Did Félicité live a life worth living? Did Madame Aubain?
Is "A Simple Heart" a love story?
Why are the men in this story so unimpressive?
Why is Félicité's first communion less moving to her than Virginie's?
What is Flaubert's religious position? Is his realism to be taken at face value?
Is there a parallelism between the deaths of Victor and Virginie?
Why does Théodore's jilting of Félicité play an such an important role in the rest of her life?
Why is Madame Aubain so mean to Félicité?
Why does Flaubert have Félicité reject the Polish suitor over his theft of a salad (p. 49)?
Why, after Félicité and Madame Aubain exchange a kiss, does Flaubert say of Félicité that "Her native goodness unfolded in her heart"?
What does Loulou symbolize?
Is Loulou important in tying together the story?
For Textual Analysis
Pages 36-38, from "After bending her knee at the door" to "...but did not feel the same thrill."
Pages 46-48, from "For two whole nights Félcité did not leave to "...who had been paralyzed for some time."
Pages 55-56 from "The place contained such an assortment" to ..."stray in the direction of the bird."
Pages 60-62 , whole chapter
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Author of the Month: Gustave Flaubert
The great French realist writer Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) wrote to a female friend about month's selection, "A Simple Heart" (originally titled "L'Histoire d'un Coeur Simple" -- the "Story of a Simple Heart"). He said it "is nothing more or less than the account of an obscure life, that of a poor country girl, devout but not mystical, matter-of-factly devoted, tender with a tenderness redolent of freshly baked bread."*
*Letter to Edma Roger des Genettes, dated June 19, 1876 ; cited in Brown, Frederick, Flaubert: a Biography, New York: Little, Brown, 2006.
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