Mementoes and the Memory of the Reader in L'Éducation sentimentale

Abstract

Objects do not simply appear in L' Éducation sentimentale; they reappear. The memory of the reader is solicited in order to establish links between different occurrences of the same object, or closely related objects reappearing within a paradigm. Three main objects are examined in this article: the series of bracelets; the parasol; and Madame Arnoux's coffer. Flaubert uses these inanimate objects not only as traditional 'realist' metonyms standing for money, industrial art, or a social type, but also as clues pointing towards whole narrative segments that are never otherwise made explicit. Objects thus have a diegetic function, effectively working as narrative synecdoches. At times they also function through misplaced metonymy, that is, a relation of contiguity in which one object is substituted for another in an inappropriate way. Objects invite the reader to fill in the famous 'gaps' in the novel, in a way that is sometimes misleading. The act of misreading is thus an integral part of L'Éducation sentimentale.