Textual Hauntings: Studies in Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Mauriac's Thérèse DesqueyrouxUniversity Press of America, 2005 - 134 pages ThZr_se Desqueyroux, Fran_ois Mauriac's stark and introspective 1927 novel, appears to be quite a different tale from Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert's succ_s de scandale published exactly seventy years earlier. Yet upon closer scrutiny, the two novels' similarities become undeniable. The preponderance of parallelisms surely cannot be attributed to happenstance, nor can one agree with the contention that Mauriac must have been inspired, unconsciously and unbeknownst to him, by the literary model of Madame Bovary. Textual Hauntings opens with an overview of the strikingly similar plot, characters, and themes in the best-known novel of each of these important modern authors. Subsequent chapters, noting both differences as well as similarities, look specifically at the issues of gender and sexuality, the uses of religion and the role of the clergy, the function of uncertainty (both as a narrative technique in Flaubert and as a thematic element in Mauriac), the role of minor characters and their relationships to the two eponymous heroines, and finally, the use by each novelist of photographs in order to undercut, rather than to underscore, any affection felt for the person whose image has been preserved. While surely borrowing from his nineteenth-century precursor, Mauriac, like Flaubert, created a remarkably powerful novel. Just as each novelist offers the reader a hauntingly memorable heroine, Flaubert's celebrated masterpiece Madame Bovary haunts the pages of Nobel laureate Mauriac's ThZr_se Desqueyroux. Edward Gallagher's examination and reflections on these two novels in tandem lead to a deeper appreciation and a better understanding of each novel. |
From inside the book
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Page 56
... least of which , as Thibaudet so convincingly asserts , is to represent the benighted condition of the Catholic clergy in Restoration France . Just as Charles , Léon , and Rodolphe serve at various times as the less than satisfying ...
... least of which , as Thibaudet so convincingly asserts , is to represent the benighted condition of the Catholic clergy in Restoration France . Just as Charles , Léon , and Rodolphe serve at various times as the less than satisfying ...
Page 57
... least three other curates mentioned in the novel in addition to Bournsien , and they all share some aspect of his personality . Charles's nameless first teacher is described in this paragraph : A douze ans , sa mère obtint que l'on ...
... least three other curates mentioned in the novel in addition to Bournsien , and they all share some aspect of his personality . Charles's nameless first teacher is described in this paragraph : A douze ans , sa mère obtint que l'on ...
Page 74
... least lucid characters who , in effect , least know themselves , are least conscious of their motives , and are least likely to plumb the wellsprings of their actions . All fifteen passages contain the conjunction ou or ou bien or the ...
... least lucid characters who , in effect , least know themselves , are least conscious of their motives , and are least likely to plumb the wellsprings of their actions . All fifteen passages contain the conjunction ou or ou bien or the ...
Contents
the Altered Self | 7 |
Flauberts Madame Bovary and Mauriacs | 13 |
Gender and Sexuality | 29 |
Copyright | |
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Textual Hauntings: Studies in Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Mauriac's Thérèse ... Edward Joseph Gallagher No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
Anne Anne's Argelouse aurait autre Bernard Berthe bien Bournisien Bovary and Thérèse Bovary's c'est c'était Catholic Chapter Charles Charles's Christ Clara's coeur simple complètes contre Corpus Christi critics curate curé d'une Dacia Maraini daughter described deux doute elle Emma Emma Bovary Emma's Emma's death enfant enfin été être Eucharist Eugène de Rastignac eût faisait fait Félicité femme final Flaubert's Madame Bovary François Mauriac French Studies Gustave Flaubert Holy Spirit Homais homme imagine jamais Jean Azévédo Jean Lacouture l'autre Larroque Le père Goriot Léon Loulou Madame Bovary Madame Homais Mario Vargas Llosa married Mary Orr maternal Mauriac's Thérèse Desqueyroux mère mother narrative narrator nisien noir Paris passage passion père personality peut-être Phèdre poison prêtre priest qu'il reader rien Rodolphe role Roman Rouen sacrament scene Seuil seule sexual sous story tante tête Thérèse Desqueyroux title character tout Trave underscore Vaubyessard voir woman yeux Yonville