I've moved slowly away from non-fiction and begun reading fiction regularly. I started first with Orlando Furioso by Ariosto and followed it up with Gustave Flaubert's Sentimental education. I'm now reading Hugo's Toilers of the Sea.

While reading Sentimental Education I was reminded from beginning to near end of Balzac's novel Old Goriot or Pierre Goriot, Father Goriot, Le Pere Goriot, etc. as I believe it is sometimes titled. These two books have many similarities in common including writing style, the class in which the characters aspire to be a part of, and the ambitions of the main characters.

In Old Goriot, Eugene de Rastignac is the main character from humble origins that moves to Paris. He is not wealthy but has a wealthy relative which he seeks the advice of to help him in his entry to a higher class. He asks his family for money which he should be spending on school but instead he spends the money on clothes and carriage rides in an effort to fool and penetrate the society in which he wants to elevate himself into. He's a social climber. He begins the novel with virtues that haven't been tested and begins to fail morally as he attempts to ascend the social ladder. He trades one for the other. He remarks and recognizes failings of the society he's trying to keep but succeeds in emulating them.

Old Goriot betrays the greed, treachery, deceitfulness, selfishness, and ungratefulness of a particular type of person - mostly on the part of women but men as well. The poison concealed in beauty is more noteworthy than the poison of an ordinary serpent. The two daughters of Goriot, especially Anastasie, are utterly ruthless to their loving father - having squandered his fortune and forcing a once wealthy and respected man to live and die in poverty, alone.

In Sentimental Education the writing echoes Balzac - echo is a bad word considering echoes don't refine and amplify. S.E. is more about an unrealized love affair more than anything but elements such as writing style, social climbing in Paris, and moral flaws and weaknesses in the main character are in common with Old Goriot. The main character, Frederic Moreau, is pierced very early on in the book by cupid's arrow and chases his love throughout the book. His love is for an older and married woman. He, like Rastignac, loses his morals more and more as the book develops. The more he loses, the more he rises in the social hierarchy. His unrealized love makes him wish to erase his failings by conquering other mistresses. The two books have much in common.

Both characters have good hearts but have weaknesses that are forgivable. Although each book is built with different material - the architecture is the same.

I have to say that Flaubert's is the better book. If it were a choice between the two which I would recommend I wouldn't hesitate but would also commend Balzac's. Old Goriot is definitely worth reading and probably before Flaubert's as S.E. was written later and is an improvement of an old model. A Michelangelo (F) to a Leonardo (B). A matter of taste but the mastery and level of skill is apparent and undeniable.

The ending of Old Goriot was profound and a worthy conclusion but left that door open to wonder what happens to Rastignac. Flaubert, on the other hand, slams the door shut and leaves you momentarily wide eyed and then greatly appreciative. Endings are tricky and I prefer the slam to the door left half open. I need that, especially in these types of novels which test and tear at the emotions of the reader.

Both writers leave their heart wrenching for the end. Balzac's is seen coming a long way away and makes for a softer impact. Flaubert's is unexpected, abrupt, horrifying... a single line... said in passing and mixed with conversation. The sadness grows as it sinks in. It's painful and it's necessary to look to cast it off but it's hard to shake because it is delivered in a single line. The reader is eaten away by it as it constantly replays, spoken as if the reader were in the room as she spoke the words. As if she is saying it over and over and living it and it is tragedy at it's greatest.

Both excellent French Novels.

Hey! So funny to see your post today. I just started to read Flaubert's Madame Bovary this very day.

Saffron wrote:Hey! So funny to see your post today. I just started to read Flaubert's Madame Bovary this very day.

I started to read MB in French one time, but dropped the project. I'd still like to complete that, "were there world enough and time."

DWill wrote:

Saffron wrote:Hey! So funny to see your post today. I just started to read Flaubert's Madame Bovary this very day.

I started to read MB in French one time, but dropped the project. I'd still like to complete that, "were there world enough and time."

I think Mr. Marvell had something other than reading in mind when he wrote those words.

I haven't read Madame Bovary yet. I picked up a really nice copy of it at the Goodwill so it's on the list to be read. I can't read it after I'm done with Toilers of the Sea, though. I've had enough of French authors. I'm going to read the BT fiction selection and finally tackle The Portrait of Dorian Gray. I really should have read it when it was a BT selection.

President Camacho wrote:I haven't read Madame Bovary yet. I picked up a really nice copy of it at the Goodwill so it's on the list to be read. I can't read it after I'm done with Toilers of the Sea, though. I've had enough of French authors. I'm going to read the BT fiction selection and finally tackle The Portrait of Dorian Gray. I really should have read it when it was a BT selection.

There is something about the 19th century French novels. You can only take so much at a time. They are great stories but somehow they seem to run together.