Flaubert's last one

[Dave Monroe]

B+V's an all-time (top 10?) favorite of mine.  Recent English (US) trans. ...

http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/book/?GCOI=15647100397830

On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 6:37 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen
<lorentzen at hotmail.de> wrote:
>
> ... During the last two weeks I've read "Bauvard et Pécuchet" by Flaubert
> which turned out to be one of the best aesthetic experiences I've made in
> years ... The East German translation of Thomas Dobberkau from 1980 brings
> over Flaubert's unbeatable style pretty well (for English readers there's a
> fresh translation by Mark Polizzotti from the year 2005) ... Picaresque
> satire plus Situationskomik funnier than that of Larry David made me lol all
> through the book ... It is also, however, kinda Foucault-like archeology of
> the occidental discourse in the 19th century (if I should classify the novel
> as non-fiction inside the history of philosophy, I'd place it right in the
> middle of the "Phänomenologie des Geistes" and "Mille Plateaux": those of
> you who read all three will understand what I mean) ... But Bouvard and
> Pécuchet they do not stay with simple talk, nope, the (former) scriveners
> (Hello Bartleby!) they really really go for it ... Oh dear ... Those who
> like M&D will feel reminded of that novel's protagonists more than just once
> or twice ... Sometimes Bouvard and Pécuchet sit outside at night, have
> coffee and gaze at the stars, while speculating about the meaning of it all
> ... And in the end they have - just like "V"'s Benny Profane - "not learned
> anything at all" ... Extremely brilliant written (Borges loved it!),
> containing everything one could know in the late 1870s, and so funny that
> you have to laugh your butt off ...
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouvard_et_P%C3%A9cuchet