"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))
Sentimental Education (Gustave Flaubert, 1869)
"Based on Flaubert’s own youthful passion for an older woman, Sentimental Education was described by its author as "the moral history of the men of my generation."
It follows the amorous adventures of Frederic Moreau, a law student who, returning home to Normandy from Paris, notices Mme Arnoux, a slender, dark woman several years older than himself. It is the beginning of an infatuation that will last a lifetime. He befriends her husband, an influential businessman, and as their paths cross and re-cross over the years, Mme Arnoux remains the constant, unattainable love of Moreau’s life.
Blending love story, historical authenticity, and satire, Sentimental Education is one of the great French novels of the nineteenth century.”
He also hangs out with “the Marshal,” and the widow of a wealthy banker; also a girl from his hometown. Also hangs out with friends, including deLorrier. Historical context = 1848 revolutionary atmosphere, founding of the Second Empire.
Listened to this in a "books on tape" format.
"Based on Flaubert’s own youthful passion for an older woman, Sentimental Education was described by its author as "the moral history of the men of my generation."
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