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Overview
Classic collection of short stories, originally published in 1877, in the original French. According to Wikipedia: "A Simple Heart, also called Un c?ur simple or Le perroquet in French, is a story about a servant girl named Felicité. Her one and only love Théodore marries a well-to-do woman, and in doing so, avoids conscription. After this betrayal, Felicité quits the farm she works on and heads for Pont-l'Eveque where she immediately picks up work in a house as a servant. She is very loyal, and easily lends her affections to this family and other people, like her nephew, and things, such as her parrot. She gives entirely to others, and many take advantage of her. People do not realize how much she loves them. She is the epitome of a selfless character, and Flaubert shows the horror of true altruism - the reality of being selfless, having nothing of one's own for which to live. She has no husband, no children, no property, is reliant on her mistress to keep her; she is utterly uneducated; her death is virtually unnoticed. Her life is in fact ostensibly pointless, and yet she has within her the power to love, which she does without receiving it in return; and she also carries within her a yearning, a quasi-religious sensibility which finds its apotheosis in the deification, as she dies, of her pet parrot who floats above her deathbed masquerading as the Holy Ghost. Tongue-in-cheek critique of religion this may be, but it's real for her. She lives a bestial, unexamined life. In the end, however, she feels love and spiritual awakening. The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitalier, in French Saint Julien l'hospitalier, is a story about Julian the Hospitaller. (Note that the story has nothing to do with the Order of Hospitaliers, despite the similarity of the names.) He is predicted at birth to do great things. His father is told that he will be a great emperor, while his mother is told he will be a saint. They dote on him. After Julian kills a mouse who interrupted his concentration in church, his cruelty towards animals grows and culminates into his massacre of an entire valley of deer. A stag curses him to kill his own parents. He almost brings the curse to fruition twice: he drops a sword while standing on a ladder near his father, and he pins his mother's white shawl against a wall with a javelin because it looked like a bird's wings. He leaves to escape his future (much like Oedipus). Julian joins a band of vagrants, and they eventually grow into a huge army under his control. He makes a name for himself and marries rich, but never hunts. Finally, his wife convinces him to go hunt and he is haunted by the spirits of all of the animals he has killed. He returns home to surprise his wife and finds a man and a woman in her bed. Unknown to him, his parents had arrived to see him and his wife had given them her bed. He thinks that it is another man sleeping with his wife and murders them. He recognizes his misdeed and leaves once again. Having given all of his possessions to his wife, Julian begs for food but is shunned for his deeds. He comes across a deserted river crossing and decides to live a life of servitude. One day, there is a great storm and a leper wishes to cross. It is rough but Julian does not give up. Once across, the leper's requests increase. He wishes for food and wine, Julian's bed, and finally the warmth of Julian's body. When Julian gives the man everything without hesitation, the leper is revealed to be an angel, or perhaps Jesus Christ himself, and Julian is taken to heaven... Herodias is the retelling of the beheading of John the Baptist. It starts slightly before the arrival of the Syrian governor, Vitellius. Herodias holds a huge birthday celebration for her second husband, Herod Antipas. Unknown to him, she has concocted a plan to behead John. According to Flaubert, this plan entails making her husband fall in love with her daughter, Salomé, leading to him promising her whatever she wants."
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940000829189 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | B&R Samizdat Express |
| Publication date: | 01/06/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 99 KB |
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