Authors: Gustave Flaubert trans Lydia Davis
Madame Bovary (54 page)
| 41 | jabot: A decoration of lace or a thin fabric such as muslin attached to the base of the shirt collar or the front of a neckband and spreading down over the chest. |
| 42 | gloves in their glasses: This would have indicated that they did not wish to be served wine. |
| 42 | Comte d’Artois … Marquis de Conflans … Marie Antoinette … Monsieur de Coigny … Monsieur de Lauzun: The Comte d’Artois (1757–1836), brother of Louis XIV, was later Charles X, king of France (1824–30), and a friend of Marie Antoinette; he was deposed in favor of Louis-Philippe. Louis Gabriel d’Armentière, Marquis de Conflans (1772–1849), was a peer of France and a field marshal. Marie Antoinette (1755–93), married at age fifteen to the timid Louis XVI of France, had numerous love affairs in the early years of her marriage; she was guillotined at the time of the Revolution. Marie François Henri de Franquetot, Duc de Coigny (1737–1821), was part of Marie Antoinette’s intimate circle. Armand Louis de Gontant-Biron, Duc de Lauzun (1744–93), was rumored to be one of Marie Antoinette’s lovers. |
| 42 | prepared herself: In French, faire sa toilette , which we would once, in English, have called “performing her toilet,” consisted of everything involved in preparing herself to go into company: dressing, applying makeup, arranging her hair. It could also be a time of sociability, during which one would entertain friends. |
| 42 | barege: Named after its place of origin, Barèges, a town in the Pyrenees; a gauzy fabric usually made of wool and silk or cotton. |
| 42 | foot straps: Straps that extended down from the bottoms of the pant legs and passed under the foot; these were quite common at the time. |
| 43 | ritornello: A short instrumental motif, repeated before each couplet of a song or each repetition of a dance. |
| 43 | quadrilles: The quadrille is an intricate four-or five-part dance for four couples in square formation, fashionable in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. |
| 43 | little gold-stoppered bottles: Although several previous translations have inserted the word “perfume” or “fragrance” into the description, the French original does not specify what is meant to be in the bottles. In fact, it is clear from earlier drafts of the passage that what Flaubert had in mind was not perfume but vinegar—presumably to revive a woman suffering a dizzy spell brought on by the heat, the close air, her exertion, and perhaps her tight corset. Later in the novel, vinegar is produced for this purpose, first in the bloodletting scene, when young Justin faints at the sight of the blood (see p. 112) and then when Emma herself faints over dinner (see p. 182). |
| 43 | Lace trimmings … clinked on bare arms: At least three times in the novel, Flaubert employs a peculiar syntax, grouping first a series of three subjects, then a matching series of three verbs, each verb corresponding to only one subject. The second and third instances occur during the scene of the agricultural fair (see pp. 115 and 131). |
| 43 | louis: A louis was worth twenty francs. |
| 44 | Saint Peter’s … the Colosseum: Saint Peter’s Cathedral is in Rome. Tivoli is an ancient city near Rome celebrated for its beautiful setting, its waterfalls, and its ruins. Castellammare di Stabia, a resort town and spa in southern Italy, lies on the site of a Roman resort buried by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the only active volcano on the European mainland. The Cascine was a very large park in Florence on the banks of the Arno; it was a popular tourist attraction in the nineteenth century particularly, and always figured in the list of “must-sees.” Genoa, a city on the Riviera, is the chief seaport of Italy; the steep and narrow streets of its old section are very picturesque. The Colosseum, an amphitheater in Rome near the Forum, is the most imposing of the Roman antiquities; seating about forty-five thousand spectators, it was the site of gladiatorial combats until A.D. 404. With his usual cynicism, Flaubert is having his characters admire only the most typical of the tourist attractions. |
| 44 | jumping a ditch: A reference to steeplechasing. Racecourses had only recently been introduced into France—the Jockey Club was started in 1833—so racing vocabulary might well be unfamiliar to Emma. |
| 45 | After supper: The schedule according to which refreshments were served at a ball was fairly rigid in those days. The maraschino ice that Emma consumed might have been served at about 11:00 P.M. , the ample supper at 2:00 A.M. |
| 45 | Trafalgar puddings: Also known as jam roly-poly, shirtsleeve pudding, dead man’s leg, and dead man’s arm, this was a traditional English dessert invented probably in the early nineteenth century and consisting of a suet pudding rolled out flat, spread with jam, and then rolled up. While not necessarily tastier than a traditional French dessert, it had the attraction, at that time, of being English. |
| 45 | cotillion: Apparently, some versions of the cotillion were rowdier than this one, incorporating pranks and challenges, but at the least it was the dance that ended the evening and involved frequent changes of partner. |
| 45 | Emma did not know how to waltz: The waltz, introduced into France from Germany around the turn of the nineteenth century, was still regarded as somewhat risqué, since it involved a great deal more body contact and turbulent motion than the sedate traditional quadrille, for example, with its facing lines and fingertip contacts. Mothers feared for their daughters as they were whirled away in the confusion of the cotillion. |
| 46 | whist: A card game popular at the time, enjoyed by King Louis-Philippe himself. |
| 46 | brioche: A roll baked from light yeast dough enriched with eggs and butter. |
| 47 | breeching: The part of the harness that passes around a horse’s rump under the tail. |
| 49 | Pompadour clocks: The Marquise de Pompadour (1721–64) was a mistress of Louis XV and a Voltairean; she employed artists to decorate her residences and encouraged the manufacture of Sèvres pottery. |
| 49 | “Marjolaine”: A familiar abbreviated reference to “Les Compagnons de la Marjolaine,” a well-known, anonymous, centuries-old popular song with many verses, about a company of night watchmen seeking brides. |
| 49 | Corbeille … Le Sylphe des Salons: Corbeille (1836–78) was a fashion magazine. Le Sylphe des Salons (1829–82, under various names) covered, at various times and in various combinations, literature, the fine arts, the theater, and fashion. |
| 49 | the Bois: The Bois de Boulogne, a forest at the edge of Paris containing the racetracks of Auteuil and Longchamps and many avenues and bridle paths; a favorite recreation spot starting in the seventeenth century. |
| 49 – 50 | Eugène Sue … Balzac … George Sand: Eugène Sue (1804–57) was the author of popular and sensational novels about the Parisian underworld and slum life; they were serialized in the newspapers during the 1830s. Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was one of the foremost novelists of France, author of the vast Human Comedy. George Sand was the pseudonym of Amandine-Aurore-Lucie Dupin, author of some eighty novels and widely popular in her day. |
| 50 | petits bourgeois: The French term for members of the “petite bourgeoisie,” or lower middle class, which includes minor businesspeople, clerical staff, craftworkers, and tradespeople such as shopkeepers. Unlike the “haute bourgeoisie,” or upper middle class, members of the lower middle class may work alongside their employees. This class is also distinguished from the working class, which relies solely on selling its own labor to survive. Emma, of course, is here agreeing with Flaubert himself, in deriding what she (or he) sees as the mentality of the class—narrow, prejudiced, conservative, culturally unenlightened. |
| 51 | bloodlettings: “Bloodletting,” or “bleeding,” in which some blood was drawn from a patient’s artery or vein, was widely practiced in Western medicine from antiquity through the eighteenth century as a treatment for any number of complaints, including congestion following acute heart failure (for which it actually is effective). (See bloodletting scene, p. 111.) Leeches were applied to draw blood from smaller blood vessels. |
| 52 | catarrhs: A catarrh is a chronic inflammation of the mucous membranes in the nose and air passages. |
| 52 | emetic: A substance that induces vomiting. |
| 52 | La Ruche Médicale: “The Medical Beehive”; this is Flaubert’s adaptation of the name of a medical journal published in Paris from 1844 to 1899 called L’Abeille Médicale (The Medical Bee), which was accompanied by a supplement called La Ruche Scientifique (The Scientific Beehive). |
| 54 | Érard piano: Sébastien Érard was a French instrument maker who specialized in the production of pianos and harps, greatly developing the capacities of both and pioneering the modern piano; Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette commissioned pianos from him, and other prominent owners of his pianos included Beethoven, Chopin, Fauré, Haydn, and Liszt. |
| PART II | |
| 61 | Yonville-l’Abbaye: A fictitious place but based in part on the real towns of Ry and Forge-les-Eaux, in the latter of which Flaubert had spent time with his family. It is meant to be about twenty miles from Rouen. |
| 61 | small river: Flaubert says in one letter that he has in mind a river the size of the Eau de Robec, by which Charles lived when a student—evidently narrow enough so that a plank bridge can be extended across it for cattle and removed when necessary. |
| 62 | farrier: A specialist in the shoeing of horses and other work animals such as oxen and mules, and in the care of hooves. |
| 62 | in the last years of the reign of Charles X: That is, in the late 1820s. The reactionary and repressive Charles X was forced to abdicate after the bloody three-day July Revolution in 1830. |
| 62 | piece of straw matting: That is, as protection against the cold. |
| 63 | a Gallic cock, resting one foot on the Charter: The cock, or rooster, was the symbol of France. The Charter was a document first drawn up and conferred in 1814 under Louis XVIII, binding the monarchy to a constitution that guaranteed to the French citizenry certain rights, such as freedom of conscience; it was revised following the deposition of Charles X in 1830 but continued to form the basis of France’s constitution until 1848. |
| 63 | Bengal lights: Blue lights used for signaling and illumination at sea; also, lights or flares of various colors. They derive their name from the fact that the main source of saltpeter, one of their ingredients, is India. |
| 63 | “Vichy, Seltzer, and Barèges Waters, Depurative Syrups, Raspail’s Medicine, Arabian Racahout, Darcet’s Pastilles, Regnault’s Ointment, Bandages, Baths, Medicinal Chocolates, etc.”: All common remedies of the time, some of them patented; racahout, a gruel whose main ingredient was acorn flour, was commonly used by the Turks and Arabs and introduced into France and America in the early nineteenth century as a food for convalescents, consumptives, and those with “debilitated” stomachs. Chocolate was at this time more usually regarded as medicinal than as an ingredient to be enjoyed in desserts and drinks. |
| 63 | the cholera outbreak: The cholera pandemic reached the Rouen area in April 1832 and remained until October. |
| 64 | white punk: A dry, light, spongy substance derived from bracket fungi, known as “horsehoof” or “tinder” fungi, which grow on certain deciduous trees such as birch, beech, and oak. It is highly flammable and is used to ignite fuses. |
| 65 | Hirondelle: Literally, “Swallow”—often used as a name for a boat or land vehicle, and connoting swiftness; in this case, of course, Flaubert’s choice of name is ironic. |
| 65 | for Poland … the flood victims of Lyon: The Warsaw Uprising took place November 29, 1830; benefits for the Polish victims of repression were organized throughout Louis-Philippe’s reign. The flooding of Lyon took place in 1840. |
| 65 | we’ve got hay in our boots: The French expression “to put some hay in one’s boots” is equivalent to the English “to feather one’s nest.” There are numerous French expressions involving hay: in an agricultural society, a good store of hay symbolized economic security. |
| 66 | frock coat: A man’s coat, usually double-breasted, with knee-length skirts front and back. Flaubert paid particular attention to the clothing of a character because of what it revealed about his personality and way of life. |
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