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Marciano Guerrero
Henry James on Flaubert, Maupassant, and Stendhal
Henry James on Flaubert, Maupassant, and Stendhal
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Because Henry James knew Gustave Flaubert —personally— he was quite precise in his portrayal, as we read his “Introduction to Madame Bovary”:
“Tall, strong, striking, he caused his friends to admire in him the elder, the florid Norman type, and he seems himself, as a man of imagination, to have found some transmission of race in his stature and presence, his light-colored salient eyes and long tawny moustache.”
While James attempted to be a fair critic, readers can detect sharp and sour remarks about the three subjects of his reviews: Flaubert, Maupassant, and Stendhal. Yet the overall tenor of his approval seems to favor Flaubert. For other critics —such as Stendhal’s biographer Archibald Paton— James borders on the contemptuous; he can be not only acerbic, but also brutal in his attacks.
Despite the long-winded sentences, the essays presented here are easy to read. Unlike some of his soporific novels, these pieces of criticism are brisk, with just a few Dramamine patches.
To lighten up the pace for today’s readers, we have re-shaped the paragraphs, shortening them, and thus diminishing the tedious density of the original pages.
“Tall, strong, striking, he caused his friends to admire in him the elder, the florid Norman type, and he seems himself, as a man of imagination, to have found some transmission of race in his stature and presence, his light-colored salient eyes and long tawny moustache.”
While James attempted to be a fair critic, readers can detect sharp and sour remarks about the three subjects of his reviews: Flaubert, Maupassant, and Stendhal. Yet the overall tenor of his approval seems to favor Flaubert. For other critics —such as Stendhal’s biographer Archibald Paton— James borders on the contemptuous; he can be not only acerbic, but also brutal in his attacks.
Despite the long-winded sentences, the essays presented here are easy to read. Unlike some of his soporific novels, these pieces of criticism are brisk, with just a few Dramamine patches.
To lighten up the pace for today’s readers, we have re-shaped the paragraphs, shortening them, and thus diminishing the tedious density of the original pages.
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