A Simple Heart

Gustave Flaubert

1877 • 81 pages

Ratings9

Average rating3.6

From the book:For half a century the housewives of Pont-l'Eveque had envied Madame Aubain her servant Felicite. For a hundred francs a year, she cooked and did the housework, washed, ironed, mended, harnessed the horse, fattened the poultry, made the butter and remained faithful to her mistress - although the latter was by no means an agreeable person. Madame Aubain had married a comely youth without any money, who died in the beginning of 1809, leaving her with two young children and a number of debts. She sold all her property excepting the farm of Toucques and the farm of Geffosses, the income of which barely amounted to 5,000 francs; then she left her house in Saint-Melaine, and moved into a less pretentious one which had belonged to her ancestors and stood back of the market-place. This house, with its slate-covered roof, was built between a passage-way and a narrow street that led to the river. The interior was so unevenly graded that it caused people to stumble. A narrow hall separated the kitchen from the parlour, where Madame Aubain sat all day in a straw armchair near the window. Eight mahogany chairs stood in a row against the white wainscoting. An old piano, standing beneath a barometer, was covered with a pyramid of old books and boxes. On either side of the yellow marble mantelpiece, in Louis XV. style, stood a tapestry armchair. The clock represented a temple of Vesta; and the whole room smelled musty, as it was on a lower level than the garden.

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Daren

A short novella published as a Penguin Little Black Classic. Translated from French, first published in 1877.This is a simple story outlining the life of an uneducated and somewhat naive servant woman Felicite, working for a wealthy woman, Madame Aubain for over fifty years. The story covers Felicite's early life, jilted by her only love, the growing of Madame Aubain's two children, the re-discovery of Felicite's sister and the nephew she never know about.She shared an unusual relationship with her employer and the children, whereby she felt genuinely appreciated and a part of the family, and although there were reminders of her position from time to time, she was quick for forgive and forget. A parrot gifted to her employer by a neighbour who was moving abroad, which was quickly passed on to Felicite becomes a focus in her life.Filled with small times of cheer, and proportionately more times of misery and misfortune, the story is well crafted, and keeps pace. The translation reads nicely, but of course I have no idea of the source material.This is my first reading of Flaubert's fiction (I have read [b:The desert and the dancing girls 529883 The desert and the dancing girls (Pocket Penguin 70s #17) Gustave Flaubert https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1175561907s/529883.jpg 517547] which was great travel observation writing), and I have a few of his other books kicking around, so I really must get onto one in the near future.

August 19, 2015

Michelle

I found this story deeply moving ... and very depressing. Messed me up in much the same way as the Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last,” in that the brutality of the world, the unfairness of life, seems overwhelming.

Thanks, Flaubert.

January 15, 2017