Flaubert

Despite my appreciation for Madame Bovary, I have always preferred Stendhal. My discretion recognized the accolades heaped upon Gustave by Mario Vargas Llosa and Julian Barnes, two of my favorite novelists, but the back story of Flaubert as related by Edward Said and Juan Goytisolo left me uncomfortable around GF and "the Exotic." That said, I completed Three Tales by Flaubert this afternoon amidst a thunderstorm and neighborhood drama involving an SUV, teenagers and a parked car. My preference proceeds accordingly to the sequence of the book. A Simple Heart was powerful and perfect in measure and statement.