45 pages • 1 hour read
Julian BarnesFlaubert's Parrot
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1984A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Objectivity
Flaubert’s Parrot can be described as a dissection of the “objectivity of the written text” (13). Every one of Flaubert’s biographies (many of which are quoted by Geoffrey) attempts to accurately portray the writer’s life. Yet no biography can examine Flaubert from every perspective, making it impossible to identify a single objective truth.
The novel demonstrates this point by providing three sequential chronologies of Flaubert’s life. Each one leaves the reader with a different impression of Flaubert, though all are objectively true. The biographer, even when attempting to be objective, cannot help but be subjective. Whether selecting certain facts to include and excluding others, or simply making guesses about historical details, a biographer is always making subjective decisions. This issue of perspective means that it is possible to create a multitude of competing narratives about Flaubert’s life, all of which are true.
Flaubert is a historical figure dead for over a hundred years, making it impossible for biographers to capture every detail of his life. The letters to Juliet Herbert would be revelatory in the study of Flaubert’s life, but they were burned before they could be properly studied. Geoffrey addresses this, asking “what happened to the truth is not recorded” (60).
Even Flaubert’s own work can be difficult to interpret. Geoffrey wonders how exactly Flaubert intended his audience to interpret one piece of writing, asking “Was it meant to be a chuckling advertisement for his own sensibility; a tease about the gritty, unpolished surface of the desert; or might it just have been a joke on us?” (66). By the end of the novel, Geoffrey realizes that any attempt to reach an objective truth is inherently flawed.
Adultery
Throughout the novel, Geoffrey returns frequently to Flaubert’s love life. Though remembered for the romance and passion in the lives of his characters, Flaubert himself never married. Geoffrey explores the relationships he shares with a number of women, including Louise and Juliet, though neither of them are able to provide him with a definitive version of Flaubert’s character.
Gradually, the reason Geoffrey chooses to focus on this aspect of his hero’s life becomes clear: Geoffrey’s own marriage ended in tragedy. After a period in which his wife Ellen carried out numerous affairs, she attempts to kill herself and Geoffrey is forced to turn off the life support machine. As Geoffrey searches for a way to understand Flaubert’s love life, he also hopes to finally understand the tragedy of his marriage. Both storylines run parallel to one another.
Adultery is a familiar theme in Flaubert’s work. The adultery portrayed in Madame Bovary became a national scandal and the author was accused of trying to destroy the institution of marriage. Geoffrey reveals to the reader the importance of a specific edit made between editions of the book. The edit alters the meaning of the text and makes a criticism of marriage as a whole, rather than one specific marriage.
Geoffrey details the affairs Flaubert had with women. Louise, a married woman who claimed to have loved Flaubert, becomes a particular focus. Geoffrey tries to see the writer from her perspective, hoping to understand why she might wish to commit infidelity. In trying to understand the affairs of Flaubert, Geoffrey seems to be trying to understand the actions of his wife and explain to himself why her life ended in tragedy.
However, Geoffrey never really gets an answer explaining Ellen’s infidelity. He explores her reasoning, though cannot bring himself to come to any one conclusion. Instead, he begins to understand that the quest for an objective truth about Ellen’s actions is flawed. Just as he does when trying to determine the authenticity of the parrot, Geoffrey learns that there is no possible way he can find a satisfying answer. Geoffrey’s journey and quest for understanding is important, as it teaches him to come to terms with the reality of his wife’s affair and suicide, many years after her death.
The Past
Geoffrey Braithwaite is a man obsessed with the past, which he describes as “a distant, receding coastline” (62). Throughout the novel, he describes in great detail events, conversations, and defining moments in his own life and the life of Gustave Flaubert. He seldom addresses the audience in the present and almost never mentions the future. This obsession with the past suggests that Geoffrey is a man with regrets, someone who hopes he can reconcile his guilt by examining the minutiae of the past.
The past is most obviously present in the novel in the frequent references to Gustave Flaubert’s life. The novel begins with a visit to a Flaubert museum, a building designed to enshrine and memorialize a historical figure. A visit to another museum follows. When Geoffrey encounters a discrepancy in the presentation of the past—two stuffed parrots claiming to be authentic—he feels the need to clarify and explain the error. He obsesses over this minor issue, which forces him to confront the unknowability of the past.
The enigmatic nature of the past is an important theme of the novel. The more Geoffrey teaches himself about the life of Flaubert, the less he knows. Geoffrey gradually realizes the futility of his mission to unravel the mysteries of the past. Geoffrey must learn to accept the past for what it is in order to assuage his guilt in the present. Just as he may never know everything about Flaubert, he may never know everything about Ellen. He has to take what he does know and treasure it. He must reconcile the past with the present if he wants to move forward.
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By Julian Barnes
