Bouvard en Pécuchet

This unfinished work by Flaubert was both enjoyable and a slog to read. I liked the whole idea but it just kind of wears on and on. Two men become friends and one receives and inheritance, they both retire and move to the country where they try various things to find something to fill their days,

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end at never doing anything well, losing most of everything they had, including friends, contemplate suicide and the book ends with Christmas Eve. What a perfect timing to read this book. For that reason I appreciate it.

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"Neither Wilder nor Dos Passos are "good writers." Wilder is a very minor writer who knows his limitations and was over inflated in value and as quickly de-flated. Dos Passos is often an excellent writer and has been improving in every way with each book he writes. Both Dos and Wilder come from the

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same class and neither represents that class-- Wilder represents the Library-- Zola and Hugo were both lousy writers-- but Hugo was a grand old man... Flaubert is a great writer but he only wrote one great book-- Bovary-- one 1/2 great book L'Education, one damned lousy book Bouvard et Pecuchet. Stendhal was a great writer with one good book-- Le Rouge et le Noir-- some fine parts of La Chartreuse de Parme (wonderful) but much of it tripe and the rest junk."
Letter to Paul Romaine, 1932
Selected Letters, pg. 366

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The intellectual adventures of two Parisian clerks who, at the end of the story, are sitting in the same pisspot as before, like in the fairy tale of the fisherman and his wife.

An incomplete masterpiece.

A vast rambling, hilarious journey throughout all of human history and science and endeavor. The antics of the title characters are jabs and scorns at everything from agriculture to history. Despite the age and distance of the book, so much is still relevant today - the

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hilarity of their archaic medicine is particularly funny.

The end notes and dictionary of terms are also excellent.

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Too bad he never got to finish it- sounds like the complete two volumes would have been hilarious. What we have is still pretty funny, but I think the most impressive thing is that the usual progress of Flaubert's novels is inverted. Usually I'm filled with indignation at the way society treats an

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individual, but come to despise the idiotic protagonists. Here, the protagonists are complete and utter morons who don't seem to deserve any pity whatsoever. It slowly becomes clear, though, that their idiocy isn't their own fault. In fact, the world they live in is even stupider than they are, and offers them no resources to improve their lives. Hence the second volume, parts of which are printed with B&P as 'The Dictionary of Received Ideas.' French editions often include quotes to illustrate the stupidity of primary texts. In short, if you hate everything and love everyone, you'll love this book.

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Bouvard and Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert
4 stars
Bouvard and Pécuchet meet by chance and from that day forward, they are inseparable. When Bouvard inherits from his uncle, the two go south, buying a farm. To occupy themselves, they take up studies in many subjects, usually giving up the second they

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are stymied. This was delightful to read, although very repetitive. The characters were so funny, fancying themselves scholars and experts after reading a few books on a topic. This was Flaubert's last, left unfinished, though the ending it has works as one. It is said to be his criticism of the arts and sciences, but I saw criticism of those people who study too much and forget to experience their subject.
While reading this, I listened to classical music from the Romantic period (DeBussy, Saint-Saens, and Berlioz, to name a few). The music was light and picaresque, much like the novel.

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2½ stars - I found this more amusing in concept than in execution. Flaubert's satire just didn't strike a chord with me, although I found some sections highly entertaining. I think that for me, the main problem was that Bouvard and Pécuchet were just foils for the author to voice his opinions

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about the different subjects and so never became sympathetic - their ineptitude eventually grew to be irritating.

I did particularly like the section about educating Victor and Victorine, which I almost missed due to my ebook missing the last two chapters. So a word of warning to those who are reading an ebook edition - make sure that you have TEN chapters! Most of the public domain ebooks only have the first 8 chapters!

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