The Madame Bovary Blues: The Pursuit of Illusion in Nineteenth-Century French Fiction by Stirling Haig (review)

Abstract

100Rocky Mountain Review to decide—it evokes the ghost of didactic history. Hence, while 'Professing Literature appears to be at the cutting edge of contemporary theory, it stands on a foundation that is suspiciously anachronistic. ROBERT WESS Oregon State University STIRLING HAIG. The Madame Bovary Blues: The Pursuit ofIllusion in Nineteenth-Century French Fiction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987. 171 p. This slender volume brings together in definitive form ten essays, portions of which Haig has published previously in somewhat different forms. They are expanded in view ofrecent scholarship and framed within the occasionally elusive theme of "contemplationts] ofillusion and ofthe flight into its various manifestations" (163). While the subjects of these essays form a chronological overview of the nineteenth century, the author presents convincing evidence that his Protean theme transcends schools and periodizations. The first essay, "Distortions of Desire in Balzac's La Peau de chagrin" explores techniques that Balzac used to express the thematic opposition of illusion and reality. "From Cathedral to Book, from Stone to Press: Hugo's Portrait of the Artist in Notre-Dame de Paris" envisions the cathedral itself (and the early nineteenth century's fascination with a romanticized Middle Ages) as a chimera that both epitomized and idealized a fossilized, unjust vision of life. Haig sees in Pierre Gringoire, the poet who rejects an old order of stone images in order to embrace a new order of the written word, the socially conscious Hugo himself. "The Circular Room of George Sand's Indiana" traces magic enclosures, swirling waters, theatrical metaphors, and mentions of chimera in order to probe conclusions other critics have reached through biographical means, namely, that the novel's theme is unfulfilled love. Haig goes a step further and concludes that "more than love that fails to fulfill ... it is love that does not exist" (32) that is the novel's true theme. There is only an illusion ofamorous felicity in which Sand's characters find it impossible to live. The essays on Vigny and Stendhal ("The Grand Illusion: Vigny's Servitude et Grandeur militaires" "From Identity to Disarray in La Chartreuse de Parme') examine the role disillusion plays in the process of defining one's self. Here Haig's discussion ultimately reflects as much on the authors themselves as on their fictional heroes. In the two final essays, "The Blue Illusion of Alphonse Daudet's Froment jeune et Risler aîné" and "The Mirror of Artifice: Maupassant's Bel-Ami" the author not only finds illusion to be an essential element in the thematic substance of Daudet's and Maupassant's works, but endeavors to show that the ways in which these authors handle their material are not always strictly "realist." Daudet, Haig maintains, does not replicate his authenticity ofmilieu Book Reviews101 and of characters' sources at the narrational level; nor does Maupassant's language possess a windowpane's clarity in allowing the reader to observe reality. The heart and strength of this volume lies in a triptych of essays devoted to Flaubert. The title essay and "Madame Arnoux's Coffret: A Monumental Case" discuss how Flaubert's well known use ofparticular leitmotifs (in these instances the color blue and a silver box) is a critical factor in creating the illusions that guide the characters' lives. In "History and Illusion in Flaubert's 'Un Coeur simple' " Haig's central task is to examine "how the historical shell [of this work]—its framing within the linear temporal flow of History—is shattered by the triumph of a fictive, imaginary world whose discourses supplant the 'objective' ones of History and impose personal event—indeed illusion—as the gauge of truth value" (118). Haig's essays are briefbut dense, concentrating on revealing the significance of selected details and scenes. While such close focus will be of particular interest to specialists, nonspecialists as well will find these pieces informative and accessible. Most chapters begin with a capsule review ofprevious, related scholarship, which serves as a helpful perspective for the discussion that follows. Also, Haig draws on his impressively broad knowledge of French literature and culture to suggest many parallels that the reader might profitably draw with other authors and works. The citations considerately...