Really good article! With each short story and non-fiction piece you may be moving away from your novelist dreams! I particularly appreciate the observation that Flaubert's Parrot has no real lesson for the reading classes, remaining playful all the way through. I read this before I read anything by Flaubert and now might want to revisit Bovary and her world.
Delightful ruminations, Tanuj - a mosaic of ideas woven deftly together, and the excursions into your own writing are a charming touch. Loved the 'hollow, involuntarily erumpent R, or just sound as if I was mid-gargle' bit, and the the way you've used 'synapses', occasioning both surprise and pleasure. It'll be a delight to read Flaubert's Parrot whilst channeling this essay in my thoughts.
Flaubert's Parrot is one of the books that I absolutely loved reading in the last few years. However, to me, it seemed more like a book of ideas. I felt much less was written about George in clear terms and your post makes it seem it was a lot more implied. Now, I'd like to read the book again. The whole discussion about the colour of eyes made a lot of impression on me, too. But, I was thinking: Doesn't the colour of someone's eyes look different based on the light? That said, it's a very interesting post on an equally interesting book.
Thanks, Karan. I happened to read the book slowly. George’s marital life is overtly or covertly referred nearly all the time. In a way, this is Charles Bovary writing a book about Emma (if you consider the Madame Bovary parallel). There is no closure to his marriage; the death of a spouse means that ‘why they did what they did’ remains undiscussed, and this readerly obsession is how the remainder of life is to be passed. The other delectable thing here is that George’s children are mentioned once and then kind of dispatched from the narrative, quite like how younger narrators tend to do with their parents :P
Love this! So insightful. When I read the line about Ankush noticing the hazel in Taruna’s eyes - I thought this was the writer asking reader to register the fact that this is a potential moment of falling in love. One tends to observe the person of romantic affection more carefully.
Really good article! With each short story and non-fiction piece you may be moving away from your novelist dreams! I particularly appreciate the observation that Flaubert's Parrot has no real lesson for the reading classes, remaining playful all the way through. I read this before I read anything by Flaubert and now might want to revisit Bovary and her world.
Delightful ruminations, Tanuj - a mosaic of ideas woven deftly together, and the excursions into your own writing are a charming touch. Loved the 'hollow, involuntarily erumpent R, or just sound as if I was mid-gargle' bit, and the the way you've used 'synapses', occasioning both surprise and pleasure. It'll be a delight to read Flaubert's Parrot whilst channeling this essay in my thoughts.
Thank you, Rohit. You'll love Flaubert's Parrot!
Flaubert's Parrot is one of the books that I absolutely loved reading in the last few years. However, to me, it seemed more like a book of ideas. I felt much less was written about George in clear terms and your post makes it seem it was a lot more implied. Now, I'd like to read the book again. The whole discussion about the colour of eyes made a lot of impression on me, too. But, I was thinking: Doesn't the colour of someone's eyes look different based on the light? That said, it's a very interesting post on an equally interesting book.
Thanks, Karan. I happened to read the book slowly. George’s marital life is overtly or covertly referred nearly all the time. In a way, this is Charles Bovary writing a book about Emma (if you consider the Madame Bovary parallel). There is no closure to his marriage; the death of a spouse means that ‘why they did what they did’ remains undiscussed, and this readerly obsession is how the remainder of life is to be passed. The other delectable thing here is that George’s children are mentioned once and then kind of dispatched from the narrative, quite like how younger narrators tend to do with their parents :P
Love this! So insightful. When I read the line about Ankush noticing the hazel in Taruna’s eyes - I thought this was the writer asking reader to register the fact that this is a potential moment of falling in love. One tends to observe the person of romantic affection more carefully.
It was that, yes. Surely a beat, as a screenplay writer would say. But, dang, I can’t not think that I messed it up a bit there :P