ILB Book Club 2.0 - L'Education Sentimentale

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More Flaubert for what ails ya. that's what i always say. Last month we read Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes and now we are extending our Gustave-love into this month as well. It's a long one! But easily found at your library of choice. Suggestions for a due date given the length of the book? Maybe Mid-march? no, not Middlemarch, that's even longer. You know, i've never read Middlemarch. i think i'll leave it for my death bed. Give a shout-out if you think you are in for some fancy french lit.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Are we all agreed this is what we want to read next then? I thought there was still some discussion going on over on this thread about it. Some people expressed interest in maybe reading The Hours instead.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 5 February 2004 20:33 (twenty-two years ago)

How about both? I'm already 40 pgs into L'Education Sentimentale and can't get my head out of Flaubert's lovely prose, damn he fine. It still reads like it was written yesterday if you ask me. And ah kin tell you it's a really good thing to toss back after the Parrot, as it does seem to carry traces of the adolescing ecrivain...

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Thursday, 5 February 2004 23:41 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm sorry o.nate, i wasn't trying to jump the gun. honest, i wasn't. i was just trying to move things along, and people originally had expressed an interest in reading Flaubert after the Barnes. I kinda liked the idea of a theme. see, we could read the hours and then read some woolf after that. i dunno, we could put it to a vote.Maybe i should have done that before starting this(i drink a lot you know). you can blame Ann too, cuz she said she was gonna read it anyway so i figured that was one person who would contribute to some discussion!:)

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 6 February 2004 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

'sentimental...' would be good for me bcz I'm terrible at reading anything lit before 1900. so i vote for that.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 6 February 2004 00:24 (twenty-two years ago)

This book is such utter fire. Good choice!

― sym (shmuel), Friday, 6 February 2004 03:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, since there seems to be some confusion, I'll go ahead and read both The Hours and L'Education Sentimentale while we're figuring out what we're doing next.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Friday, 6 February 2004 03:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Sentimental Ed is fine with me - that seemed to have the most early momentum anyway. It would be a nice transition from FB. I'll also keep an eye out for a copy of The Hours - maybe we could do that one as well or at a later date.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 6 February 2004 05:00 (twenty-two years ago)

FB = FlauBert's parrot

I reallly need to get some sleep.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 6 February 2004 05:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Another book with a parrot in it - Little Women - Aunt March has a parrot that bugs the heck out of Jo. (Just thought that I'd throw in that little comment.)

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Friday, 6 February 2004 06:44 (twenty-two years ago)

"I kinda liked the idea of a theme. see, we could read the hours and then read some woolf after that." (Scott)

I'll save Virginia Woolf for after I'm dead (Geoffrey Braithwaite, Flaubert's Parrot)

It's the interconnectedness of all things (Dirk Gently)

― MikeyG (MikeyG), Friday, 6 February 2004 10:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll think about that tomorrow. (Scarlett O'Hara)

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Friday, 6 February 2004 11:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll be up for reading SE too.

I'm already 40 pgs into L'Education Sentimentale and can't get my head out of Flaubert's lovely prose, damn he fine

Which translation did you get Ann? (Assuming you are reading a translation, that is!)

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 6 February 2004 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Uh... nobody said you had to get a translation! Shit, do I have to start over now? I was actually just about to recommend the edition I've got: it's a Pocket Classiques, which is a really nice series that seems to be meant for either amateur lit students or undergrads. It cost only $7 in a Chicago bookstore (Europa! Highly recommended for European books here!) and despite its compact size and light weight it manages to squash in a back section full of commentary (they mark the corresponding text passages with the cutest little pen nib) that is not all, in fact, pointless and boring. It's really making me wish I were in college!

Anyway, is it OK if some of us read it in the orig? It seems like kind of a shame to read a trans if you don't have to. I've done translation work and maybe this means I'm just bad at it, but I always felt like I couldn't possibly get it quite right.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Saturday, 7 February 2004 00:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah reading the original eh? Good for you Ann! As someone who has always been useless at languages, I know that'd always be way beyond me. Anyhow, sorry, I think you might have misunderstood my reason for asking, I was just really after a recommendation of a decent translation, decent intro etc. a bonus...

― NickB (NickB), Saturday, 7 February 2004 18:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I got the Baldick translation (Penguin) - but just because that's the one I found at my local used bookstore. It reads pretty well so far.

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 9 February 2004 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

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