Gustave Flaubert's A Simple Heart
Event Details
Often referred to as the first modern novelist and the inventor of literary realism, Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) wrote precise fiction in reaction to idealism and romanticism. His goal was to present the world as it really was. He used clear and concise language (he wanted to remove all poetry from his writing), a meticulous attention to detail, a crystalline structure, and brilliant psychological insights into his characters. Literature was never the same again.
His last finished work was a set of three novellas, called, simply, Three Tales (in French, Trois Contes). A Simple Heart (in French, Un Cœur Simple) is the first and, in my opinion, the most astonishing of the three tales. The other two stories are much more traditional, full of drama and conflict, as well as sex, violence and murder. But there’s very little of any of those things in the quiet retelling of the long years of the life of Félicité, who works as a maid in a country house.
So why read A Simple Heart? What is left when the dramatic tension is leached from a story? Merely perfect language, movingly describing life in the real world, devoid of illusion. In short, a revolutionary work of brilliance.
JOINING DETAILS:
- Single session study (on Zoom) led by Ralph Kleinman
- Thursday 26 September, 6.00-8.00 pm (UK)
- Recommended editions: Three Tales, translated by Roger Whitehouse, Penguin Classics, ISBN-13: 978-0140448009; A Simple Heart, translated by Charlotte Mandell, Melville House Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-0974607887
- £30 for one two-hour meeting
