Flaubert's Parrot Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 6, Emma Bovary's Eyes Summary

Chapter 6, Emma Bovary's Eyes Summary

Geoffrey hates critics. Enid Starkie, a Flaubert biographer, wrote the following: "Flaubert does not build up his characters, as did Balzac, by objective, external description; in fact, so careless is he of their outward appearance that on one occasion he gives Emma brown eyes (14); on another deep black eyes (15); and on another blue eyes (16)" (pg. 74). Geoffrey thinks that at first, the irritation over something like this isn't with the critic, but with the author. Couldn't Flaubert even keep straight the eye color of his most famous character? Geoffrey had never noticed Madame Bovary's eye color in all his readings. Was he missing things that Enid Starkie knew about? Geoffrey always reads Flaubert for pleasure and Geoffrey wonders if the passionate reader is allowed to forget details like eye color while the critic is forced to become intimately familiar with the text.

Geoffrey remembers another lecture given...
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