Internal timeline for 'Madame Bovary'?
Jorn Barger
Bovary", but there's some tricky puzzles I hope someone has
resolved...
GF only mentions two significant *years*-- 1812, when Charles'
father left the army, and 1835, when the road to Yonville was
completed. Part I, chapter 1 says that Charles started
lessons with a priest when he was 12 years old, and _implies_
that this was after his father retired at age 45.
But when his father dies in III.2, Charles says he was 58,
so Charles should be 25 at the most-- basically, the same
age as Emma! Since his parents married in 1812 or soon
after, Charles could have been born as early as 1813, but
then the Yonville road wouldn't have been finished until he
was 22, but he's no more than 20 when they move in, so his
birthyear must be 1815 or 1816.
Estimated dates, by this theory:
1782: birth of Charles Bovary's father
1812: marriage of CB's father around 30 years old
1815: birth of Charles Bovary
1815: birth of Emma Roualt
1827: 45yo Bovary rents farm, 12yo CB starts lessons
1828: 13yo Emma starts at convent school
***part one
ch1 late-Oct 1829: 14yo CB starts lycee
1831: 16yo CB to medical school; death of Emma's mother
1832: Emma leaves school
Feb: 17yo CB's marriage, practice in Tostes
ch2: Jan 1833: CB attends Emma's father
spring 1833: CB's wife's death
ch3: Aug 1833: CB returns to visiting Emma
late Sept: 18yo CB proposes to 18yo Emma
ch4: spring 1834: wedding
ch8: Oct 1834: Marquis' ball
1835: road to Yoville opens
***part two
ch1: March 1836: Bovarys arrival in Yonville
ch3: autumn 1836: birth of Berthe
ch5: Feb 1837: visit to new mill w/Leon
ch6: early-Apr: visit to priest
late-spring: Leon leaves for Paris
ch7: a year passes, Rodolphe appears
ch8: summer 1838: agricultural fair
ch9: Oct 1838: Emma begins affair with Rodolphe
ch11: clubfoot operation
ch13: Sept 1839: Rodolphe's farewell letter
ch15: 1840: Rouen opera, Emma meets Leon again after 3 years
***part three
ch1: summer 1840: cab ride with Leon
ch2: death of 58yo Bovary pere
ch7: March 1841
Jorn Barger
[see also my new pages: http://www.robotwisdom.com/flaubert/ ]
(The cutest coincidence is that Bouvard meets Pecuchet at the start
of B&P just as the agricultural fair is happening in Madame Bovary.)
> 1782: birth of Charles Bovary's father
1785: GF's father born
1790: Felicite (Simple Soul) born
1791: Bouvard and Pecuchet born
1794: GF's mother born
1809: Felicite hired by Mme Aubain (Paul 7yo, Virginia 4yo)
1812: GF's parents marry
> 1812: marriage of CB's father around 30 years old
> 1815: birth of Charles Bovary
> 1815: birth of Emma Roualt
1821: birth of GF
1822: birth of Frederic Moreau (Sentimental Education)
> 1827: 45yo Bovary rents farm, 12yo CB starts lessons
> 1828: 13yo Emma starts at convent school
>
> ***part one
>
> ch1 late-Oct 1829: 14yo CB starts lycee
> 1831: 16yo CB to medical school; death of Emma's mother
1831: GF starts lycee; Felicite gets parrot?
> 1832: Emma leaves school
> Feb: 17yo CB's marriage, practice in Tostes
>
> ch2: Jan 1833: CB attends Emma's father
> spring 1833: CB's wife's death
> ch3: Aug 1833: CB returns to visiting Emma
> late Sept: 18yo CB proposes to 18yo Emma
> ch4: spring 1834: wedding
> ch8: Oct 1834: Marquis' ball
>
> 1835: road to Yonville opens
>
> ***part two
>
> ch1: March 1836: Bovarys arrival in Yonville
summer: 14yo GF falls for 26yo Mme Schlesinger
> ch3: autumn 1836: birth of Berthe
> ch5: Feb 1837: visit to new mill w/Leon
> ch6: early-Apr: visit to priest
> late-spring: Leon leaves for Paris
1837: winter: death of Loulou the parrot
> ch7: a year passes, Rodolphe appears
> ch8: summer 1838: agricultural fair
summer 1838: in Paris, Bouvard meets Pecuchet!
> ch9: Oct 1838: Emma begins affair with Rodolphe
> ch11: clubfoot operation
> ch13: Sept 1839: Rodolphe's farewell letter
> ch15: 1840: Rouen opera, Emma meets Leon again after 3 years
>
> ***part three
>
> ch1: summer 1840: cab ride with Leon
> ch2: death of 58yo Bovary pere
1840: autumn: GF graduates lycee, Mediterranean tour, Eulalie Foucaud
1840: 15Sep: opening date of 'Sentimental Education'
(FM returning from Le Havre)
> ch7: March 1841
Mar 1841: B&P move to Chavignolles
--
"There's no better reader on the Internet than Jorn Barger"
--The Register
Robot Wisdom Weblog: http://www.robotwisdom.com/
Jorn Barger
> I'm trying to reconstruct the internal timeline of "Madame
> Bovary", but there's some tricky puzzles I hope someone has
> resolved...
In II.12, GF has the moon as full on 02 Sept, which it wasn't in
1839... but it was in 1838! So here's a new try, shifting
everything back a year (and ruining the B&P/AgFair coincidence).
> 1781: birth of Charles Bovary's father
> 1812: marriage of CB's father around 31 years old
> 1814: birth of Charles Bovary
> 1814: birth of Emma Roualt
> 1826: 45yo Bovary rents farm, 12yo CB starts lessons
> 1827: 13yo Emma starts at convent school
>
> ***part one
>
> ch1 late-Oct 1828: 14yo CB starts lycee
> 1830: 16yo CB to medical school; death of Emma's mother
> 1831: Emma leaves school
> Feb: 17yo CB's marriage, practice in Tostes
>
> ch2: Jan 1832: CB attends Emma's father
> spring 1832: CB's wife's death
> ch3: Aug 1832: CB returns to visiting Emma
> late Sept: 18yo CB proposes to 18yo Emma
> ch4: spring 1833: wedding
> ch8: Oct 1833: Marquis' ball
>
> 1835: road to Yoville opens
>
> ***part two
>
> ch1: March 1835: Bovarys arrival in Yonville
> ch3: autumn 1835: birth of Berthe
> ch5: Feb 1836: visit to new mill w/Leon
> ch6: early-Apr: visit to priest
> late-spring: Leon leaves for Paris
1836: summer: 14yo GF falls for 26yo Mme Schlesinger
1837: winter: death of Loulou the parrot
> ch7: a year passes, Rodolphe appears
> ch8: summer 1837: agricultural fair
> ch9: Oct 1837: Emma begins affair with Rodolphe
> ch11: clubfoot operation
summer 1838: in Paris, Bouvard meets Pecuchet!
> ch13: Sept 1838: Rodolphe's farewell letter
> ch15: 1839: Rouen opera, Emma meets Leon again after 3 years
>
> ***part three
>
> ch1: summer 1839: cab ride with Leon
> ch2: death of 58yo Bovary pere
> ch7: March 1840
all post-MB:
1840: autumn: GF graduates lycee, Mediterranean tour, Eulalie Foucaud
1840: 15Sep: opening date of 'Sentimental Education'
(FM returning from Le Havre)
Mar 1841: B&P move to Chavignolles
This seems to work alright, although the Bovarys travel on the
Yonville road in March 1835, within weeks of its supposed opening.
The full moon seems to confirm that GF really did work out the
exact years, and consulted calendars, but concealed this effort.
smw
Jorn Barger wrote:
> I wrote in message news:<16e613ec.02101...@posting.google.com>...
>
>>I'm trying to reconstruct the internal timeline of "Madame
>>Bovary", but there's some tricky puzzles I hope someone has
>>resolved...
>>
>
> In II.12, GF has the moon as full on 02 Sept, which it wasn't in
> 1839... but it was in 1838! So here's a new try, shifting
> everything back a year (and ruining the B&P/AgFair coincidence).
>
For fuck's sake, Mme B is a novel, not the newspaper.
ObConcept: Poetic Realism
ObTheorist: Genette
Jim Collier
In _Gods Go Begging_ by Alfredo Vea, a novel set in San Francisco, the principal
character who is a Latino public defender makes a left turn onto Market from
16th Street, and uses 19th Avenue in the Richmond as a thru-street, oblivious
that he should be over on Park Presidio which becomes 19th Avenue in the
*Sunset* south of Golden Gate Park. F'r crissake.
One way of curing authors of making a hash of reality would be to make an
example of Vea. I could send him a doctored photo of his car making the
illegal left onto Market, putatively taken by one of those traffic signal
cameras, and order him to remit $299 to my secret PO box. Or else.
For a doctored photo of the Ben & Jerry's at the corner of Haight and Ashbury,
proceed to
http://www.jim-collier.com/lifeofacity//westernadd-haight/pages/framset.html#haight.html.
--
Jim Collier
Rich Clancey
+ For fuck's sake, Mme B is a novel, not the newspaper.
This stuff is interesting, but I do think you're missing the
point if you get stuck on technicalities. It's well-known that
a lot of fine novels just don't have internally consistent
time-lines. I've just stumbled over something like a 20 year
leap in "Tom Jones".
Flaubert was notoriously meticulous about his word choice, and
Madame B. was written and rewritten and rewritten again,
sentence by sentence. Clearly the poetics were more important
to the author than the plot mechanics. Shouldn't the readers
respond similarly?
--
rich clancey r...@world.std.com
David J. Loftus
But ... but ... that wouldn't be POMO!!!
David Loftus