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Riddell, Agnes Rutherford Flaubert and Maupassant
Digitized by the Internet Archive
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FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT A LITERARY RELATIONSHIP
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY
OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE
IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
BY
AGNES RUTHERFORD RIDDELL
5315G9
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Copyright 1920 Bv The University of Chicago
All Rights Reserved
Published February 1920
Composed and Printed By
The University of Chlcasfo Press
Chicago, IlUnois, U.S.A.
PREFACE
The publication of this dissertation has been delayed by the war, as it has been impossible to visit the libraries of Europe for books and articles not to be found on this side of the Atlantic. Permission to publish has now been granted the writer by the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, with the understanding that, if necessary, additions to or revisions of the dissertation may be issued by her after she has examined the material in Europe.
This dissertation has been written under the direction of Pro- fessor E. P. Dargan, to whose invaluable and untiring encouragement and counsel the writer acknowledges with pleasure her very great indebtedness. She desires further to express her thanks for much valuable advice to Professor Nitze, head of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. To Professor Pietsch, Pro- fessor Jenkins, Professor Wilkins, Professor Coleman, Assistant Professor Parmenter, and others who have assisted her from time to time during the composition of the dissertation with facts and sug- gestions, she wishes also to record her gratitude.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAOK
Abbreviations . . . • ix
CHAFTEB
I. History of the Personal Relationship i
II. Discussion and Exemplification of Definitely Stated
Theories Regarding Life (with Introduction) . .11
III. Discussion and Exemplification of Definitely Stated
Theories Regarding Literary Procedure .... 21
IV. Likeness in Employment of General Realistic Devices . 38,
V. Resemblances in Plot, Incident, Characterization, Ideas
AND Wording • . 63
VI. Summary and Conclusion 109
Bibliography . iii
ABBREVIATIONS
In referring to the works of Flaubert and Maupassant, the following abbreviations are used throughout the notes of the dissertation in order to save space. Where the reference is to a short story, the title of the volume in which it is contained is given first, and then the name of the story (abbreviated in many cases).
Flaubert ^
M.B. ....... Madame Bovary
L'Ed.S • L'Education sentimentale
Sal Salammbo
T.C. (U.CS. ; L.L.d.S.J.l'H ;Trois Contes (Un Coeur simple; La Legende
Her.) de Saint Julien I'HospitaHer, Herodias)
L.T.d.S.-A La Tentation de Saint-Antoine
O.d.J Oeuvres de jeunesse
N.d.V -, Notes de voyages
P.l.C.e.p.l.G Par les Champs et par les Greves
Corr. . Correspondance
B.e.P Bouvard et Pecuchet
Maupassant
D.V Des Vers
B.d.S. ...... Boule de Suif
P.e.J Pierre et Jean
Mlle.F. Mademoiselle Fifi
M.Par. Monsieur Parent
L.R.d.M.H Le Rosier de Madame Husson
Au S Au Soleil
L.M.G. I La Main Gauche
U.V UneVie
L.P.R La Petite Roque
S.l'E. Surl'Eau
F.c.l.M Fort comme la Mort
N.C. , .' Notre Coeur
L.M.T La Maison Tellier
L.V.E La Vie Errante
L.H Le Horla
C.d.l.B. or Bee. .... Contes de la Becassc
iz
X FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
O.P Oeuvres posthumes
M.Har Miss Harriet
L.S.R Les Soeurs Rondoli
M.-O Mont-Oriol
CdJ.e.d.l.N Contes du Jour et de la Nuit
L'l.B L'inutile Beaute
B.-A Bel-Ami
C.d.L Clair de Lune
Italicized words in quotations marked thus * are italicized in the text. Where this mark is not used the italics are the writer's.
CHAPTER I HISTORY OF THE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP
Flaubert's connection with the Maupassant family began through the friendship between his mother and the mother of his companions, Alfred and Laure Le Poittevin/ the latter of whom became, in 1850, the mother of Guy de Maupassant.^ The relationship with Alfred Le Poittevin continued until the latter 's death in 1848,^ as is evi- denced by the frequent mention of him in the Correspondance and elsewhere in Flaubert's works,* by the letters addressed to him,*^ and by the dedication to him of La Tentation de Saint-Antoine and of two youthful attempts.^ Some years older than Gustave, Alfred Le Poittevin seems to have had upon him considerable influence. For present purposes the friendship is interesting mainly because it gives rise to the speculation as to how far Flaubert's relationship with the nephew is traceable to his friendship with the uncle.
With Laure Le Poittevin, who married, in 1846, Gustave de Maupassant, Flaubert maintained his friendship as long as he lived.^ She seems, however, to have passed out of his ken during the early years of her married life.® The first letter to her included in the Correspondance dates from 1863.^ Others follow in 1866, 1872, and 1873 (2)-^^ In these letters reference is made to Alfred; mention also occurs of Laure's son Guy and of the growing affection of Flaubert for him, partly on the lad's own account and partly because
1 Flaubert, Corr., I : Souvenirs intimes de Mme. de Commanville, p. ix.
2 Maynial, La vie et I'oeuvre de Maupassant, p. 24.
3 Ibid., p. 21.
* For example, Corr., I, 24, 33, 35, 39, 45, 54, 60, 62, 74, 77, 96, 167, 191, 207, 298, 301, 402, 459; II, 23, 92, 191-93; N.d.V., I, 89; P.l.C.e.p.l.G,, pp. 337, 339, etc.
5 Corr., I, 147, 150, 153, 159, 162, 173 (1845), 187, 188 (1846).
« O.dJ., I, 401 ; II, 121.
■^ Maynial, op. cit., pp. 23 and 21. Maynial gives a very full account of the personal relationship between Flaubert and Maupassant, to which the present chapter is much indebted. The acknowledgment is made here once for all, except in the case of specific references.
^Ibid., p. 22. 9 Corr, III, 384, 418; IV, 138, 158, 185. ''^ Ibid.
2 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
of his strong resemblance to his uncle." This is the beginning of a letter in Correspondance, IV, 158:
Tu m'as prevenu, ma chere Laure, car depuis un mois je voulais t'ecrire pour te faire une declaration de tendresse a I'endroit de ton fils. Tu ne saurais croire comme je le trouve charmant, intelligent, bon enfant, sense et spirituel, bref (pour employer un mot a la mode) sympathique ! Malgre la difference de nos ages je le regarde comme «un ami,> et puis il me rappelle tant mon pauvre Alfred ! J'en suis meme parfois effraye, surtout lorsqu'il baisse la tete, en recitant des vers.
Flaubert advises her to encourage her son in his taste for verse writing and holds out hope that in time the young man may accom- plish something worthy of literary fame. In a letter in Correspon- dance (IV, 185), Flaubert again expresses his affection for Guy and declares himself willing to do all in his power to help him.
The letters to Guy de Maupassant himself included in the Cor- respondance begin in 1873 ^"^ continue until the year of Flaubert's death. They are thirty-seven in number ^^ and contain criticism, warning, and advice regarding literary and other matters, requests for information and for counsel, explanation of commissions to execute, thanks for services rendered, messages to Mme de Maupas- sant and to friends, accounts of the older man's own doings, and current gossip. In one Flaubert calls Guy "mon tres aime disciple."^* Another is a species of manifesto on the relation of art to morality. It upholds "le culte de la femme" on the authority of great writers of ancient and modern times and enunciates the theories, to be discussed in later chapters of this thesis, of "art for art's sake," and of the persecution of literature by the public.^* This epistle, cast in a tone of ironic exasperation at the "betise" of the prosecu- tion occasioning the letter, was written for insertion in the Gaulois to defend Maupassant against a threatened lawsuit, brought on by the unauthorized publication of fragments from one of his poems. It now appears, somewhat changed, as a preface to the latter's volume of verses.^^ The personal literary advice contained in the
11 Corr., IV, 185.
" Corr:, IV, 166, 223, 266, 269, 273, 278, 285, 313, 315, 319, 335, 345, 346, 349, 350, 357, 363, 382, 386, 388, 391, 396, 397, 401, 405, 411, 414, 417, 418, 423, 425, 427, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431.
^8 Corr., IV, 391.
1* See below, pp. 36, 20. '^^ D.V., pp. xxvii-xxxi.
PRESONAL RELATIONSHIP 3
letters is valuable here because it throws light upon the method of training to which Flaubert subjected his pupil. The older man shows keen interest in everything written by the younger and is constantly asking for news of his efforts. When Maupassant is trying to secure a position on the journals, Flaubert suggests to him subjects for articles.^® An article on himself wins his thanks; another is "fine," a third "good."^^ The last-mentioned, however — on French poetry — does not do justice to Ronsard. Remarks on individual works are very specific, praise being tempered with blame. The following are examples of generally commendatory criticism.
C'est tres bien votre Venus."^ Je n*y vois rien a reprendre que deux petites incorrections grammaticales, mais elles peuvent se defendre.^^
Quant a votre mur* ^® plein de vers splendides, il y a des disparates de ton. Ainsi le mot bagatelle"^ vous verse une douche glacee. L'effet comique arrive trop tot, mais admettons que je n'aie rien dit; il faut voir rensemble.20
The following passage is a sample of severe criticism. Although somewhat long, it is quoted in its entirety because it shows with what vigorous censure the master corrected the disciple on occasion.
Maintenant causons de Desirs.* Eh bien ! mon jeune homme, la dite piece ne me plait pas du tout. Elle indique une facilite deplorable.
Un de mes chers desirs* un desir qui est cher! Avoir des ailes* parbleu ! le souhait est commun. Les deux vers suivants sont bons, mais au quatrieme les oiseaux surpris"^ ne sont pas surpris puisque tu es a les poursuivre. A moins que surpris ne veuille dire etonnes?
1® For example, Corr., IV, 274. The numerous articles which Maupassant wrote for reviews and journals have, with few exceptions, never been reprinted (Maynial, op. cit, p. 213). It is impossible, therefore, at the present moment, for the writer of this thesis to say from personal observation how far these suggestions of Flaubert's were carried out.
Mahn, Guy de Maupassant, sein Leben und seine Werke, gives, in his chap- ter entitled "Der Journalist," pp. 125-66, an account of his researches on the subject of these articles at the Bibliotheque Nationale. Maupassant wrote espe- cially for Le Gaulois and Le Gil Bias, as well as for numerous other journals. The content of the articles, as described by Mahn, does not differ in kind from that of the author's collected works.
17 Corr., IV, 273, 319, 285. 18 Corr., IV, 386.
19 A reference apparently to Maupassant's poem Le Mur. The word mur is printed in the Conard edition of Flaubert's Correspondance with a small letter.
20 Corr., IV, 397.
4 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Je voudrais, je voudrais* Avec une pareille tournure on peut aller indefiniment tant qu'on a de I'encre! Et la composition? Ou est-elle?
Ainsi qu'un grand flambeau* I'image me semble comique; outre qu'un flambeau ne laisse pas de flamme, puisqu'il la porte.
Des fronts en cheveux noirs aux fronts en cheveux roux.
Charmant, mais rappelle trop le vers de Menard :
Sous tes cheveux chatains et sous tes cheveux gris.
«Oui je voudrais.» Pourquoi ouif*
Clair de lune* excellent.
L'affolante bataille* atroce !
En somme je t'engage a supprimer cette piece, elle n'est pas a la hauteur des autres.
La-dessus ton vieux t'embrasse. Severe, mais juste.^^
In the foregoing three passages the form of criticism is that of specific comment, v^ith some general remarks. No point is allov^ed to pass v^^hich offends against Flaubert's uncompromising standards of originality, of correctness, of artistic fitness. Venus, for example, contains "two slight grammatical errors." The v^rord "bagatelle" in le Mur has "a chilling effect." The poem Desirs shows "a deplor- able facility." Avoir des ailes is a commonplace expression. The word "surpris" is ambiguous, the word "oui" superfluous. The image of the torch is inappropriate. The line quoted is a plagiarism. And so on. The strictures on these poems illustrate certain of Flaubert's literary theories which will be considered later in this thesis, as, for instance, his insistence on the "mot juste," his dislike of "idees regues," etc.^^ As the poems now appear in the volume Des Vers we may observe that the expressions criticized have gen- erally been altered,^^ showing Maupassant's deference to the opin- ions of Flaubert.
In commenting on Boule de Suif, the "conte rouennais" con- cerning which Maupassant had apparently thrown out mysterious hints before its appearance in the Soirees de Me dan, Flaubert is most enthusiastic.-* It is the best thing in the volume, a real masterpiece, original, well thought out, excellently written. Land-
21 Corr., IV, 424. The poem was not "suppressed," as it appears in the vol- ume Des Vers (pp. 67-68), but some of the expressions censured have been changed.
22 See below, pp. 28-31, 27.
2» Cf. Maynial, op. cit., p. 89; Z>. V., pp. 67-68. 2* Corr., IV, 392, 397-99.
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP $
scapes and characters are vividly conceived; the psychology is "strong" ; Cornudet is "immense et vrai" ; the nun with the small- pox marks on her face is "parfaite"; the scene where Boule de Suif weeps while Cornudet sings the "Marseillaise" is "sublime." Then comes the minute reservation of the conscientious mentor :
Eh bien, precisement* parce que c'est raide de fond et embetant pour les bourgeois, j'enleverais deux choses, qui ne sont pas mauvaises du tout, mais qui peuvent faire crier les imbeciles, parce- qu'elles ont
I'air de dire: "Moi je m'en f ": i° dans quelles f rises, etc., ce
jeune homme jette de la fange a nos armes; et 2° le mot tetons* Apres quoi le gout le plus begueule n'aurait rien a vous reprocher [p. 398].
In a subsequent letter, after saying that he has re-read Boule de Suif, Flaubert adds: "Tache d*en faire une douzaine comme ca! et tu seras un homme!"-® Such advice gives some ground for the remark of Mme de Maupassant, quoted farther on,^^ that it was Flaubert who wished to make a novelist of her son.^^ That the older man personally knew the young Guy mainly as a writer of verses and an aspirant for dramatic honors, especially the former, is true, however, as one can gather from what Maynial says^® and from the comments in the letters. Maupassant tells us that he tried his hand at all kinds of composition during his seven years* appren- ticeship.2» Verse writing nevertheless seems to have predominated. His early fondness for this form may be, in part, a residue from the influence of Bouilhet, under which he passed two years before he knew Flaubert.^^ Maynial suggests also that verse came more spontaneously than prose to Maupassant, and satisfied better than prose the young writer's desire for immediate productiveness.^^ There is a certain tone of curiosity or of delighted surprise in Flaubert's remarks on Boule de Suif which seems to indicate that the pupil had exceeded the master's expectations, giving hints of possibilities hardly suspected hitherto. Hence the advice to aim, if possible, at persistence in the same type of performance. Mean- while references to the verses continue. When the volume Des Vers appears shortly after the publication of the Soirees de Medan, Flaubert expresses his approval,^^ as he has done in the case of
25 Corr., IV, 426. 29 See below, p. 9.
26 See below, p. 7. ^^P.eJ.: <^Le Roman», p. xxii.
27 D. v., p. xxi ; Maynial, op. cit., p. 44. si Maynial, op. cit., p. 80.
28 Ihid., p. 80. 82 Corr., IV, 427.
6 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Boule de Suif. What pleases him about this effort is that it is "personal" and does not adopt the formula of any school. "Pas de chic! pas de pose! ni parnassien, ni realiste (ou impressioniste, ou naturaliste)." (Flaubert especially detested these modern shib- boleths.) He wishes Maupassant to collect for him everything that is published on Boule de Suif and on the verses.^^ In this we see the eager interest of the master in a favorite disciple.
We have given examples of Flaubert's specific criticism of Maupassant; more general literary advice is not lacking. Guy must not allow his mode of life to interfere with his art. A man who aspires to the name of "artist" has no right to live as do others ; his only principle must be the necessity of sacrificing every- thing to art. He warns the young man also against brooding and conjures him to work harder. "II faut,"^ entendez-vous, jeune homme, il faut * travailler plus que ga. ... Vous etes ne pour f aire des vers, f aites-en !"^*
Another form of literary training probably not less important than the above-mentioned, because it furnished the example to estab- lish the precept, is emphasized by Maynial.^^ Flaubert associated his pupil with himself in the composition of Bouvard et Pecuchet, seeking from him precise information on many points and detailing at length his own efforts toward accuracy and precision. For in- stance, he needs for a particular episode in his story a certain kind of hillside slope, and Maupassant must suggest to him a place near Havre which will fulfil the requirements.^^ Or the young man becomes the confidant of Flaubert's chagrin at M. Baudry's question- ing of his botanical exactness.^^ Other examples of a like nature are to be found in the Correspondance.
In letters from Flaubert to various persons during the later years of his life there is frequent mention of Maupassant and of the young man's mother, the former being often called "mon disciple," occa- sionally "mon eleve."^^ These letters are sometimes written to help the beginner in his prospects, or refer to Guy's doings and to the writer's interest in him.^®
«« Corr., IV, 427. 35 Maynial, op. cit., pp. 68-69.
»* Corr,, IV, 336. 8« Corr., IV, 3i3-i5-
" Corr., IV, 429 ff.
"8 For example, Corr., V, 323, 421.
»» For example, Corr., IV, 384, 395-96 ; V, 445, 452, 455, etc.
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP 7
Besides the letters of Flaubert there are several from Mme de Maupassant and from her son to their common friend which give evidence of the relationship between the two men. In the "Notes" to the volume containing Flaubert's Theatre there is an epistle by Mme de Maupassant in which she speaks of the friendship and says, "Comme le disciple appartient au maitre !"*** In the volume of Mau- passant's verses there are some letters from his mother to Flaubert in which she often mentions her two sons, refers to her anxiety regarding Guy's future, asks for her old friend's advice and assis- tance in the matter, thanks him for his kindness to the young man, or assures him of the latter's aflfection.*^ In one place she speaks of Flaubert's having called Guy his "fils adoptif " ; in another she says, "C'est Flaubert qui voulut en faire un romancier,"*^ The likeness to the uncle, Alfred Le Poittevin, is referred to by her,*^ as well as by Flaubert's mother in a short note preceding the selections from Mau- passant's correspondence in the volume entitled Boule de Suif.^^ In the same volume are included some letters of Maupassant's to Flaubert,*^ in which he generally addresses the latter as "mon cher maitre" and speaks of missing their "causeries de chaque semaine."*' He asks for advice or gives information regarding what he is writing and recounts the events of his official life, his efforts to obtain a place on the journals, the happenings about him, news of mutual friends. In the other letters of Maupassant — letters to his mother and his friends — there are various short personal references to Flaubert.*^ The last instance of this dates from a time after the latter's death and reads as follows :
Je ne saurais vous dire combien je pense a Flaubert, il me hante et me poursuit. Sa pensee me revient sans cesse, j'entends sa voix, je retrouve ses gestes, je le vois a tout moment debout devant moi avec sa grande robe brune, et ses bras leves en parlant. C'est comme une solitude qui s'est faite autour de moi, le commencement des horribles separations qui se continueront maintenant d'annee en annee, emportant tous les gens qu'on aime, ou qui sont nos souvenirs, avec qui nous pouvions le mieux causer des choses intimes.'*^
*o Flaubert, Theatre, p. 515. ** D. V., pp. ix-xxiii.
42 Z>. v., p. xxi; Maynial, op. cit., p. 44; of. above, p. 5. ** D. v., pp. xi, xvi. ^'^ Ibid., pp. xcv-cxxiv.
**B.d.S.: Corr., p. xciv. *^ Ibid., pp. xcv-cxiii, etc.
*'^ For example, B.d.S. : Corr., pp. cxxxv, cxli, cxliii-iv. *8 B.d.S. : Corr., pp. cxliii-iv.
8 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
We see in this passage how the very memory of Flaubert seems to evoke the keen mental vision of individual characteristics which the master advocated," as well as to call forth the sense of isolation and of the imminence of death which constantly overshadowed Mau- passant's outlook on life.*^® It will be observed that the closing words suggest a relationship of mental sympathy.
Also to be noted, from the point of view of the one author's influ- ence on the other, are certain additional direct statements of Mau- passant's. After the letter-preface to the verses there appeared, in the third edition of the volume, a few lines on Flaubert's death, which had occurred very shortly before. In them Maupassant pays the following tribute to his friend :
Depuis que ce livre a pant (il y a un mois a peine) le merveiUeux ecrivain a qui il etait dedie est mort, Gustave Flaubert est mort.
Je ne veux point ici parler de cet homme de genie, que j'admire avec passion, et dent je dirai plus tard la vie quotidienne, et la pensee familiere, et le coeur exquis, et Vadmirahle grandeur.
Mais, en tete de la nouvelle edition de ce volume 4:dont la dedicace Ta fait pleurer,» m'ecrivait-il, car il m'aima aussi, je veux reproduire la superbe lettre qu'il m'adressa pour defendre un de mes poemes : An bord de I'eau*^^ centre le parquet d'Etampes qui m'attaquait.
Je fais cela comme un supreme hommage a ce mort, qui a emporte assurement la plus vive tendresse que faurai pour un homnie, la plus grande admiration que je vouerai a un ecrivain, la veneration la plus absolue que m'inspirera jamais un etre quel qu'il soit.
These paragraphs have been quoted because they show, espetfally in the expressions italicized, the grateful affection and the extrava- gant admiration with which Maupassant regarded Flaubert — an affection and admiration which would lead naturally to the influ- encing of the one writer by the other, even without the close connec- tion of master and disciple which has been noted as existing between them.
To the intimacy of this relationship Maupassant himself bears witness in his article on "Le Roman," printed at the beginning of the volume entitled Pierre et Jean. He tells how he ventured to submit some of his attempts to Flaubert ; how the latter kindly read them
♦• See below, pp. 25-26. ^^ See below, p. 15.
*i Cf. on this point Maynial, op. cit., pp. 84-85, 89-96. There is some con- fusion in the references to the poem.
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP 9
and encouraged him to hope that time and work would reveal the possession of talent by their author. For seven years thereafter the master labored with the disciple. The story is told in Maupassant's own words :
Pendant sept ans je fis des vers, je fis des contes, je fis des nouvelles, je fis meme un drame detestable. II n'en est rien reste. Le maitre lisait tout, puis le dimanche suivant, en dejeunant, developpait ses critiques et enfongait en mot, peu a peu, deux ou trots principes qui sont le resume de ses longs et patients enseignements. « Si on a une originalite. disait-il, il f aut avant tout la degager ; si on n'en a pas, il f aut en acquerir une.»^2
We should take account of Maupassant's statement here that none of all the attempts of his seven years' apprenticeship was allowed to survive. We possess, therefore, in all probability, no further speci- mens than those already mentioned®^ of the work done by him under the eye of the master. We must seek for the literary influence then in considerable measure, as Maupassant's remarks in the foregoing passage suggest, in the general application by the latter, throughout his subsequent work, of the principles inculcated by the former. What these are is indicated in the succeeding well-known paragraphs of the article from which quotation has already been made.'^* They will be discussed in a subsequent chapter of this thesis.^^
In 1885 Maupassant wrote an article on Flaubert which served as a preface to the Quantin edition of Bouvard et Pecuchet. This has been inserted in Maupassant's Oeuvres Posthumes, IL Some account will be given of it in a subsequent section of this thesis.^® Maupas- sant's first published volume, containing his verses, was dedicated "a Gustave Flaubert, a I'illustre et paternel ami que j'aime de toute ma tendresse, a I'irreprochable maitre que j 'admire avant tons." This is the dedication which Maupassant says made Flaubert weep.^^ Again, in his reply to M. Sarcey, Maupassant quotes Flaubert and others as being "justement irrites de la pretention des critiques d'imposer un genre aux romanciers."^® Finally, other references to his memories of Flaubert, not particularized now because not con-
52 p.^./.; «L.i?.», p. xxiii.
53 See above, p. 8. se gee below, pp. 21 ff. ^*P.eJ.: «L./?.», pp. xxiii-xxv. ^7 ggg above.
55 See below, pp. 21-37. 58 Mlle.F.; Appendix, p. 275.
lo FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
cerned with literary theory, are to be found here and there in his works.*®
In this chapter we have studied then the direct personal relation- ship between Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant. We have seen that it began through the general friendship of the Flaubert and Le Poittevin families, strengthened by the comradeship of Flaubert and Alfred Le Poittevin. The influence of the latter was still felt when Flaubert came to know Guy de Maupassant, the nephew, to whom he was attracted at first partly by his remembrance of the uncle. There soon grew up, however, between the older and the younger man a very strong mutual affection which led in time to the establishment of the master and pupil relationship. This affection was reinforced in the case of Maupassant by an admiration which led him to submit to a most rigorous censorship of his literary efforts, and which opened the way for Flaubert virtually to impose his own theories on the younger artist.
"•For example, M. Par., p. 264; L.R.dM.H., pp. 239, 241-44; AuS., pp. 7, 191, 196-97.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION AND EXEMPLIFICATION OF DEFINITELY
STATED THEORIES REGARDING LIFE (WITH
INTRODUCTION)
Before going on to consider the theories of Flaubert and Maupas- sant regarding the world in general and literary matters in particular, it will be well to look for a short time at certain similarities in their lives which will have to be taken into account in tracing likenesses in their works. Both were Norman on the mother's side and passed their youth and much of their later life in Normandy. It was pos- sible thus for them to obtain from personal observation that knowl- edge of Norman life, character, and landscape which they display. They were also acquainted with Parisian life, although not both to the same extent, and moved in Paris in the same literary circle.
Throughout life the two men were confronted by circumstances which tended to sadden. Flaubert spent his youth in close proximity to the sights and sounds of a hospital; Maupassant early gained a perception of the unfortunate relations existing between his father and mother. Both were unhappy in much of their school life and were in later days attacked by the law for alleged offences against morality in their works. Each passed through the shattering expe- riences of the War of 1870, Flaubert as a national guard,^ Maupas- sant in the fighting force. For a considerable portion of their respective careers they lived lives of solitary labor iousness. Robust in early youth, they were subsequently assailed by maladies which embittered existence.
Besides all this, the tastes of the two men were similar in many respects. Each had a liking for the grotesquely comic.^ Both
1 Corr., IV, 33, etc. The facts regarding the life of Flaubert are taken partly from the Souvenirs of Mnie. de Commanville prefixed to Correspon* dance, I, and partly from the introductory note to Madame B ovary ; those con« cerning Maupassant come from Maynial. Other authorities are indicated where necessary.
2 For example, Maxime du Camp, Souvenirs littSraires, I, 164-65, etc. ; F. Brunetiere, Le Roman naturaliste, pp. 402-3, etc. Maynial notes this charac- teristic in Maupassant.
11
12 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
showed an early interest in literature, an especial fondness for Shake- speare, and a desire to try their hands at many forms of literary composition. They were friends of Louis Bouilhet, coming under his influence at the formative period. They delighted in nature. They had in common a passion for traveling and looked to the visiting of foreign scenes as a means of escape from irksome circumstances. It is interesting to note here that in the course of their travels they visited very much the same places — Algeria, Corsica, Sicily, Italy, Southern France, Switzerland, Brittany — so that we frequently find the same itinerary described by both.^
A very curious resemblance is the reciprocal attraction which they describe themselves as possessing toward men and women deprived of reason.* In the case of Maupassant we naturally connect this with his subsequent madness ; in that of Flaubert it appears to be related to his morbid fondness for the abnormal and the grotesque.
In the light of all these similarities it would be strange if there were not coincidences in the works of the two, even without the lit- erary friendship which we have studied in the previous chapter. We are met here by the difficulty of distinguishing the likenesses in their writings due to the influence of the one man upon the other from those which arise out of the general thought and practice of the epoch and school to which both belong. Resemblances then, to be of value in determining the extent of. the relationship between the two authors, must be specific, showing agreement in form, or in content, or in both. In the succeeding pages of this thesis special attention will be paid to the more concrete instances of similarity.
Regarding the likenesses between the two authors the critics have comparatively little to say. The younger man is hailed on all sides as the disciple of the older ; but the resemblance is not analyzed, or is analyzed only in the scantiest way. It is generally agreed that such influence as exists is observable chiefly in Maupassant's earlier work, before he had quite evolved his own method. Examples of the kind of comparison of the two to be discovered in criticism are as follows. Brunetiere, in speaking of some earlier works of Maupassant's, says, "There is too much Flaubert in him."^ Lemaitre finds that the older
' See below, p. 84.
*For example, N.d.V., I, 50; Corr., I, 164; L.M.g.: Madame Hermet, pp. 253-55.
5 Brunetiere, Le Roman naturaliste, p. 342.
THEORIES REGARDING LIFE 13
man has influenced the younger in irony of general treatment and in precision of form.^ Again we have indication of certain books of Maupassant's or scenes therein which derive more or less directly from certain books or scenes of Flaubert's, as, for example, Une Vie from Madame Bovary, Bel-Ami from ^Education sentimentale , Olivier Bertin's excursion to the Champs-Elysees from that of Frederic Moreau to the same place,^ and so on. Apart from such suggestions one can gain on the subject in hand little direct help from the critics.
There remains yet another point to be touched upon before pro- ceeding to the discussion of similar theories. One conclusion regard- ing Guy de Maupassant which is of importance in connection with the question of influence — that he was not eminently inventive — forces itself upon us as we peruse his works. Over and over again we find repeated the same subjects, the same situations, the same characters, the same ideas, even the same wording.^ In order to recognize the truth of this assertion one has only to remember, for instance, how large a proportion of his work deals with illicit passion, with the circumstances of its indulgence, and with the men or women who are possessed by it. ' A constantly recurring idea is that of the uselessness of combating the fatality which binds humanity.^ A good example of similarity in wording is the passage describing a rustic ball, which is used almost word for word in Ma Femme and in Une Vie}^ Much of this repetition is to be accounted for by the fact that Maupassant consciously circumscribed his range.^^ It is also hardly surprising that a man who produced as much as he within the short space of eleven years,^^ and who, in the nature of the case, must often have written hastily, ^^ should sometimes return upon himself. We have indication of lack of inventiveness in his letters, where we find him asking that subjects be suggested to him.^* He also, according
* Lemaitre, Les Contemporains, V, 1-12,
"^ E.-L. Ferrere, UEsthetique de Gustave Flaubert, pp. 254-55 ; Brunetiere, Le Rom. Nat., pp. 342-43.
8 Cf. Maynial, La Composition dans les romans de Maupassant, R.B., XX (i903)r 562-65, 604-8.
9 For example, U.V., p. 323; L.p.R., p. 46; S.VE., pp. 40-44; F.c.l.m., pp. 340- 41 ; N.C., pp. 224-25 ; etc.
^^L.M.T., pp. 267-68; U.V., pp. 79-80. 11 P.e.J.: tL.R.», pp. xi-xii.
12 The years 1880-90. See Maynial, La Vie et Voeuvre de Maupassant, p. 119.
^^Ihid., pp. 120-21, 122-23. ^^B.d.S.: Corr., p. cxxxi.
sj
14 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
to the testimony of Doumic," drew extensively upon his own expe- rience to supply him with material for writing. Here then, in the acceptance of suggestions afterwards to be worked out in his own way, we see possibilities for influence upon him. If any such sugges- tions can be traced back to Flaubert they will probably furnish evi- dences of relationship between the two.^*^ We must not forget, on the other hand, that Flaubert, according to his disciple, warned the latter against imitation, and that Maupassant passed on the warning. ^^ Similarities will, therefore, probably result rather from the uncon- scious reproduction of unforgettable memories than from conscious copying.^® Their occurrence will be rendered all the more likely by the fact that both men are engaged with subjects of somewhat similar nature, and that the younger has an unbounded admiration for the older.i^
The two authors make definite statements regarding similar theories, beliefs, and likes or dislikes. In the case of Flaubert these are contained for the most part in his letters, with occasional refer- ences in his other writings. With Maupassant such personal expres- sions are found distributed more or less throughout his works. A general outline will now be given of the theories held in common by the two, in so far as we can gain a knowledge of these from their own utterances. Sometimes we have, in addition to the individual statements of each, Maupassant's report of Flaubert's doctrine. Any new point thus brought out will be noted. We shall also endeavor to observe as we go along how far they carry out in their works the theories which we may, from definite pronouncement, discover them to hold in common.
To both Flaubert and Maupassant present reality is odious,^** the world is more or less of an illusion,-^ and all things are subject to an inexorable f atality.^^ It is the sordid, the commonplace, the dis-
^^"L'Oeuvre de Guy de Maupassant," R.D.M. (November i, 1893), pp. 187 ff.
i*For example, see below, pp. 63-65, 87, 90, 97, loo-ioi, 102-103. ^'' P.eJ.: <L.R>, pp. xxiii-xxiv; B.d.S.: Corr., pp. clii-cliii. 1® Cf. Ferrere, I'Esthitique de Gustave Flaubert, p. 261. ^® See above, pp. 8, 9.
20 For example, Corr., II, 140 ; III, 85, 181-82, 232-33 ; IV, 243 ; V. 382.
21 For example, Corr., IV, 336; B.d.S.: Corr., p. cxlv; S.l'E., p. 45.
22 For example, Corr,, V, 512; B.d.S.: Corr., p. cvi; cf. ibid., pp. ex, cxii.
THEORIES REGARDING LIFE 15
agreeable, or the horrible, that is generally represented by them. Mis- ery or degradation is the almost universal lot of their personages. Should happiness seem at times to flit within the grasp of some excep- tionally fortunate man or woman, it is only that disenchantment and sadness all the deeper may result. The one great word which Charles Bovary is represented as uttering — "c'est la f aute de la f atalite l"^^ — might be taken as the motto for their picture of life. Unhappy beings are trampled by the inexorable march of events, or are made to suffer for giving way to passions to which they can no more help yielding than they can avoid being born. Death, with its repulsive physical concomitants, is for man the end of all things ; the idea of immortality is but an invention of the presumptuous imagination.^* The general effect of such a presentation is painful ; there results from it for both writers a keen sense of sadness and of individual isolation.^^ Escape from actuality is sought through excursions, either in person or in thought, to far-off countries and times which possess the romantic glamor of distant enchantment.^^ Thus their personages — Emma Bovary, Rosanette, Pierre Roland, Andre Mariolle, and others — long to fly from present reality to future possibility.^^ General resem- blance in "atmosphere" of gloom between the works of Flaubert and those of Maupassant must not, however, be considered as proving in itself the influence of one upon the other, as it may derive equally well from the spirit of the materialistic epoch in which both Hved. The next point in the argument for relationship is perhaps more important, because more distinctive, than a pessimistic outlook upon life. It is the insistence of both men on the universal "betise" of humanity — a "betise" pervading all ranks, from the superstitious and stolid peasants to the inert and ineffective "Anciens" of Carthage, or the inane representatives of modern French society encountered by
23M.5., p. 480.
24 For example, O.dJ., I, 407 ; PMC.e.p.LG., pp. 175-76 ; Corr,, I, 168, 194, 232, 299; IV, 26-28; B.dS.: Corr., p. cxliv; L.p.R., p. 7; LV.E., pp. 69-75.
25 For example, Corr., IV, 14, 152, 357; V, 275; B.d.S.: Corr., pp. cxxx, cxlv ; S.VE., pp. 128-29,
26 For example, Corr., Ill, 85, 181-82, 203, 232-33 ; IV, 29, 243 ; V, 382; S.VE., pp. 92 ff.
27M.5., pp. 271-72, etc.; L'Ed.S., p. 459, etc.; P.e.J., p. 204; N.C., pp. 223-24, etc.
y
1 6 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Maupassant in Southern France.^® Its special exponent is the respec- table "bourgeois," who stands rather for an attitude of narrow com- placency or dogmatism than for any particular class — Homais, with his pompous and ridiculous speeches; M. Patissot, with his mania for exercise; the government functionary, who plays his part in guiding "the chariot of state through the incessant perils of a stormy sea" ;2^ the "honnetes f emmes," who despite their unfortunate sisters while being not one whit better than they.^** One particular form of "betise" exhibited by this "bourgeois" is that of seeking for decora- tions. Examples are furnished by Homais in Madame B ovary and M. Sacrement in Maupassant*s nouvelle entitled Decore}'^ Another manifestation of stupidity is subservience to habit. Both authors hated monotony and the life of habit and strove in their restlessness to escape from it, especially, as we have seen, by traveling.^^ This hatred they express in their works. The stupid Charles is a creature of habit, as are the dull employees of UHeritage.^^ Emma and Jeanne owe part, at least, of their unhappiness to the monotonous tenor of their daily existence. The unvarying life of the country, of the provincial town, of the bureaucratic or industrial community in Paris, is constantly portrayed, together with the deteriorating or exasperating effects of that life.^* Scornful hatred of the "bourgeois" and of man in general becomes with Flaubert and Maupassant an obsession, as is evidenced by the following quotations:
Flaubert Maupassant
L'insupportahilite de la sottise II flotte dans Paris tant de hetises
humaine est devenue ches moi une venues de tous les coins du monde,
maladie, et le mot est faible. qii'on en eprouve comme un ac-
Presque tous les humains ont le don cablement IB.d.S.: Corr., p. cviii].
28 For example, P.lC.e.pXG., p. io8; M.S., p. 40; M. Par.: Le Bapteme, pp. 135-44; Sal., p. 120, etc. ; S.l'E., pp. 24 ff.
2» MS., p. 197.
80 For example, 'M.B,, pp. 1 10-12, 180, etc.; O.F., II: Les Dimqnclhs d*un bourgeois de Paris, pp. 7, 11-14, etc.; M.B., pp. 197 ff.; M.Har.: VHiritage, pp. 41-163; M.B., pp. 422-23; B.d.S., pp. 60-77.
81 M.B., pp. 477-78, 481 ; L.S.R., pp. 243-53. 32 See above, p. 12.
«» For example, M.B., p. 61 ; M.Har., pp. 41-163.
"For example, M.B., pp. 31, 62, etc.; T.C.: U.C.S., pp. 5-6, etc.; B.e.P., p. 13; L.M.T.: En Famille, pp. 139-41; L.S.R.: Suicides, pp. 232-33; Yvette: Promenade, pp. 201-4; C.dJ.e.d.lN.: Le Pere, p. 38; M.Par., pp. 49 ff. ; VLB.: L'£preuve, pp. 137-44-
THEORIES REGARDING LIFE 17
de m'exasperer, et je ne respire Je vois des choses, farces, farces, librement que dans le desert [Corr., farces, et d'autres qui sont tristes, IV, 411].^^ tristes, tristes; en somme, tout le
monde est bete, bete, bete, ici comme ailleurs IB.d.S.: Corr., p; cxxii].
Such an attitude of exasperation as that evidenced by the fore- going paragraphs seems to us excessive. It explains, however, the cynical tone which characterizes the work of the two men. How far, we are led to ask, was this exasperation and the resulting cynicism an inheritance from the older man in the case of the younger, and how far was it an inherent idiosyncrasy? In the first of the fore- going quotations from Maupassant and in other passages of his letters to Flaubert^^ there is a suggestion that the expressions are dictated by the fact that the disciple is writing to the master. The second paragraph from the younger man produces, however, a greater im- pression of sincerity and can be supported by further evidence in the same direction. We may at least say this, that, if Maupassant had a natural bent toward scorn of humanity, as seems unquestionable, it was certainly not diminished through his intercourse with Flaubert. Human "betise" was specially emphasized by the latter, as his disciple tells us, in Bouvard et Pecuchet.^'^ Both men hold that the only hope i for anyone who would maintain his individuality is to keep himself j entirely separate from ordinary humanity.^^ Among- the supreme ' follies of the day, thinks each, is democratic government, with allSts implications.^" Modern tyranny is "bete," to be sure, but some form of aristocracy is at any rate preferable to democracy.*^ In modern life "grace" or pardon is substituted for justice, Flaubert laying the blame for this on Christianity, Maupassant^on romanticism.*^ War is an evidence of the ineradicable brutality- and unreason of the
35 Cf . also on "betise" and scorn of humanity, Corr., I, 43 ; II, 2, 43, 44, 69, 70, 103, 126, 179, 184-85, 196, 222-23, 282, 299, 308, 326, 445; III, 25, 112, 262; IV, 203, 367, 422 ; V, 274 ; etc.
3« For example, B.d.S. : Corr., pp. xcix, ciii, cxiv, etc.
3^ O.P., II; Btude sur Gustdve Flaubert, ^p. 104, 106 ff., 137.
38 Corr., IV, 80; B.d.S.: Corr., pp. cl-cli; cf. S.l'E., pp. iio-ii.
39 Corr., IV, 34, 60 ; B.d.S. : Corr., p. civ.
^^ Corr., I, 196; IV, 61 ; L.V.E., pp. 2-3, 6-9, 36-39» etc.
*i Corr., IV, 80 ; cf . IV, 60 ; B.d.S. : Les Soiries de Midcm, p. 82.
i8 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
human race.*' The barbarities of warfare are exhibited both through the cruelties practised by Carthaginians and mercenaries in Salammho, and through the atrocities perpetrated by the Prussians and wreaked on them by way of vengeance in the stories of Maupassant.*^
^ ^ To the two men religion, which each admits to be universally pres-
( "^ A ent in one form or another/* furnishes but additional ^lustrations of ^ — -^ hetise and hatefulness. What more stupid than man's affiriliations and negations regarding the supernatural?*® What fhore detesta- ble than existing ecclesiasticism ?*^ In its essence religion is either a superstition, a habitj'^r a romantic extravagance, and is con- nected not infrequently with sensual indulgence. The peasant is the principal exponent of superstition in both writers, examples being found wherever religion is mentioned in connection with peasant life. Felicite confusing her parrot with the Holy Spirit*^ and the "fille de ferme" attributing superhuman powers of insight to her ciire^^ are typical of their class. Religion as a habit is exhibited in the taking for granted by all ranks of the religious ceremonies attendant on the different stages of life. Even by the indifferent or the hostile it is considered but natural that the Church should preside over the initial stages of life, over marriage and death, and should dignify with her blessing the ordinary occupations of man on land or sea.*® Religion as romantic extravagance is illustrated in the cases of Emma Bovary and of Jeanne in Une Vie, both of whom experience violent parox- ysms of religious fervor produced by circumstances and fostered by romantic sentiments.®^ Emma serves further as an example of the connecting of religion with sensuality,®^ in which she resembles Julien, Jeanne's husband, and similar characters of Maupassant's.®^
« Corr., IV, 48-49 ; S.VE., pp. 51-59.
*^Sal, for example, pp. 128-35, etc.; for example, Ml^e. F., pp. 3-27; C.dJ.Bic: La Folle, pp. 37-43.
**Corr., II, 151, 202, 232; C.d.J.e.d.l.N.: Le Gueux, pp. 178-79. « Corr., IV, 351, 385, etc. ; S.VE., pp. 39-40. ^ Corr., IV, 38, 353, Z7h Z77\ B.d.S., pp. 7, 30, 62; etc. *7 T.C.: U.C.S., pp. 53-54- *» L.M.T.: Histoire d'une fille de ferme, p. 66. " For example, M.B., pp. 9, 37, 125, 464-67; T.C.: U.C.S, pp. 61-64; B.e.P., pp. 297, 314-16; U.V., pp. 58-61, 75-76, ig6;-B.-A., pp. 273 ff., 56.1-73- 50 For example, M.B., pp. 49, 52, 295-98 ; U.V-, PP. 263, 265-66. " M.B., pp. 298, 446. 52 t/.F., p. 266; cf. also B.-A., pp. 551-52, etc.
THEORIES REGARDING LIFE 19
Priests and other representatives of the church are made by each writer stupid, commonplace, or hateful.^^ Attacks on ordinary reli- gious beliefs and statements of "philosophical" religion are put into the mouths of Homais, of "le baron," of Moiron, of Renardet, and of many other characters in the works of both men.®*
Neither author holds any very high conception of womankind. Each speaks of woman as mcomprehensible, unreasonable, perfid- ious.^® They agree that there is little variety in feminine character.'^® Maupassant says that Flaubert was disdainful of women, judging them severely from a distance, but exhibiting a certain tenderness toward them when brought into closer relationship.®^ The older man himself expresses a somewhat similar thought where he speaks of the "souverain mepris" with which women are regarded essen- tially, while being treated outwardly with deference.®® As one would expect, the usual presentation of women, love, and marriage given by the two writers is cynical, with practical elimination of the ideal. If, by chance, we find a good woman like Mme Arnoux or Jeanne,®^ she is almost certain to be either commonplace or stupid. Occasion- ally, indeed, we have glimpses, if not of the ideal, at least of a less sordid and unpleasing conception. Examples are the childish devo- tion of Justin to Emma in Madame Bovary,^^ the faithfulness of such simple creatures as Felicite in Un Coeur simple or Rosalie in Une Vie,^^ and the constant affection of the woman in Corsica who had given up everything for the man she loved and expressed herself as perfectly satisfied after fifty years of the hard life to which she had
53 For example, cf . L'abbe Bournisien in M.B,, pp. 155-59, etc. ; I'abbe Picot and l'abbe Tolbiac in U.V., pp. 177, 182, 234, 263-64, etc. ; the "tonnes soeurs" of B.dS., pp. 62-64, 73, 74, 76. •
54 For example, M. B., pp. 106-7, 454-55, etc.; B.e.P., pp. 318 ff. ; [7.^., p. 267; C.d.L.: Moiron, pp. 201-3; L.p.R., pp. 49-50; ULB., pp. 25 ff.
55 For example, P.l.C.e.p.l.G., p. 299; Corr., Ill, 334; IV, 13; II, 129-30; I, 209; II, 6; C.dJ.e.d.lN., p. 25; C.d.L., p. 216; M.Par. pp. 44, 45-46; L.R.d.M.H., p. 80; M.Par., p. 40; C.d.L., p. 93; Mile. F., p. 73; etc.
5« Corr., IV, 385; Mile F.: Reponse a M.F.S., pp. 278-79; cf. C.d.J.e.d.l.N.: La Parure, pp. 59-60.
" O.P., II, 91, 144.
58 Corr., II, 122.
^^L'Bd.S.; U. V.
^^M.B., for example, pp. 299, 469.
«i For example, U.C.S., p. 42; U.V., pp. 318-23.
20 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
devoted herself.*^ Such presentations are, however, the exception ; the general picture is pessimistic in the extreme.
An idea mentioned by the two men — in the case of Maupassant apparently, from the reference, as a reflection from Flaubert — is that of the hatred of literature entertained by governments,*^^ an echo of the romantic doctrine of the literary man^s martryrdom, expressed, for instance, by De Vigny. Suffering for the sake of art confers, of course, a certain distinction, and raises those who endure it far above such banalities as official decorations, for which both men, as we should expect, feel contempt.®* ■• In striking contrast with their hatred of man is the very definite \love they cherish for external nature. This is thus expressed by Flaubert in writing to Alfred Le Poittevin: "Tu me dis que tu deviens de plus en plus amoureux de la nature, moi, j'en deviens effrene. Je regarde quelquefois les animaux et meme les arbres avec une tendresse qui va jusqu'a la sympathie; j'eprouve presque des sensations voluptueuses rien qu'a voir, mais quand je vois bien."®^ Similarly Maupassant speaks of "certaines minutes d'amour avec la Terre, le souvenir d'une sensation delicieuse et rapide, comme de la caresse d'un paysage. . . . "®® As one would then expect, fine descrip- tions of nature are among the most common and most characteristic features of the writings of both. Examples are universally present.
As we saw at the beginning of the chapter, the environment of Flaubert and Maupassant tended to give them a pessimistic outlook, which expresses itself in their contempt for the world and for man, especially for the "bourgeois." Government, religion, womankind, all come under their scorn. In the midst of the general stupidity the literary man is a martyr for his cause. On the contrary, love of external nature furnishes to each the satisfaction which he does not find in man.
^^ C.dJ.e.d.l.N.: Le Bonheur, pp. 81-87. Maupassant subsequently spoils this story, where, repeating it in Sur I'Eau, he makes the woman commit suicide upon discovering the unfaithfulness of her husband. Cf. Mahn's remark on this story, p. 282 of his volume on Maupassant. .
^^Corr., IV, 421, 430; V, 412; B.d.S.: Corr., p. cxvi.
^*Corr., IV, 350, 363; B.d.S.: Corr., pp. cliii-clv.
«« Corr., I, 163-64.
^^M.Par.: A Vendre, p. 95.
CHAPTER III
DISCUSSION AND EXEMPLIFICATION OF DEFINITELY
STATED THEORIES REGARDING LITERARY
PROCEDURE
In studying the similar literary theories of Flaubert and Maupas-
4< sant we shall take account, as in the treatment of their general outlook
'3oT^upon life, not only of what each says regarding his own doctrines,
*^ J but also -of what Maupassant records concerning the tenets of
' ^ ' Flaubert, as well as of the carrying out in practice of the theories
stated. ._ ^ In the mind of both writers impersonality is a fundamental neces-
R:^ sity in the work of an author.^ Maupassant calls Flaubert's imper- sonality "impassible" rather than impersonal.^ Flaubert uses, and Maupassant reports his use of, the figure of a mirror applied to the artist representing truth.
^
Flaubert Maupassant
>
Soyons des miroirs grossissants . . . Tauteur . . . devait etre le
de la verite externe \_Corr., II, 394]. miroir des faits, mais un miroir qui
les reproduisait en leur donnant ce reflet inexprimahle, ce je ne sais quoi de presque divin qui est I'art [O.F., Vol. II, E.S. G.F., p. 96].
It will be observed that the "mirror" here is not a mere reflecting mir- ror but one which transforms what it reflects. This, as it differen- tiates, is important for what immediately follows.
Impersonality, both writers confess, is hard to maintain.^ The exhibition of personal love or hate Flaubert regards as inadmissible, but considers that an author can never have too much "sympathy" — by which he seems to mean the ability to interest himself in anything
'^Corr., II, 182, 389, 394; III, 1 12-13; IV, 164, 244-45; Mile. F.: Reponse d M.F.S., p. 274; P.eJ.: <L.R.>, p. xii.
2 O.P., II : £tude sur Gustave Flaubert, p. 96.
^Corr., II, 1 12-13; I, 213; III, 501; IV, 244-45; P-eJ.: <^L.R.^, pp. xi-xii, xviii, xix-xx.
21
22 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
and everything.* Maupassant gives a clearer definition of imperson- ality and also a more general statement regarding the appearance of an author in his work. He recognizes that such appearance is inev- itable, seeing that any man's view of the world, if it be original, must be derived from personal observation and reflection. Thus also in the case of the characters in a book. The author can but imagine how he would feel and act in their place, and in picturing them he in a sense reproduces himself. Impersonality is then to Maupassant not the absence of an author from his work — that is impossible — ^but the artistic concealment of the author's inescapable presence in his work.^ Flaubert had expressed the same conclusion when he said : "L'auteur ^/ dans son oeuvre doit etre comme Dieu dans I'univers, present partout et visible nulle part" f but he had not worked out the argument as Maupassant has worked it out. In actual practice both authors adhere to impersonality to a certain extent, but only to a certain extent. Flaubert is on the whole impersonal in Madame Bovary and in ^Education sentimentale. It is difficult there to tell what his own opinion is regarding the majority of the personages and events. When we come to Bouvard et Pecuchet, however, the treatment is too ironical to be impersonal, there is too evidently a set purpose in the constant ridiculous inefficiency of the two "bonshommes." In the effort after impersonality there is also a tendency to overshoot the mark and arrive at impassibility, shown in what strikes one as the heartless recitation of the abnormal cruelties in SalammboJ Some- times Flaubert departs from impersonality in the other direction, exhibiting a decided sympathy for his characters. This is true in certain of his pictures of humble, usually peasant life, as, for example, in the case of "le pere Roualt," of Justin, of the old servant of the "Comices" in Madame Bovary, as well as of Felicite in Un Coeur simple.^ Maupassant, who sees, as was noted,® the difficulty of impersonality more clearly than Flaubert, also forsakes the imper- sonal attitude more usually and often more completely than does his master. Some of his work, like Flaubert's, is impersonal on the
* Corr., Ill, 524. 6 Corr., II, 182.
^P.eJ.: €L.R>, pp. xi-xx. ^ For example, pp. 185, 215, 348-50.
8 For example, M.B., pp. 41-42, 237-238, 461, 462-63, 299, 469, 208-9; T.C., pp. 3-64.
* See above.
THEORIES REGARDING LITERARY PROCEDURE 23
whole ; for example, stories like Bel-Ami, La Parure, UHeritage,^^ and those tales of peasant and fisher life which seem to em- body the stolid acceptance of fact characteristic of the classes they represent.^ ^ Many stories, such as the earliest, Botde de Suif, written possibly with the Bouvard et Pecuchet attitude toward humanity prominently in mind, are, like the similar efforts of Flau- bert, too ironical to be impersonal. Sometimes Flaubert's irony is humorous,^- as where he makes people say ridiculous things ; here Maupassant goes further than Flaubert, occasionally eliminating, or almost eliminating, the irony and leaving the humor in the ascendant.^^ Brutally impassible also Maupassant can be in his depiction of horrible things. Examples are nouvelles like L'lvrogne and Une Vendetta}^ On the other hand he possesses to no small extent the gift of exciting sympathy by the simple narration of the facts of real life.^^ This is especially true in connection with his stories of ill-treated animals and children, and of those unfortunates whose crimes or distresses, as he pictures them, have apparently been forced upon them by a pitiless society. ^^ In his later writings Maupassant tends more and more to give up the impersonal attitude and to express, either directly or through the mouths of his char- acters, his sympathy for various forms of suffering,^^ or the record of his own distresses. ^^ All through their work both authors do in fact transgress the bounds of impersonality either by direct com- ment^^ or by putting into the mouths of their characters the expres-
^^C.dJ.e.d.LN., pp. 59-74; M.Har., pp. 41-163.
11 For example, L.S.R.: Le petit Put, pp. 79-89; C.dJ.e.d.l.N.: Le Vieux, pp. 91-104; C.d.l.Bec: En Mer, pp. 129-39.
12 For example, M.S., p. 180 (speech of Homais). ^3 For example, Toine.
14 C.dJ.e.d.l.N., pp. 125-34, 137-45-
15 Cf. Lombroso, Souvenirs sur Maupassant, p. 162.
16 For example, M.Har.: L'Ane, pp. 189-94; C.dJ.e.d.l.N.: Coco, pp. 150- 56; L.M.T.: Le Papa de Simon, pp. 119-34; C.d.J.e.d.l.N.: Le Gueux, pp. 173-82; L.M.(;..- L^ Porf, Part II, pp. 207-17.
17 For example, M.-O., pp. 323-26; N.C., pp. 200-205, 224-25, 233-37, etc.
18 For example, S.l'E., pp. 77-92.
19 For example, M.B., pp. 92, 148, 390; L'Ed.S., pp. 47, 261-62, 266, 383, 407; P.eJ., pp. 59, 178; B.d.S., pp. 10, 30; U.V., pp. 34, 69, 75, 100, 123, 212, 248, 330; etc. In comparison with most writers Flaubert has very little of this intervention of the author in person.
>
>
24 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
sion of thoughts which the latter could not naturally have.^^ Mau- / passant also frequently talks in the first person where such pro- cedure is evidently not a mere realistic detail.^^ It is further true, as has been pointed out by critics,^^ that both men embody in their works their own lives and surroundings, as seems indeed to be inevitable when personal observation is insisted on as the main source of information.
The two authors hold that the great task of the novelist is to reproduce nature "truthfully." ^^ Maupassant thinks that Flaubert's novels accomplish this, for they exhibit "la vie meme apparue."^^ They agree also as to the meaning here of "truthfully." The faithful representation of nature denotes not the servile transcription of facts but rather the "translation" of those facts in terms of proba- bility, through the subordination of the less to the more important, and through the selection of the universal and constant to the exclusion of the accidental and ephemeral.^^ Maupassant thus describes, for instance, Flaubert's construction of character. The latter, he says, imagined types and, proceeding by deduction, made them perform acts characteristic of their temperaments.-® One must acknowledge that it is a rather narrow "nature" which the two men picture. It is admitted, however, by those who discuss the matter that the presentation is faithful in its way. For instance, Flaubert is said to be too true for the theatre ^^ ; while Brunetiere declares regarding Maupassant that the latter renders even that which one has not noticed in the real.^^ As far as one's personal knowledge or experience goes, it would seem to confirm the verdict of the critics. Again and again one is struck by the absolute agree- ment of the picture with what one knows or can imagine of the
20 For example, M.B., p. 475. 21 por example, S.VE.
22 For example, P. Bourget, Essais de psychologie contemporaine, I, 148, 156; Dumesnil, Flaubert et la Medecine, p. 2^7.
^^Corr., II, 213-14; III, 486-87; B.dS.: L.s.d.M., p. 84 2* O.P., II : Etude sur Gustave Flaubert, p. 96.
26 Corr., Ill, 183, 449; IV, 245, 375; II, 112-13; III, 129, 193; P-eJ.: <^L.R>, pp. xiii-xiv, XV, xii; Mile F.: R. a MA. Wolff, p. 282; Mile F.: R. a M.F.S., p. 277.
26 OP., II : E.S.G.F., p. 99.
27 R. Descharmes et R. Dumesnil, Autour de Flaubert, I, 242-43.
28 F. Brunetiere, "Trois Romans," R.D.M. (March i, 1887), pp. 202-14
THEORIES REGARDING LITERARY PROCEDURE 25
actuality represented. The methods of producing the effect of reality will be discussed in subsequent paragraphs.
In order to acquire the knowledge requisite for a truthful repro- duction of nature keen observation is the first necessity. It is also the indispensable condition of originality. Maupassant says that Flaubert enjoined upon him the practice of looking long enough at what he desired to represent to discover in it an aspect which had not been seen nor recorded by anyone before him.^^ Very similar passages on this subject are found in the two authors.
Flaubert Maupassant
Flaubert is writing to Mme de "Le talent provient de I'ori-
Maupassant of her son : ginalite, qui est une manibre speciale
*'Avec le temps il gagnera de de penser, de voir, de comprendre et
I'originalite, une maniere indivi- de juger" [P.e.J.: <s,L.R.,t> p. viii].
duelle de voir et de sentir (car tout Flaubert's "de voir et de sentir"
est Id) ... [Corr., IV, 160]. is expanded in Maupassant.
A second passage contains another phrase of Flaubert's, ''Voir*: tout est Id et voir juste." ^^
To Flaubert seeing is "absorbing" the object. In connection with the composition of Un Coeur simple he writes : "Depuis un mois j'ai sur ma table un perroquet empaille afin de «peindre» d'apres la nature. Sa presence commence a me fatiguer. N'importel je le garde afin de m'emplir Tame de perroquet." ^^
Maupassant thus reports Flaubert's advice to him :
Quand vous passez, me disait-il, devant un epicier assis sur sa porte, devant un concierge qui fume sa pipe, devant une station de fiacres, montrez-moi cet epicier et ce concierge, leur pose, toute leur apparence physique contenant aussi, indiquee par Tadresse de I'image, toute leur nature morale, de faqon a ce que je ne les confonde avec aucun autre epicier ou avec aucun autre concierge, et faites-moi voir, par un seul mot, en quoi un cheval de fiacre ne ressemble pas aux cinquante autres qui le suivent et le precedent.^^
In the passage from Flaubert we have simply a slightly ironic description of one application of the method of "seeing." In that from Maupassant we have a description not only of the method of "seeing" but also of its results — the definite impression produced
29 P.^./.; <L.R.>, pp. xxiii-iv. ^^ Corr., IV, 268.
^^B.dS.: Corr., p. cli. ^^P.eJ.: «L./?.,> p. xxiv.
26 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
i/
and the rendering of the impression in few and skilful words. The same quotation will be seen to develop the idea of the "character- istic detail." Such observation as has been indicated involves, of course, precise attention to all detail, but especially to the "charac- teristic detail," on which Maupassant insists. The advice to find out and render this "characteristic detail" seems at first sight to contradict the other counsel to avoid the accidental and picture only the constant. The "characteristic detail," however, is not acci- dental; it is inherent by nature in the object described; it has only not yet been discovered or presented. Flaubert himself explains what he means by the accidental in the following passage : "Je me suis toujours eflForce d'aller dans Tame des choses et de m'arreter aux generalites les plus grandes, et je me suis detourne expres de V^ I'accidental et du dramatique. Pas de monstres et pas de heros!"^^ The object represented is to be an average object; the originality of the author is to consist in exhibiting a hitherto unknown aspect of the average object which has become, to him, characteristic of it. To illustrate — both Flaubert and Maupassant would have described one particular red carnation in order to distinguish it from all other red carnations, but would probably have avoided the description of a green carnation.
On observing the actual practice of the two men we find that the "characteristic detail" is, in general, introduced less strikingly in the work of Flaubert than in that of Maupassant. Its functions in either case are various. By Flaubert it is sometimes used to unify a description, all other details being made subordinate to it. For instance, at the beginning of the third chapter of Salammbo, Carthage is depicted according to the lights and shadows caused by the moonlight falling upon it.^* Often, however, in this writer, the multitude of minor details introduced in the effort after complete- ness blurs the impression, so that it is difficult to distinguish a "characteristic detail" if such is present.^^ In Maupassant, on the other hand, owing to the constant use of the "characteristic detail," outlines are sharp ; descriptions are easily grasped and, once grasped, may usually be summarized in one or two words and remembered without difficulty. Good examples may be found in almost any of^
38 Corr., IV, 245. 8* Sal., pp. 55-56.
35 For example, M.B., pp. 130-31. Is the river the "characteristic detail" of the scene here?
THEORIES REGARDING LITERARY PROCEDURE 27
his works.^^ The "characteristic detail" is emphasized by both men, again by Maupassant more distinctly and more often than by Flau- bert, through recurring mention. An example is the repeated ref- erence, in Flaubert to the awkward and common personal appearance of Charles Bovary, which seems to symbolize that man's stupidity ,^^ and in Maupassant to the elegance of Julien, which furnishes an indication, according as it waxes or wanes, of the state of the latter's amorous affairs.^^ Other examples frorn Flaubert are the insistence on the lack of energy of Frederic Moreau in UEducation sentimentale, the designation of the mercenaries in Hannibal's gar- den each by a distinctive trait, and the use of the "characteristic detail" as a conclusion in the case of Salammbo's veil floating behind her when she is seen in the chariot.^^ Corresponding instances from Maupassant are the dwelling on Forestier's ill-health and Mme Forestier's smile in Bel- Ami, the characterizing one by one of the travelers in the diligence of Boule de Suif, and the concluding of the story entitled Le Pere with a sentence giving the outstanding aspect of the conduct of the "father. "^«
In order to .accomplish distinctive as well as accurate presenta- y tion both Flaubert and Maupassant seek to avoid hackneyed expres- sions. A certain use of "idees regues" is made,' however, in Flaubert and more occasionally in Maupassant in the conversations of per- sonages to whom it is desired to give the characteristic of "betise." Good examples are to be found throughout Botward et Pecuchet and in the remarks of Homais, the Abbe Bournisien, etc., in Madame Bovary ^^ In Maupassant instances are to be sought among ecclesiastical pronouncements, such as the address of the ctirS in La Maison Tellier, or in the conversation of "gens du monde," like that between the two women in the stagecoach towards the end of Boule de Suif.*^
36 For example, the representation of the characters in Une Vie, pp. 3-46, 8-9, 30-34, 35, etc.
37 M.B,, pp. 2, 59, 76; 85, 141, etc.
38 U.V., pp. 39, 57, 126, 131, 188, etc.
^^L'^d.S., pp. 12, 30, 2,2, 34-35, 92-93, no, etc.; Sal, pp. 3 and 25. ^^B.-A., pp. 8-9, 120, 127, 191, etc.; 31, 33, 46, 64, 99, 119, 120, 126, etc.; B.d.S., pp. 14-20 ; C.dJ.e.d.hN., p. 44.
41 For example, B.e.P., pp. 4, 5, 8, 11, 17, 24, etc.; M.B., pp. 102-7, 156-59, etc. ^^L.M.T., pp. 37-38; U.V„ p. 234; B.dS., p. 7Z) U.V., p. 136.
y
28 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Corresponding to the "characteristic detail" in description and necessary for its delimitation is the "mot juste" in language. Flaubert had said that it was time to give to art the precision of the physical sciences."*^ Maupassant had maintained that art was mathematical, and that great effects were to be obtained by simple and well-combined means.** The "mot juste" is among the most important of these means. Both men dwell on the subject, Maupas- sant relating how Flaubert insisted upon precise expression.*^ With the master the "mot juste" is usually connected with his idea of the inevitable correspondence between sound and sense ; with the pupil the emphasis is rather on the actual justesse of the mot. The fol- lowing quotations will illustrate what is meant.
Flaubert says :
Ce souci de la beaute exterieure que vous me reprochez est pour moi une 7tiethode* Quand je decouvre una mauvaise assonance ou una repeti- tion dans une de mes phrases, ja suis sur que ja patauga dans la faux; a force de charchar, je trouva I' expression juste qui etait la seule et qui est, en meme temps, I'harmonieuse.^^
Flaubert, then, finds the mot juste with the aid of the harmonious word.
Maupassant, reporting Flaubert's advice to him, speaks as follows :
Obsede par catte croyanca absolue qu'il n'existe qu'une maniere d'exprimer une chose, un mot pour la dire, un adjectif pour la qualifier et un verbe pour I'animer, il se livrait a un labaur surhumain pour decou- vrir, a chaque phrase, ce mot, cette epitheta at ca verba. // croyait ainsi a une harmonie mysterieuse des expressions, et quand un terme juste ne lui semblait point euphonique, il en cherchait un autre avac una invincible patience, certain qu'il ne tenait pas le vrai, I'unique.*'
We find in these words the mot juste defined as "a noun, an adjec- tive, or a verb." Otherwise the passage simply states again the theory of Flaubert quoted in the preceding paragraph.
In another passage, after speaking of Flaubert, Maupassant goes on with his special definition of the mot juste as "a noun, an adjective, or a verb." He then continues : "II faut done chercher,
*« Corr., Ill, 113. *6 Corr., IV, 251.
**B.dS.: Corr., p. clii. ^^ o.P., JI: E.s.G.F., p. 130.
*^ For example, P.eJ. : tL.R.,^ pp. xxiv-xxv.
THEORIES REGARDING LITERARY PROCEDURE 29
jusqu' a ce qu'on les ait decouverts, ce mot, ce verhe et cet adjectif, et ne jamais se contenter de Va pen pres, ne jamais avoir recours a des supercheries, meme heureuses, a des clowneries de langage pour eviter la difficulte." ^^ The mot juste is to be sought then, pre- sumably, among the ordinary expressions of ordinary good usage. In this and the following paragraphs Maupassant is deprecating especially the employment of the "ecriture artiste" (like that of the Goncourts and others supposedly).''^ We find in the same place the additional idea that the relative position of a word must be taken into account in determining its exact meaning. He seems also towards the end of the passage, to advocate an attention to sound similar to that of Flaubert. "Ayons," he says, "moins de noms, de verbes et d'adjectifs aux sens presque insaisissables, mais plus de phrases differentes, diversement construites, ingenieusement coupees, pleines de sonorites et de rythmes savants." This sentence reminds one not a little of the older man's attitude, quoted on a preceding page.
In practice Maupassant here again, as in the case of the "char- acteristic detail," often makes a deeper impression than Flaubert because there is with him less softening down of the effect. Exam- ples of the "mot juste" may be discovered on practically every page of both writers. Study of its nature reveals the fact that it is, gener- ally speaking, as Maupassant has told us it will be, "a noun, a verb, or an adjective," more usually a verb or an adjective than a noun. It is also sometimes an adverb. It is often a word used in the ordinary sense, but when so it does not catch the attention, nor indeed can it be expected to do so under such circumstances. We are not particularly struck upon hearing a spade called a "spade," although "spade" is no doubt the "mot juste" for that instrument. The word which impresses us with its peculiar fitness for definition of a person, an object, or a situation is very frequently one used figuratively. Again the "mot juste" will at times be a phrase, where one word does not seem to meet the occasion. The effort after this "mot juste" results often in Maupassant, less frequently in Flaubert, in the employment of a succession of words, usually verbs or adjec- tives, aiming at the effect sought. Illustration of the "mot juste" is difficult because of the great abundance of examples. It seems necessary, however, because of the importance of the subject in the
' *8P.^./.: -«L./?.,» p. XXV. « /hU, pp. xxv-vi.
30 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
doctrine of the two authors. An attempt will therefore be made to illustrate the **mot juste" by means of the following examples., chosen more or less at random. It has not been thought advisable to include instances of words used merely in their ordinary sense. The wot juste in Flaubert as a single word:
"Elle entrait dans quelque chose de merveilleux ou tout serait pas- sion, extase, delire; una immensite hleudtre rentourait, les sommets du sentiment etincelaient sous sa pensee ..." [Said of Emma at the begin- ning of her intrigue with Rodolphe] (M.B., p. 225).
"... tout autour de la peninsule carthaginoise une ceinture d'ecume blanche oscillait." [Of the waves breaking on the shore.] (Sal., p. 21.)
**Des candelabres, brulant sur les tables alignees dans toute la longueur du vaisseau, f aisaient des biiissons de feux, ... " ( T.C. : Herodias, p.
173)-
"Emma, des le vestibule, sentit tomber sur ses epaules, comme un
linge humide, le froid du platre" (M.B., p. 117).
"Le ciel, d'un bleu tendre, arrondi comme un dome, s'appuyait a I'horizon sur la dentelure des bois" (L'Ed.S., p. 469").
" . . . le chagrin s'engoiiffrait dans son ame avec des hurlements doux, comme fait le vent d'hiver dans les chateaux abandonnes" {M.B., p. 171).
"La conversation de Charles etait plate comme un trottoir de rue, ... " (M.R, p. 57)-
"... puis venait une file de minces bouleaux, inclines dans des attitudes elegiaques: ..." {L'Ed.S., p. 466).
The mot juste in Maupassant as a single word : "U arsenal de Tesprit paysan fut vide" (C.d.l. Bee: Farce Normande, p. 91).
"Un-flot de soleil tombait sur la riviere endormie et luisante." [Of the Seine on a hot day.] (Yvette, p. 56.)
"La torche . . . illuminait le grand rideau de sapins" (U.V., p. 210).
"Le platane et le tilleul se devetaient rapidement sous les rafales*' (f7.F.,p. 124).
"Le long de la route, I'herbe, que ne couvrait point encore I'ombre impenetrable des cimes, etaite drue, luisante, vernie de seve nouvelle" (AT.C, p. 230).
"II etait laid, noueux comme un tronc d'olivier." [Of Corsican ban- dit.] {Au S.: Les Bandits Corses, p. 207,)
On reading the words italicized above, one has the feeling that they are exactly the expressions required in the places where they occur. Some examples will now be given of phrases as "mots justes."
THEORIES REGARDING LITERARY PROCEDURE 31
Flaubert :
"Ainsi se tenait, devant ces bourgeois epanouis, ce demi-siecle de servi- tude/' [This phrase is appHed to the old servant of the "Cornices" who receives a medal for fifty years of slavish service.] {M.B., p. 209.)
"Quand elle eut ainsi un peu battu le briquet sur son coeur sans en fair jaillir une etincelle, ..." [Of Emma, trying to **give herself love."] (M.B., p. 61.)
Maupassant :
"Dans cet apaisement du soleil absent, toutes les senteurs de la terre se repandaient." [The phrase in italics describes the peace of night.] (C/.F.,p. 18.)
"Une grosse femme, bdtie en forteresse, remplaqait Rosalie ..." {U.V., p. 186).
Besides striking combinations of words, such as are illustrated above, both Flaubert and Maupassant employ somewhat vague phrases which seem to contain rather an effort after the "mot juste" than the attainment of it. Examples are given below.
Flaubert :
"Quelque chose des vitalites planetaires le penetrait. ..." [Said of Hannibal meditating in the "maison-amiral."] {Sal., p. 142.)
"C'etait comme une montagne lumineuse, quelque chose de surhumain, ecrasant tout de son opulence et de son orgueil." [Said of the Temple, seen by Herod from his citadel.] (T.C.: Her., p. 141.)
Maupassant :
" ... sa voisine, . . . portait en elle ce quelque chose de fripe, d'arti- ficiel qu'ont, en general, les anciennes actrices, ..." (B.-A., p. 75).
Maupassant frequently uses "une sorte de" in such phrases, instead of "quelque chose de."
"Le murmure des voix montait, . . . une sorte de poussiere de bruit." [Of voices of crowd heard from some distance.] (M.-C, pp. 38-39).
The use of a succession of words in striving for the mot juste is much more common in Maupassant than in Flaubert, but is occasionally found also in the latter.
Flaubert Maupassant
Elle entrait dans quelque chose II lui demandait conseil, pitie,
de merveilleux ou tout serait pas- secours, protection, consolation,
sion, extase, delire. \M.B., p. 225] . . . [ULB., pp. 54-55].
32 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
We come now to consider the attitude of the two writers on the question of beauty in general effect apart from the specific details producing the result. This was the supreme concern of Flaubert.
^ Form and idea were indeed, in his eyes, inextricably interdependent, but, of the two, form was the more important.'^* He seems to have imagined "style" as something abstracted from and superior to the content which it clothed. There was, however, in practice an un-
^/ breakable connection between sound and sense, between the mot eiiphonique and the mot juste. His final test for accuracy of expres- sion was to read a passage aloud. If, thus read aloud, it did not satisfy his fastidious ear, he set to work to alter it. He says him- self : "Les phrases mal ecrites ne resistent pas a cette epreuve ; elles oppressent la poitrine, genent les battements du coeur, et se trouvent ainsi en dehors des conditions de la vie." °^ All this shows Flaubert's extreme care for the rhythm of his prose. From what he has said in other passages we gather the idea that style was to him that part of an author's work where the intangible something which we call "genius" would become apparent. "Dans la/^recision des assem- blages, la rarete des elements, le poli de la surf^^, I'harmonie de I'ensemble, n'y a-t-il pas une vertu intrinseque, une es^pece de force divine, quelque chose d'eternel comme un principe?"^\ He even goes so far as to declare :
- t^ Ce qui me semble beau, ce que je voudrais faire, c'est un livre sur rien,
\'^ y^^ un livre sans attache exterieure, qui se tiendrait de lui-meme par la force
^ interne de son style, comme la terre sans etre soutenue se tient en I'air,
un livre qui n'aurait presque pas de sujet ou du moins ou le sujet serait presque invisible, si cela se peut. Les oeuvres les plus belles sont celles ou il y a le moins de matiere ; plus I'expression se rappoche de la pensee,^ plus le mot colle dessus et disparait, plus c'est beau.^^
Maupassant, reporting Flaubert, notes the fact that to the latter
the form was the work itself, and form and content were inter-
dependent.^* He furnishes us besides with a description of Flau-
/ bert's process of reading aloud (to which the word "gueuler" is
attached by those who mention it, Flaubert himself included).
Quelquefois . . . il prenait la feuille de papier, I'elevait a la hauteur du regard, et s'appuyant sur un coude, declamait d'une voix mordante
^^Corr., I, 196, 244; II, 129, 426, 430, etc.; Ill, 113, 162, 268; IV, 246.
»^ Corr., IV, Appendix, p. 457- ®^ Corr., II, 86.
« Corr., IV, 252-53. " O.P., II : E.s.G.F., pp. 129-30.
THEORIES REGARDING LITERARY PROCEDURE S3
et haute. II ecoutait le rythme de sa prose, s'arretait comme pour saisir une sonorite fuyante, combinait les tons, eloignait les assonances, dis- posait les virgules avec science comme les haltes d'un long chemin.^^
After having once discovered a harmonious phrase Flaubert found it, says Maupassant, impossible to change, even where such change would have been to the advantage of the sense.^® He quotes a long pronouncement of Flaubert's on the rare difficulty and dignity of rhythm in prose.^^ He gives also two definitions of what seems to him to be Flaubert's conception of style. In one place he says that style to Flaubert is not a mere matter of words but includes all the qualities of the thinker and writer.^® In another passage on the same page he distinguishes between "styles" — the separate manners of writing peculiar to separate individuals — and "style" — something which has almost a being of its own apart from content, and which does not vary from one author to another. It seems here to mean rather what we should call "the inspiration of genius" than anything else. The two definitions are not necessarily contradictory, but the latter seems to come nearer than the former to what we have seen to be Flaubert's own idea of "style."
Maupassant, when he comes to speak for himself, says that the true power of literature lies not so much in what is said as in the method of preparation and presentation. The expression must accord with the idea, such agreement possessing a certain beauty not per- ceptible by the crowd.^^
As we turn now from theory to practice a general perusal of the works of the two men leads to the impression that their styles are, on the whole, not closely similar. One misses, for example, in the precision of the younger man the general romantic atmosphere . of the typical Flaubertian passage. Neither does one usually find '\"''X:s, in Maupassant the striking phrases with rhythmical eflfect common especially in the earlier work of the older writer. Where one does find such phrases, contrary to custom, in Maupassant, one might be led to suspect an influence, especially where thought or wording or both are at all alike. The two following phrases suggest such a resemblance :
55 Ibid., p. 131. 58 Jbid^^ p 129.
5« Ibid., p. 132. 59 ibid.^ p. 128.
57 Ibid., pp. 132-33-
>
34 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Flaubert Maupassant
L'oblique genuflexion des de- L'onde onctueuse des consola-
vots presses [M.B., />. SSO- ^'^ns eeclesiastiques [U.V., p. 233],
The rhythm of these two phrases is very similar, and the ideas are at least related.
In two other respects there is a resemblance between Flaubert and Maupassant in point of style. On the one hand, both attain to a considerable degree of "justesse" of tone as well as of word. As examples from Flaubert one might cite the generally poetic effect of La Legende de Saint Julien VHospitdier compared with the sim- plicity of Un Coeur simple. The same quality is very evident in practically all of Maupassant's stories of peasant life, as, for in- stance, in the laconic recital of the accident in En Mer, or in the familiar conversation of La Bete a Maif Belhoimne.^'^ On the other hand, there is frequently a disparity more or less distinctly felt between style and subject. In Flaubert we have, as in Madame B ovary, the opposition between romantic style and commonplace subject ; in Maupassant we meet often the contrast between charm- ing style and utterly disagreeable subject. Both men employ many similar technicalities of style; these will be taken up in later paragraphs.^^
The two authors agree that there must be harmony between word and idea, not only in separate passages of a work but also throughout the whole work. Such unity is frequently attained through the ironical presentation of life, which results in large measure from the scorn of humanity entertained by either. Nothing escapes their irony ; all classes, all conditions, all situations, and all events touched by them come alike under the lash. In expressing itself this irony assumes various forms. Sometimes it manifests itself in circum- stances. People are constantly being duped or disenchanted. Emma Bovary, for example, despises the one man who ever truly loves her and seems to be touched by some faint realization of her mis- take only at the eleventh hour.^^ Mme Loisel wears herself out in order to replace a necklace which turns out to have been of false
^^ C.d.LBec, pp. 129-39; M.Par., pp. 79-91-
61 After Madame Bovary the style of Flaubert tends to lose its figurative quality, so that in his later works it approximates the dryness and simplicity of Maupassant's manner.
«2M.B., pp. 437, 438.
THEORIES REGARDING LITERARY PROCEDURE 35
stones, and is informed of the fruitlessness of her labor only after she has lost forever youth, beauty, and happiness.^^ Sometimes the ironical effect is increased by a process of cumulation, as in Boule de Suif, where the "respectable" characters appear one after another as knaves and hypocrites beside the woman they despise, or in Bouvard et Pecuchet, where Flaubert takes up successively the dif- ferent departments of human thought, only to show the folly of all. The idea that thought is one of the worst things in life because it makes men wretched is expressed in so many words towards the beginning of this book, and occurs more than once in Maupassant.^* An illustration of its acceptance by both men is that they describe most sympathetically those characters least distinguished by think- ing— the simple, animal-like peasants. In the pursuit of irony the characters are sometimes made to say ridiculous things ; for instance, in the manner of Homais and the Homais-like personages in Mau- passant.^^ Sometimes a remark by the author supplies the point of irony, as where Arnoux is said to seek "le sublime a bon marche," or where "mon oncle Sosthene" is described as "libre penseur par betise."^® The effect of much of the irony of both authors is that of sardonic humor — an attribute of authorship which Flaubert expresses himself as desirous of developing in order to accomplish the ironic picture after which he strives. Maupassant thinks that his master has attained this particularly in Bouvard et Pecuchet. The passages expressing these ideas are as follows :
Flaubert Maupassant
Le comique arrive a Textreme, Maupassant finds in Bouvard et
le comique qui ne vous fait pas Pecuchet "un comique tout particu- rire, le cynisme dans la blague, est Her, un comique sinistre" {^O.P., II, pour moi tout ce qui me fait le plus 105]. envie comme ecrivain [Corr., II, 140].
Even in less apparently ironical humorous situations in Maupas- sant there is often a sting in the very extremity of the absurdity.^'^
«3 C.dJ.e.dlN.: La Parure, pp. 69-74. ^* For example, B.e.P., p. 13; L'LB., pp. 30-31 ; B.-A., p. 211. 65 For example, M.B., pp. 111-12, etc.; C.d.L.: Un Coup d'etat, pp. 3-31, 32, etc.
^^UndS., p. 56; L.S.R.: M.OS., p. 109.
6^ For example, Toine; Marius in Une Vie, pp. 132-33, 139 ; etc.
36 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Maupassant is at times frankly and gratuitously vulgar,^* or exhibits a coarseness which appears also in Flaubert, and from which he was at least not discouraged by the latter.^" In the later works of Maupassant and to a much smaller degree of Flaubert, as sympathy increases irony tends to disappear, although never perhaps entirely absent/^'
With regard to subjects, both men hold that any subject is admissible, but that the author should choose what is suited to his temperament.^^ Flaubert concedes so much to temperament that he declares subjects are not chosen but impose themselves through its influence. Masterpieces may be written on any subject, even the most insignificant and vulgar. The author, seeing that he is to be controlled by his own temperament, must be free from the interfer- ence of external criticism. In these points Maupassant agrees with his master either explicitly or implicitly. Upon investigation we dis- cover that the subjects actually selected by the two are for the most part "realistic" — the representation of middle-class mediocre human- ity in the provinces or in Paris, of the peasant on his native soil, of the government functionary in the performance of his monotonous duties, of illicit love, of birth, marriage, and death. Even in the pic- turing of more "far-off" matters, as in Salammho or in Maupassant's stories of fanciful beings or occurrences,'^^ the "realistic" method is used, such procedure and details being adopted in presentation as will give the impression of actual fact. What the method of devel- opment is will be discussed in the succeeding chapter of this thesis.
If all subjects are equally worthy, and if form is the supreme con- cern of art, it will follow that the artist will write for the sake of art alone. As a matter of fact, Flaubert held very strongly the theory of "art for art's sake," of the non-concern of art with morality or utility. Maupassant thus sums up his master's teaching on this mat- ter: All great writers have protested against making their works didactic. Principles are indispensable to the social order, but letters and the social order have nothing in common. The chief concern
•®For example, certain elements in the story of Toine. «»For example, Sal, p. 153; S.l'E., p. 103. ^^ See above, pp. 21-24.
" Corr., II, 82, 84-85, 86-87, 293; III, 147, 304, 542; IV, 255; P.eJ.: <L./?.,» pp. vii-viii, x; Mile F.: R. d M.F.S., pp. 275 f[. '2 For example, Le Horla, pp. 3-48.
THEORIES REGARDING LITERARY PROCEDURE 37
of novelists is to observe and describe human passions, good or bad. Their mission is not to moraHze or instruct. Every book advocating a cause ceases thereby to be an artistic book.^^
Finally both men were conscious of the fundamental need of pro- longed and incessant work in order to attain success in writing. Both exemplified this belief in practice. Maupassant records the fact of Flaubert's unremitting labor ;^* we have noted above the latter's advice to the former on the necessity of work ;'^^ and the younger man himself must have undergone extreme toil in order to complete what we have from his pen within the space of his comparatively short literary career.
In considering the literary theories of Flaubert and Maupassant reference has been made only to such beliefs as the two hold in com- mon. We have not attempted to give a complete statement of the doctrine of either. Yet what has been said includes the more impor- tant tenets of both. We have seen how, in some cases, Maupassant develops a particular aspect of a theory further than does Flaubert and perhaps passes lightly over what the latter emphasizes. A good example of this is to be found in the case of the mot juste, where, as we saw, Maupassant dwells upon the just esse of the mot, Flaubert rather upon its euphony. In general we may say that Maupassant's theory, with its insisting upon but one or two points, is less elabo- rately worked out than Flaubert's. In practice the theory of each expands or becomes more clearly differentiated. Impersonality, for instance, is found to present different aspects or different degrees of intensity, "nature" to have a certain specific meaning. On the whole the case for the influence of one man on the other is strengthened when theories which in their statement might have indicated merely repetition of the one by the other are observed to be effectively operative in both.
73 O.P., II, 97.
74 Ibid., pp. 124, 130, 134-35. ^'^ See above, p. 6.
CHAPTER IV
LIKENESS IN EMPLOYMENT OF GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES
Besides the literary devices of Flaubert and Maupassant already discussed, which result from the theories definitely stated by them, there are additional literary procedures employed by both which, for the most part, they share in common with the other realists of the day. In tracing the relationship between the two men it would not be wise to omit consideration of such procedures, for certain of them may come from the one to the other instead of being a common heritage. In any event, when taken along with less disputable cases of influence, the assemblage of them will possess a cumulative weight of proof for the relationship.
Many of these procedes, now to be considered, may be grouped together under the head of "reaHstic details."/ The first of these details is the practice of beginning in medias r^^fVhich is the usual procedure of both men in their novels and a frequent one of Maupas* sant's in his short stories. Closely akin to this is the ending with a kind of "broken-oflf" eflFect, leaving in the reader's mind the idea of an action still continuing, as in real life. So conclude Flaubert's Madame Bovary, UEducation sentimentale, and Herodias, and Mau- passant's Notre Coeur, Pierre et Jean and Bel-Ami^ besides some of the latter 's short stories.^
Definite time indications are exceedingly common in both authors. The year, the month, the day, the hour, of an event is often men- tioned with extreme exactitude. In some stories one can date exactly or approximately almost every episode. Examples would be Un Coeur simple and Une Vie. On the other hand there are narratives with little or no definite dating, like Flaubert's Saint Julien VHos- pitalier or Maupassant's Mont-Oriol. Dating is often from the age of a character or characters,^ or from a well-known and definitely fixed event — a historical fact, for instance, such as some political
^ For example, in C.d.L., Un Coup d'etat, Le Pere, etc. 2 See Un Coeur simple and Une Vie, already mentioned, where some of the definite dating is done through mention of ages.
38
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 39
occurrence. L'Education sentimentale furnishes many examples of this latter method, as do also Maupassant's stories of the Franco- Prussian War.^ Lapse of time is sometimes denoted in so many words,* sometimes implied through the use of the imperfect tense or in the multitude of happenings. ^Occasionally it is suggested by the reappearance of some thing to which attention has been called before, and which has then been lost from view for a time. An example in Flaubert is the wedding bouquet of Madame Bovary, put aside by her on the evening of her arrival in Tostes, and discovered in a drawer when she is about to leave the place, after long-continued experience of disenchantment.^ A similar instance in Maupassant is furnished by the calendar marking for Jeanne the day of her depar- ture from school life to expected happiness in the future, which, found by her, with other calendars, in the attic, after long years of disappointment, is utilized in her effort to reconstruct the past.^ The actual mention of the time in both writers is often made in the most casual way, as befits the realistic method. "Un apres-midi (c'etait le 20 Janvier 1839), Bouvard etant a son comptoir regut une lettre, apportee par le facteur."^ "C'etait en 1827, au mois de juillet. Je me trouvais a Rouen en garnison."^
A special method of time indication, perhaps more distinctive of Flaubert and Maupassant than those already discussed, is that given by means of some happening denoting the season of the year. This is fairly frequent in Flaubert, and it is possible that Maupassant may have taken it from him. Well-known examples are the splashing of drops of melting snow on Emma's parasol, and the falling of the ripe peach from against the wall when Rodolphe and Emma are in the garden together. ^^ A frequent instance in Maupassant is the rather commonplace mention of falling leaves to suggest the autumn sea- son." The "heavy heat" of summer is noted by both men.^^ Some-
3 For example, UEd.S., pp. 38 ff., 311, 409 ff., 456 ff., 475 ff. ; Mile F., pp. 3-27; Mile F.: Deux Amis, pp. 209-21.
4 T.C.: U.C.S,, p. 57; U.V., p. 288.
5 For example, T.C.: S.J.l'H., pp. 82-89, etc.; M.-O., pp. 121 ff., etc.
6 M.B., pp. 44-45, 94. ^ B.e.P., p. 14.
7 U.V., pp. 2, 367. 9 C.d.L.: Apparition, p. 157. ^^M.B., pp. 23, 275; cf. Brunetiere, Le Roman naturaliste, pp. 181-83.
11 For example, U.V., pp. 118-19; L.p.R., pp. 32-33; etc.
12 For example, M.S., p. 284; U£dS., pp. 466-67; U.V., p. 70; L.M.T.: En Famille, p. 137.
40 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
times the time of day is indicated thus characteristically, as well as the time of year. Both men, for instance, call attention to another generally observed circumstance, the "peeping" or fluttering of the birds in the very early morning.^^
A common method of giving vividness to a narration is that of "taking things for granted," explanation being omitted, as if one were dealing with a well-known object or current event. Flaubert has sometimes carried this practice so far that the result is a sense of vagueness, present, for instance, on reading many passages of Salammho}^ When not pushed to excess, however, the procedure lends an effect of reality to a picture, the author, as it were, asso- ciating the reader with himself in his knowledge. A good example is the introduction of Charles Bovary into the schoolroom at the beginning of Madame Bovary, when the writer and others are sup- posed to be witnesses of his advent.^^ Another instance in the same book is the mention, without comment, of the "pavilion at the angle of the wall," to which Emma directs her solitary walks at Tostes. The practice of participation by the author is common in Maupassant, one of whose regular procedes is to begin the relation of an adventure as if it were something pertaining to current gossip, or an incident told among friends. His "I" corresponds in these cases to Flaubert's "we" at the beginning of Madame Bovary. His own creations are brought in as if they were events known in the world familiar to author and reader alike.^*
Another device used by both men is to relate a description to life by means of some picturesque or vivid detail. For instance, when the river at Yonville-l'Abbaye is pictured, we are told that it is there that the boys of the neighborhood fish. Sometimes a detail of this kind seems to obtrude itself unnecessarily upon our notice, as in the case of the blue seal upon the letter brought to Charles Bovary by night from "Les Bertaux."^^ In Maupassant the procedure is fre- quent. Here is an example taken from the opening paragraph of Notre Coeur: "Un jour Massival, le musicien, le celebre auteur de
13 For example, M.B., p. i6; U. V., p. 22. 1* For example, beginning of Sal. ^^ M.B., p. i.
i^For example, MJ^ar.: Ulnconnue, p. 109, L'£pingle, p. 187, Ca ira, p. 233 ; Le Horla, etc.
" M£., p. 95 ; ibid., p. 15.
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 41
<i.Reheccaf>y celui que, depuis quinze ans dejd, on appelait «le jeune et ilhistre maUre», dit ... " What seem at first sight to be superfluous details are much less common in Maupassant than in Flaubert. The following is an example of what might be called one. Boule de Suif has just offered M. Loiseau some of her chicken "... sur la pointe d'un couteau totijours loge dans sa poche, il enleva une cuisse toute vernie de gelee . . . "^®
In the works of both Flaubert and Maupassant there is consider- able employment of technical detail of various kinds. Medical and pathological particulars, frequently used with caricatural intent, are found in connection with the "pied bot" of Madame Bovary, with the diphtheria case of UEducation sentimentale, with the mineral springs of Mont-Oriol, with the folly of Madame Hermet, as well as in many other places. ^^ Financial items in the matter of business dealings, of inheritances, and of other money transactions recur constantly in Flaubert's novels and in Maupassant's romans and nouvelles. Ex- amples are the manoeuvres of Lheureux, of Frederic, of Bel-Ami, of Andermatt, and of many others.^^ Various other scientific or pseudo- scientific details are largely used by Flaubert, as in the erudite disser- tations of Salammho and the absurd discussions of Bouvard et Pecuchet. Nearest to these in Maupassant are the many local words employed, without explanation, in the accounts of the latter's trav- elings in Algeria.^^
Particulars regarding food, costume, furniture, especially when these are of unusual kinds, are very common in Flaubert, and less common, though still constantly discoverable, in Maupassant. De- scriptions of such things in the latter, where they are found, are less extensive than in the former, Maupassant seeming to be here less "bourgeois" in his interest than Flaubert. Examples of the details under discussion are to be found in the accounts of the feasts and of the costumes of the heroines in Madame Bovary and in
i8B.d.5.,p. 25.
^^M.B., pp. 241-58; L'£d.S., pp. 401-4; M.'O., pp. 221-30, etc.; L.M.G.: Madame Hermet, pp. 253-67 ; Sal, p. 45, etc. ; S.UE., pp. 85-92 ; etc.
20 M.B., pp. 13, 25, 262-63, etc. ; Sal, pp. 78-84, etc. ; U£dS., pp. 139-40, etc. ; B.e.P., pp. 14-17, etc.; B.-A., pp. 127-28, etc.; ikf.-O., pp. 11, 29, 178-79, etc.; M. Har.: U Heritage, pp. 88-89, etc.; UV., pp. 306-7; etc.
21 For example, Au S., p. 37, "le goum de I'agha de Saida"; p. 40, "bien au dela du chott"; etc.; cf. Kipling.
42 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Salammho, as well as of the house-furnishings in both books." Instances of the same kind of thing in Maupassant are the descrip- tions in Notre Coeur of the dinner given by Mme de Burne, and of the fittings of that lady's house.^^ Some specific details, such as the use of the word "acajou" in connection with furniture, and the introduction of secretaries, with or without secret drawers,'^ which are similar in the two men, are probably to be attributed to a common ^acquaintance with prevailing fashion.
There is frequent reference in both authors to historical events. Sometimes this mention is confined to the giving of the date or the naming of the event.^'^L ^^"^^^^^^s ^^^ fortunes of the personages are closely related to the historical situation, reference to the charac- ter being interwoven with description of the fact, as in numerous passages of U Education sentimentale or in Maupassant's stories of the War of 1870^ Sometimes extracts from history are given in con- nection with descriptions of places. Par les Champs et par les Greves furnishes good examples of this.^^ Some instances are found in Maupassant's accounts of his travels.^^ An episode of Norman life calls forth from him also on one occasion some facts of Norman history.^® A very frequent form of historical reference in the works of the two authors, accompanied sometimes by citations, is that to well-known writers or other famous men, both contemporary and belonging to the past — for example, to Sir Walter Scott, to Rousseau, to Voltaire, to Robespierre, to Napoleon, to Balzac, etc.^^ Perhaps
22 For example, M.B., pp. 38-39, 43-45, 69, 83, 179, etc.; Sal., pp. 4-5, 14, 103-4, 248-49.
23 B.-A., pp. 120-21, 123, 125 ; N.C., pp. 15, 38, 48, 80, 146, 185, 192-93, etc. ; N.C., pp. 5-7.
24 For example, M.B., p. 366; M.-O., p. 70; U.V., p. 33; M.B., p. 478; U.V., pp. 33, 240.
25 For example, U.C.S., p. 42; L'J^d.S., pp. 424-25, etc.; C.d.l.B.i Sdint- Antoine, p. 223 ; L.V.E., pp. 109-10.
28 U£:dS., pp. 409, about 500, etc.; B.dS.: S.-A.; etc.
27 P.lC.e.pJ.G., for example, pp. 13-17, 19, 52-53, etc.
28 For example, Au S., pp. 186, 217-30, etc.
29 L.R.d.M.H., pp. 32-33.
*®For example, M.B., pp. 51, 80, 81, 115, 125, 147, 244, etc.; L'Bd.S., pp. 15, 19, 21, 39, 41-42, 105, 195, etc. ; 5*0/., pp. 144-45, 318-19, 335, etc. ; B.e.P., pp. 5, 97, 137, etc.; U.V., pp. 3, 33; B.-A., pp. 93-94, i97; M.-O., pp. 114, 151; M. Par., pp. 255, 264, 268; L.R.d.M.H., pp. 261^^',-^Xjcr^
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 43
here might be included Maupassant's mention of Flaubert once or twice in a rather gossiping way, to tell how he met certain people at Flaubert's, or how the latter made such and such a remark on such and such an occasion.^^ In one passage Maupassant narrates a visit to the puppet-show of " Saint- Antoine" with Flaubert and Bouilhet, linking this and other visits thereto with the remembrances of his childhood.^^ Of historical import also for the period to which they belong, even if not unique of their kind, are the pictures given by Flaubert and Maupassant of contemporary life, whether in France or abroad. / Throughout their works both authors note the sounds proper to I their descriptions. Sometimes we are invited to listen to the animals \in the country, especially to the crowing of cocks and the barking of jdogs.^^ Sometimes it is the ringing of bells that we hear, or the /' passing of vehicles, or the confused murmur or more definite noises \ of a city.^* Sometimes a character pays attention to the beating of I her own heart.^^ Very often the effect of the sound is heightened / through being opposed to the impression of silence or of silence and / darkness. Most frequently mentioned in this connection is the strik- / ing or ticking of a clock or watch in the stillness of night, often in a death chamber.^^ Silence is occasionally emphasized, on the other hand, through the contrast with slight noises, such as those made by the little wild creatures in the underbrush at night, or by the mys- terious denizens of the sea.^^
As well as to sounds, Flaubert and Maupassant call attention very frequently to odors, pleasant or unpleasant, natural or artificial.^^
31 For example, Au S., pp. 7, 191, 196; M. Par., p. 264; L.p.R., p. 269.
32 L.R.d.M.H. : Souvenirs, pp. 237-44.
33 For example, M.B., pp. 17, 18, 190, 203, 221, 466; U^d.S., pp. 463, 467; U.C.S., pp. II, 14; U.V., pp. 19, 21-22, 50, 119, 134, 343; C.d.l.B.: Pierrot, pp. 51-57, Les Sabots, p. 99, Un Coq chanta, pp. 184, 188, 191, L'Aventure de Walter Schnaffs, p. 241, La Tombe, p. 253; and so on.
3* For example, M.B., pp. 153, 364, 393, 80, 353; L'£dS., pp. 70, 71, 76, etc. ; Mile. F., p. 26; 5^, pp. 50, 53; U.V., p. 354; N.C., p. 71 ; etc. 35 For example, M.B., pp. 438-39; U.V., p. 19. 3«iW.5., p. 454; P.e.J., p. 113; etc. 37 M.B., p. 275 ; U.V., pp. 18-19; L.P.R.; U£pave, pp. 79-80.
38 For example, Sal, pp. 34, 56, 61, 94-95, 132, 178-79, 247, etc.; M.-O., pp. 96, 101, 103; B^^^,^. 45; C.d.L.: En Voyage, pp. 244-45; etc.
44 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
The word "nauseabond" is common in both.^^ The effect of odors on man is observed.*^
Much space is likewise given to color. Sometimes color is piled upon color,*^ this being done in places in order to produce a ridiculous or ironical effect. Thus Charles Bovary, on his first appearance, is decked out in an absurd combination of colors.*^ Thus also the tapestries in Jeanne's room are executed according to a most bizarre color-scheme.*^ In this latter passage it almost seems as if Maupas- sant were making fun of the practice of adding color to color. Fre- quently two contrasting colors are mentioned together, as in the case of the pigeons of Madame Bovary and Boule de Suif.^'^
Enumerations are frequent in the writings of the two men. In Flaubert their more usual form is that of a piling up of different details in an effort after completeness. A good example is furnished by the account of the precious stones in the caverns of Hannibal, where an attempt is made not only to mention as many different kinds of gems as possible but also to differentiate them according to origin and the nature of the reflection they cast.*® In Maupassant generally and occasionally in Flaubert enumerations consist of a bringing together of similar details in order to give prominence to some par- ticular point.*® The effect resulting from the former type of enumeration tends to be that of vagueness ; from the latter, that of emphasis. Instances are the naming of many animals in La Legende de Saint Jiilien rHospitalier,*'' in order to portray the orgy of slaughter in which Julien indulges, and the noting of the multitu- dinous flowers and insects in the thicket visited by Jeanne and JuHen, in order to produce the impression of heat and swarming life.*^
When an author restricts himself in explanation or description to those things alone which may be perceived by the senses, it seems
89 For example, Sal, p. 34; L.V.E., p. 147; S.l'E., p. 103; etc.
*oFor example, M.B., pp. 288-89; L.p.R.: Sauvee, p. 175.
*i For example, Sal., p. 176; M. Par., p. 58.
« M.B., p. 2. 43 U.V., pp. 14-15-
**M.B., p. 150, "leurs pattes roses et leurs ailes blanches"; B.d.S., p. 71, "une armee de pigeons blancs, . . . , avec un oeil rose (tache, au milieu, d'un point noir)."
« Sal., p. 176.
*« For example, M.B., pp. 3, 10, 36; Sal, p. 176; L'&d.S., pp. 47-48, 51 ; T.C.: L.L.d.S.J.VH., p. 91 ; U.V., pp. 50-51 ; B.-^., pp^ 56, 106^36; etc. *7 Page 91. 48 U.V., pp. 50-51.
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 45
inevitable that he should have to explain or describe through sugges- tion the many things which lie beyond the domain of the senses, but which he cannot help introducing because they are inseparable from life. Hence the large use of symbolic expression in Flaubert and Maupassant as in other realistic writers. Hence also, resulting per- haps in part from the implications of such expression, a certain con- fusing of the departments of life, men being represented as animals, animals and things as human. Such representation is common in the two authors under consideration.
Of pure symbolism there are examples on almost every page of the works of both. In Flaubert we have, for instance, Emma Bovary's wedding bouquet as the symbol of her early hopes and their disappointment, or the "zaimph" as the symbol of the power of Carthage.*^ In Maupassant's Bel-Ami the train is the symbol of Duroy's progress. ^^ Or the symbolical thing may be an act or an event, as where the horse of Charles shies on being turned for the first time into the yard of the Bertaux farm, or where the rain at the beginning of Une Vie forms the first great sorrow of Jeanne's exis- tence and suggests what is to come.^^ In one of Maupassant's short stories the song of a nightingale symbolizes the passages in a love affair taking place within sound of the song.^- Sometimes one of the personages is made symbolical. Thus the old servant of the "Comices agricoles" embodies the servitude of the peasant woman, and the dumb shepherd Gargan in Les Becasses, who is always knitting, rep- resents the unchangingness of peasant life and of the place where he lives.^^ There may be a certain symbolism in names, as where Felicite oi Un Coeur simple suggests both the peasant woman's fatal- istic acquiescence in circumstances and, by contrast, the real misery of her lot; or where "Bel- Ami" calls to mind both the impression which Duroy makes upon others and, by contrast, the real character of the man.
In both Flaubert and Maupassant psychology is often — not always^* — indicated indirectly through the expression of a sentiment
^^ M.B., p. 94; Sal, for example, pp. 99, 108-10, 2^2, etc.
^^ B.-A., for example, pp. 53, 59, 107, 136, etc.
5iikf.jB., p. 17; U.V.,v- 5-
^^ L.M.T.: Une Partie de campagne, pp. 108 ff.
^^ M.B., pp. 208-9; M. Par., pp. 201-16.
«* For example, T.C.: U.C.S., pp. 23-26, etc. ; L.P.R., pp. 48 ff.
46 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
by means of the corresponding sensation.^^ Emma, for example, after Leon's departure remains "dans iin froid horrible qui la traver- sait."^^ Jeanne, on the day of her wedding, has "une grande sensation de vide en tout son corps."^"^ Gesture, action, conversation, appear- ance, attitude, or attendant circumstance may furnish the key to the psychology of a character. The little Hannibal, asleep, extends his small arm "dans une attitude imperative."^® In La Roche aux guille- mots the last arrival sits down at table, "se frottant les mains."^® Emma dies with a horrible laugh.^° Georges Duroy, as he walks along the sidewalk, shoulders the people he passes out of his way.®^ Peasant remarks are, as one would expect, characterized by naivete in both authors.*^- The uprightness of Madame Arnoux' mind seems to correspond to the regularity of her features,®^ the narrowness of Miss Harriet's life to the meagreness of her frame.^* Such char- acterization by means of external manifestation may seem to be wholly inadequate; yet it has been said of Maupassant, and it might be said of Flaubert, that he has probably all the psychology necessary for the persons he depicts.^" Conversely the following remark made regarding Flaubert may be applied likewise to Mau- passant, that he sometimes represents a sentiment by means of a land- scape, or part of a landscape, or through a figure from nature.^® Changes in the feelings of characters accompany changes in the seasons or the weather.^^ Both men express more than once the feeling of peacefulness and satisfaction experienced on a beautiful moonlight night.^® Emma's impatience and boredom are embodied in the monotony of the scene upon which she gazes.
'^^ Cf. Brunetiere, Le Roman naturaliste, pp. 168-71.
68 M.B., p. 173. ^^ C.dJ.e.d.lN., p. 213.
«7C7.F.,p. 75. «oM.5.,p. 449-
■ 58 Sal, p. 339. «^ g^-A^p. 2, 7.
«2For example, M.S., pp. 27-28, 209r~etc. ; dialogue in Le Vieux: C.dJ.e.dlN., pp. 91-104.
«3 L'£,d.S., pp. 6, 65, 120-22, etc.
•* M.Har., pp. 1-36.
85Lemaitre, Les Contemporains (edition of 1887), I, 307.
«« Cf. Brunetiere, L.R.N. , pp. 174 ff.
«TFor example, M.B., pp. 87, 481; Sal, p. 353; U.V., pp. 368-69; C.d.L., pp. 8-12.
«8 For example, M.B., pp. 274-75; Sal, pp. 55-56; U.V., pp. 70-71, 72; C.d.L., pp. 8 ff.
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 47
Elle commenqait par regarder tout alentour, pour voir si rien n'avait change depuis la derniere fois qu'elle etait venue. Elle retrouvait aux mcmes places les digitales et les ravenelles, les bouquets d'orties entourant 'les gros cailloux, et les plaques de lichen le long des trois fenetres, dont les volets toujours clos s'egrenaient de pourriture, sur leurs barres de fer rouilles.^®
Jeanne's sadness on her return from Corsica is typified by the mournful autumn landscape. "... apres avoir regarde quelque temps le ciel oti roulaient des nuages sombres, elle se decida a sortir." Was it the same country as in May? Where were "la gaiete enso- leillee des f euilles, et la poesie verte du gazon" ? "Et cette griserie de Vair charge de vie, d'aromes, d'atomes fecondants n'existait plus." The shivering poplars sent down a sorrowful and incessant rain of yellow leaves. The shrubbery was as lamentable as a death chamber, deprived as it was of its greenness; "et le murmure des f euilles tomhees et seches que la brise poussait, remuait, amoncelait en tas par endroits, semblait un douloureux soupir d'agonie."''^ The follow- ing are examples of figures expressing sentiments.
Les bonheurs futurs, comme les rivages des tropiques, projettent sur rimmensite qui les precede leurs mollesses natales, une brise parfumee, et Ton s'assoupit dans cet enivrement, sans meme s'inquieter de I'horizon que Ton n'aper<;oit pas.^^
Elle se sentait enfoncee dans un trou aux bords inaccessibles, dont elle
ne pourrait jamais sortir, et toutes sortes de malheurs restaient suspendus
sur sa tete comme des gros rochers qui tomberaient a la premiere occasion. '^2
Many other examples of the same kind of thing might be given. ^ A type of figurative expression in both Flaubert and Maupassant, particularly frequent in the latter, usually found in the form of a comparison in the former, is that of reference to man as "la bete humaine," or even, in further depreciation, as "rinsecte humain."^^ Maupassant also in one passage exposes the theory that every man is like some animal.^* Many different animals are used for purposes of
69 M.B., p. 61. 71 M.B., p. 132.
70 U.V., pp. 1 18-19. '^^L.M.T.: L'h.d'u.f.d.f., p. 83.
73 For example, M.B., pp. 209, 256 (comparison to animal) ; Sal, pp. 70, 221. etc.; L.M.T.: En F., p. 179; M.Har.: En V., p. 295; S. VE., pp. 38 ff., etc.; Mile F.: R.d.MA.W., p. 284. Cf. the practice of Balzac, Zola, etc.
'^^L.S.R., p. II.
48 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
comparison/' Sometimes a comparison is repeated ; for example, the thought of the mercenaries as being like lions occurs more than once in ScUammho,''^ while certain types of women are described by Maupassant as resembling hens/^
Closely allied to the picturing of man as dJ'hete" is the depicting of animals as human. This is much more common in Flaubert, somewhat less common in Maupassant, than the previous comparison. In both authors the representation is accomplished through the attri- bution of actions which could be performed only by a reasoning being. The monkey in the Temple of Tanit in Salammho seems to protest against the profanation of the temple ;^* the old dog in La Peur acts as if possessed by the same terror as his human companions.^® This is especially true in the cases which have to do with the ill-treatment of animals. Examples are the mutilated elephants in Salammho and the poor old horse "Coco" in the story of that name.^°
Things also are constantly personified by both Flaubert and Mau- passant. For example, the "Hirondelle" in Madame Bovary and the "zaimph" in Salammho give the impression of being alive.^^ Thus also do the pendulum of Jeanne's clock in Une Vie and Bernard's little boat, which founders in Sur I'Eau, and for which he grieves as for a friend.®^
In description there are many similarities between the two authors in method of describing and in things described. Both use sometimes "massed," sometimes "scattered" description. The best example of the latter type is perhaps Madame Bovary, which exhibits also, for instance with regard to the personal appearance of the chief person- age, the fault which is likely to result from this method — vagueness of general impression, with occasional discrepancy.®^ "Scattered"
7« For example, Sal., pp. 3, 18, 221 ; B.-A., pp. 63, 109, 112; M.Par.: La C, pp. 127, 128, etc.
7« Pages 3, 34-35, 107, 387.
^^ U.V., p. 62; L.M.T., p. 16; MFar.: Trihunaux rustiques, p. 179.
"f^Sal, p. loi. 70 c.d.lBec, pp. 81-84.
80 5*0/., p. 186; C.dJ.e.d.l.N., pp. 146-56.
*i M.B., pp. 107, 305, 363, etc. ; Sal, pp. 99, 108, 109-10, etc.
82 U.V., pp. 55, 123, etc.; 5*. VE., pp. 166-67.
83 For example, M.B., p. 19, "Ce qu'elle avait de beau, c'etaient les yeux; quoiqu'ils fussent bruns, its semblaient noirs a cause des cils, ..." Cf . p. 45, where it is said of the same eyes that they are "noirs a I'ombre et bleu fonce au grand jour."
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 49
description is less suitable for short stories than for novels, inasmuch as it needs greater space for its development than is afforded by the few pages of a conte. It is therefore employed less by Maupassant than by Flaubert, and where it is used is of a rather different kind. Instead of giving certain details to which certain other details will be added in a subsequent passage, Maupassant's plan is rather to furnish at once sufficient to form a complete picture of the person, place, or thing to be described ; then, if he returns to the description, it is either in order to emphasize further some detail already mentioned or to record the changes produced by circumstances. Examples can be found in any of his novels. In Flaubert's Trois Contes and in Mau- passant's short stories "massed" description is the rule. It is, of course, found also in the novels, where many things are described only once. Here again Flaubert sometimes tends to vagueness through the employment of a multitude of details without any suffi- ciently outstanding single detail.^* It is possible that Maupassant may have been influenced in the direction of clearness by seeing the super- fluity of detail in certain passages of his master's works. Certain it is that his own pictures are rendered singularly clear, vivid, and complete in very few words. He makes one of his characters express his formula thus:
Avec un paysage brosse en quelques lignes et une petite histoire dite en quelques phrases, on pent donner, croyez-vous, le vrai caractere d'un pays, le faire vivant, visible, dramatique.®^
In his later work, as in Un Coeur simple, Flaubert approximates to Maupassant's simplicity. Take, for example, the following de- scription of Felicite's personal appearance, the only one in the story :
Son visage etait maigre et sa voix aigue. A vingt-cinq ans, on lui en donnait quarante. Des la cinquantaine, elle ne marqua plus aucun age ; — et, toujours silencieuse, la taille droite et les gestes mesures, semblait une femme en bois, fonctionnant d'une maniere automatique.^^
\ I Everything in this passage leads up to the keynote of the descrip-
• tion which is expressed in the words italicized. The use of such a
"keynote" is a frequent device for the imparting of unity to a picture.
For instance, the thought of the cathedral as a setting for Emma's
attractiveness gives that building a certain aspect in the eyes of Leon.
®*For example, Charles Bovary's cap, M.B.f pp. 2-3.
85 C.d.L.: En V., p. 243. ^^ t.C: U.C.S., pp. 5-6.
50 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
L'eglise, comme un boudoir gigantesque, se disposait autour d'elle ; les routes s'inclinaient pour recueillir dans I'ombre la confession de son amour: les vitraux resplendissaient pour illuminer son visage, et les encensoirs allaient bruler pour qu'elle apparut comme un ange, dans la fumee des parfums.^^
To take now an example from Maupassant — ^the lifelessness of the winter season is the main motif in the following passage from Une Vie:
Les fermes, isolees dans leurs cours carrees, derriere leurs rideaux de grands arbres poudres de frimas, semblaient endormies en leur chemise blanche. Ni hommes ni betes ne sortaient plus ; seules les cheminees des chaumieres revelaient la vie cachee par les minces filets de fumee qui montaient droit dans Tair glacial.
La plaine, les haies, les ormes des clotures, tout semblait mort, tue par le froid. De temps en temps, on entendait craquer les arbres, comme si leurs membres de bois se f ussent brises sous I'ecorce ; et parfois une grosse branche se detachait et tombait, I'invincible gelee petrifiant la seve et rompant les fibres.®^
It has been generally allowed that description preponderates over narration in Flaubert. This is true of his earlier novels, which may be said to proceed often by a series of descriptions.®^ In some of his ^ later works, however, the style is rather narrative than descriptive ; for example, in Un Coeur simple and Bouvard et Peciichet. It is here that Flaubert connects most closely with Maupassant, whose general manner is narrative. This we should expect from a man the greater part of whose work consists of short stories. Maupassant more or less carries the method of his short stories into his novels. Of both men it is 'true that they avoid for the most part long, unbroken descriptive passages and introduce details of description as required. Descriptions are very frequently generalized by both through reproduction of the permanent features in a picture. Thus, in the account of the sun's rising over Carthage, Flaubert, while keeping his representation sufficiently distinctive, yet seizes upon those attributes which might be predicated of any similar sunrise.*^ Thus also in like scenes of Maupassant's.®^ Among the most striking examples of this generalization are the pictures given by both authors
«7 M.B., p. 331. «» Cf. Brunetiere, L.R.N., pp. 179, etc.
«« Page 158. ^^ Sal.,V' 21-
»i For example, U.V., pp. 22, 96, 245.
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 51
of calm and beautiful moonlight nights, in which there is conveyed the very charm of peace and limpid light which we have all expe- rienced, which has been known presumably since the beginning of time, and which will continue supposedly to be known until the end.®^ The same tendency to generalization is observable in character de- scription. Both men depict, for example, the eternal peasant and, to a certain limited extent, the "eternal feminine." This tendency to generalize seems, at first suggestion, to contradict the theory of the "characteristic detail." On second thought, however, it will be seen that the two are not incompatible. A scene or a person to be recog- nizable must possess, on the whole, attributes that come within the range of our knowledge; when such attributes have once been grasped, we look for the distinctive trait which marks off that scene or person from others. A moonlight night is a moonlight night, whether in Carthage or at "les Peuples" ; but in the one instance the light falls upon "un collier d'or a la poitrine d'un dieu" f^ in the other it illuminates "le tilleul et le platane."^* Hannibal and Andermatt are both "men of affairs ;" but the one hoards his wealth in Carthaginian cellars, while the other utilizes his in modern speculation.^^
Description is accomplished very frequently in both authors through the eyes of one or more of the characters, either moving or standing still.^^ If the character is moving we have described what he sees as he advances; if he is standing still the recital is of what lies or passes before him. Sometimes here Flaubert's efforts after completeness may lead him into discrepancy: he may record more than anyone could possibly see in a transient glance, as where Emma is made to read the long descriptions on the pictures observed by her as she traverses the billiard-room at "La Vaubyessard."^^ Maupas- sant appears to avoid this kind of mistake, perhaps through noticing its effect in his master's work.^^ On the whole, however, description [^through the eyes of a personage is consistent in both writers ; that is, no more is reported than would be actually seen by the particular
82 For example, M.B., pp. 274-75; Sal, pp. 55-56; U.V., pp. 16-19, 70-71, 237; C.d.L., pp. 8-9. See above, p. 46.
^^Sal, p. 55. »*f7.F., p. 71.
^^Sal, pp. 166 ff.; M.'O., p. 11, etc.
»«For example, Sal, pp. 92 ff.; U£dS., pp. 6-7; N.C., pp. 1 16-17; U.V,,
pp. 23 ff.
97 M.B., p. 66. 98 See above, p. 49.
52 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
character or characters under the specific circumstances. For in- stance, the first picture of Mme Arnoux is as follows J Frederic is looking at her from a little distance.
Ella avait un large chapeau de paille, avec des rubans roses qui pal- pitaient au vent, derriere elle. Ses bandeaux noirs, contournant la pointe de ses grands sourcils, descendaient tres bas et semblaient presser amou- reusement I'ovale de sa figure. Sa robe de mousseline claire, tachetee de petits pois, se repandait a plis nombreux. Elle etait en train de broder quelque chose ; et son nez droit, son menton, toute sa personne se decoupait sur le fond de I'air bleu.®®
It will be noticed that, owing to where Frederic was standing and to the position in which Mme Arnoux was sitting with her embroidery, her large hat would conceal her eyes and the upper part of her face ; they are, therefore, not described. Her gown, being ample, would hide her feet; accordingly no mention is made of these.^"^ The description is otherwise comprehensive, as Frederic's eager eye would take in all he could see. An example of the same kind of thing in Maupassant is to be found at the end of Bel-Ami. Du Roy is leaving the church after his marriage ; he does not see the crowd there, for he is thinking only of himself. Then it strikes him that the throng is a tribute to himself ; at once he notices the concourse ! "Lorsqu'il parvint sur le seuil, il apergut la f oule amassee, une foule noire, bruis- sante, venue la pour lui, pour lui, Georges Du Roy. Le peuple de Paris le contemplait et I'enviait." He imagines future triumphs. "Puis, relevant les yeux, il decouvrit la-bas, derriere la place de la Concorde, la Chambre des deputes. Et il lui sembla qu'il allait faire un bond du portique de la Madeleine au portique du Palais-Bour- bon."^°^ Thus what is seen is often an indication of the character or condition of the one who sees. For example, monotony is sometimes indicated through noting the passing and repassing of the same people across an unchanging scene.^"^ Description through the eyes of a personage is closely connected with a device already mentioned,^^^
^^URdS., p. 6.
1®® However, on p. i2, in his remembrance of how she looked, he recalls the appearance of her feet. Probably he noticed them, not at the first glance, but as he considered her afterwards.
101 B.-^., pp. 572-73-
102 For example, M.B., pp. 89-90; U.V., pp. 344-45.
103 See above, pp. 48-49, 50.
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 53
that of bringing in a description where it will be of greatest signifi- cance. This is not necessarily where the person, place, or thing to be described is first spoken of, although often so, especially in Maupas- sant.^^*
A very common device is description in a ray, or in the rays, of a natural or an artificial light.^^^ Sometimes the person or thing is out- lined against the light.^^^ Sometimes objects in a scene are distin- guished through their glittering when the light catches them ;^^^ some- times they stand out, as the light strikes them, against other parts of the scene left in shadow or in dim light.^^^ The effect of faint light and of shadows caused by light is also described.^^^ At times the object is represented as changed in appearance by the nature of the light.^^*' Sometimes the reflection of a light in bright objects is pic- tured,"^ or little lights appear in darkness. ^^^ Natural light is occa- sionally contrasted with artificial.^^^
Just as description of the external appearance of persons, places, and things is achieved through the eyes of spectators, so characteriza- tion is accomplished in both Flaubert and Maupassant partly through a retailing of the effect produced on others by the character in ques- tion. Much of what we know of Mme Bovary, of Mme Arnoux, of Mme Andermatt, or of Mme de Burne comes to us through what others think or say of them.^^* The same is true of many other
10* For example, the eyes of Mme Arnoux are not described until p. 192, al- though mentioned many times before that. Her other features are described when first we see her, on p. 6. This is perhaps to emphasize Frederic's timidity in approaching her (L'Bd.S.). In Une Vie, Julien is described fully when we first see him, because his appearance is important for the story.
105 For example, Sal, p. 160; M.B., pp. 188-89; F.c.LM,, pp. 96-9>; L.P.R.: Mile Perle, p. 129; cf. Brunetiere, L.R.N. , pp. 167-68. ""
io«For example, UM.S., p/'6; U.V., p. 72.
107 For example, Sal, p. 199 ; M.-O., p. 98.
108 For example, M.B., p. (^\ U,V., p. 236.
108 For example, M.B., p. 16; Sal, p. 55; UI.B.: Le C. d'O., p. 93; U.V., pp. 210-11.
110 For example, T.C.: L.L.d.S.J.l'H., p. 112; F.c.lM., p. 82.
111 For example, M.B., p. 18; B.-A., p. 128.
112 For example, M.B., p. 7Z', U.V., p. 11.
113 For example, M.B., p. 331; C.d.L.: La Nuit, p. 222.
114 For example, M.B., pp. 23-24, 31, 32, 54, 58, 59, etc. ; L'Ed.S., pp. 54, 68, 98, etc. ; M.-O., pp. 129-30, etc. ; N.C., pp. i, 33-35, 53-6o, etc.
54 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
characters. The information is conveyed in dialogue or monologue, direct or indirect, or in narrative. For example, Emma is discussed by the first wife of Charles and by his mother, by Lheureux, by Homais, by the busybodies of Yonville ; and we have related to us at length the thoughts of Charles, of Leon, of Rodolphe, regarding her. In the same way Mme de Burne forms a constant subject of conversation and of thought for her circle, especially for MarioUe.^^'' In the two authors under discussion the reader is struck by the very large use made of contrast, its presence being almost universal. The types of contrast are numerous. One frequent form is that of the opposition between character and surroundings. For instance, the daintiness of Mme Arnoux stands out against her sordid environ- ment on the deck of the steamer where we first see her ; or, to take an example from Maupassant, the innocence of the girl Yvette is markedly in contrast with the milieu in which she lives."^ The contrasts of sound and silence, of light and shadow, of natural and artificial light, of colors, have already been mentioned."^ Other / contrasts are those between appearance and actuality, between nature
>-7 and man, between poverty and riches, etc.^^®
/ ^^ In discussing description something has already been said of narration, which it will be unnecessary to repeat.^^^ This paragraph will take up some additional points. Maupassant, it has been shown,^^" has relatively more narration in his works than Flaubert. With regard to plots one will notice that these are simple in the works of the two men, as one can summarize in few words the actual plot interest in any of the novels or short stories. For instance, in Un Coeur simple and Une Vie, which are much alike, the whole plot has to do with the repeated disappointments which thwart the natural affections of the heroine. The slim plot interest in the novels is amplified by means of episodes and descriptions. Some v^ works, such as UEducation sentimentale and Bel-Ami, produce the effect of a succession of episodes, even of similar episodes, a varying measure of unity being secured through the greater or less preponderance of some character, situation, or idea. In Bouvard .
"6 See note 114. ^^^L'£,d.S., pp. 5-6; Yvette.
"7 See above, pp. 43, 53, 44-
"8 For example, M.S., pp. 149, 403-4, 72', O.P.I. : La Veillee, pp. 55-6o; U.V., p. 245; C.dJ.e.dlN.: La Parure, pp. 59-74-
11^ See above, p. 50. 120 See above, p. 50.
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES $5
et Pecuchet this piling up is used to depict the "betise" of the two men ; in Salammho it is employed to emphasize the splendors or the cruelties of ancient life ; in Madame Bovary it serves to bring out the progressive disillusionment of the heroine. Thus also in Mau- passant episode after episode impresses upon us the ruthless advance of "Bel-Ami" to social and political prominence, the infatuation of Mariolle for Mme de Burne, or the perplexity of Olivier Bertin caught between the attraction of the daughter and the desire to be faithful in devotion to the mother.^^^ Each of Flaubert's three short stories possesses a number of episodes and is, in fact, rather an abbreviated novel than an ordinary "short story." Maupassant's y contes, with sometimes but a single episode, exhibit more clearly, on the other hand, the power to seize and perpetuate just the points essential for the making of good stories. Maupassant's relatively much greater simplicity and clearness are no more apparent in description than in narration, where again Flaubert's excessive atten- tion to realistic detail tends to vagueness and occasionally to dis- crepancy.^^^ Some narrative passages in both authors outline the ^ course of a character's thoughts ^^^ rather than any succession of events, and produce a semi-descriptive impression. The same effect is accomplished by the many paragraphs in the imperfect tense 7 narrating habitual action,^^* and by the general tendency to use that
tense in passages where one might possibly expect the preterite.^^^ I
A device that is employed by both authors is the immobilizing of a^ character in a well-defined situation in order to tell us something 1 regarding that character through the medium of the thoughts sup- i posed to be passing within his mind at the time.^^^ Thus Emma Bovary's reveries after her marriage and arrival at Tostes ; thus \ Georges Duroy's musings on returning to his shabby room after his first evening at the Forestier's.^^^ ^
^-'^ Bel-Ami; Notre Coeur; Fort comme la Mort.
122 For example, compare difficulty of outlining story of Salammho; com- pare also time of Charles* journey to Rouen, as discussed by Ernest Bovet in an article on "Le Realisme de Flaubert," R.H.L., I (iQii), 1-36.
123 For example, U£dS., p. 12; P.eJ., pp. 62-64.
124 For example, B.e.P., p. 33 ; N.C., pp. 174-75.
125 For example, L'Rd.S., p. 377 (first paragraph) ; U.V., pp. 61-62 (para- graph at end of one page and beginning of next).
126 Cf. Brunetiere, L.R.N. , pp. 174 ff. 127M.5., pp. 48 ff.; B.-A., pp. 57-58.
56 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Dialogue and monologue, both direct and indirect, are used by Flaubert and Maupassant to characterize, to describe, and to nar- rate,"* never to mark time. There is much more of both dialogue and monologue in the latter author than in the former. In fact, some of Maupassant's short stories are told almost entirely in dia- logue or in monologue."® Both authors seem to possess the power of making their personages say exactly the right thing. Nothing, for example, could be more apposite than their peasant conversa- tions."° In this Maupassant is assisted by his free use of dialect and other special forms of speech, which are found much more rarely in Flaubert.^^^ Sometimes striking remarks, usually short, give the key to characters or situations. Examples are Charles Bovary's "C'est la faute de la fatalite !" at the end of Madame Bovary, and the old beggar's "J'som^ies tous egaux, la devant" beside the corpses of Gilberte and Julien in Une Vie}^^ There is occasionally in Maupassant a suggestion of Flaubert's famous device of "alter- nating" dialogue, with its attendant effect of irony, as found in the account of the "Comices agricoles."^^^ For example, we have the conversation at the table d'hote of the "Hotel Splendide," or For- estier's speech to Duroy punctuated by the counting of his score at billiards.^^* Maupassant is much less careful than Flaubert about using introductory verbs of saying, and occasionally goes so far as to adopt the dramatic device of inserting merely the name of the speaker at the beginning of the speech."^
In order to avoid monotony Flaubert and Maupassant carry all procedures along together ; there is constant interchange of descrip- tion, narration, and dialogue, two of the three or all three being sometimes combined in one paragraph or even in one sentence."®
128 For example, M.B., pp. 110-16, 85-88; N.C., pp. 25 ff., 274, 175-76. )
^^^ M.Par.: La Bete a MaW Belhomme; C.dJ.e.d.l.N.: La Confession, pp. 277-85.
'^^^ MB., p. 209; U.V., pp. 200-204.
131 For example, any of Maupassant's peasant stories; M.Har.: L'Heri- tage; B.e.P., p. 357; Sal, p. 57-
182 M.B., p. 480; U.V., p. 282. 183 M.B., pp. 197 ff.
i3*M.-0., pp. 55-78; B.-A., pp. 80-81.
i^For example, M.Par.: Tribunaux rustiques, pp. 177-84.
i3«For example, L'£dS., p. 451; N.C., pp. 135-36; B.e.P., p. 135 (second sentence in second complete paragraph) ; B.-A. (second paragraph, first sen- tence) ; cf. Brunetiere, L.R.N., pp. 180-81.
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 57
Descriptions of persons, places, and things are constantly inter- mingled. Description of places or things is often combined with an account of a character's thoughts.^^^ A short sentence of dia- logue or monologue, or a brief passage of dialogue, is not seldom employed to break a long description or narration.^^® There is frequent interchange of the direct and the indirect forms of dialogue and monologue/^^ Many paragraphs not of dialogue end with a short spoken sentence. 112.
In paragraph structure there is some likeness between the works of the two men. The combination of description, narration, and dialogue in a single paragraph has already been noted.^*^ The aver- age length of the paragraph is, taken on the whole, about the same in the two. Flaubert tends more in his earlier works toward the unusually long paragraph, Maupassant more in his later.^*^ Instances can be found where Maupassant divides among several paragraphs descriptions which Flaubert, to judge from similar cases in the works of the latter, would keep within one paragraph.^*^ This may be part of Maupassant's effort after greater clearness, which was suggested before.^** Flaubert's paragraphs leave in general the impression of greater deliberate artistic unity than Maupassant's. The latter frequently uses the sentence-paragraph, a habit traceable probably in part to his journalistic experiences.^*^ Flaubert also employs this form, but less often ;^*^ constantly, however, his longer paragraphs may be summarized in a sentence, sometimes an antithetical sentence.^*^ The brief narrative paragraphs of the two writers are much alike in their use of short, abrupt sentences with the historic tense. Several examples follow, which are given in i3TFor example, M.B., pp. 61-62; U.V., pp. 19 ff.
138 For example, M.B., p. 355; T.C.: U.C.S., p. 26; M.-O., pp. 133, 136.
139 For example, L'&d.S., pp. 209-10; R^A., pp. 237-38. 1*0 For example, U&d.S., p. 338; B.-A., p. 195.
1*1 See preceding paragraph. 142 For example, M.B.; N.C.
1*3 For example, cf. the first paragraph describing the house at Tostes in M.B. (pp. 43-44) with the first four paragraphs describing "les Peuples," in
jjy. (pp. 12-13).
14* See above, pp. 49, 51, 55.
145 See practically anywhere in Maupassant's work.
146 For example, in U£d.S.
147 For example, cf. paragraphs on pp. 116-17, M.B.; pp. 214-15, Sal.; etc.
58
FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
parallel columns for the sake of comparison in form, not in subject. They are taken from UEducation sentimentale and Bel-Ami.
Flaubert
Pour se venger de son maitre, sans doute, le gar(;on se contenta de sourire [^L'Ed.S., p. 153].
Cetait jour de reception. Des voitures stationnaient dans la cour. Deux valets se precipiterent sous la marquise, et un troisieme, au haut de I'escalier, se mit a marcher de- vantlui iUEd.S.,^. 185].
Tout a coup, Martinon apparut, en face, sous I'autre porte. Elle se leva. II lui offrit son bras. Frederic, pour le voir continuer ses galanteries, traversa les tables de jeu et les rejoignit dans le grand salon; Mme Dambreuse quitta aussitot son cavalier, et Ventretint familierement [UEd.S., p. 230].
Maupassant
Elle ne parla point de sortir et fut charmante de toutes faqons [B.-A., p. 162].
Et ils se rendirent dans un res- taurant voisin. Duroy ne parlait plus guere. II mangea pour n'avoir pas Tair d'avoir peur, puis, dans le jour il accompagna Boisrenard au journal et il fit sa besogne d'une faqon distraite et machinale. On le trouva crane [B.-A., p. 234].
II s'assit et se mit a reflechir. II avait jete sur sa petite table une carte de son adversaire remise par Rival, afin de garder son adresse. II la relut comme il I'avait deja lue vingt fois dans la journee. Louis Langremont, 176, rue Montmartre.^ Rien de plus \B.-A., p. 236].
The rather abrupt effect produced by the short sentences with « the historic tense is to be observed in the foregoing paragraphs. The impression of dry precision is indeed often produced by Mau- passant's work.^*®
There is some general resemblance also between certain descrip- tive paragraphs in the two authors. An example is given where the subject of the two paragraphs is the same, the description of a stagecoach.
Flaubert Maupassant
Cetait un coffre jaune porte par deux grandes roues qui, mon- tant jusqu'a la hauteur de la bache, empechaient les voyageurs de voir la route et leur salissaient les epaules. Les petits carreaux de ses
Cetait une voiture jaune, mon- tee sur des roues jaunes aussi autrefois, mais rendues presque grises par I'accumulation des boues. Celles de devant etaient toutes petites; celles de derriere, hautes
"8 For example, C.dJ.e.d.lN.: Une Vendetta, pp. 144-45; Toine: Le Pere Judas, pp. 278-79.
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 59
vasistas etroits tremblaient dans et freles, portaient le coffre dif-
leurs chassis quand la voiture etait forme et enfle comme un ventre de
fermee, et gardaient des taches de bete. Trots rosses blanches, dont
boue, qa. et la, parmi leur vieille on remarquait au premier coup
couche de poussiere, que les pluies d'oeil, les tetes enormes et les gros
d'orage meme ne lavaient pas tout genoux ronds, attelees en arbalete,
a fait. Elle etait attelee de trois devaient trainer cette carriole qui
chevaux, dont le premier en arba- avait du monstre dans sa structure
IHe, et, lorsqu'on descendait les et son allure. Les chevaux sem-
cotes, elle touchait du fond en caho- blaient endormis deja devant
tant [M.-B.,^. 107]. I'etrange vehicule [M.Par.: L.B.a.
M.B., pp. 77-78].
It will be observed that the foregoing paragraphs have about the same length and begin in the same way. They mention largely the same things about the coach : the yellow color, the cumbrous body, the large wheels, the mud with which it is spattered, the three horses, one in front of the other two, by which it is hauled. There is some similarity in wording (indicated in the quotations by italics). The general impression conveyed by the Flaubertian paragraph is that of a monstrous, unwieldy vehicle; Maupassant takes mon- strosity as the keynote of his picture, calls the coach a "monster," and makes the horses also monsters in order to emphasize still further the same general effect as Flaubert.
Both Flaubert and Maupassant show a special use of the short sentence for forcible effect at the end of a paragraph, chapter, or short story.^*^ Such sentences are of various kinds. Sometimes we find a brief, emphatic statement or an interrogative or exclama- tory phrase.^^^ Sometimes the sentence is one of dialogue or of monologue ; to this reference has already been made above.^^^ The sentence may contain a characteristic detail regarding a person, a place, an event, or other interest.^^^ It may also contain summary,
149 For example, Sal, p. 104 (third paragraph) ; P.eJ., p. 113 (first para- graph) ; L'£dS., p. 409; F.C.I.M., p. 142; T.C.: Her.; the majority of Mau- passant's short stories.
150 For example, M.B., p. 26; L.P.R.: Rosalie Prudent, p. 152; M.B., p. 334; C.d.lB.: Menuet, p. 69; M,B., p. 314; C.dJ.e.d.l.N.: Le Gueux, p. 182.
151 See above, p. 57.
152 For example, Sal., p. 25; M.Har.: ^Gargon, un Bock!> p. 241; Sal., p. 379; M.Har.: L' Orient, p. 324; L'£d.S., p. 592; B.-A., p. 233.
6o FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
conclusion, or comment/'^^ Besides the use of interrogative and exclamatory sentences, which has already been mentioned, such sentences are further frequently employed in the usual course of paragraphs to lend variety or emphasis to the style. Examples are very numerous.^*'* The carefully constructed periodic sentence is more common in Flaubert than in Maupassant."^
By Flaubert transition is in general very assiduously regulated, by Maupassant much less so."* The result in the case of the latter tends often to an effect of jerkiness. Some of the romans, for example, produce the impression of a succession of short stories rather than of one continuous long story with succeeding chapters. ^^^ The dislike of explanation "® frequently apparent in the two writers deprives both of one useful method of transition in so far as they yield to this dislike. The difficulty of transition is specifically acknowledged by both men."® Each employs, of course, the ordinary methods of transition : the use of adverbs or adverbial conjunctions of time, and of other means of referring back or forward to preced- ing or succeeding sentences, paragraphs, or chapters. The con- nection is constantly indicated, for instance, between consecutive chapters in Madame Bovary and Une Vie. Sometimes the transition is accomplished by a virtual continuation of the narrative, without break or with but little break, from one chapter to another, as between chapters VII and VIII of the first part of Madame Bovary, or between chapters V and VI of Une Vie.
With regard to vocabulary"^ both Flaubert and Maupassant follow, as we should expect, the realist principle of making the
153M.B., p. 481; C.d.J.e.d.l.N.: Un Ldche, p. 121; T.C.: Hir., p. 190; L.S.R.: Rencontre, p. 226; Sal., p. 414; C.d.L.: La reine Hortense, p. 86.
1*5* For example, M.B., p. 172; B.-A., p. 282.
155 See especially Madame Bovary.
156 Compare Schinz, "Notes sur le vocabulaire de Maupassant," etc., Revue dcs langues romanes (1909), p. 512.
157 For example, U.V.; M.-O.
158 See above, under "realistic detail," pp. 38, 40.
i5» For example, Ma)mial, La Vie et Voeuvre de Maupassant, p. 99, quota- tion; Flaubert, Corr., Ill, 345; etc.
1**^ See, as the foundation for the whole of this paragraph, Anna Ahlstrom, Btude sur la langue de Flaubert, Macon, 1899 (diss.), and Olof Bosson, Guy de Maupassant, quelques recherches sur sa langue, Lund, 1907 (diss.).
LIKENESS IN GENERAL REALISTIC DEVICES 6i
language adapt itself to the persons and circumstances which it describes. In the main, it is true, the language of each conforms to current literary usage ;^®^ where it seems necessary, however, for the more exact or emphatic expression of the thought, neither hesi- tates to transgress the boundaries of that usage. The following passage from the Ahlstrom dissertation (see footnote i6o) states the case with precision and clearness for Flaubert.
Son penchant realiste, son besoin de produire de I'effet, pour amuser ou pour eblouir le bourgeois, lui fait rechercher des expressions ade- quates a sa pensee. Lorsque le vocabulaire ordinaire ne lui suffit pas, il fait des emprunts aux langues etrangeres, anciennes ou modernes, il force le franqais des temps passes et ses parlers actuals a apporter leur tribut et il etudie les metiers pour profiter de leur terminologie speciale. A bout de ressources, il forge lui-meme des mots et pour d'autres il en modifie la signification.^^^
To a greater or less extent Maupassant employs all the devices attributed in this paragraph to Flaubert. Of archaisms and neolo- gisms,^^^ of erudite expressions, he uses smaller numbers than his master; in the direction of argot, of dialect, of the "language of real life," he, as one would expect, goes much further. The follow- ing paragraph is quoted as giving for him a general characterization of language.
Maupassant cherche avant tout a rfaire vrai*-» a nous donner une image f^lele de la vie. Lorsqu'il prend la parole lui-meme, il nous offre, en general, un langage tres correct, tres soigne. Cest quand il fait parler d'autres personnes de divers milieux, de culture et de position sociale differentes, qu'il faut I'epier. II ne se contente jamais de nous
161 In a class exercise (University of Chicago, February 23, 1915), where investigation was made, under the direction of Professor Jenkins, of the per- centage of words of current French in a representative page of certain modern French authors, the percentage for Flaubert was found to be 59 per cent, and the average for eight other writers, of whom Maupassant was one, 72 per cent.
i«2 Ahlstrom, op. cit., p. 20.
1*8 Both use the archaism "sol" (Ahlstrom, op. cit., p. 45 ; Bosson, op. cit., p. 25) ; both form compounds by hyphenating separate words (Ahlstrom, pp. 70-73; Bosson, pp. 51, 130). Both also overdo the use of words beginning with re. Cf. Schinz, Notes sur le vocabulaire de Maupassant, etc. {Rdlr, 1909, p. 518) ; Flaubert, Corr., Ill, 197, 201, 217, 229, 239, etc.
62 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
representer le parler de ses personnages sous une forme «retouchee», il nous le donne tel qu'il est, avec tous ses solecismes, toutes ses negligences, toute sa rudesse, toutes ses crudites.^^*
It will be apparent from what has been said above that Maupas- sant's language is, according to the general acceptation of the term, more "realistic" than Flaubert's.
In this last chapter we have been studying the very considerable resemblance between Flaubert and Maupassant in matters of literary procedure not mentioned in the preceding chapter. We have seen that they employ to a certain extent the same kinds of realistic detail, the same forms of figurative expression, the same methods in description, narration, and dialogue, the same. devices in para- graph and sentence structure and in use of language. As said before,^®^ the precedes discussed in this chapter are, in the main, those adopted in common by the realistic writers of the day. Some which may perhaps be more distinctive of the two authors in ques- tion than of other realists are the following: time designation by means of reference to characteristic denoting season of year; description in a ray of light or in shadow; narration of the past life of a character immobilized through the medium of that char- acter's thoughts; "alternating" dialogue; use of a short sentence to end paragraph, chapter, or story. In considering the procedes of this chapter it has not been intended, as was said before,^®* to attribute to them more than the weight of cumulative testimony when taken in conjunction with other evidence presented for the rela- tionship of Flaubert and Maupassant.
i«* Bosson, op. cit., p. 7. 165 See above, p. 38.
CHAPTER V
RESEMBLANCES IN PLOT, INCIDENT, CHARACTERIZATION, IDEAS, AND WORDING
In the preceding chapters there have been considered similarities between Flaubert and Maupassant in theories and precedes, as well as the history of their personal relationship. Many concrete instances of resemblance have been mentioned by way of illustration. It yet remains to discuss other specific examples of likeness between the two in fact, idea, and wording, which have, for the most part, not been noted in illustration of previous points.
There are, first of all, resemblances in what may be called "gen- eral effect." Maupassant's Le Loup,^ which narrates the killing of a huge gray wolf, has about it somewhat the same atmosphere of legendary mysteriousness as Flaubert's Saint- Julien V Hospitaller,^ the impression being increased by certain details of likeness. In both stories the scene is laid in a past remote enough to be more or less shadowy, in both there are certain extraordinary qualities attributed to animals or to an animal, in both the events transpiring produce an abhorrence of the chase succeeding a great passion therefor.^ Likeness in general effect is also observable in Un Coeur simple and Une Vie, both of which give the impression of an accu- mulation of misfortunes overwhelming an unfortunate victim. There is a certain general similarity also, as was implied before,* between some passages in Maupassant's letters and in Flaubert's. In letters written by Maupassant to his preceptor there are traces of an exaggerated and exclamatory style, foreign, as far as one can judge from the other letters in the Conard edition,^ to the former's usual epistolary manner, but exceedingly common in the latter's corre- spondence.^ Appearing as they do in letters from the younger to
1 C.d.L., pp. 35-44. 2 T.C., pp. 77-125.
^SJ.VH., p. 125; L.L., p. 36; SJ.VH., pp. 92-93, 107-10; L.L., pp. 38, 40-42; SJ.l'H., pp. 92, 117; L.L., p. 39; SJ.VH., pp. 93-95, 84-93, 113 ff., 103, 106 ff.; L.L., pp. 35-36, 44, 36-44.
* See above, p. 17. ^B.d.S.: Corr., pp. cxxv-lxxii.
« For example, Corr., I, 77, 135 ; II, 109, 290, etc.
64
FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
the older man, they read like remarks made by the pupil in consid- eration of the ideas and methods of the master.
The following passages will illustrate what is meant. They are to be compared with those quoted alongside, not in specific details, but in general manner.
Flaubert
L'histoire de la croix de Zola est pitoyable. Est-ce bete? mais qu'est-ce qui n'est pas bete ? [^Corr.,
IV, 349]-
Oui, j*ai lu la brochure de Zola. C'est enorme ! Quand il m'aura donne la definition du Naturalisme, je serai peut-etre un Naturaliste. Mais d'ici la, moi pas comprendre.
Et Hennique qui a fait, aux Capucines, une conference sur le Naturalisme ! ! ! Oh ! men Dieu ! men Dieu! [^Corr., IV, 364].
Et le manifeste politique de Zola menaqant la Republique de sombrer, si elle n'arbore Tetendard du rea- lisme! du naturalisme, pardon! Drole! drole ! {Corr., IV, 365-66].
Maupassant
Zola n'est pas decore — a cause de I'article qu'il a ecrit dans le Figaro* ! a ! . . . Le chef du cabi- net m'a dit que le ministere ne pou- vait vraiment pas* lui donner la croix en ce moment ! ! ! ... on reve.^ ... En quoi un article de critique detruit-il le talent de Zola? [B.d.S. : Corr., p. cxiv] .
Que dites-vous de Zola? moi je le trouve absolument fou. Avez- vous lu son article sur Hugo ! ! son article sur les poetes contempo- rains et sa brochure «la Republique et la litterature» ? «La Republique sera naturaliste ou elle ne sera pas», «JE NE SUIS QU'UN SAVANT» — ! ! ! ! — (rien que cela! — quelle modestie ) , — ^I'enquete sociab, — le document humain, — la serie des formules*, — on verra maintenant sur le dos des livres «grand roman selon la formule naturaliste*. Je ne suis qu'un savant* ! ! ! ! ! cela est pyramidal ! I ! et on ne rit pas . . . {^B.d.S.: Corr., pp. cxx-cxxi].
The foregoing passages have been chosen for purposes of illus- tration because they are concerned with the same subjects: the decoration of Zola, the stupidity of the governing classes, the pre- tensions of Zola and the naturalists. In them will be noticed the same general tone of exasperation, the same tendency to multiply
^ Word often used by Flaubert in similar places in letters ; of., for example, Corr., Ill, 39, 244, 298; IV, 362; etc.
RESEMBLANCES 6$
emphases through the use of itaHcs and of exclamation points, the same employment of unusual expressions.
There is some similarity between the plots of the two men. For instance, there are several stories of Maupassaht's which recall Madame Bovary. The first of these to be mentioned is Une Vie, which is like Flaubert's novel in many particulars of plot. In both cases a large part of the story is concerned with marital treachery. In one case it is the wife, in the other the husband, who is the offender. The separate instances of unfaithfulness recorded are, in each book, two in number. Rodolphe and Emma in Madame Bovary, Julien and Gilberte in Une Vie, make riding a means to their intercourse and seek their rendezvous in the woods and on the countryside. The "cabane ambulante"^ of Une Vie takes the place of the "tonnelle"^ of Madame Bovary. The two sinners, Emma and Julien, come to an unnatural end, a beggar being connected in each case with the catastrophe.^" An excursion by boat enters into the love-making of Leon and Emma, of Julien and Jeanne.^^ In both stories the child of the heroine, a pet dog, revealing letters, play some part. There are frequent journey ings by stagecoach, by car- riage, by train. In each case the heroine changes her place of abode during the progress of the plot. Money matters exert a considerable influence in the two, there being talk of debts, of mortgages, and of selling of possessions. Emma is ruined by her own extravagance, Jeanne by the "bonte" of her parents and herself and by the prodi- gality of her son. Jeanne is made unhappy by Julien's stinginess in money matters no less than Charles by Emma's wastefulness. In Madame Bovary we have Lheureux and his agents who conduct the money affairs; in Une Vie the Jew and others who come to Jeanne regarding Paul's debts. In both books there is the descrip- tion of a public ceremony; in one the "Comices agricoles"; in the other the christening of the "Jeanne." ^^ The account of either celebration follows the course of the lovers as they walk : Rodolphe and Emma pass from place to place, seeing the various sights of the day, and finally taking refuge in the "salle des deliberations" while the speeches are being delivered and the prizes given; Julien and
8 U.V., p. 276, etc. ^"^MS., pp. 448-49; U.V., pp. 280-82.
^M,B., p. 234, etc. "M.B., pp. 353 ff.; U.V., pp. 44 ff.
12M.B., pp. 183-214; U.V., pp. 56-62.
66 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Jeanne descend from "les Peuples" to the beach, where the chris- tening of the boat takes place. Rodolphe makes advances to Emma, JuHen to Jeanne, during the progress of the ceremony. In both stories we have a severe illness of the heroine, caused in Emma's case by Rodolphe's desertion, in Jeanne's by the shock of discovering her husband's infidelity. Emma's attack is said to be brain fever ;^^ Jeanne's is not thus named, but seems to be the same thing. In both books we have a ball, a death scene, and a watch by the dead included in the progress of the plot. In both there is an element of the horrible ; for example, in Madame B ovary the account of the blind beggar, and in Une Vie the narration of the death of Julien and Gilberte.
Another story which has some points of resemblance with Madame Bovary is La Parnre}^ In it we have a woman who, like Emma, is, or imagines herself to be, entirely out of her element. Like Flaubert's heroine, Madame Loisel dreams of a different life, and like her, too, is invited and goes to a ball in a society to which she cannot ordinarily hope to be admitted. Like Flaubert's heroine, she enjoys the experience but is afflicted afterward by resulting sadness. Misfortune affecting the whole life follows in each case, although different in character and extent.
Also containing likenesses to Madame Bovary is the story of the little provincial who comes to Paris and forces herself into "une aventure d'amour," only to be disillusioned by her experiences. The heroine of Une Aventure parisienne^^ has, like Emma, entertained inordinate longings for Parisian glory beneath apparent acquies- cence in the monotonous course of her everyday life. Like her, she buys and reads society journals and is especially attracted by th;: glamor of what Maupassant calls "des horizons de jouissances coupables et ravageantes.^^ Especially does she indulge her dreams during the night, contrasting the world of her imagination with her commonplace surroundings. Here again she resembles Emma. As in the case of the Flaubertian character, the dreams of Maupassant's heroine end in disenchantment.
Between Un Coeur simple and Une Vie there are many simi- larities. Flaubert's Felicite is now like Jeanne, now like Rosalie, in Maupassant's story. The main thread of the plot concerns her resemblance to Jeanne. Both, simple-minded and with unusual
" M.B., p. 290. 15 Mile F., pp. 193-205.
1* C.dJ.e.d.LN., pp. 59-74. i« Ibid., p. 194.
RESEMBLANCES 67
capacities for devotion, suffer from blow after blow to the affections dealt by death or disappointment, which leaves the victim aged, benumbed, and stupefied, clinging desperately to memories of the past and to the objects which recall those memories. Like Rosalie, Felicite is a faithful servant to a somewhat exacting mistress, and shows, in her mistress' interest, considerable shrewdness, bravery, and power of economy. The relation of mistress and maid in both stories becomes increasingly one of intimacy and affection, the two uniting especially in remembrances of the past. In some respects Jeanne resembles Mme Aubain, of Un Coeur simple, rather than Felicite. Both have two farms attached to their property, both lose their fortunes in later years, sell some of their possessions, and go to a less expensive house. Both spend much of their time in idle brooding, leaving the direction of affairs to the faithful servant. Both possess a son called Paul, who, after being sent to school, to which he rejoices to go for the sake of the companionship to be enjoyed, falls into irregular ways of life, contracts debts which his mother pays, and, passing unsuccessfully from one employment to another, finally marries a woman distasteful to the latter. In the course of their development both stories touch upon many like comings and goings of provincial life, and both give glimpses of fisher folk.
The next works of Flaubert and Maupassant to be compared are UEducation sentimentde and Bel-Ami. While there is considerable resemblance here, it is harder to specify than in any of the cases already taken up. Both stories deal with the career of a young man who passes through various experiences of Parisian life, the one to failure, the other to success. A certain unity is given in each case to the rambling story by relating everything to the fortunes of the chief character. Frederic, beginning with fair chances, throws away all opportunities and accomplishes nothing, owing to his "mollesse" and lack of decision. Duroy, starting with his fortunes at an exceedingly low ebb, advances, chiefly through the aid of his mistresses and by means of ruthless self-assertion, to a position of importance beyond that for which he had hoped. At first indeed he is rather like Frederic in want of decisiveness, but the weakness gradually vanishes as he becomes sure of himself. In other respects the two men are similar. Both dream of great things to be done and enjoyed in the future. Both possess considerable fascination for the opposite sex, having in the course of the experiences related in
68 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
the story, love affairs progressing simultaneously with three sepa- rate women. To the delight of the successful suitor, one of these women is, in each case, the "great lady" of the story, whom each has been advised to cultivate in order to further his material inter- ests. One love affair in both books persists through all vicissitudes — that of Frederic with Mme Arnoux, that of Duroy with Mme de Marelle. Both men, besides, become engaged to young girls for the sake of their fortunes, Frederic afterwards escaping from his mar- riage, Duroy carrying his through. It is interesting to note for revelation of the character of Frederic that in the three instances where marriage is suggested to him it is the woman in each case who does the proposing.^^ Mme Arnoux in UEducation senti- mentale, Mme de Marelle in Bel-Ami, have little daughters to whom Frederic and Duroy show attention. In both books the husband of one of the women loved dies of lung disease in the course of the story.^® The lover is present during the final scenes, assists in the watch by the dead, and looks after the funeral arrangements. Frederic then is about to marry the widow, Mme Dambreuse, but abandons her after what he considers an insult offered by her to Mme Arnoux. Duroy accomplishes his marriage with Madeleine Forestier after the death of her husband but subsequently divorces her. On one occasion an insult to Mme Arnoux involves Frederic in a duel with Cisy.^^ Duroy also finds himself committed to a duel, in his case through an insult bestowed upon him by a rival journal.^*' Some incidents of the duels are much alike. Duroy resembles rather the Cisy of Flaubert's story than Frederic in his mechanical actions, his thirst, his desire for an accident to prevent the occurrence, his extreme terror. Frederic and Duroy act similarly in that both look in the glass to see if they show traces of fear, whereupon both dis- cover themselves to be pale. Both also think of the probable effect of a tragic ending on their parents. In neither duel is anyone hurt, and the event is treated by the two authors as a rather ridiculous perform- ance. The insulting notice in a journal, from which Frederic suf- fers no less than Duroy, happens to the former in an account of the duel which puts him in a most unfavorable light. In many other particulars Duroy seems to imitate Frederic. Both come of provin- cial families and betake themselves to Paris against the will of their
17 L'Bd.S., pp. 362, 541-42, S6i. i» Ihid., pp. 318 ff.
^^Ibid., pp. 537 ff.; B.'A., pp. 221 ff. ^^B.-A., pp. 230 ff.
RESEMBLANCES 69
parents.^^ Both are poor at first, are frequently in money difficulties, and pass their lives amid surroundings of which the sordid details are given. ^^ Both acquire moderate fortunes during the development of the story.^^ Frederic tries to secure an invitation to the residence of M. Dambreuse, Duroy to obtain one to the house of M. Walter.^* Having been tendered the invitation, each of the two is represented on one occasion as advancing down a long series of rooms to greet his hostess,^^ and on another as drawing attention upon himself by unorthodox remarks.^^ Both celebrate their rise in station by pur- chasing new clothes. ^^ Each is shown to us more than once looking in the glass.^^ Both make plans for election as deputy.^® In many incidents the two appear, Frederic at least progressively so, to be self-centred and touchy, to shirk the disagreeable, to be untrust- worthy and mean, to be troubled by few qualms of conscience.
For many details of Duroy's career comparisons are to be found in the lives of the secondary characters of Flaubert as well as in the experience of Frederic. He is, as has been seen, rather like Cisy than Frederic in the affair of the duel. He resembles the former also in his attempt to secure for a wife the young heiress of the financial magnate. Here a further parallel is found in Martinon, who actually does secure the heiress, outdoing the other suitor, like Duroy, by skilful manoeuvring. Both men transfer their attentions in the trans- action to the young girl in question, the one from the mother, the other from the aunt, to the great chagrin of the older woman.^^ Both, beginning in social obscurity, attain considerable prominence in the circles in which they move, owing largely to feminine favors. Like Flaubert's Hussonnet, Duroy shamelessly makes a convenience of people; like his Delmar, he exercises a strange fascination over
^'^URd.S., pp. 131, 140-41, etc.; B.-A., p. 57. 22 U£dS., p. 30, etc. ; B.-A., pp. 52 ff. ^^Und.S., pp. 139-40; B.'A., p. 530, etc. 2* U^d.S., pp. 24, 37, etc. ; B.-A., pp. 178-79, etc. 25 und.S., p. 185 ; B.-A., pp. 180-81. ^^L'£d.S., pp. 342-44; B.-A., pp. 184-85. ^'^L'M.S., p. 162; B.-A., p. 28. 28 L'Rd.S., pp. 71, Z2Z, etc. ; B.-A., pp. 29-31, 51, etc. ^^L'Rd.S., pp. 530, 536, 552,. etc.; B.-A., p. 428, etc.
30 The motif of a man's falling in love with the daughter after being the mother's lover is rather frequent in Maupassant. Cf. Fort comme la Mort, etc.
70 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
others, owing partly to his appearance, with, as is hinted, its resem- blance to the traditional ideal of benevolence.^^ In some ways Duroy shows also considerable similarity to Deslauriers, Frederic's friend. He is of the social class rather of Deslauriers than of Frederic and appears at first, like him, in shabby clothing, borrowing money from a friend. Duroy's father is a "cabaretier" ; the latest avocation of Deslauriers' father is the same. Both give the impression of pos- sessing greater energy than Frederic. Finally Deslauriers resembles Duroy in his journalistic interest.
In L' Education sentimentale and Bel- Ami there are, besides the characters already mentioned, others which correspond in certain details. In both books there are two men of affairs, one of whom is of much greater prominence than the other. Forestier is like Arnoux in his feverish activity, in his fondness for "bibelots," and in some other interests ; he is like Dambreuse, as has already been pointed out, in the manner of his death. Walter resembles Dambreuse in domi- nating the financial situation of the story and in exhibiting the self-importance and other characteristics of a financial magnate.
Among the women Mme Walter resembles Mme Dambreuse, as has been said,^^ in being the "grande dame," in her relations with the principal character, and in her jealousy of the younger woman who takes her lover from her. In her puerilities she is like Rosanette rather than Mme Dambreuse. Her absurd infatuation for Duroy further resembles somewhat that of "La Vatnaz" for Delmar. The daughter of Mme Arnoux has already been referred to as having her counterpart in the child of Mme de Marelle. Both little girls are rep- resented as acting like grown-up people and especially as displaying a coquetry in advance of their years.
Besides the similarities in specific incident already mentioned there are a few others which ought to be noted here. In both stories the chief character is annoyed by a "scie" — Frederic by that of "Arnoux," Duroy by that of "Forestier. "^^ In both there is a public ceremony in the Madeleine, characterized by irreverent behavior on the part of those present.^* In both a picture of the Founder of Christianity plays some part."^ In each some mention is made of the condition of French affairs in Algeria.
^^ L*£dS., pp. 103, 431-33, etc.; B.-A., pp. 508, 551, etc.
82 See above, p. 68. ss L'£dS., p. 84, etc. ; B.-A., p. 345, etc.
^*U£d.S., pp. 546-47; B.-A., pp. 561 ff.
^^L'Rd.S., p. 429; B.-A., pp. 478 ff. See below, p. 86.
RESEMBLANCES 71
In addition to particular resemblances there is considerable like- ness in general setting between L' Education sentimentale and Bel- Ami. Both give pictures of Parisian society of various grades and types, involving excursions, at all hours of the day and night, through all parts of Paris and into all manner of places of business and of legitimate and illegitimate pleasure. In both much space is allotted to the social happenings which illustrate the society in question — to balls, receptions, dinners, etc. In each the political events of the day are closely connected with the fortunes of the characters. Bel-Ami is in the main a story of journalism ; U Education sentimentale has likewise much to say of journals and journalists. Financial affairs of various kinds enter largely into the development of the plots. In social and business matters the atmosphere in the two books is one of scandal and deception, of intrigue, of sordid quarrelsomeness and undignified striving.
Besides the cases in which a whole story of Maupassant's corre- sponds to the whole or to part of a story of Flaubert's there are many instances of similar incidents and scenes. In Farce Normande^^ there is described a wedding procession through the fields like that of Emma in Madame Bovary.^"^ There is the same order of procession and the same atmosphere of peasant gaiety. In Madame B ovary the cortege is called "une seule echarpe de couleur" f^ in Farce Normande it is compared to a serpent.^® The people following Emma proceed to the accompaniment of a fiddler's efforts ; those in Farce Normande to the shots fired off in honor of the bridegroom, who is "un chasseur frenetique."*^ The sounds of the fiddle, even when heard from a distance, frighten the little birds away.*^ In Farce Normande the flaming shawls of the women have the same effect of astonishment upon the hens, the ducks, and the pigeons of the farmyard.*^ A sim- ilar idea is found in Petit Soldat,^^ where it is said that the shining leather shakos and copper buttons of the two "little soldiers" stop the larks overhead.** After the procession there is in both stories the same lengthy feasting and the same free jesting, with a predilection
3« C.d.LB., pp. 87-95.
37 M.B., pp. 37-38. *i M.B., p. 38.
38 Ibid., p. 37. *2 c.d.iB., p. 89.
39 C.d.LB., p. 89. *8 M.Par., pp. 287-99. *o Ibid., p. 87. ** Ibid., p. 291.
72 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
for practical jokes.*' In Ma Femnte*^ and Une Vie*"^ there is also mention of a Norman wedding feast and the succeeding rustic ball, the passages being almost precisely the same in the two places. A third procession across the fields, this time going and coming, instead of only coming as in the former stories, is described in Le Bapteme.*^ In all three descriptions of processions attention is called to the playing of children round and about the moving company of their elders. The last-named procession is, like the preceding two, followed by a feast and rude joking. Other processions through the country are Emma's funeral procession in Madame Bovary,*^ the procession to the shore at the christening of the "J^^^"^" i^ ^^^^ F«>/" the procession of the sacrament to the house of the dying peasant woman in Le Diable,^^ and the procession at the blessing of the springs in Mont-Oriol}^ Another ceremony in a peasant com- munity which is depicted by both Flaubert and Maupassant is that of the first communion. Accounts are given of this in Un Coeur simple, Boiivard et Pecuchet, and La Maison Tellier.^^ In all three the veils of the little girls are described by means of very similar figures. In Un Coeur simple they are said to form "a field of snow" ;^* in Bouvard et Pecuchet the children kneeling resemble "a line of white clouds" ;^^ in La Maison Tellier they are enveloped in "a cloud of snowy tulle. "^® Maupassant's account of the ceremony is very much longer than either one of Flaubert's, and its satirical tone may well have been caught from Bouvard et Pecuchet. The midnight mass of Christmas Eve is also mentioned by the two men in Bouvard et Pecuchet, Un Reveillon, and Conte de Noel}'' Both speak of the coldness of the night (in all three stories), of the little lights in the darkness made by the lanterns of the peasants (in B.e.P, and C.d.N.), and of the scene of naive faith in the church (in all three stories). In Madame B ovary and in Mont-Oriol a public celebration ends with fireworks, the exhibition of which departs in each case
*« M.B., pp. 38-41 ; C.d.lB., pp. 90-95- *^ M.B., pp. 465-66.
*«L.M.T., pp. 265-76. ^^U.V., pp. 58-59.
*7 U.V., pp. 79-81. 51 L^H., pp. 128-29.
*8 M.Har., pp. 245-53. * ^2 m.-O., pp. 232-34.
63 T.C., pp. 25-26; B.e.P., pp. 314-16; L.M.T., pp. 31-38.
" T.C., p. 25. 65 B.e.P., p. 315.
»» L.M.T., p. 30.
^^B.e.P., pp. 297-98; Mile F., pp. 173-75; C.d.L., pp. 67-70.
RESEMBLANCES 73
somewhat from the prearranged plan.^® A small incident of a peasant assembly which is noticed by both authors is the following. In Madame Bovary, while the crowd in the street is listening to the speeches at the "Comices agricoles," there comes a gust of wind, and "tous les grands bonnets des paysannes se souleverent, comme des ailes de papillons blancs qui s'agitent."^® In Les Sabots,^^ a similar gust of wind, blowing through the open doors of a church over the "bonnets blancs des paysannes," tosses up in its passage "les longs rubans des coiffures."®^ In Le Rosier de Madame Husson^- there is a public address distinguished by something of the same inanity as is apparent in the speech of the counsellor at the "Comices agricoles."®^ To be mentioned also in this connection are the account of the meet- ing of the club in UEducation sentimentale and of the suffrage society in Oeuvres posthumes, II.®* The audience consists in each case of ridiculous and ineffective figures, among them certain foreigners, the speeches are foolish, and the gathering is disorderly. The whole representation is evidently intended to be caricatural.
Several times both in Flaubert and in Maupassant it happens that a person in need of some kind goes to a church or to a priest for aid. Uhistoire d'une fille de ferme^^ resembles here in a short pas- sage the experience of Emma Bovary. Emma, hearing the bell ring- ing the Angelus, and remembering her convent days, goes to the church, where she meets the Abbe Bournisien. To him she tries to tell her trouble, but, repulsed by his strange lack of comprehension, leaves him with her distress unspoken.^® Rose goes to church and prays at the time of the Angelus. Then she seeks out the cure; but he goes on with his dinner as he waits for her to speak, and she, like Emma, departs with her secret unrevealed. An incident in Bel-Ami which has several points of contact with one in Madame Bovary is that where Mme Walter gives Duroy a rendezvous in the Church of the Trinity.®^ Similarly Emma has promised to meet Leon in Rouen Cathedral.®^ Like details are noted in the scene outside of the church — the brightness of the summer sun and the plashing of the water in
58M.J5., p. 211 ; M.'O., pp. 245-48, 252-53. «i C.d.lB,, p. 99-
59 M.B., p. 207. «2 L.R.d.M.H., p. 24.
«o C.d.lB., pp. 99-109. «3 M.B., pp. 197-202.
«* L'Bd.S., pp. 433-43 ; O.P., II : Seance publique, pp. 73-80.
65 L.M.T., pp. 55-91. 87 B.-A., pp. 394, 397-412.
«« M.B., pp. 153-59. ®^ M.B., pp. 328, 330-36.
74 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
the fountain. In both cases the lover arrives too early and makes the circuit of the nave, noticing, among other things, the light falling through the colored windows. In both he becomes impatient and finally sits down to wait. Leon's solitude and subsequent meeting with Emma are disturbed by the "suisse," who wishes to exhibit the sights of the cathedral. Likewise Duroy's waiting and his rendezvous with Mme Walter are punctuated by the steps and by the words of "un gros monsieur," who also asks some questions regarding the his- torical monuments of the church. Duroy, like Frederic, first becomes aware of the arrival of his mistress on hearing the rustle of her dress. Here the wording is very similar.
Flaubert Maupassant
C'etait elle. Leon se leva et ecu- C'etait elle. II se leva, s'avanqa rut a sa rencontre [M.B., p. 332]. vivement [B.-A., p. 400].
Both women try to break loose from temptation, Emma by means of a letter which she has written the previous evening and now hands to Leon, Mme Walter in words, as Duroy and she kneel side by side. Both subsequently attempt to obtain resolution in prayer, despair- ingly looking for supernatural aid. Both find their distress but increased by the atmosphere of the church. Mme Walter is deliv- ered for the time being by the advent of a priest, whom she constrains to hear her confession. Emma gives way to Leon. Another scene in a church, this time between husband and wife,®® has nothing in common with the foregoing except the distress of the woman.
Additional places of rendezvous alluded to by both authors are : a carriage or diligence ;'" a specially prepared apartment f^ the end of a garden^^ (in M.B. and B.-A. an arbor) ; the public street ;'^* a conserva- tory f* and so on. In Madame Bovary, Leon and Emma go on an excursion in a rowboat. A similar incident is found in Lettre trouvee sur un noye.'^^ The following points are alike in both : the two dine
«» ULB., pp. 13-15.
fOM.B., pp. 336-38; B.'A., pp. 128-29; L.R.d.MJJ.: Un Echec, pp. 45-50; C.dJ.e.d.lN.: L'Aveu, pp. 50-56; etc.
'^^L'Ed.S., pp. 396, 407-8; Ei-A^p. 140 ff., etc.; N.C., pp. 112 if.; etc.
72 M.B., p. 234, etc. ; L.S.R.: Le Mai d'Andri, pp. 125-27; ,g^., pp. 497, 501.
" L'M.S., pp. 395, 397, 399-401 ; ^^A^p. 540-41 ; N.C., p. 121.
7* L'^d.S., p. 176; B.-A., p. 496, etcTC^.P., I : La Serre, pp. 147-54-
" O.P., I, 214-17.
RESEMBLANCES 75
in an inn by the waterside ; they embark in the darkness of evening ; they skirt wooded shores ; influenced by the moonHght, they indulge in sentimental thoughts and observations.
A situation that is found more than once in both authors is that of the desertion of a woman by her lover. There is considerable general resemblance in this connection between the stories of Felicite in Un Coeur simple and Rose in L'histoire d'une fille de fenne?^ Both are servants on a farm and go through the usual processes of peasant love-making. In each story promise of marriage has been given by the man, and the distress of the poor girl on being left is unusually keen. The Hkeness between the cases of Emma Bovary and Jeanne in Une Vie has already been mentioned. ^^ Another instance is that of Mme Walter, who is found unconscious the morn- ing after hearing that her daughter has gone away with Du Roy."®
Two incidents in Madame Bovary have a long train of successors in the works of Maupassant. These are the finding of his wife's love letters by Charles after her death/^ and the examining of his sou- venirs by Rodolphe.®^ For a long time after Emma's death Charles does not open the secret compartment of her "bureau de palissandre." On doing so at last, he unearths the letters of Leon, those from Rodolphe being subsequently found in a box. He is thrown into wild despair by his discovery. In Une Vie, Jeanne, watching by her mother after the latter's death, takes the dead woman's letters from the drawer of the "secretaire d'acajou" and reads them. Among them are letters from a lover, on the perusal of which she is shaken, like Charles, with a paroxysm of uncontrolled grief. A very similar instance is to be found in La Veillee,^'^ where a son and daughter, watching by a dead mother, take her letters from the drawer where they have been kept, and on reading them make, to their horror and amazement, a discovery like Jeanne's. In Nos Lettres^^ the revela- tion comes to a stranger. Arriving for a visit at a friend's house, he is given the unoccupied room of the deceased "Tante Rose." There, on looking in the "secretaire d'acajou" for writing materials, he finds a secret compartment, which he succeeds in opening. He reads the letters therein contained, which furnish evidence of a hitherto unsus- pected love affair of the dead woman's. In Le Pardon^^ a wife is
7«r.C., pp. 7-10; LM.T., pp. 59-64. ^^Ibid., pp. 278-80.
"^^ See above, p. 65. «i O.P., I, 55-60.
78^.-^.^. 552-53. ®2 C.d.L., pp. 208-16.
^sJlTFT^P. 478-79. ^^Ihid., pp. 92, 96.
76 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
informed of her husband's treachery through an anonymous letter, and again through a note to him from his dying mistress, which she picks up and reads. In L'Ordonnance,^* a husband receives like news of his wife in a letter written by her just before she commits suicide and found by him on her work-table on his return from her funeral. Another letter from a suicide, composed during his last night and discovered next day on his table, narrates the causes of his self- destruction — disillusionment, ennui, and the memory of the past brought back by souvenirs that he has preserved.®** Here might be mentioned the letter of Emma to Charles explaining the poisoning of herself.*® Letters taken from under a "prie-Dieu" in the Madeleine, according to Les Caresses,^'^ have again to do with a love intrigue. A variation in the medium of revelation occurs in Un Fou^^ and in Un Cos de divorce.^^ In the former a journal discovered after his death in the secretary of an esteemed judge shows him to have been afflicted with homicidal mania and to have committed murders under its compulsion. In the latter the journal of the husband is quoted by the lawyer for the wife as proving "la folie poetique" on the part of the man, and consequent good reason for the granting of the divorce.
We come now to the second incident named at the beginning of the preceding paragraph, which is the examining of his souvenirs by Rodolphe. This he does after leaving Emma and before writing his letter of farewell to her. He has kept these souvenirs in an old biscuit-box and turns them about with callous indifference.^^ A some- what similar collection of souvenirs is enumerated by the suicide who has been spoken of above as having left a letter explaining his departure.^^ Olivier Bertin also spends some time in going through his souvenirs of the countess^^ — sorrowfully, .like the "Suicide," not heartlessly, like Rodolphe. Sorrowfully also does "la baronne" inspect her "relics"*^^ — the "relics" which afterwards reveal her secret to her daughter. Jeanne herself, we are told, is preparing her "boite aux
"LJW.C, pp. 96-101.
^^LS.R.: Suicides, pp. 229-39.
8« M.B., pp. 435-37. »<> M.B., p. 279.
^'^L.p.R., pp. 281-88. ^^LS.R.: Suicides, p. 237.
«8Jl/.Por., pp. 161-73. »2/7.^jj/. pp. 295-96.
89 L'LB., pp. 218-29. »8 jjy^^ pp. 33^ 227-28.
RESEMBLANCES 77
reliques."®* The incriminating letters in La Veillee have also been "relics."^^ Finally we have mention in Pierre et Jean of "le tiroir inconnu ou Ton serre les reliques d'amour."^® It will be noticed that the two incidents of the revealing letters and the souvenirs are com- bined in three of the cases cited from Maupassant — that of "la baronne" in Une Vie, that of the "Suicide," and that of the mother in La Veillee.
There still remain to be noted many incidents similar in the two writers. In UEducation sentimentale and Une Vie we have related a father's repugnance for his child, whom he kisses in each case under compulsion "du bout des levres."®^ The example of a man who, through idleness, devotes himself to a perfectly useless and foolish occupation is furnished in Madame Bovary by Binet, who spends all his spare moments in the fashioning of wooden napkin-rings.^® Mau- passant has two characters who do similar things. Cachelin in UHeritage^^ occupies his time after leaving the "bureau" in cutting out covers for cigar boxes with a "fine mechanical saw," which cor- responds to Binet's lathe. Likewise Marowsko in Pierre et Jean spends much of his time in making "des sirops et des liqueurs," with- out succeeding in putting any on the market. ^^'^ The case of Regim- bart in L' Education sentimentale is also that of one who spends his days in aimless idling.^^^ His time, when Frederic comes to know him, is passed in going from one cafe to another, eating, drinking, reading the newspapers, or sitting in morose taciturnity until the pro- prietor turns him out, often after midnight. Towards the end of the book we find him in "un petit cafe sur la place de la Bastille, ou il se tenait toute la journee, dans le coin de droite, au fond, ne bougeant pas plus que s'il avait fait partie de Timmeuble." There he sits, let- ting fall from time to time the word "Bock !" for he has reduced his speech to the indispensable. He resembles closely Maupassant's picture of a habitual "bockeur" in his story «Gargon, un Bock!»^^^ The "Bockeur" thus describes his life :
9* U.V., p. 228. ^'^URd.S., pp. 553-54; U.V., p. 213.
95 O.P., I, 58. »8 M.B., pp. 104, 138, 163, 284, 422-23.
9« P.eJ., p. 103. »9 M,Har., p. 155.
100 P.eJ., p. 49-
101 LM.S., pp. 55, 246, 319-20, 564-65.
102 M.Har., pp. 231-41 ; cf. also MPar., pp. 49-52, 62, 72-73, where the same incident occurs, told at greater length.
78 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Je me leve a midi. Je viens ici, je dejeune, je bois des bocks, j 'attends la nuit, je dine, je bois des bocks; puis, vers une heure et demie du matin, je retourne me coucher parce qu'on ferme. C'est ce qui m'embete le plus. Depuis dix ans, j'ai bien passe six annees sur cette banquette, dans mon coin; et le reste dans mon lit, jamais ailleurs. Je cause quelquefois avec des habitues. ^°*
All through the conversation which the "Bockeur" has with the other personage of the story he calls out constantly the words which form the title, «Gargon, un Bock !» — an exclamation not quite so laconic as Regimbart's "Bock !" At the end of the story he breaks his pipe and laments over the time it will take him to bring another to the same pitch of perfection. This recalls Dussardier,^"* to whom hap- pens the same accident, with the same regret following. Both Flau- bert and Maupassant describe in varying terms places of entertain- ment which have in common the account they give of the motley crowd.^^'^ An incident alluded to in each author is the following. Rosanette in UEdiication sentimentale throws crumbs to the fish in the "etang des carpes" at Fontainebleau during her visit to the chateau with Frederic.^"^ In his house Walter, in Bel-Ami, has a large pond, with small fountains, containing "quelques enormes pois- sons rouges,"^*^'^ which are tame and come to the surface to be fed.^^* Another animal instance is as follows. In Un Coeur simple, it will be remembered, there is a parrot which becomes the pet of Felicite, which is stuffed after its death, and which the simple woman comes to confuse in her thought with the representations she has seen of the Holy Spirit.^^® In two of his tales Maupassant speaks of parrots. In Boiteile^^^ he merely gives a description of the different bright- colored and noisy parrots exposed for sale on the quays at Havre. In Le Noye^'^'^ he tells the story of a woman whose husband has been drowned after she has suffered years of abuse from him. She buys a parrot at a sale, but is so terrified on hearing it speak to her in the voice of her husband and in the words with which he had been wont
103 M.Har., p. 235. ^«* L'£d.S., pp. 44-45-
105 For example, L'£d.S., pp. 163 ff. ; Toine: UArmoire, pp. 150-51 ; VLB.: Le Masque, pp. 159-75; B.-A., pp. 18 ff . ; O.P., II: Essai d' Amour, pp. 57-58.
^^^L'£d.S., p. 462. 107^,.^^ p. 489.
io8fi.=4y pp. 509, 510-11, 513, 514; cf. 5*0/., pp. 14-15; cf. also O.P., II: Un Diner et quelques idies, p. 63.
109 T.C., pp. 40 ff.
^^^LM.G., pp. 78-80. Ill VLB., pp. 119-33-
RESEMBLANCES 79
to assail her, that she regards it as a re-embodiment of his spirit, kills it, and throws it into the sea, afterward praying to be forgiven for the crime she thinks she has committed. This story is like Un Coeur simple in the connection of the parrot with the supernatural.
In Madame Bovary, U Education sentimentale, L'inutile Beaute and Fort comme la Mort are pictured scenes in theatres during a rep- resentation.^^^ All give some general descriptions of the crowd, of the movement, of the greetings and conversations there taking place. Those in Madame Bovary and in Fort comme la Mort are alike in some particulars. Emma in the one book, Olivier Bertin in the other, connect the music and the words of the opera with their own melan- choly thoughts and are stirred by the strong love interest of the story.
Like Flaubert, Maupassant speaks not seldom of various forms of human malady. He gives, for instance, a description of a diphtheria case, as does Flaubert in ^Education sentimentale}^^ One account of misfortune which has details of likeness to a passage in the works of the older man is that of "le pere Clovis" in Mont- Oriol. The old beggar, "cured" the year before by his daily baths in the waters of the Oriol spring, has become more incapacitated than ever, and laments his bad fortune in public to all who will listen to him.^^* So also does the blind mendicant in Madame Bovary, whom Homais has tried, and failed, to cure.^^^ Andermatt in Mont-Oriol, like Homais, tries to have the beggar imprisoned. Unlike Homais he does not succeed in this, but he manages to silence old Clovis by other means. ^^^
Several duels are depicted by the two authors. The points of resemblance between the duels of Frederic and Duroy have already been considered. ^^^ In UHeritage^^^ a duel is threatened between Maze and Lesable, whom the former has insulted. As in Frederic's duel, information has to be sought from authorities on certain tech- nical matters. The occurrence is rendered ridiculous, like the duels of Frederic and Duroy, even more so, in fact, in that the usual satis- faction is avoided through the signing by the principals of documents
^^^M.B., pp. 307-16; L'Bd.S., pp. 126-27; UI.B., pp. 22-34; F.c.l.M., pp. 317-32.
lis r£dS., pp. 401-4 ; S.VE., pp. 86-92. 115 M.B., p. 473.
114 M.-O., pp. 235-37. 118 M.B., p. 474 ; M.-O., pp. 236-38.
^'^'^ URd.S., pp. 318-30; B.-A., pp. 230-49; see also above, pp. 68, 69.
11® M.Har., pp. 1 10-16.
8o FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
containing mutual excuses. In Un Lache^'^^ the "coward" of the story is involved in a duel, owing to an insult offered to a woman with whom he happens to be. As in the cases of Frederic and Duroy his- approval of himself is replaced by fear. Like them he looks in the glass and finds himself pale. His terror increases until it surpasses even that of Cisy in UEducation sentimentale. He finally commits suicide because he feels that he cannot face the ordeal. Un Duel relates a happening of a different kind. In it a Frenchman kills a German who has insulted him as a Frenchman after the defeat of 1870. The element of caricature, always present in these accounts of duels, is supplied here by the introduction of two Englishmen who act as seconds to the Frenchman, and by the fact that the victor has never before held a pistol, while his antagonist is an army officer.^-^ Another war story, Boule de Suif, introduces the hunger motif, which is found besides in Idylle and Le Vagabond, as well as in Salammho}^^ All emphasize the commanding, brutalizing power of hunger and the voracity of the hungry before the sight of food. In Le Vagabond also, as in SalammbOj are mentioned the dreams of food characteristic of a condition of starvation.^^^ Both Flaubert and Maupassant give an unpleasant picture of an old man, pitiable in his infirmity, who is a gourmand, and who shows his gourmandism by pointing or grasping helplessly at the dishes before him.^-^ The two writers also indulge their fondness for satire at the expense of the citizen-soldiers who make clumsy and ineffective efforts to rouse themselves from their corpulent sloth to the defence of their coun- try."* Two passages on this subject are somewhat alike.
Flaubert Maupassant
Les uns, s'imaginant qu'il fallait Les gros n'allaient pas par les
beaucoup manger pour acquerir des rues qu'au pas gymnastique pour
forces, se gorgeaient, et d'autres. fondre leur graisse et prolonger
incommodes par leur corpulence, leur haleine, les faibles portaient
s'extenuaient de jeunes pour se des fardeaux pour fortifier leurs
faire maigrir [Sal., p. 120]. muscles [Cd.L.: U.C.d'E., pp. 15-
16].
"» C.dJ.e.d.lN., pp. 107-21. 120 O.P., I, 159-61.
'^^'^B.d.S., pp. 22-29, 75-76; M.Har., pp. 203-11; L.H., pp. 227-42; Sal, pp. 361-68.
1225-0/., pp. 366-67; L.H.: L.V., p. 228.
"371/.5., p. 68; L.H.: Une Famille, pp. 178-81.
'^^*Sal., p. 120; C.d.L.: Un Coup d'itat, pp. 15-16; Toine: Les Prisonniers, p. 181.
RESEMBLANCES 8l
Still another likeness to Salammho is the mention, in Le Lapin,^^^ of the horses neighing towards the morning light, as do the sacred horses towards the sun in the former story.
Many passages in Flaubert and Maupassant give descriptions of death, of burial, and of the resting-places of the dead.^^^ In the nature of the case they have much in common. Scrutiny, however, fails to reveal any distinctive likenesses, resemblances being confined to the universal circumstances and concomitants of this human expe- rience. Among the famous cemeteries described are those of Pere- Lachaise and Montmartre in Paris, and the "Cimetiere des Capucins" near Palermo in Sicily. ^^^ The frequency of such descriptions is to be connected with the thought of death entertained by the two authors. This has been referred to in a previous chapter.^^® Fre- quent, likewise, are scenes on board passenger boats.^^® All those cited mention the start of the boat, and all except Un Echec and Une Vie speak of the bustle and noise on board. In Un Echec the man telling the story watches a woman on deck, as Frederic does Mme Arnoux. The woman reads and smiles while reading, as Mme Arnoux is pictured doing. The man makes advances to her, like Frederic, and is more successful therein than the latter. La Mer resembles the Flaubertian description in that the people take dinner during the passage.
Flaubert and Maupassant were both natives of Normandy and have left us numerous pictures of the Norman countryside (which both knew and loved), especially of that portion lying between Rouen and the sea. Each portrays the plains and the undulating stretches, with clumps of trees at intervals, the dusty highroads running like ribbons through the country, the farms protected by rows of poplars
125 Sal, p. 21 ; L.M.G., p. io6.
126 For example, M.B,, pp. 435-49, 453-69; L'RdS., pp. 537-50, 574-76, 583- 85; T.C.: U.C.S.,VV- 37-38, 57-64; L.M.T.: En F., pp. 150-54, 167, 169-76; Les Tombales, pp. 251-57; C.d.l.B.: La Tomhe, pp. 253-60; L.M.G.: L'Ordon- nance, pp. 95-96, La Morte, pp. 221-30; U.V., pp. 230-45, 246-47; B.-A., pp. 278-89; F.c.lM., pp. 354-72.
127 U^d S., pp. 548-49 ; L.M.T. : Les Tombales, pp. 251-54 ; L.V.e., pp. 69-76.
i2« See above, p. 15.
^29L'£dS., pp. i-ii; O.dJ., Ill, 180, 181-82; M.Har.: Mon Oncle Jules, pp. 276-84; M.Par,: Dicouverte, pp. 249-57; L.R.d.M.H.: Un £chec, pp. 37-44; U.y., pp. 93-98; P.eJ., pp. 231-37, 239-42; Au S.: La Mer, pp. 10-12.
82 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
or beeches sheltering apple orchards and yards replete with lazy animal life, the fields gay with poppies and other flowers, the streams and ponds, the frequent roofs of thatch, the chateaux with their parks, the villages with their churches, cemeteries, inns, and "mairies," the lofty cliffs along the coast.^^*^ One or two descriptions have more special points of likeness. For instance, the following paragraphs portray similar scenes in a somewhat similar manner.
Flaubert Maupassant
Elle [la riviere] coulait sans II allait vite, le long de I'etroite
bruit, rapide et froid a Toeil ; de riviere qui moussait, grognait, bouil-
grands herhes minces s'y courbaient lonnait et filait dans son lit d'herhes,
ensemble, selon le courant qui les sous une voute de sautes. Les
poussait, et comme des chevelures grosses pierres, arretant le cours,
vertes abandonnees s'etalaient dans avaient autour d'elles un bourrelet
sa limpidite. Quelquefois, a la d'eau, une sorte de cravate terminee
pointe des joncs ou sur la feuille en noeud d'ecume. Par places,
des nenufars, un insecte a pattes c'etaient des cascades d'un pied,
fines marchait ou se posait. Le souvent invisibles, qui faisaient,
soleil traversait d'un rayon les petits sous les feuilles, sous les lianes,
globules bleus des ondes qui se sue- sous un toit de verdure, un gros
cedaient en se crevant ; les vieux bruit colere et doux ; puis plus loin,
sautes ebranches miraient dans I'eau les berges s'elargissaient, on ren-
leur ecorce grise ; au dela, tout alen- contrait un petit lac paisible ou
tour, la prairie semblait vide [M.B., nageaient des truites parmi toute
pp. 130-31]. / cette chcvelure verte qui ondoie au
fond des ruisseaux calmes [L.p.R., pp. 3-4].
Both passages here describe a little stream flowing along through the country by a village. In one case the stream is turbulent, in the other it is smooth. The general appearance of the river's course is the same in both, overshadowed by willows and fringed with reeds and long grass, to which the figure of "chevelure verte" is applied. A river placed similarly to that in Madame B ovary, washing the walls of the gardens on one side and bordered on the other by fields, is referred to in Notre Coeiir}^'^ One or two pictures of farm
180 For example, M.B., pp. 16-18, 46, 61-62, 65, 72, 95-100, 153; B.e.P., p. no; L.M.T., pp. 23, 24-25: L'h.d'u.f.d.f., pp. 55-58, 76-77; B.d.S., p. 32; C.d.L., p. 9: Un Coup d'etat, p. 21; M.Har, p. 7; L.P.R., pp. 3-4; U.V., pp. 23-26, 339-40, 344-45; O.P., I, 266; P.eJ., p. 19.
"li^T.C, p. 231.
RESEMBLANCES 83
kitchens are alike in noting the reflection of sunlight or firelight in the bright kitchen utensils of various kinds.^^^ In three passages Maupassant describes the same view of Rouen as is indicated by Flaubert where Emma's gradual approach to the city from Yonville is retailed.^^^ All the pictures reproduce the outstanding features of the scene — the river, the church spires, the factory chimneys. Le Horla is further like Madame B ovary in mentioning the pleasant sound of the church bells on the early morning air. Maupassant more than once speaks of Croisset, Flaubert's home,^^* besides describing in Le Horla^^^ a house and garden like his friend's, and mentioning in Boule de Suif the invasion of Rouen by the Prussians during which the Croisset house was occupied by them, as we know from the older man's correspondence,^^^ In the first Education sentimen- tale^^'^ there is a picture of Havre resembling in some particulars that given in Pierre et Jean^^^ — through its mention of the throng of boats in the harbor, of the brightness of the lighthouses, of the greasy thickness of the fog. Flaubert has one, Maupassant four, descrip- tions of Mont-Saint-Michel.^2»
Besides living in Normandy, the two writers in question resided much in Paris, which both have described over and over again, Flau- bert especially in UEducation sentimentale, and Maupassant in the many stories which have to do with the life of the metropolis. As may be expected, they often depict the same scenes, but again not with distinctive similarity. The greater frequency of night pictures in Maupassant is to be noted.^*° One description several times repeated is that of the parade of carriages in the Champs-Elysees and the Bois de Boulogne.^*^ The reflection of the sun on parts of the
132 M.B., p. 18 ; B.e.P., p. 27 ; B.-A.^jp. 193-94 ; O.P., I, 267. ^^^M.B., pp. 363-64; C.d.lB.: Un Normand, pp. 143-44; L.H., p. 4; B.-A., pp. 321-23, 335.
^8* For example, B.d.S., p. 9; B.-A., p. 331 ; etc. 185 Pp. 3-4. 137 o.dJ., Ill, 179.
136 Corr., IV, 44-59. ^^^ Pp. 18, 21, 42, 93, etc.
139 P./.C.^./>./.G., pp. 310-17; C.d.L.: La Ligende du Mont-Saint-Michel, pp. 103-4; L.H., pp. lo-ii; N.C., pp. 75-76, 94-105.
140 Cf. C.d.L.: La Nuit, pp. 219-28.
^^^L'£d.S., pp. 33, 218, 298-99, 507-8; 0.d.J., Ill, 4-5; Mile F.: A Cheval, p. 159; C.d.J.e.d.l.N.: Le Pere, pp. 38-39; Yvette: Promenade, pp. 206-7, 209, 211 ; L'LB., p. 5; B.-A., pp. 352-54, 359, 533; F.c.lM., pp. 97-ioo, 104.
84 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
carriages and harness is spoken of in L' Education sentimentale (p. 33) and in L'inutile Beaxite (p. 5) ; the coming up of a cold wind on the promenaders in L'Education sentimentale (p. 298) and Fort comnte la Mort (p. 99). There is an account of a visit to Fontaine- bleau in L'Education sentimentale (pp. 459-77) and in Notre Coeur (pp. 229 if.). In addition to Normandy and Paris, both men have something to say about Brittany, Southern France, especially the Riviera, Corsica, Switzerland, Italy, and Algeria.^^^ In many cases the younger man seems to have followed the footsteps of the older in visiting these places, for the same, or almost the same, route will be outlined, and the same names will occur in the narrative. There is nothing to denote, however, that the one was influenced by the other in his descriptions of what both saw for themselves. Possibly there was an influence in the exciting of interest. This in turn may have caused a wish to see places already pictured in thought. Like Flau- bert, Maupassant traveled in Brittany on foot.^*^ The part visited by both was the southern shore of the peninsula.^** Marseilles with its teeming life is portrayed by the two men.^*^ In Rome neither likes St. Peter's.^*^ Flaubert praises Michael Angelo's "Last Judgment," which Maupassant condemns."^ In La Vie errante, during the description of Tunis, Maupassant speaks of a ruined aqueduct near the town as 'Taquedue de Carthage dont parle Flaubert dans Salammho."^^^
We have been considering hitherto for the most part descrip- tions of outdoor scenes ; there are also many of various kinds of interiors, which likewise furnish few instances of striking similarity.
^*2 See, for example, Flaubert's Par les Champs et par les greves, Notes de voyages, and Correspondance ; Maupassant's Au Soleil, Sur I'Eau, and La Vie errante.
^** Maynial, La Vie et Voeuvre de Maupassant, p. 183.
^^*PlC.e.p.l.G.; cf. B.el"., pp. 38 ff.; Corr., I, 283-85; C.d.l.B.: Un Fits, pp. 199-200; M.Par.: A Vendre, p. 100, Le Bapteme, pp. 136-37, Petit Soldat, p. 288; L.P.R.: La Peur, pp. 274-75; LJi.d.M.H.: Une Soirie, p. 143; Au S.: En Bretagne, pp. 251-80.
^*^Corr., I, 153; III, 72; N.d.V., I, 11-12; II, 292-93, 345-46; L.M.G., pp. 202 ff.; Au S., pp. 9-10, 183-84; P.lC.e.p.l.G.: Pyrinies, p. 397.
"« Corr., II, 66; B.d.S.: Corr., p. clvi.
^*' Corr., II, 56, 63 ; B.d.S.: Corr., pp. civ-vi.
^*^L.V.E.: Tunis, p. 146; cf. Corr., Ill, 335-36, 346.
RESEMBLANCES 85
Each writer gives a somewhat lengthy account of a factory.^*^ Two passages which have a number of like details are those portraying the "cabinets de toilette" of Rosanette and of Mme de Burne.^'^^ Each room described is the centre of its owner's activities. The hangings of each are of "perse" or of "toiles de Perse." The furniture in both consists of restful seats, and of toilet tables and utensils, some of which in either case are of marble or crystal. In each there is a large looking-glass, and a bath curtained off from the rest of the room.
In treating the phenomena of the weather, of the seasons, of day and night, Flaubert and Maupassant are much alike. This is to be expected, as they deal with the same places and the same general climate. One or two instances of special emphasis or of similar turns of incident and expression are to be noted. Both describe days or nights of rain in Paris and in the country.^^^ Both speak of the "heavy heat" of summer.^^^ g^^h refers to the biting cold of the Norman or Parisian winter.^^^ The fog or mist of Normandy or Paris is also given its share of attention. ^*^* Descriptions of sunrise and sunset and of moonrise and moonlight nights are frequent.^^^ In its rising the moon is sometimes represented by both men as appearing from behind trees.^^®
Many similar things are portrayed by the two authors. The "thing" may be a characteristic of personal appearance. Sometimes it is the direct glance of a character.^" Much space is given to the
i^L'^rf.^"., pp. 279-84; Au S.: Le Creusot, pp. 281-89. ^^^UndS., p. 188; N.C., pp. 36-38.
151 For example, L'M.S., pp. 152, 285, 297, 298-99, 510, 598; M.B., pp. 16, 167; U.V., pp. i-io; Yvette, pp. 96-99; L.R.d.M.H.: UOdyssee d'une fille, p. 207.
152 For example, M.B., p. 284; L.M.T,, p. 39: En Famille, p. 137; C.dlB.: Les Sabots, p. 99; M.Har., p. 30; L.P.R., p. 43; S.VE.: Livre de Bord, p. 198.
153 For example, M.B., pp. 88-89, 140, 294; L'^d.S., pp. 82, 96; U.V., pp. 158-59; C.d.LB.: La Folle, p. 41, Saint- Ant oine, p. 223. In the last two examples Maupassant speaks of the special cold of the winter of 1870. N,C., pp. i8s, 195.
i"For example, M.B., pp. 219-20; O.dJ., Ill, 179; Und.S., pp. 96, 413; P.eJ., pp. 88-89, 93; L.M.T. : Sur Veau, p. 191.
155 For example, Sal, p. 21; M.B., pp. 223-24; Sal, pp. 55-56; M.B., pp. 354-55; C.d.J.e.d.lN.: Un Lache, p. 115; U.V., p. 379; U.V., pp. 70-71; C.d.L., pp. 8-10.
i5« For example, M.B., p. 274 ; F.c.lM., p. 202. 157 For example, M.B., p. 19; M.-O., pp. 7-8.
86 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
description of hands — the gnarled and deformed hands of the worker, the "long, pale" hands of the man or woman of higher station, the soft, repulsive hands of an Arnoux or a Walter.^^® Feet no less than hands are often alluded to and taken as symbolic. The broad, unwieldy boots of Charles Bovary seem to typify stupidity no less than the feet, "fort plats et fort gros," of Walter Schnaffs, the simple German soldier/^^ The "gros souliers" of the peasants cor- respond to the character of the wearers no less than the dainty shoes of Emma or of Mme Arnoux.^^^ Mme de Marelle's diamond, which, held by a thread of gold, hangs from her ear, "comme une goutte d'eau qui aurait glisse sur la chair," suggests Salammbo's hollow pearls, filled with perfume, from which "de moment en moment, une gouttelette qui tombait mouillait son epaule nue."^®^ The likenesses between the diligence in Madame Bovary and that in La Bete a MaW Belhomme have already been pointed out.^®^ In UAveu and Apres the designation of a stagecoach as a "coffre jaune" is repeated.^^^ There are several enumerations of different kinds of carriages. ^'^^ Descriptions of pictures are common, including discussion of por- traits of characters and of representations of Christ.^®^ Riches and their paraphernalia, such as "bibelots" of many kinds, occupy a considerable place in the works of both men.^®^
In Maupassant there is some use of names which have evidently a more or less close connection with names in Flaubert. The name "Le Poittevin," for instance, occurs several times,^®^ recalling the
158 For example, M.B., pp. 208-9; L.H.: Le Viable, p. 127; L'£dS., p. 187; L.H.: Le Marquis de Fumerol, p. 97; L'£d.S., p. 61 ; B.-A., p. 50.
159M.5., p. 59; C.d.lB.: L'Aventure de Walter Schnaffs, p. 235.
i«oFor example, L.M.T.: L'h.d'u.f.d.f., p. 77 \ M.B., pp. 83, 109, etc.; L'£.d.S.,v- 115-
i«i 5.-/4., p. 37; cf. also p. 43; Sal, p. 259.
162 See above, pp. 58-59. '^^ C.dJ.e.d.l.N., p. 52; O.P., I, 298.
i8*M.5., p. 35; L.M.T., p. 29; M.Har.: La Ficelle, p. 218; L'£,dS., p. 298.
185 For example, M.B., pp. 20, 326, 416; L.M.T., p. 5; Toine: L'Ami Pa- tience, p. 29; B.-A., pp. 196 ff., 327; L'£.d.S., pp. 214 ff., 307-8, etc.; L'l.B.: Un Portrait, pp. 183-84; F.c.l.M., pp. 19 ff., 82 ff., 231 ff., 294 ff., 119 ff., 241 ff.; U£d.S., p. 429; B.-A., pp. 478 ff. ; F.c.l.M., p. 14.
i««For example, M.B., pp. 65-76; Sal, pp. 166 ff.; L'£d.S., p. 27, etc.; VLB.: Qui saitf, p. 248; L.R.d.M.H.: La Baronne, pp. 87-95.
i«7For example, Mile F,: LV., p. 226\ C.d.lB.: N.d'u.V., p. 268; O.P., I: €Corr.,> p. 97.
RESEMBLANCES 87
family friendship which was the beginning of the relationship between the two men. There are one or two souvenirs also of Flaubert's "Saint Antoine." In Maupassant's story of that title^®^ the name is applied to a Norman peasant, called Antoine, whose "cochon" is the Prussian soldier billeted upon him. Other mention of the same name in comparisons is found in La petite Roque (p. 44) and Bel-Ami (p. 316). The name "Polyte" is applied in L'Aveu to the driver of a diligence, in Le Lapin to the man-of -all- work on a farm, recalling the "Polyte" or "Hippolyte," "le gargon de Tauberge," in Madame Bovary}^^ "Paul" in Un Coeur simple is the character corresponding to "Paul" in Une Vie. In UEducation sentimentale we hear of "la petite a M. Roque" (p. 13), and in Maupassant we have the story of "la petite Roque." Occasionally the names seem to be given with some special meaning in view. Thus an unfortunate woman is called Felicite, and a false lover, "Bel-Ami." Almost all the titles of Flaubert's novels are taken from the names of personages in the novels. Maupassant also uses largely the names of characters for the titles of his romans and contes. Where he does not the desig- nation frequently lacks distinctiveness.
In characterization there is much similarity between the two authors. This has already been considered to some extent in con- nection with plots and incidents which depend in whole or in part on the characters of the personages involved, as is the case in UEdu- cation sentimentale for instance. Some additional resemblances will be treated here. Flaubert's best known character is probably Emma Bovary, of whom there are echoes in his subsequent work. Sa- lammbo, for example, resembles her in her longings for the unattain- able. Mile Roque in her dissatisfaction with present circumstances.^^** On comparing Flaubert and Maupassant we find that there exists a close likeness in character between Emma Bovary and Jeanne of Une Vie. There is also a marked contrast between them, which seems at times to be intentional on Maupassant's part, as if he had set Jeanne over against Emma designedly in order to emphasize the likeness between them by means of their differences. In some cases Jeanne's experiences suggest to one that they are planned so as to carry out Emma's imaginings.
i«8 C.d.lB., pp. 217-32.
i«9 C.d.J.e.d.l.N., pp. 50 ff. ; L.M.G., pp. 107 ff.
i70L'£rf.S'., p. 357.
SS FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Both are educated in a convent at Rouen, the one entering at twelve and the other at thirteen/^^ cut off from contact with ordinary human affairs and subjected to unnatural influences which tend to encourage an already too active sentimental imagination. Both spend much time at the convent in dreaming of love and leave its walls behind with extravagant hopes for the future and with an already confirmed habit of mind which influences all their future lives.
Each girl returns to her home in the country on leaving school. Jeanne has been kept by her father rigidly secluded from the world and is astonishingly ignorant of realities. In her outlook she is senti- mental, if on the whole healthy-minded. Emma, while possessing a naivete of a kind, is much more sophisticated than Jeanne in her knowledge of life, and her sentimentality shows already a morbid quality.
In the country Jeanne takes great delight, loving nature in all its aspects, and filled with the joy of living. To Emma the country is distasteful, for she knows it too intimately on its more sordid side, and the life there is wearisome and uninteresting. Both spend much time alone and indulge in that dreaming which is, throughout both books, the great similarity between the two characters. In both cases the dreams are full, first of expectations for the future, and then of regrets for the past. The effect of the dreaming is in each case the same — the separating of the dreamer from the actualities of life, and the begetting of unreal or extravagant ideas and expectations, of discontent or revolt.
In their dreamings the two women reveal the radical difference between their natures. Emma is fundamentally sensual ; Jeanne is essentially pure. Emma, a typical example of the "femme incom- prise et passionnee," fosters within herself notions of a grand pas- sion like that of the heroines of whom she has read, "la legion lyrique de ces femmes adulteres" ;^^^ Jeanne dreams of a lover who is also a husband, of children, of a life of affection in the chateau with which most of her life has been connected and which is to be hers. Both exhibit certain delicacies in act and thought, springing in the one case from self-indulgence, in the other from innate pure-minded- ness. Emma wishes for material luxury, for change, for something extraordinary to happen ; Jeanne would be satisfied with "les simples bonheurs d'une existence calme.""^ To both realization falls short
"1 M.B., p. 48 ; U.V., p. 3. '" M.B., p. 225. "» U.V., p. 370.
RESEMBLANCES 89
of imagination, and life brings repeated disenchantments alternating with periods of reviving hopes. Both come to curse "Providence" or "fate" for imagined injustice toward them, to regard the world as full of nothing but misery and deceit; and to hate and despise man- kind. In both cases the tendency to morbid reverie increases as time passes, being cherished instead of shaken oif. In the end, however, the difference between the two is again brought out. Emma passes from our sight, as she dies with a hideous laugh of despair ;^^* Jeanne with a revival of hope for the future of herself and those she loves, as she looks forward to her son's return home and holds in her arms that son's infant daughter.^^^
Closely associated with their sentimental dreaming is the nervous malady which besets the two women. Both are subject to attacks of "nerves," to fits of weeping, to "etourdissements," to "defail- lances," to lack of will power, to periods almost of frenzy. Both are at times extraordinarily upset by the most insignificant things. Emma, however, retains all through a certain practical common sense which Jeanne almost entirely lacks.
The religion of both Emma and Jeanne is described partly as a habit left from their convent life, partly as connected with their romantic extravagances. The following characterization of Jeanne's religion might apply equally well to that of Emma: "La religion de Jeanne etait toute de sentiment; elle avait cette foi reveuse que garde toujours une femme ; et si elle accomplissait a peu pres ses devoirs, c'etait surtout par habitude gardee du convent. ... "^^^ The religion of Emma contains, besides, an element of sensuality^^^ which is absent from that of Jeanne. Both are represented as having vio- lent paroxysms of religion, produced by circumstances, as well as the reactions from such paroxysms. Each turns to religion occasionally in times of stress, in either instance usually with little success.
In the conduct of life Emma sins, Jeanne is sinned against; the result is the same in the two cases — misery and deterioration. Both come, though for different reasons, to regard their husbands with repugnance. They learn to dissemble, Emma being urged thereto by a guilty conscience, Jeanne by pride, affection, or fear. In Emma this trait grows to alarming proportions.^''^ Jeanne is, toward the last, obsessed by a savage jealousy of her son's mistress. Emma is
17* MS., p. 449. ^^« U.V., pp. 379-80. 176 uy^^ p. 262.
i"M.B., pp. 49, 298, 446. See above, p. 18. '^'^^M.B., p. 374.
90 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
but an indifferent mother, her love for her child being spasmodic and sometimes a pose ; Jeanne is "une mere fanatique," erring there- by in the other direction. In personal appearance they are direct antitheses one of the other, Emma being dark and rather slight, Jeanne fair and vigorous-looking.^^®
In certain particulars, as has been said, Jeanne's experience seems to fulfil Emma's imaginings. Her voyage to Corsica is one example of this. Of Emma we read :
Elle songeait quelquefois que c'etaient la pourtant les plus beaux jours de sa vie, la lune de miel, comme on disait. Pour en gouter la douceur, il eut fallu, sans doute, s'en aller vers ces pays a noms sonores oil les lendemains de mariage ont de plus suaves paresses ! Dans des chaises de poste, sous des stores de soie bleue, on monte au pas des routes escarpees, ecoutant la chanson du postilion qui se repete dans la montagne avec les clochettes des chevres et le bruit sourd de la cascade. Quand le soleil se couche on respire au bord des golfes le parfum des citronniers; puis, le soir, sur la terrasse des villas, seuls et les doigts confondus, on regarde les etoiles en faisant des projets. II lui semblait que certains lieux sur la terre devaient produire du bonheur, comme une plante particuliere au sol et qui pousse mal toute autre part IM.B., p. 56].
Allowing for the romanticism of the expression, the first part of this passage recalls Jeanne's wedding journey by the gulfs and through the mountains of Corsica, "ce long voyage au pas," past its "hauteurs escarpees."^*** It calls to mind also the emotions produced in her by her surroundings there, and her remembrance of these days in after years as among the happiest of her life.
Other examples of the fulfilment of Emma's dreams in Jeanne's experience are as follows. Emma hankers, as has been said, after the nobility ; Jeanne is of noble rank. Emma would like to see Paris ; Jeanne has visited Paris. Emma hopes to have a son ; Jeanne's child is a son. Emma wishes that her husband were "beau, spirituel, distingue, attirant" ; Julien possesses, at least at first, some of these attributes.^^^
More like Emma in some respects than her daughter is Jeanne's mother, "la baronne." She is addicted, like Emma, to the reading of
i7«3/.B., pp. 20, etc., 148, etc.; U.V., pp. 3-4. ^^^U.V., pp. 93-113, 102.
^^^ In all these details Maupassant seems to be working out suggestions caught from Flaubert.
RESEMBLANCES 91
romantic fiction, such as that of Sir Walter Scott,^®^ to a consequent exaltation of passion as the main thing in life, and to an easy toler- ance of amorous irregularities. She is fond of the nobility and much impressed with their importance. She has had a love intrigue in her past history, which is discovered, as is Emma's, after her death, through the medium of her letters.^®^
Other likenesses to Madame Bovary are numerous. Those in Une Avenhire parisienne and La Parure have already been men- tioned.^** In M. Jocaste^^^ we have an instance of disillusionment rather like Jeanne's than like Emma's, but attaching to Emma through that intermediary. Henriette in Monsieur Parent is like Emma in her detestation and consequent treatment of her husband.^^^ The following paragraph might describe almost equally well the Bovary situation :
II avait epouse, quelques annees plus tot, une jeune femme aimee tendrement qui le traitait a present avec une rudesse et une autorite de despote tout-puissant. Elle le gourmandait sans cesse pour tout ce qu'il faisait et pour tout ce qu'il ne faisait pas, lui reprochait aigrement ses moindres actes, ses habitudes, ses simples plaisirs, ses gouts, ses allures, ses gestes, la rondeur de sa ceinture et le son placide de sa voix.^®^
On one occasion Henriette says to her husband : "Tiens, tu ne seras jamais qu'une loque, un pauvre sire, un pauvre homme sans volonte, sans fermete, sans energie," just as Emma exclaims of Charles : "Quel pauvre homme ! quel pauvre homme !"^*^ At another time she explains to her lover her reasons for detesting her husband, which might also be Emma's. First of all, he is her husband ; then he exas- perates her constantly by his stupidity and slowness of comprehen- sion.
There is further likeness to Emma to be found in Mont-Oriol. At first not much given to dreaming,^®® Mme Andermatt is brought through Bretigny's advances to perceive ecstasies not yet enjoyed and to long for them like Jeanne and Emma.^^^ When her dreams
182 See below, pp. 156-57- ^^^ See above, pp. 65, 75.
^^^Mlle F., pp. 193-205; C.dJ.e.d.lN., pp. 59-74; see above, p. 66.
185 Mile P., p. 260. 186 See especially pp. 5, 22-30, 35-38, 42-43.
187 MPar., p. 5 ; cf . M.B., pp. 57, 69, 77* 86, etc.
i88JW.Por., p. 27; M.B., p. 86.
189M.-0., p. 21. 1903/.-O., p. 139-40.
92 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
are realized she exclaims: "Mais je Taime ... je Taime!" recalling by contrast Emma's "J'ai un amant ! un amant !"^®^ In her thought at a subsequent period she repeats almost these words of Emma's, with a suggestion of the latter's delight at possessing "cette fievre du bonheur."^®^ She thinks: "Aujourd'hui il etait son amant! son amant ! Done elle avait un amant ! Elle etait sa maitresse ! — sa maitresse ! Elle repetait ce mot dans le secret de sa conscience — sa maitresse !"^®^
Mme Roland is another who is represented as having lived, like Emma, by the side of an uncongenial husband, cherishing dreams "de clairs de lune, de voyages, de baisers donnes dans Tombre des soirs," and as having succumbed, like Emma, to the one who has brought to her that for which she has longed.^®*
The masculine counterpart of Emma Bovary, so far as dreaming goes, is Frederic Moreau. At all stages of his career, until the very last, he resembles the youthful wanderer of A Vendre, dreaming "a tout ce qu'on attend sans cesse, a tout ce qu'on desire, a la fortune, a la gloire, a la femme,"^^^ with, perhaps, the order reversed. His propensity for reverie is closely associated with his other character- istic of ineffectiveness. It is also allied to his romantic feeling for Mme Arnoux, which dominates his whole life and extends even to everything connected with her.^®® It is, however, rather Frederic's incapability of action which is repeated in Maupassant. Bretigny, for instance, is said to be "incapable d'un effort continu."^^^ An extreme example is found in Regret. ^^^ This is the story of a man of sixty-two, who seems to himself to have lived a futile life. He reviews his existence as he looks out of the window at the falling rain :
Si encore sa vie avait ete remplie ! S'il avait fait quelque chose, s'il avait eu des aventures, de grands plaisirs, des succes, des satisfactions de toute sorte. Mais non, rien. II n'avait rien fait, jamais rien que se lever, manger aux memes heures, et se coucher
II n'avait meme pas ete aime.
"1 M.'O., p. 165 ; M.-B., p. 225. i»5 M.Par., p. 98.
"2 M.B., pp. 225-26. i»« For example, L'£d.S., p. 78.
198 M.'O., p. 172. "7 M.-O., p. 109.
"* P.eJ., for example, pp. 106, 187-90. "» MJIar., pp. 257-67.
RESEMBLANCES 93-
He thinks of a woman whom he had loved in the past, but whom he had lost through lack of the energy necessary to take advantage of an opportunity. A like indecision marks Renardet's efforts to kill himself after the commission of his crime/^" Another character resembling Frederic both in his tardiness to act and in his dreaming is Pierre in Pierre et Jean.^^^ He has many times determined to make a fortune and has mused over what he will do with it but has taken no steps toward securing it by the time the novel comes to a close. He is contrasted here with his brother Jean, somewhat as Frederic is compared with his friend Deslauriers.^^^ Mariolle, in Notre Coeur, is also one who suffers from failure to accomplish.^®^ The following words of his self-accusation might have been written also of Frederic :
II n'avait rien fait, rien reussi, rien obtenu, rien vaincu. Les arts Tayant tente, il ne trouva pas en lui le courage necessaire pour se donner tout a fait a Tun d'eux, ni I'obstination perseverante qu'il faut pour y triompher. Aucun succes ne I'avait rejoui, aucun gout exalte pour une belle chose ne I'avait anobli et grandi. Son seul effort energique pour conquerir un coeur de femme venait d'avorter comme le reste. II n'etait au fond qu'un rate.^^^
Of stupid husbands like Charles Bovary there are several in Mau- passant. M. Parent has been already sufficiently characterized as such in the quoted words of his wife, Henriette.^"* A similar case of deception by the wife is that in Le Petit, "^^^ where the truth is not discovered until long after the woman's death. The husband there is described as "un bon homme, un brave homme, simple, tout simple, sincere, sans defiance et sans malice."^^^ Like Charles and like M. Parent at first, he loves his wife passionately, and like them too he annoys her by his awkwardnesses. The affection of each of the three for his child is an additional point of resemblance. M. Lantin, of Les Bijoux/^'' is another character similar to Charles in his affection for and belief in his wife. Thrown into despair by her death, he imi- tates Charles in keeping her room intact and in spending there a
i»»L./>./?.,pp. 39-41, 57-68.
200 P.eJ., for example, pp. 4-5, 53-55, 107-8.
201 P.eJ., for example, pp. 6, 53 ff., 89 ff., etc. ; U£dS., pp. 18 ff., etc.
202 iSf.C, pp. 205, 245-46. 205 C.dJ.e.d.lN., pp. 199-208.
208 N.C., p. 205. 206 llid,^ p. ipg.
204 See above, p. 91. 207 C.d.L., pp. 139-52.
94 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
part of each day. Even the garments of the wife are preserved by both.-<>«
We turn now to another likeness in masculine characterization. Rodolphe, in Madame Bovary, is a type of the "predatory male" whose prey is woman. He has successors in Maupassant ; Julien, in Une Vie, is one ; Paul Bretigny, in Mont-Oriol, is another. To both of these men may be applied equally well the description given of Rodolphe as "de temperament brutal et d'intelligence perspicace."^'*® All three show the expected cynicism in amorous affairs. Each makes advances to the woman of his pursuit for his own purposes ; each soon tires of his conquest, being desirous of perpetual change in matters of the kind ; each is careless of the blows he deals his victim. All three can lay claim to a certain elegance and power of attraction ; all are possessed of some degree of wealth. Georges Duroy, of Bel- Ami, already described,^^° would also belong to this class from cer- tain of his characteristics.
In Maupassant, further, there are some traces of Homais and of the caricature of Voltairianism apparent frequently in the utterances of the "pharmacien."^" The doctors in Mont-Oriol, for example, suggest him in their fussiness, their self-importance and exaggerated self-confidence, their ridiculous actions, and absurd, would-be learned pronouncements.^^2 So also does the doctor in Un Coup d'etat^^^ through the same fussiness and self-importance, the same posing and fondness for elaborate language, as well as through his extreme desire for public glory. M. Sacrement, in Decore, is, like the pharma- cist, obsessed with a longing to be decorated, and writes pamphlets, as does Homais, in the hope of attracting the attention of the govern- ment.^^* Like his prototype also he "does everything methodic- ^Ijy "215 Qj^ ^j^g opposite side of the medical situation from Homais are the cripples who appear in both authors. The "pied bot" of Hippolyte is repeated in the "Venus Rustique" of Des Vers (p. 136) and in the story of Le Gueux.^^^ Another cripple with an important
208 Lgs Bijoux, p. 143 ; cf . M.B., pp. 471, 472-73-
20» M.B., p. 181. 211 M.B., for example, pp. 106-7, 213-14, etc.
210 See above, pp. 67 ff. ^12 cf. M.-O., pp. 4, 14- 1 5, 261 ff., etc.
218 C.d.L., pp. 15-32.
21* LS.R., pp. 243-53, esp. pp. 243-45 ; cf . M.B., pp. 187, 213, 477-78.
215 Page 251 ; cf., for example, M.B., pp. 231-33, 340 ff., etc.
2i» C.dJ.e.d.lN., p. 177.
RESEMBLANCES 95
place in a plot is "le pere Clovis," of Mont-Oriol, who "drags his right leg" (p. 81). Some souvenirs of Hippolyte also attach to the hideous inn servant of Un Fils}^"^ He is thus described when first seen : "II venait maintenant de puiser de Teau pour les chevaux et portait ses deux seaux en boitant, avec un effort douloureux de la jambe plus courte."^^^ One is at once reminded of Hippolyte as he goes limping about his business at the Lion d'or or through the village.2i»
Besides the inn servants, others belonging to the class of depend- ents suggest similarity. In Madame B ovary there is an old seam- stress who comes to the convent where Emma is at school and enter- tains the girls with her tales of gallantry. Clochette is the account of a similar old seamstress, whose visits are among the childish mem- ories of the spokesman in the conte. She frequents his father's house and tells him stories while she sews.^^®
Love for children and the influence of childhood occupy attention both in Flaubert and in Maupassant. Emma Bovary is recalled from the orgy of the masqued ball by the thought of Bertha sleeping at home.22^ Charles Bovary is redeemed at times from his unattractive- ness by his affection for his child.^^^ A similar redeeming affection is exhibited by Rosanette in U Education sentimentale^^^ and by more than one of the outcast or unfortunate women in Maupassant's stories.^^* Numerous other instances of this sentiment can be found.^^^ The other side of childhood — the cruelty of the young animal — is likewise represented by the two authors. We have the schoolboys tormenting the awkward, shy boy at the beginning of Madame Bovary and torturing the poor little lad in Le Papa de Simon.^^^
Most of the resemblances just discussed have to do with Madame Bovary; there are also a few associated with Salammho. There is a certain similarity between the upbringing and outlook of Salammbo and Jeanne. Both have been kept by their fathers shut up from con- tact with the world and come to meet it in consequence with greater
217 C.d.l.B., pp. 205-13. 219 For example, M.S., pp. 195, 262.
218 Un Fits, p. 205. 220 L^H., pp. 81-82.
221 M.B., p. 403. 222 For example, M.S., pp. 270-71, 473.
223 For example, pp. 555-56, 574 ff-
22* For example, B.d.S., p. 56; L.M.T., pp. 27-28: L'h.d'u.f.d.f., pp. 68 ff. 225 For example, M. Parent, etc. ^^^ LM.T., pp. 119-34.
96
FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
or less ignorance of its ways. ^" A second detail of likeness to Sa- lammbo found in Maupassant bears witness rather to Flaubert's exact reproduction of unchanging African life-^® than to any close Hterary relationship between the two authors. When we first see the Carthaginian maiden we are given a picture of her lofty head- dress and of the abundant jewelry with which she is adorned. In his account of the Province of Algiers, Maupassant depicts the dress of the "Oulad-Nail," which includes also a "monumental" coiffure and many jewels. The corresponding passages are as follows :
Flaubert Maupassant
... une femme apparait, debout sur une porte, avec une large coif- fure qui semble d'origine assy- rienne, surmontee d'un enorme dia- deme d'or.
... avec ... leurs hautes coif- fures a diademes qui rappellent les bas-reliefs egyptiens, les Oulad- Nail attendent. ...
Puis en voici d'autres, avec la meme coiffure monumentale : une montagne carree qui laisse pendre de chaque cote une grande tresse tombant jusqu'au bas de roreille, puis relevee en arriere pour se perdre de nouveau dans la masse opaque des cheveux. Elles portent tou jours des diademes dent quel- ques-uns sent fort riches. La poi- trine est noyee sous les colliers, les medailles, les lourds bijoux; et deux fortes chainettes d'argent font tomber jusqu'au bas-ventre une grosse serrure de meme metal, cu- rieusement ciselee a jour et dont la clef pend au bout d'une autre chaine \^Au.S.: La Province d' Al- ger, pp. 64, 66, 64].
227 Sal, p. 61 ; U.V., p. 3.
228 Cf. L. Bertrand, "Le Cinquantenaire de Salarambo," R.D.M., (June I, 1912), esp. pp. 594-95.
5*0 chevelure, poudree d'un sable violet, et reunie en forme de tour selon la mode des vierges chananeennes, la faisait paraitre plus grande. Des tresses de perles attachees a ses tempes descendaient jusqu'aux coins de sa bouche, rose comme une grenade entr' ouverte. // y avait sur sa poitrine un assem- blage de pierres lumineuses, imitant par leur bigarrure les ecailles d'une murene. Ses bras, garni s de dia- mants, sortaient nus de sa tunique sans manches ... [Sal, p. 14].
RESEMBLANCES 97
In the preceding paragraphs, as will be observed, there is a gen- eral impression of resemblance in the costumes described. The points of similarity which produce this effect are the towering Eastern headdress, with its pendent "tresses," in the one case of pearls, in the other of hair, and the breast smothered in jewelry of curious design.
In La Legende de Saint Julien VHospitalier we have the picture of a "mighty hunter." In Maupassant there are two classes of per- sons that descend from him : the first includes those who are animated by a ferocious but legitimate passion for the chase ; the second, those who are impelled by an abnormal and criminal desire to see blood, to kill. These two passions, it will be remembered, are united in Saint Julien. To the first class belong the heroes of Maupassant's numerous hunting stories, who will endure all kinds of hardships and brave all manner of difficulties in order to indulge in their favorite pastime ;^^® to the second division are to be assigned such types as "Moiron," who slaughters as vengeance for the loss of his own chil- dren the pupils intrusted to his care, and "Un Fou," who destroys for the mere pleasure of shedding blood, of taking life.^^**
The pictures of the clergy presented by the two writers in ques- tion have many points in common. For example, one of the charac- teristics of the Abbe Boumisien's appearance is the array of spots on the front of his cassock.^^^ This peculiarity is frequently repeated in the case of Maupassant's cures.^^^ Other inelegant personal attri- butes are likely to be accredited to priests.^^^ The Abbe Picot in Une Vie, like the Abbe Bournisien in Madame Bovary, is the typical easy-going cure, not too far removed in feeling from his parishioners, doing his duty as he sees it, with considerable insight into the ordi- nary human nature about him but slow to understand anything dif- ferent from it.^^* The type is repeated not infrequently in Maupas- sant.^^^ The opposite type, that of the fanatical priest, is represented by the Abbe Bournisien in his later years, the Abbe Marignan, etc.^^*
229 For example, Contes de la Becasse; etc.
230 C.d.L., pp. 195-204; M.Par., pp. 161-73; etc.
231 M.B,, p. 156.
232 For example, U.V., p. 35; L.M.T.: Uh.d'u.f.d.f., p. 86.
233 For example, M.B., p. 156; U.V., pp. 35, I73-
234 M.B., pp. 156-58; U.V., p. 253. 285 For example, B.-A., pp. 273-76. 238M.5., p. 476; U.V., pp. 260 ff.; C.d.L., pp. 3-12.
98 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
There are one or two other special details of similarity between a certain priest in Flaubert and a certain priest in Maupassant. The Abbe Boumisien, for instance, tells of being sent for to cure a cow ;^*^ the Abbe Tolbiac is thought to have special powers in this direction. ^^® The Abbe Bournisien is respected all the more on account of his athletic frame ; the Abbe Vilbois is honored because he is the most muscular man in the district.^^® A phrase applied by both writers to members of the clergy when speaking scornfully of them is "I'homme a la soutane" or "I'homme en soutane."-*^ The representation of the clergy in Maupassant tends to become caricatural, as do his por- trayals of the English^*^ and of unmarried women of a certain age.^*^ In Maupassant's Sur VEau we read the following words : "C'est une foule, et cette foule est quelqu'un, un vaste individu coUectif, aussi distinct d'une autre foule qu'un homme est distinct d'un autre homme."^*^ This characterization is worked out by both Flaubert and Maupassant in their numerous descriptions of crowds. Contrast, for example, the throng at the "Comices agricoles" of Madame Bovary with the numerous street gatherings of UEducation senti- mentale; or compare the peasant crowd in La Ficelle with the assem- bly round and in the Madeleine at the end of Bel-Ami}^* Both note the strange impulsion that sways a crowd — what Flaubert calls "le magnetisme des foules enthousiastes."^*^ The idea of the accumulated effect of the multitude's "betise" is also expressed by both.^*® One effect apparent in glancing over a crowd is noted by the two men in somewhat the same words. In both instances it is a peasant gather- ing that is being described.
Flaubert Maupassant
... et, sur la tongue ondulation de Les comes des hoeufs, les Hants
tous ces corps tasses, on voyait se chapeaux a longs polls des paysans
/^v^ au vent, comme un flot, quelque riches et les coiffes des paysannes
287 M.B., p. 157. 238 uy^^ pp. 290-91.
^^^ M.B., for example, p. 105; L'l.B.: Le Champ d' Olivier s, p. 49. 2*oB.e.P., p. 324; Uy., p. 274; B.d.S., p. 30. 2*1 For example, Toine: Nos Anglais, pp. 203-16. 2*2 For example, Miss Harriet ; and Tante Lison in Une Vie. 2« Page 108.
^^*M.B., pp. 183-214; L'^d.S., for example, pp. 38 ff., 397 ff., etc.; M.Har., pp. 215-18; B.-A., pp. 572-73.
^^^U^d.S., p. 420; ciS.VE., p. 109. ^*^B.e.P., p. 209; S.iE., pp. no-ii.
RESEMBLANCES 99
criniere blanche, ou saillir des emergeaient a la surface de I'assem- cornes aigues, tides tetes d'hommes hlee [M.Har.: La Ficelle, p. 216]. qui couraient [M.B., pp. 190-91].
Again, as often, the resemblance here is one of general impression, with fairly close likeness of details — the great sea of men's and animals' heads, with here and there one rising above the ordinary mass.
In the preceding paragraph we spoke more than once of rustic gatherings. In both authors we have representations of the peasant and fisher classes of Normandy and Brittany. In different individ- uals we have the varying and even contradictory • characteristics of these classes clearly brought out — deep, enduring, but often inarticu- late, affection, faithfulness, calm acquaintance with and acceptance of the facts of life, shrewdness, cautiousness, keenness in money mat- ters, simplicity no less than trickery, mental limitation, superstition, stolidity, brutality, roughness and coarseness, low ideals of morality, fondness for pleasures of the table and for "farces."^*^ Special emphasis is given to the shrewdness of the Norman and to the super- stition of the Breton. Both men observe the nearness of the peasant in certain aspects to the brute. Each says something of peasant costume and appearance. They refer also, on the one hand, to the strong frame of the country man or woman and, on the other, to the deformation of that frame through constant and brutal manual toil.2^8
In previous chapters there have been considered the ideas defi- nitely enunciated by the two men regarding life in general and lit- erary procedure in particular, as well as the exemplification of these ideas in practice. In the following pages will be treated other ideas similar in the two but not included by them in their explicitly pro- nounced theories.'
There is, first of all, the thought of the salutary effect of ordinary things. Emma, coming home in the diligence after her unsuccessful attempt to get money in Rouen, is turned from the poignancy of her trouble by the spectacle of the well-known objects along the way.^*^ Jeanne is roused from apathy to new feeling as she holds in her arms
247 For example, M.B., pp. 18, 27-28, 32-33, 35-42, 72, 190 ff., 208-9, ^srsg, 249, 461-63, 467-69; U.C.S.; B.e.P., pp. 27-28, 37, etc.; Maupassant's numerous peasant stories and the peasants in U.V., B.-A., N.C.
^^^Ibid. 249 M.5., p. 415.
lOO FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
her infant grandchild.-'*'* The dreams of a father or mother over the future of a child are to be found recorded in Madame Bovary, L'Education sentimentale, Une Vie, and elsewhere.^^^ The emo- tional action of music is noted several times.^**^ The connection of moonlight with love-making is frequently emphasized, as is the more general idea, of which this is a part, that love needs special places and circumstances for its development.^^^ The thought that love — not always a very high type of that passion — is the only good thing in life is expressed by both writers.^^*
Dreams of foreign countries and the longing to travel therein \y have been already alluded to several times as described frequently by both men.^'^^ Usually the dreams contain more or less of what Mau- passant calls "la vieille poesie des enlevements nocturnes, des chaises de poste, des auberges, toutes les charmantes aventures des livres."^^® The countries themselves, even if they happen to bear such ordinary names as "Italy" or "Corsica," are frequently pictured as "les pays bleus, les pays roses, les pays invraisemblables et merveilleux, in- trouvables et toujours cherches qui nous font juger mediocres tous les autres."-^^ In Bel-Ami there is a comparison derived from this longing for the unattainable : "II n'avait jamais songe aux filles de son directeur que comme on songe aux pays lointains qu'on ne verra jamais."258
In Flaubert's Correspondance (I, 158) there is a short sentence which suggests a much longer passage in Maupassant,^^® the medium of communication here being probably discussion of the same sub-
250C7.F.,p.379.
251 M.B., pp. 7-8, 270-71 ; U£,dS., p. 584; U.V., p. 229; Sal, p. 61.
252 For example, M.S., pp. 70, 309, 310-11; L'M.S., pp. 8, 69 ;F.c.l.M., pp. 321-32, 261 ff. ; N.C., pp. 138-40.
263 For example, M.B., pp. 60, 274-76, 354-56; C.d.L., pp. 3-12; L.p.R.: Julie Romain, pp. 215-18; U.V., pp. 70-73; MB., p. 82; U.V., pp. 107 ff.
254 For example, L'£dS., pp. 604, 612; L.P.R.: Mtle Perk, p. 141, Julie Romain, pp. 210 ff.; B.-A., p. 123.
253 For example, M.B., pp. 56-57, 7i, 112-13, 271-72; L'£dS., pp. 97, 133. 245, 360, 365, 469, 584; Corr., II, 59, 63; Des Vers: Une Conquete, p. 21; L.S.R., p. 3; U.V., pp. 53-54, 363; B,-A., p. 540; M.-O:, p. 150; P.eJ., pp. 45, 108; Au S.: Preface, p. 5; S.l'E., pp. 92 ff.
256 B.-A., p. 537. 257 M.-O., p. 113 ; cf. M.B., pp. 56, 271. 258 Page 196.
259L.F.£.; La Cote Italienne, pp. 36-39. The palaces mentioned are those of Genoa.
RESEMBLANCES lOi
ject by the two men. The sentence is as follows : "Quand on a visite ses palais, on a une telle pitie du luxe moderne qu'on est tente de loger a I'ecurie et de sortir en blouse." The passage in Maupassant, which is too long to quote, contrasts the artistic dignity of the same old palaces with the banality of the modern millionaire's Parisian mansion. The idea of the unpleasantness of hotels is likewise voiced by both men.2^^ The thought of America as a far-away country from which one does not return is present in Un Coeur simple and Une
Paris, in the mind of the provincial, according to Flaubert and Maupassant, takes on one of two aspects. Either it is a haven of all the delights, as it presents itself, for example, to Emma Bovary and to the little provincial of Une Aventure parisienne; or it is a place of danger, temptation, and iniquity, as it appears to Homais, to the lawyer in Une Vie, to the frightened old peasants in La Maison Tellier,^^'
Contrary to desire for the city is longing for the country when in the city. We find it entertained, for instance, by Charles Bovary and by Duroy, both of whom look out over the country and think how pleasant it must be there.^®^ The instructions of country life for those living in its midst are noted several times.^®* Both authors suggest also the direct action upon man of external phenomena.^**^ The contrast between human circumstances and the aspect of outside nature is emphasized very strikingly upon occasion. As Charles, for example, walks to Emma's funeral, the appearance of the country- side is one of unusual brightness and beauty. 2«« As Jeanne watches by her dead mother the night is one of the loveliest of an unusually fine summer.^®^ The romantic idea of the sympathy of nature with man — the "pathetic fallacy" — is rather common in Maupassant. In Une Vie, for instance, the weather all through may be taken as sym- bolical of the fortunes of the characters ; in L'lvrogne,^^^ the howling
2*0 0.dJ., Ill, 2; LS.R., pp. 5 ff. 2«i T.C., p. 30; U.V., p. 366; cf. O.dJ., Ill, 167 ff.
^^^M.B., pp. 80-82; Mile F., pp. 193 flf.; M.B., pp. 168-69; U.V., p. 350; L.M.T., p. 21.
2«3M.5..p. ii;5.-^.,p.6o.
264 For example, T.C.: U.C.S., p. 9; L.R.d.M.H,: L'0.d'u.F., p. 212.
2«5 U£;dS., p. 458 ; U.V., p. 370. 267 jjy^^ pp. 235.37.
2«« M.B., p. 466. 268 C.dJ.e.d.l.N., pp. 125-34.
I02 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
storm corresponds to the terrible deed of the drunken man ; in La petite Roque, the falling leaves are said to be the tears of the trees over the ending of the year and "perhaps" over the murdered child.^'® There are traces also of this thought in Flaubert ; for example, where the clouds pile up and the rain falls as Emma looks out of the window after Leon's departure from Yonville.^^® In general, however, the treatment of nature in Flaubert is more or less detached from the circumstances of the story.-^^
The "pathetic fallacy" is not the only form of romanticism to be found in the authors in question. Romanticism appears, for instance, in their expressed longings, already often noted, to flee from burden- some reality toward the distant, the unattainable. This attitude is embodied for Flaubert in Salammho, in La Legende de Saint Julien VHospitalier, and in Herodias; for Maupassant in L^ Horla and in other weird stories of the supernatural. There is besides in Flau- bert a certain all-pervading sense of the mysterious, due at least in part to the vagueness produced by his superabundance of detail, which has often the effect exactly opposite to that of the exactitude intended. Corresponding in some sort to this in Maupassant is the weirdness already alluded to.
Romantic thoughts of love, of foreign countries, of Paris, of the future, etc., uttered by characters like Emma Bovary, Leon, Jeanne, and Paul Bretigny, have also already been discussed. Such ideas are continually being traced to the reading of romantic writers, espe- cially of Sir Walter Scott, whose name occurs frequently in both authors in this connection. ^^^ In thus linking thoughts which are represented as having, for the most part, pernicious consequences with the names of romantic writers both Flaubert and Maupassant make a certain attack on romanticism. One might also call romantic in a sense the extreme, even grotesque, caricature of Bouvard et Pecuchet and of many of Maupassant's stories.^'^
A kind of resemblance observable sometimes between Flaubert and Maupassant is that in which an idea of the older man's is taken
2«9 L.p.R., p. 33. 270 M.B., p. 167.
271 For example, the general treatment of nature in Madame Bovary.
272 For example, M.B., pp. 48-53 ; L'M.S., pp. 19, 21-22, 25, etc. ; U.V., p. 33 ; P.eJ., p. 13; O.P., II: UAngelus, p. 188.
278 Qjmpare on the subject of romanticism in Maupassant the article by Olin H. Moore on "The Romanticism of Guy de Maupassant" in P.M. LA. (March, 1918), pp. 96-134.
RESEMBLANCES 103
up and expanded or given concrete reality by the younger. Some of the passages used in illustration of other points might apply equally well here. For instance, when Jeanne goes to Corsica, she travels somewhat as Emma would have liked to travel, sees in part what Emma would have liked to see, and finds there some of the transports which Emma thinks she might have experienced in another coun- try.^^* The stories of Le Bonheur and Julie Romain^''^ also realize certain of the details of Emma's love longings. Emma, we are told on one occasion, would have made confidences to the pendulum of her clock ; Jeanne practically does so.^^^ In V Education sentimentale (p. 466) there is a description of oak trees in which they are spoken of as embracing. This idea is considerably expanded by Maupassant in Notre Coeur (p. 278), where the trees that embrace are, however, not oaks. In UEducation sentimentale, again, during the watch after the death of M. Dambreuse the carts are heard rumbling by to the market. Maupassant describes such carts as they go past under the street lamps, the light bringing out the colors of the different vege- tables with which they are loaded.^^'^
There yet remains to be considered a type of similarity which has already been illustrated to a large extent in discussing other points — similarity in wording. Additional examples of this will be given here. First of all, there are scattered here and there throughout the works of Maupassant phrases which, while not corresponding defi- nitely to any particular phrases of Flaubert's, have yet in their com- position a certain Flaubertian suggestion. Some examples follow:
"Chicot ... avait Tair d'un bifteck cru cache dans un bonnet de sapeur ..." iM.Har,: UAne, p. 187].
"Ces dames plus chamarrees que les chasubles des chantres" IL.M.T., P-3I].
"L'etrange sympathie des emotions poignantes" [L.M.T., pp. 34-35].
"II presentait un magnifique echantillon de la goujaterie naturelle au militaire victorieux" IB.d.S., p. 48].
"Le jardin fleuri des polissonneries distinguees" [B.-A., p. 125].
"Un Niagara de barbe" iO.P., II, p. 37].
274 U.V., pp. 93 ff. ; cf. M.B., pp. 56, 271.
275 CdJ.e.d.l.N., pp. 77-87 ; L.P.R., pp. 203-18. 27«M.B., p. 86; C/.F., pp. 55, 123.
2" UUS., p. 543 ; C.d.L. : La Nuit, p. 223.
104 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Picturesqueness of expression tending to grotesqueness, the use of alliteration, and a general rhythmic effect are the characteristics of these quotations, which remind us of the type of phrase with which we have become very familiar in Madame B ovary. ^''^ The exclamation "Grrrrande surprise" recalls one of Flaubert's methods of emphasis in his Correspondance.^''^
Exclamations of regret for the past on the part of romantic dreamers are frequent and much alike in the two authors.
Flaubert Maupassant
Comme c'etait vieux tout cela! Comnie c'etait loin, comme tout [M.B., p. 42]. etait change, comme Tavenir lui
Comme c'etait loin tout cela! semblait different ! [C7.F., p. 245]. comme c'etait loin! IM.B., p. 63]. Comme c'etait loin, comme c'etait
Comme le bal deja lui semblait loin, le temps ou elle parcourait ce loin! l^M.B., pp. 77-78]. meme pays, jeune fille, et grise de
Oh! comme c'etait loin {M.B., p. reves [U.V., p. 303]. 424]. Comme c'etait loin, dejd! [M.-O.,
Alors Frederic se rappela les p. 207]. jours dejd loin [L'Ed.S., p. 2gg']. Que c'est loin! que c'est loin!
[O.P.,l:Corr.,p.97].
Ces jours passes, si loin, si loin ! 10. P., I:Ftm, p. 238].
In Madame B ovary the man with the music box and the autom- atons and in Une Vie old "pere Lastique" send forth from time to time "un long jet de salive brune."^®^
One of the most striking descrptions in Flaubert is that of the glance of Dr. Lariviere. There are two similar passages in Mau- passant.
Flaubert Maupassant
Son regard, plus tranchant que Of the judge in Un Fou it is said: ses bistouris, vous descendait droit "il semblait lire au fond de leurs ians I'dme et desarticulait tout ames, leurs pensees secretes, et
278 For example, "Cette passion merveilleuse qui jusqu'alors s'etait tenue comme un grand oiseau au plumage rose planant dans la splendeur des dels poetiques" (p. 55) ; "Le Suisse, alors, se tenait sur le seuil . . . plus majestueux qu'un cardinal et reluisant comme un saint ciboire" (p. 330) ; etc.
278 B..A., p. 381 ; for example, Corr., IV, 108.
280M.B.,p.9O; U.V.,p.46.
RESEMBLANCES
los
Flaubert mensonge a travers les allegations et les pudeurs {M.B., p. 442].
Maupassant
demeler, d'un coup d'oeil, tous les mysteres de leurs intentions" [M. Par., p. 161].
Of the literary man Maupassant says : "il desarticule tous les ressorts caches des sentiments et des actions des autres" IS.l'E., p. 82] .^s^
In UEducation sentimentale there is a picture of fantastically shaped rocks which has several counterparts in Maupassant.
Flaubert
Elles [-les roches] se multipliaient de plus en plus, et finissaient par emplir tout le paysage, cubiques comme des maisons, plates comme des dalles, s'etayant, se surplom- hant, se confondant telles que les mines meconnaissables et mon- strueuses de quelque cite disparue. Mais la furie meme de leur chaos fait plutot rever a des volcans, a des deluges, aux grands cataclysmes ignores. ...
... qa et la, tels que des promon- toires sur le lit desseche d'un ocean, se levaient des roches ayant de vagues formes d'animaux, tortues avanqant la tete, phoques qui ram- pent, hippopotames et ours [L'Ed. S., p. 467].
( These last-named rocks are seen here and there scattered over a sandy hill.)
Maupassant
Hauts jusqu'a trois cents metres, minces, ronds, tortus, crochus, dif- formes, imprevus, fantastiques, ces surprenants rochers, semblaient des arbres, des plantes, des betes, des monuments, des hommes, des moines en robe, des diables cornus, des oiseaux demesures, tout un peuple monstrueux, une menagerie de cau- chemars petrifiee par le vouloir de quelque Dieu extravagant \U.V., pp. 104-5].
... ils aperqurent ... a mi-c6te a peu pres, un surprenant chaos de rochers enormes, ecroules, ren- verses, ^entasses les uns sur les autres dans une espece de plaine herbeuse et mouvementee. ... Sur cette longue bande de broussailles et de gazon ... les rocs tombes sem- blaient les ruines d'une grande cite disparue qui regardait autrefois rOcean ... [P.eJ., pp. 150-51].
Je m'arretai d'abord stupefait devant ces etonnants rochers de granit rose, hauts de quatre cents metres, etranges, tortures, courbes, ronges par le temps, sanglants sous
281 Cf. Balzac's emphasis on "regard," as in Cesar Birotteau.
io6 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Flaubert Maupassant
les derniers feux du crepuscule et prenant toutes les formes comme un peuple fantastique de contes fee- riques, petrifie par quelque pouvoir surnaturel.
J'aperqus alternativement deux moines debout, d'une taille gigan- tesque; un eveque assis, crosse en main, mitre en tete ; de prodigieuses figures, un lion accroupi au bord de la route, une femme allaitant son enfant et une tete de diable im- mense, cornue, grimaqante, gar- dienne sans doute de cette foule em- prisonnee en des corps de pierre [Au S.: En Corse, p. 202].
The following points of likeness between these descriptions are observable. A general impression is given in each of a remarkable chaos of huge and fantastic rocks. In the Flaubertian description and in that from Pierre et Jean these are said to be piled one upon another and to resemble the ruins of some great vanished city. In the last part of the Flaubert description and in the first and third passages from Maupassant some of the rocks take the forms of animals. In the second extract from each of the authors the rocks are seen on the slope of a hill. The adjective "monstrueux" is used by Flaubert and in the quotation from Une Vie.
There are also many examples of the employment of similar locutions, such as "sans doute" ;^®^ of similar adjectives, such as "enorme"^®^ (a great favorite with Flaubert and very frequent in Maupassant) ; of other similar words, such as "frisson" and its de-
282 For example, Sal, pp. 66, 133, 151, 158, 232, 260, 373; L'^d.S., pp. 15, 60, 79-80, 98, 103, 109, 147. 240, 363, 369, 375, 378, 388, 393, 399, 400, 405, 409, 421, 433, 434, 449, 460, 461, 462, 474, 482, 491, 503, 512, 527, 53i, 550, 578, 584, 585, 590-91; B.dS., pp. 13, 24, 36, 42, 48, 57; L.S.R., pp. 165, 272; M.Par., pp. 46, 53, 65, 85, 115, "9, 124, 157, 207, 234, 268, 275; L.M.G., pp. 17, 126, 130, 134, 146, 147, 193, 194, 255, 261; P.eJ. pp. 116, 121, 139, 140, 169, 226, 236 ; etc.
288 For example, U£dS., pp. 52, 388, 410, 457, 466, 608; L.M.T., pp. 51, 202; M.Har., pp. 157, 160; Toine, p. 139; C.dJ.e.d.lN., p. 222; etc.
RESEMBLANCES 107
rivatives and equivalents.^®* The word "degringoler," used in figure by Flaubert, is repeated by Maupassant in one special figure, which he employs several times.^®^ It is that in which he describes a town on a slope as "une vraie cascade de maisons blanches degringolant a la mer."
In the use of figures there are a number of resemblances between Flaubert and Maupassant.
The "ribbon" figure is frequently found in both.
Flaubert Maupassant
La grande route qui etendait sans Par la fenetre, on decouvrait un
en finir son long ruhan de poussiere long ruhan de riviere ... [M.Har,:
iM.B., p. 46]. L'Heritage, p. 158].
Cest un vaste rectangle, laissant Les longues feuilles bruissaient,
voir ... ses rubans de buis ... pareilles a des rubans jaunes [U.
lUEdS.,p.462l F.,p.205].
Related to the above is the "serpent" figure.^*®
Elle [= la riviere] etait gelee, le La Seine ... coulait vers Mai-
soleil donnait dessus, c'etait comme sons-Laffitte, comme un immense
un grand serpent d'argent arrete serpent couche dans la verdure
sur I'herbe [O.rf./., Ill, p. 36]. [B.-A., p. 534].'"'
Another comparison found in both authors is that of anything bright red in color, such as the sky at sunset, poppies in a field, etc., to "sang."
Flaubert Maupassant
Les flambeaux repandus par On est ... exalte lorsque le soleil terre brulaient encore, en allongeant se noie dans un ocean de nuages qa et la sur les paves de nacre sanglants et qu'il jette aux rivieres comme des taches de sang [^Sal., p. des reflets rouges \M.Har., p. 6]. 160]. Le soleil baissait vers I'horizon,
inondant de clarte les plaines ver-
284 For example, L'£dS., pp. 13, 71, 229, 404, 420, 499, 512, 526, 595; B.d.S., pp. 12, 31, 38, 57, 70; L.M.T., pp. 27, 27, 35, 35, 102, 108, 112; L.H., pp. 5, 8, 9, 30, 35, 44, 46, 210, 212, 218, 273, 276, 280, 281, 283; M.-O., pp. 44, 63, 116, 129, 141, 143, 155, 155, 173, 187, 189, 208, 208, 208, 245, 306, 349, 351, 378, 405, 410, 423; etc.
^^^Corr., I, 390; cf. M.B., p. 194, and B.e.P., p. 360; L.M.G.: Un So%r, p. 128; cf. B.-A., p. 55; Au S.: Alger, p. 14, La Kabylie, p. 165.
28«Cf. M.B., p. 37; T.C.: U.C.S., p. 14 (scarf figure) ; C.dJ.e.d.l.N.: Rose, p. 16; M.Par., p. 60; B.'A., pp. 316, 335 (ribbon figure).
287 Cf. also O.dJ., Ill, 140; M.Par., pp. 60-61; L.H., p. 254; F.c.LM., p. 116; O.P., II, 49.
io8 FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
Flaubert Maupassant
doyantes, tachees de place en place par I'or des colzas en fleur, et par le sang des coquelicots \U.V., p.
379] .288
A few additional likenesses in figures are as follows : Flaubert Maupassant
... quelquefois les abeilles, tour- Un gros insecte ... battait les
noyant dans la lumiere, frappaient murs comme une hdlle \U.V., p.
contre les carreaux comme des 238].
halles d'or rebondissantes \M.B., Elle ... passa le reste du jour
p. 239]. ...aussi rompue et extenuee que si,
II accomplissait sa petite tache a la place du vieux cheval hlanc,
quotidienne d la manibre du cheval on lui eut fait tourner depuis
de manege, qui tourne en place les I'aurore la machine a battre le
yeux bandes, ignorant de la besogne grain IL.M.T.: L'h.d'u.f.d.f., p. 81]. qu'il broie {M.B., pp. lo-ii].
The following figure is inverted in Maupassant from its use in Flaubert :
Flaubert Maupassant
... les jardins, comme des La vaste plage couverte de
femmes, semblent faire leur toilette monde, de toilettes, de couleurs,
pour les fetes de I'ete \M.B., p. avail Vair d'un jardin de femmes
153]. [Toine: Bombard, p. 107].
It is not claimed that in this chapter an exhaustive account has been given of all resemblances between Flaubert and Maupassant in plot, incident, characterization, idea, and wording. Many similari- ties which presented themselves have indeed been rejected for one reason or another. Those included have been observed by the writer in the course of several complete readings of the two authors in ques- tion. Further perusal would without doubt reveal others which might be instanced. The attempt has been made all through to call attention especially to the likenesses which are striking or at least fairly close. These may not, as indeed they hardly appear to do, argue for the most part conscious imitation of Flaubert by Maupassant ; they certainly do seem to show a considerable degree of suggestive influence.
288 Cf. also LM.T.: L'h.d'u.f.d.f., p. 97; Mile F., p. 211 ; L.P.R., p. 34.
CHAPTER VI SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
In the preceding pages an attempt has been made to consider the nature and extent of the literary relationship between Flaubert and Maupassant. It had its roots, as we have seen, in a family acquaint- anceship, which developed in the course of time into a paternal love and solicitude on the part of the older man, corresponding to an admiring affection on the part of the younger. The literary element was introduced through the master-and-pupil intimacy, which ex- tended over at least seven years. The two men were further bound together by similarities of experience which led them to cherish much the same theories regarding life. Like literary tenets were also held by both. Such resemblances in attitude toward the world and litera- ture seem to be attributable, in part at least, to personal intercourse between the two writers.
In practice the likeness between the works of the authors in ques- tion may be traced with comparative clearness. There is to be noted, first of all, an embodiment therein of the similar general and literary theories which have been seen to be definitely stated by both. There is, further, an employment by each of ordinary realistic procedes, some of which may come from the older man to the younger, as well as of certain procedures less usual, which the one may well derive from the other. In the actual content and form of the works of the two there are numerous and often striking similarities, a whole train of likenesses in Maupassant being started sometimes by a single sug- gestion in Flaubert. A certain lack of inventiveness discoverable on study of the disciple's works would tend to confirm the belief in such an influence of the master as would help to counteract the limitations imposed by a peculiarity of the kind.
The nature of the influence has become sufficiently apparent in the preceding pages : it is seen to include both general resemblance and specific likeness. It does not, however, express itself in set imita- tion. Rather it seems as if the pupil, trained for years by the master, and brooding, as he must have done, both during that period and in
109
no FLAUBERT AND MAUPASSANT
subsequent days of remembrance, over the monuments of that mas- ter's achievement, had absorbed so thoroughly the essentials of the latter's thought and expression that he reproduces them almost un- consciously. What strengthens the argument for the suggestive type of influence is the frequent difficulty experienced in putting side by side the exact points of resemblance between two passages which impress one as closely similar. The fact that both men expressed themselves in so many words as opposed to the imitation of one author by another would lend further weight to the contention that the kind of influence traceable between the two men is suggestive rather than imitative.
It goes without saying that a considerable portion of Maupas- sant's work is, of course, distinctively his own. Other influences be- sides that of Flaubert are also seen to have operated upon him. We have said more than once already, for instance, that Flaubert and Maupassant were men of their day and generation and suscep- tible to impressions of current thought and event. They belonged to a circle which discussed literary matters and other affairs of the day with the utmost freedom. Evidences of effects produced by 'realistic writers other than Flaubert are discoverable in the works of the younger man. Many of these authors are mentioned by him with words of intimacy or of admiration. There are also many outstanding points of similarity between their work and his. The following instances are given. From Balzac may come accounts of business transactions and of magnetism, and types of character, such as the financial magnate and the ruthless adventurer, as well as a cer- tain element of driving force in many stories. To Zola may possibly be attributed the tendency to "mention the unmentionable with the greatest possible fulness." He may also be partly responsible for Maupassant's treatment of crowds and use of symbols. Suggestions of Daudet are to be found in the employment of southern exclama- tions, in the description of M. Patissot's paraphernalia, which makes us think of Tartarin {O.P., II, 12), in a frequent tenderness toward children, and in the repetition of certain incidents. There are other writers also who might be named in connection with the question of Maupassant's indebtedness, but those already referred to will suffice by way of example. When all allowances have been made, however, it yet remains true that Maupassant is the disciple of Flau- bert and owes to that master's influence much that is best in his own work.
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