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/lit/ - Literature

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8160842 No.8160842 [Reply] [Original]

I just checked out Madame Bovary and Les Miserables in French and English

I think I'll read Le Mis first, but is Madame Bovary any good? I vaguely remember hearing about it at some point

>> No.8160844

Bovary is largely superior to Les Mis, à tout point de vue.

>> No.8160850

Don't call it Les Mis. Don't capitalize les if it isn't the beginning of a sentence. Emma is a MILF.

>> No.8160856

how is the prose in the translations? The one by flaubert is by lydia davis, and hugo's is translated charles wilbour

>>8160850
good to know
just starting out with french actually, I can read spanish already so hopefully it'll come faster

>> No.8160864

>>8160856
to be honest I think it's better to read Hugo in translation than Flaubert, if only because Hugo wrote so goddamn many books that you won't miss the thing you missed reading the first few. Save yourself for Madame Bovary. Also, before starting Madame Bovary you should definitely read up on its genesis, it will help you get more things and will actually make the plot seem more interesting.
good luck!

>> No.8160868

Madame Bovary is historically significant to literature. It isn't good outside of that context.
Oh and also, people are going to come in here about translations, translations, so on: Flaubert's prose is, despite what many people (most of whom can't read French) will maintain, nothing much. He's a precursor to invisible prose. It doesn't matter if you read a translation.

>> No.8160873

Mme. Bovary is good but not quite the best Flaubert.

>> No.8160884

>>8160868
What a load of horseshit this whole post.

>> No.8160885
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8160885

>>8160842
yes Bovary is a one true female. She assumes her nature which makes her despised by men.

>> No.8160890

>>8160873
Which is?...

>> No.8160895

>>8160890
Salammbô and Un Coeur Simple have better prose. L'Education Sentimentale is the best novel overall.

>> No.8160902

>>8160885
Both are ugly af
I'd rather off myself than make a choice

>> No.8160938

>>8160895
Which doesn't mean one shouldn't start with Bovary. Also, Salammbo doesn't have better prose and is an inferior novel.

>> No.8160950

>>8160938
>>8160895
if you're reading a translation prose isn't a consideration at all. The author's prose is actually the only thing lost in translation

>> No.8160954

>>8160950
But as I wrote, I also think Salammbo is an inferior novel. No point in starting there, for sure.

Also I don't agree with your second sentence at all but w/e.

>> No.8161104

Reading Bovary at the moment. Really does evoke the mediocrity of the time in the first parts
kek

>> No.8161235

It's good

>> No.8162265

>>8160842
faggot detected

>> No.8162282

>>8160842
Emma kills herself at the end. There, i saved you 300 pages of the most tedious prose.

>> No.8163326

Dude I love Madame Bovary. Some might see it as kinda eh and I could see why, but I love the way the author makes you absolutely despise her. I also like the historical context that this was a daring book to write because it showed a woman in a negative life. He got in serious trouble! Is the story anything super amazing like Le Mis though? No not really, but I very much enjoyed it.

>> No.8163337

>>8163326
I meant light, not life. Oops!

>> No.8163752

>>8160868
Invisible prose? what do you mean?