Geoffrey Braithwaite, the narrator, begins Flaubert's Parrot by describing Flaubert's statues. Six North Africans are playing boules under one permanent statue, which Geoffrey considers to be unstylish. The image of Flaubert depicted by the statue is a baggy-trousered, wary, aloof, and floppy-tied man. The statue looks toward the Cathedral and the city Flaubert despised. This statue is not the original one, which was taken away by the Germans in 1941. For many years, the pedestal on which the statue stood remained empty. Then, the Mayor of Rouen found the original plaster cast and made a second statue. Geoffrey thinks that as nothing about Flaubert has lasted beyond some papers and ideas, the statue will probably not last either.
Geoffrey begins his project with the statue. He wonders why writing makes us chase.....
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