sartre hopes to discover by means; of his regressive-

progressive method. -. -, The selection of-the Essays in Criticism, has been, for the present

Critical Edition; a nearly hopeless task. Between 1857 and the

present"all1eaciingFrencb Writers and critics have something note-

'worthy'tosay"about Mad am e Bovary:J.3I~netiere; FaguetiiJqles

de .Caultier .(who' coined the expression .l'bowtysme?: in. arbook 'by

that-name); but also the Goncourts, Maupassant, -Zola, .PaulBourget, and later Cide, Mauriae, and Proust; None of this' .material

could-be included, sometimes becausethy'st;J_telnents apply to Flau-

bert as.a'whole -r.ther than to MM4meB01'4ry;:~ometimes because

they are' too general. or; -on the'cQJ}garyJas: mthe case>of Proust)

too. technical and 'particular to be-tr ..nslated into En&lish:- One ,

•Cali' consider the fragmenb froill"Thibauclet, as agood-example ;of ' ;,L-./

French .cri ticism dunng the"petiOd between '. .the ' two world wars.

But the principle 'of 'our' se1ectibnhaK very. definitely been oriented

towards problems' 'of method-that-are important in'the. contem-

porary criticism of fiction. Ma d a m e Bovaryis tastading-poipLfor

many of these techniques, and-it was thoughtjnteresting to let



xii Iptrodl{ction

students qompare for th ,_s_elves,th~results-achieved _b y .some .of

these methods. The close, );ttyrdi<pendence,betweeJ;,ts¢veraLof,:the

essays (a i_critic will freqIl. _tly ta};e(?ff, f _ rq m " a - ; iema-rk,m<!.d~;,py

one -of hi~,predecessors ;,lr-d , c a . I r y it further), gives-.lnsight,:igto ,the

unified.dqvelopment ofcri' qd tho!Jght,-in~,the-tweQtie-tkc~nftIry.

This opportunity for cQmparatiye qi,Ri::j~m,als0perlnit~,;\u~'tp'Jri-

traduce to American$wdcllts S a m e examples of.recent.European

criticismriot yet available ill .translation, ""'" "Recent cri ticism of Ma44f11e Bov{lrybas for its;main concern. the

study of narrative and metaphorical structures in the.novel.Tn. his

essays ani Flaubert, .lIenry;!ames __oJH.megJt;d,,::Oll;ht;_!,{;p(jirWof.-';yiew"of the narrator in_-relation to his characters;',;<l;;Conc(ipt;.tbat

=:4il~~~!~~=~[Euse.in .d,ia~ogt1eso f repQrt.ed ,(ri:ltlv.,rJhan; ,(UJ:ept1y'qgQte,q},,~_p~ech.

':A~~a~~eto~! ' , ~ ! ~ ~ ~ ~ ' S ~ ~ i , i ~ ~ ~ ; ~ ' " V i t : : ~ n ~ I ~ , ~ ~ ; t ,$ ~ I ~ ~ : ~ t ,~ : : " : ; ; _F re n ch N 9V ~1 ) is tootechaical to beiI;l:f,::Jlldeq;I~ere;_\<f:r;ef:PtAor,~~

brief introductory statement b y yon W>\~tburgthat:sejyes>~i.lS\lj/:r.e-

minder o~;:he importance of linguistic ~alysi,s__,n;;tb~:g_~p_riptiQn

at Flaubert's -styk' : On the otherhand, . Iames 's ownremarksandtheir slibs~'qiieiit elaboration by the.English., critic. :,Berqy;, ; ; ' I l 1 : l b o c k

still constitute a,useful exposition ,,~f;Fl:; tlJbffl~§iJl§~pf&,oiiil,of,v.leMi'

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ; ~ ~ : ; : g ~ ~ t ~ ~ ~ i l ~ : [ ; ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ € ~ ~ J ;

Levin's .es~ay demonstrates, Amencan_l::Omm:~nt;at{)rs,J1a,'Le_;"lJy;"np

means ign.pred. t 1 1 ; ' ! thematic importance pr',Ih9Ilrrent.ctne:tnji'l,oripal

; ( ~ ~ : ! ~ r ; ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ J ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ i ~ ~ ! ~ ' ~ J ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ ~b y an act.of sympathetic, understanding, Jean:;.:piwe,;Richa.td re6nisJ

Itroduction xiii

- and expands du Bos's suggestions in his detailed description of (

tFlaubert's material imaginat ion. Combining du Bos's insight into )

Flaubert's subjectivity with Au~!_ba~h's awareness of the GJJmpk,x !

structures of consciousness at work in M a d am f! B ov ar y, Georges

POlliet-~~sah l e - to-break through the narra tive surface of the novel

and to reveal a deeper pattern that reproduces the very pulsations

of Flaubert's mind. It isc lear that a fully inclusive study of M a da~ e (

. B ova ry wQ_~ld_a_veto combine the French stud~ of metaphors W!th

(

I the~~_eric_a_n study of .narrative st,rl1~~ure~ III the novel. 1?e )

concluding essay by Jean Rousset, wInch Juxtaposes a [ameslan

examination of point of view with a thematic study of a central

metaphor, reveals some of the possibilities contained in such a

combination of European with American critical methods.

I feel particularly indebted to Prof. D. L. Demorest of Ohio

State University, whose exhaustive knowledge of Flaubert and of

the Flaubert bibl iography has been of considerable assistance in

preparing this edition. He brought to my attent ion several articles

and essays that are not generally known, including the article by

Albert Beguin on the early versions of the novel . Even highly spe-

cialized students of this important criti c had failed to record this

text. My only regret is that lack of space made it impossible to

incorporate more of his valuable suggestions.

PAUl. DF.MAN

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