Madame Bovary and the Sandman : Flaubert’s Uncanny Memories

An early manuscript note for Madame Bovary says that as a child, Emma believed in ‘l’homme qui jette du sable’. This article reveals that horrifying memories of ETA Hoffmann’s Sandman tale, which Flaubert read when very young, permeate Madame Bovary and continue to resurface throughout his work. The...

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Main Author: Anne Green
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Institut des Textes & Manuscrits Modernes (ITEM) 2019-12-01
Series:Flaubert: Revue Critique et Génétique
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/flaubert/3932
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author Anne Green
author_facet Anne Green
author_sort Anne Green
collection DOAJ
description An early manuscript note for Madame Bovary says that as a child, Emma believed in ‘l’homme qui jette du sable’. This article reveals that horrifying memories of ETA Hoffmann’s Sandman tale, which Flaubert read when very young, permeate Madame Bovary and continue to resurface throughout his work. The Sandman’s references to automata, dismemberment, burning or bleeding eyes, laboratories, furnaces, optical lenses, sand-throwing etc. resurface repeatedly in Madame Bovary or its drafts. Just as Hoffmann’s characters overlap or double as identities dissolve, so displaced elements of his tale circulate between Flaubert’s characters, adding deeply sinister undercurrents to the novel. Hoffmann’s reflexions on the process of literary creation have also left their mark. The obsessive presence of The Sandman seems related to traumatic events in Flaubert’s childhood. Once these intrusive memories are recognised in Flaubert’s writing, new light is shed on his fiction and on the relationship between traumatic memory and literary practice.
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series Flaubert: Revue Critique et Génétique
spelling doaj-art-a6f5dcd0bf7440b78c36f7ad3ad8d13e2025-02-05T16:29:42ZfraInstitut des Textes & Manuscrits Modernes (ITEM)Flaubert: Revue Critique et Génétique1969-61912019-12-012210.4000/flaubert.3932Madame Bovary and the Sandman : Flaubert’s Uncanny MemoriesAnne GreenAn early manuscript note for Madame Bovary says that as a child, Emma believed in ‘l’homme qui jette du sable’. This article reveals that horrifying memories of ETA Hoffmann’s Sandman tale, which Flaubert read when very young, permeate Madame Bovary and continue to resurface throughout his work. The Sandman’s references to automata, dismemberment, burning or bleeding eyes, laboratories, furnaces, optical lenses, sand-throwing etc. resurface repeatedly in Madame Bovary or its drafts. Just as Hoffmann’s characters overlap or double as identities dissolve, so displaced elements of his tale circulate between Flaubert’s characters, adding deeply sinister undercurrents to the novel. Hoffmann’s reflexions on the process of literary creation have also left their mark. The obsessive presence of The Sandman seems related to traumatic events in Flaubert’s childhood. Once these intrusive memories are recognised in Flaubert’s writing, new light is shed on his fiction and on the relationship between traumatic memory and literary practice.https://journals.openedition.org/flaubert/3932
spellingShingle Anne Green
Madame Bovary and the Sandman : Flaubert’s Uncanny Memories
Flaubert: Revue Critique et Génétique
title Madame Bovary and the Sandman : Flaubert’s Uncanny Memories
title_full Madame Bovary and the Sandman : Flaubert’s Uncanny Memories
title_fullStr Madame Bovary and the Sandman : Flaubert’s Uncanny Memories
title_full_unstemmed Madame Bovary and the Sandman : Flaubert’s Uncanny Memories
title_short Madame Bovary and the Sandman : Flaubert’s Uncanny Memories
title_sort madame bovary and the sandman flaubert s uncanny memories
url https://journals.openedition.org/flaubert/3932
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