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A review by cartoonmicah
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
4.0
Flaubert's Parrot is more than a catchy title for a novel, for this book starts and ends with the examination and reflections upon the taxidermed parrots competing for designation as the one historical item which Flaubert used as a tabletop muse while writing Un Coeur Simple. Like everything else in this book, include the personal history of the narrator and the exploration of the personal lives of historical figures, no amount of minute examination seems to unearth any straight answers. In the end, the more we sift the rubble in hindsight, the less certain we can be of a verdict on how things began to tumble down.
Braithwaite is a retired doctor and an amateur Flaubert expert, working on his own Flaubert compendium and making frequent trips across the channel to explore what sites and relics of the author remain. In large part, this novel is written as essay and exploration concerning the life of Flaubert, exploring all sorts of interesting and conflicting details of his relationships and theories about society, art, and morality. While some episodes unfold in the life of Braithwaite, very little of the story even concerns him. Eventually, the hobbyist historian lifts the veil ever so slightly on his own widowhood and the complications of his flawed marriage and in doing so we begin to recognize a new layer in the novel, understanding some of the compulsions of the scholar and the ephemera collector as someone searching for second hand answers and distracting himself from his own insoluble complications.
A hard novel to read if you don't want a college course on Flaubert, but one that asks more questions about humanity and scholarship and our perspectives on our own history and history in general than a course would. I found myself constantly thinking, "Historians are the ultimate fiction writers."
In the past, we distract ourselves seeking facts that can bolster our pre-existing beliefs.
Braithwaite is a retired doctor and an amateur Flaubert expert, working on his own Flaubert compendium and making frequent trips across the channel to explore what sites and relics of the author remain. In large part, this novel is written as essay and exploration concerning the life of Flaubert, exploring all sorts of interesting and conflicting details of his relationships and theories about society, art, and morality. While some episodes unfold in the life of Braithwaite, very little of the story even concerns him. Eventually, the hobbyist historian lifts the veil ever so slightly on his own widowhood and the complications of his flawed marriage and in doing so we begin to recognize a new layer in the novel, understanding some of the compulsions of the scholar and the ephemera collector as someone searching for second hand answers and distracting himself from his own insoluble complications.
A hard novel to read if you don't want a college course on Flaubert, but one that asks more questions about humanity and scholarship and our perspectives on our own history and history in general than a course would. I found myself constantly thinking, "Historians are the ultimate fiction writers."
In the past, we distract ourselves seeking facts that can bolster our pre-existing beliefs.