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Customer Reviews (31)

Lord knows the world does not await my 5 star review of this classic..
Yes, yes, I'm sure Mr. Flaubert will do quite fine without this review. What do I have to add? Not much. But, I do want to say that this novel captures the passage of time better than any other novel I have read.
I read the Penguin edition. I cannot tell you how the translation stacks up. I picked it out for the pretty cover and the way the pages laid flat when I read it. I used to always choose Penguin editions, but I fear the type is too small for my eyes now.

I agree this is an unreadable translation.
After plodding through 50 pages, I sampled another tanslation at the library and realized that it was not Flaubert, but the un-named translator responsible for the awkward, unreadable sentences. Was this translated by a computer?

Less perfect than Madame Bovary, yet even more magnificent.Though flawed, Penguin's edition is the best available.
As none of Flaubert's other works are as widely known as Madame Bovary, I assumed they must be inferior, and did not rush to read them.When I finally started reading Sentimental Education, I was immediately struck by its relative lack of refinement, and I almost put it down.I am quite glad I did not: it has become my favorite literary work of all time.

Unfortunately, there isn't a single adjective I can use to describe its magnificence, and I certainly would not say it is "greater" than Madame Bovary.It takes minimal interest in doing the things that are generally considered important; for example, there is not a single articulable "idea" presented in the novel.The action reaches a climax near the end, but it is rather arbitrary, and even feels forced.There is a central metaphor, I suppose, but not the sort of puzzle-piece metaphor one would find in Tolstoy's work.

And yet, I feel the rejection of the conventions of "great" literature are greatly to Flaubert's credit.In Sentimental Education, Flaubert directly accomplishes those things that literary conventions were developed to accomplish.To provide an incomplete list of those things, he establishes an intimate and emotional connection with the reader, illustrates a number of the fundamental properties of the world we live in, and provides that aesthetic bliss found only in masterful art.

As further evidence of this novel's awesomeness that I couldn't fit into a properly organized paragraph, this is the only book I've ever had dreams about, and indeed I continue to have dreams about it.According to the introduction, Kafka also had dreams about it.

REGARDING THE Penguin Classics EDITION SPECIFICALLY:
There are a few stray stupidities with this edition, but I think it is probably the best available.I compared portions of the translation to the original French, and it is certainly more faithful than the Oxford edition.The chapter-by-chapter timeline and the corresponding historical timeline are very useful and efficient.The introduction is interesting and relevant, and even contains a polite spoiler warning.

My biggest objection is the glaring abridgment of the novel's title.The full title is "L'Education Sentimentale: Histoire d'un Jeune Homme."The latter portion of the title comes into play when, on page 192, a character makes direct allusion to it, saying that he will "write a little novel entitled A History of the Idea of Justice."Readers of the Penguin edition are at risk of entirely missing this allusion.

Another objection is that no character list is presented, as the characters are introduced confusingly and and so great in number that, if the reader isn't keeping a list him/herself, he/she will entirely lose track of them.Finally, there are a few words that are not translated, and no note is given on their meaning.Some are used commonly by English speakers, but one or two I was never able to figure out the meaning of.

That said, this novel is highly recommended, and the Penguin edition is the best available.

Another wretched "translation".
This is a truly abominable translation (i.e. the OXFORD edition tr. by Parmee). It is awkward, inaccurate and full of inappropriate Briticisms.It includes such phrases as "pop off for a toddy" and Ay, guv!"The new Wall revision of the Baldick translation (Penguin) is not much better, also full of Briticisms and anachronistic colloquialisms. Why do they do this? It borders on racist jingoism. I once read a British review of a translation of MADAME BOVARY which complained that it still retained "a whiff of French" about it. What could possibly be more repugnant when reading Flaubert?

I recommend the Signet edition translated by Perdita Burlingame. It is unfortunately out of print. This masterpiece is in desperate need of a respectful and readable translation.Signet should at the very least reprint their edition.

Frederic is one fabulous man.Regrettably, virtuous women are always within yards of the like of him.
Set during French Revolution in 1848, this novel is about the gallivanting life of Frederic Moreau. On board a ship to Nogent he catches sight of Marie Arnoux.This is the beginning of Frederic's sentimental excursion from quixotic to almost neurotic.As the ocean sways the vessel, the glimpse of this beautiful woman disways him from his agenda in coming to Paris.After he finds out she is married, he befriends the husband Jacques to be close to "Her".The belle-epoque of Paris consumes the life of aspiring lawyer.He muddles his life up by engaging in frivolous women and expenses.Apart from all these, Frederic is romantic and a great companion to his lovers.On one of his brief affairs he describes his happiness as "so natural, so indissolubly linked to his own life and to the person of this woman, that he had no doubt he'd be happy for the rest of his days."He abandons her the next day.

Although I give it only three stars, I am still fond of Flaubert.This book is just not his first rate.
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Customer Reviews (73)

The Sorrows of the Reader
Okay, I'm going to be the turd in the punchbowl here and say, "What on earth did everyone like so much about this book?" For a short book, this felt like it lasted forever. It was drawn out and boring. It is about a young man who is obsessed with a married woman. Werther is whiny and unlikeable in my opinoin. The book is a collection of letters he has written to his friend. The letters consist of his bellyaching about his unrequited love. I found Werther to be irritating and was quite apathetic to his plight. Thumbs down. I do not recommend this book, but apparently many others do.

Operating a the lowest level of his intellect
"The Sorrows of Young Werther" reminds me of an aphorism by Norman Panzica, a Canadian marriage counselor: "A man in love is operating at the lowest level of his intellect." Werther's pain ran deep; he was an intelligent young man whose intellectual propensity was an obvious feature of his personality.

Werther realized there were unknown factors at the heart of his misery, and at one point he said, "It is so difficult to discover the true and innermost motives of men who are not of the common run." He consoled himself by saying, "There is nothing quite so pleasing and reassuring as to find an unusual mind in sympathy with our own." In other words, misery loves company. He realized he had no monopoly on knowledge, but he also knew he, like every mortal, was unique. "All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own." Once more he consoled himself as he drew a conclusion applicable to all mortals: "I am a wanderer only, a pilgrim, through the world. But what more are you?"

But what more am I? Werther's question is a challenge that makes his novel come alive for his readers. As I review the eighty years of my life, I too have experienced the futility of becoming attached to "the one and only woman" who would bring me "eternal happiness." Like Werner, I have weathered those times when I was hopelessly in love. Somehow, I always picked a woman who would never marry me, and I imagine this was done at a subconscious level. Indeed, "it is difficult to discover the true and innermost motives of men" whether they're of the common or uncommon run. It makes little difference. We pull these painful tricks on ourselves. We fail consciously to understand what we do to ourselves, but in my case, I believe the thought of marriage terrorized me. Small wonder Werther said, "How rare in this world is understanding!" The tragedy of it is amplified by severe depression that often occurs during those youthful years when men and women should be enjoying the benefits of health, strength and vigor.

Still, there were moments when Werther was blissfully happy. "A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet spring mornings which I enjoy with all my heart," he said. Between this zenith of joy and the nadir of depression existed a wide chasm. At last, he said, "My mind is made up, Charlotte: I am resolved to die!" Werther's suspected bipolar disorder finally drove him to suicide. Goethe's tragic novel was immensely successful; sympathetic readers were committing suicide! The novelist was concerned enough to revise his book with hope that every reader would survive.

Werther was unfair to Charlotte, her husband Albert, and himself. Charlotte's secret love of Werther exacerbated their relationship. Albert's toleration was uncommon; most men would have ordered Werther off the premises right from the beginning. It would be easy to conclude Werner was simply a spoiled brat caught up in the frenzy of romantic love during the romantic period of Europe's cultural history. Conclusions of that sort are simplistic.

Werther was hooked on Homer, but a reading of Homer will assure us that Werther's romantic fixation was known at least three thousand years before Goethe's birth. It continues to this day. It still accounts for an occasional suicide.

About love, despair and the responsability of litterature
Goethe's non-epic 1st novel, that made him famous was less thought provoking than Faust. It is seen as a milestone in litterature due to it being written when romanticism was about to hit Europe (it, among others, opened the door for it).
An impossible love triangle, the desperation of a young inactive bourgeois and how life's events, the world and his views of it lead to his inevitable suicide. A book that is difficult to fully understand in our cynical time without some input about the era's context.

Litterature history says this book led to the loss of many young ones. How scary is that fact. A long discussion of responsibility of the artist could be started from here.
It made you wonder : if reading methods could be taught in school so that the reader could choose to fully embrace the character's point of view,would that be a good thing ?Watching it from a distance, with detached interest seems the better option in this case ? What about the others ?Young desperate in-love people would probably find echo in their suffering were they to read this in the middle of a storm (but again, is it worth it ? isn't detachment a good thing ?). I didn't. Fortunately.

10 stars and more
Just read the letter of May 22, to glimpse the magnificence of this book! I just finished this book and am in awe of its beauty and depth of emotions and philosophy, not just about passion and sentimentality that some people may think, but about the transient existence of human life, its place in nature, and the author's extremely hightened awareness and sensibility. (the author was only 24 when he wrote this book, Really!) I am madly in love with this book.

Obsession versus Love
I went into this book knowing virtually nothing about it.I remembered a vague reference to it from reading Frankenstein last year (the monster discovers and reads this book and relates strongly to Werther) but beyond that, and the general "sorrow" of the central character, I hopped in blind.

The book is written in epistolary style with each letter being sent from Werther to his friend Wilhelm (a couple of the letters seemed addressed to his brother as well?).We never read any responses written to Werther but can sometimes infer the reactions from Wilhelm.Still, the core of the story is told in Werther's letters themselves.

Because of the epistolary style, the narrative is a little 'jumpy' as it skips over time in between letters...sometimes a day or two, sometimes weeks or more.Some of the letters are very lengthy and pour out large segments of plot and action.Others are very short segments of exclamation or emotion.Sometimes even the longer letters don't advance the "plot" so much as provide insight into the thoughts and emotions of Werther.

Through the letters, we follow Werther as he moves to the country and encounters a young girl named Lotte.He is immediately transfixed by her and professes undying love.She coyly allows his advances and it seems as though a romance may appear between them.Quickly we learn that Lotte is betrothed to another man named Albert.Werther is taken aback by this, but still persists in being close to Lotte with the hope of perhaps persuading her to love him.When the timecomes, Lotte does marry Albert, much to Werther's dismay, but the three of them remain friendly.Werther visits them frequently and seems to hover incessantly over Lotte.He grows more and more jealous of Albert, which creates some tension in the group and Albert begins to leave the room when Werther comes to visit.

Werther's obsession with Lotte grows more and more intense as time goes on.He battles with himself over the emotions he feels and writes his friend for advice, although it is very clear that Werther does not feel able to (nor does he desire to) make a break from Lotte and strive to love another.He does finally move away from Lotte and spends some time trying to move on with his life.He becomes more and more discontent in his work and more and more obsessed with returning to her.

He finally does move back to live by them again.Albert is more offstandish and put off by Werther's presence.Werther continues to be insistent in his own mind (and sometimes to Lotte or Wilhelm) that there must be a way for her to love him.At the same time, he is emotionally conflicted because he knows she "belongs" to another man and he does not feel it is right to try and take her from him.She eventually tells Werther that he needs to stop coming around so often (he'd been visiting almost daily) but says that he's still a friend and should come by for Christmas as she's made him a gift.

__*** SPOILER ***__

Shortly after (the day after) Lotte tells Werther to back off a bit, he finds Lotte alone one night and again professes his love and pushes on her and kisses her passionately.She forces him off and tells him how wrong he's behaving.He's again in turmoil but does leave, though he announces (somewhat veiled) that she won't see him again...ever.He returns home and writes a few more notes in preparation of his suicide.He sends a note to Lotte and Albert to borrow their pistols for "a trip he's taking."Lotte realizes what's going on, but sends the pistols anyway.He shoots himself in the middle of the night and dies the next morning.He's buried without clergy, graveyard or cemetery.

__*** END SPOILER ***__

The presentation of love versus obsession is very interesting here and is very well done.You get a very good sense of the turmoil that Werther's going through...of the pain he's feeling as well as the desire he has but cannot fulfill.After reading the book, I looked up some info on it and found that it is actually fairly autobiographical.Apparently Goethe fell in love with his own Lotte who refused him and married another.He was obsessed for some time and found it hard to work or concentrate.There was a quote I read where Goethe indicates that he actually used Werther (and particularly the ending) to save himself [Goethe].

The story itself is intriguing though not particularly entrancing.It's really the presentation of the mental anguish of Werther that makes this noteworthy to me.Getting into his head and participating in the psychology of obsessive love was really interesting.A lot of his language was actually very romantic and, had it been spent on someone more receptive, could have been very powerful in enhancing a romantic relationship.Parts of the read were a bit slow, but overall, it was a good read.

****
4.5 out of 5 stars ... Read more