About this title: This novel of love and growing disillusionment is about the romantic attachment of a young man for an older woman; its subtext is an examination of the consequences of moral compromise and indifference.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1964
ISBN-13:9780140441413ISBN:0140441417
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Good+. Minor cover wear; lightly tanned, unmarked pages. Translated from the French by Robert Baldick read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1964-11-30
ISBN-13:9780140441413ISBN:0140441417
Description: Very good. Very minimal damage to the cover (no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks), in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, minimal to no highlighting/under. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1964-11-30
ISBN-13:9780140441413ISBN:0140441417
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1964-11-30
ISBN-13:9780140441413ISBN:0140441417
Description: Good. Minimal damage to the cover, dust jacket not necessarily included minimal wear to binding, majority of pages undamaged, minimal to no highlighting/underlining of text, no missing p. read more
Description: Good. 0140441417 FREE UPGRADE TO EXPEDITED SHIPPING (2-4 days when selecting standard shipping). Read Once. Light cover and binding wear. Otherwise in Excellent Condition. We Ship Same or Next Day. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1964
ISBN-13:9780140441413ISBN:0140441417
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. shelf wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 432 p. Audience: General/trade. If you haven't read this you are NOT WELL READ-so shut up read more
Description: Good. 1964-Paperback---Used-Good. Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Acceptable. 1964-Paperback---Used-Acceptable. Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
"Entre Mme Arnoux qui passe dans la vie les yeux baissés, fidèle à son honneur, et Rosa nette, la fille de joie, Frédéric hésite.
Flaubert dissèque une société qui s'enivre de vertu tout en se goinfrant de plaisirs faciles. Nous sommes à la veille de la Révolution de 48.
Jamais l'on na plus débattu de la démocratie, de la République et de la propriété. Ses amis s'engagent, militent, Frédéric, lui, pense à sa carrière et calcule.
La bêtise règne sur les salons bourgeois, dans les réunions politiques, les salles de rédaction et les ateliers.
L'Education sentimentale est le roman de la parole qui ne mène qu'au rêve en amour, en politique comme au travail.
De ce chef-d'oeuvre noir où Flaubert a mis tant de lui-même, tout le roman contemporain est sorti."
"This is a book about failure, plain and simple. And maybe this is what our lives end up being when it is all said and done, but I can't help but find my taste in fiction not that of realism genre. So why was this book just "okay" for me, well it has to do with the characters, all of which serve little to no purpose whatsoever, and none of them possess much in the aspect of redeeming value. This is probably what Flaubert and realism where all about, but the funny thing about this is how detached and unmoved I felt from Fredric as he gallivanted around acting like a pathetic child after a woman that from the start never shows any interest in him. From a realistic point of view, I found all of the characters deplorable and dull. I actually found this book to be slightly existential in the theme of the destitution we all face when we realize that our anticipations are always more pure than what actually occurs but I imagine this is just my imagination kicking into high gear. Anyways, for the cynic, this book is fantastic and don't get me wrong, Flaubert has a talent for the written word (no qualms with his prose) but the story is driven more by process than by plot and this, in the end, made the books simply okay."
"We have finally come to the end of our current theme, the enigmatic and debauched city of Paris. I chose to end with Flaubert, and one of his well-known classics at that. Sentimental Education a delightful, romantic and passionate ride through the streets and classes of Paris. It begins with the young protagonist, Frederic Moreau, a youth open to all that life has to offer. But, too young to know any better, he falls for an older woman, Madame Arnoux, who is obviously married. From this moment on, his life and decisions are colored by his love for her, determined by her reactions to his behavior. Oh love, how could you take such a young lovestruck man and put him under your cruel thumb? Ah, not Love's fault, but Flaubert's. The cynics out there upon reading this torch song of a novel will repeatedly want to scream at Frederic, "Move on! She's married and it's never going to happen!". But pampered little Frederic is deaf to our shouts and pleas.:
Never had he seen anything to compare with the splendor of her dark skin, the seduction of her figure, or the translucent delicacy of her fingers. He looked at her work basket with eyes full of wonder, as if it were a thing of beauty. What was her name, her home, her life, her past? He longed to know about the furniture in her room, all the dresses she had ever worn, the people she mixed with; and even the desire for physical possession gave way to a deeper yearning, an aching curiosity which knew no bounds.
Doomed, I tell you, he is doomed. He finds out her name and immediately befriends her husband, the slickster Mr. Jacques Arnoux. And through Arnoux and his pals, he is introduced to artists, rebels, but most importantly to dinners at the Arnoux' where he can gaze at Madame for a couple for hours a week. The only consistent thing in his life is his love for her. His ambitions fade when he receives a comfortable inheritance from his Uncle. Through the city of Paris he rushes, buying up all that he can think of how it will impress her. But Madame is the picture of decorum and reserve. And with all of this unrequited love popping up every other well-crafted sentence, we meet Deslauriers, Dussardier, Pellerin, The Dambreuses, Hussonnet, Delmar and a mistress who goes by the name of 'The Marshal'. What a cast of characters we are given.
Interestingly enough, this is where Flaubert excels in creating a masterful classic - the motivations and deceits of these characters represent archetypes of the morality of people during the backdrop of the revolution which proved to be one of France's defining moments. True, Frederic keeps house with a courtesan after a perceived slight by Madame Arnoux, he pretends he is going to marry a country girl to anger Madame Arnoux, the a society widow, all to get a reaction from her that will indicate the she is madly in love with him. But there is also passions for the politics and money, place and power, art and freedom woven into the texture of this novel. Frederic's seems the most frivolous and simultaneously the purest because above all else, he is searching for that one love that makes all other endeavors pale in comparison, all other ambitions seem petty and hallow. Yet, he is frivolous because he seems so oblivious to the world around him, escapes when the city is in turmoil, is proud that he ignores the mounds of bodies left for someone else's caretaking after an insurgency. This novel captures Paris at a critical historical movement and in true French fashion, the main focus of the story is the unrelenting love of Frederic and the revolution is the noise that goes on around him.
His relationship with Madame Arnoux makes him a perpetual student of obsession and infatuation. Frederic learns of his jealousy and anger and ability to forgive all through his absolute devotion for Madame Arnoux. Seemingly, he becomes the man who keeps wondering when he will know what he is supposed to know, but realizes he doesn't want to give up learning the way that he is learning.
Not to mention the Flaubert's writing itself. A cross between effusive and concise, he deftly gives us satire and sentimentality with a matched hand. He has a particular sense of imagery that is evocative and lush. He exemplifies this in a passage describing a costume party he attends that is teeming with courtesans:
They came so close to him that Frederic could see the beads of sweat on their foreheads; and this dizzy, whirling movement, growing ever faster and more regular, produced a sort of intoxication in his mind, filling it with other pictures, while the women passed him in a single dazzling vision, each with her distinctive beauty exciting a different emotion. The Polish girl, surrendering languidly to the music, made him long to hold her to his heart while the two of them travelled in a sleigh across a snow-covered plain. The Swiss girl, waltzing with her body held straight and her eyelids lowered, opened up vistas of tranquil pleasure in lakeside chalet. Then, all of the sudden, the Bacchante, flinging her dark mane backwards, made him dream of fierce kisses in oleander groves, beneath stormy skies, to the dull beat of tabors. The Fishwife, out of breath from dancing so fast, was shrieking with laughter; and he wanted to go boozing with her at Les Porcherons, to grope under her blouse with both hands, like in the good ol days. The Stevedore, whose nimble toes barely touched the floor, seemed to suggest, in the suppleness of her limbs and the gravity of her face, all the refinements of modern love, which combines the precision of a science with the mobility of a bird. Rosanette was whirling about with her hand on her hip; her knot-shaped wig, bobbing up and down on her collar, scattered orris-powder everywhere; and, at every spin, she nearly caught Frederic with the tips of her golden spurs.
Flaubert draws the setting so well, you feel as if you've been there or didn't need to be there because he has lived it for you. What made me even more aware of his prose was to read James Wood's How Fiction Works, a excellent work about the craft of fiction but also some great analysis of what makes Flaubert's writing seem so stylistic, singular and modern. A book well worth owning if you are at all interested in writing and how good literature is written."
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