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THE PUBLIC vs. M. GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
The folios referred to in the trial are the folios either of the Revuede Paris or of the first edition of the book.—EDITOR.
Speech of the Prosecuting Attorney,
Gentlemen, in entering upon this debate, the Public Attorney is in thepresence of a difficulty which he cannot ignore. It cannot be put evenin the nature of a condemnation, since offenses to public morals and toreligion are somewhat vague and elastic expressions which it would benecessary to define precisely. Nevertheless, when we speak toright-minded, practical men we are sure of being sufficiently understoodto distinguish whether a certain page of a book carries an attackagainst religion and morals or not. The difficulty is not in arousing aprejudice, it is far more in explaining the work of which you are tojudge. It deals entirely with romance. If it were a newspaper articlewhich we were bringing before you, it could be seen at once where thefault began and where it ended; it would simply be read by the ministryand submitted to you for judgment. Here we are not concerned with anewspaper article, but entirely with a romance, which begins the firstof October, finishes the fifteenth of December, and is composed of sixnumbers, in the Revue de Paris, 1856. What is to be done in such acase? What is the duty of the Public Ministry? To read the wholeromance? That is impossible. On the other hand, to read only theincriminating texts would expose us to deep reproach. They could say tous: If you do not show the case in all its parts, if you pass over thatwhich precedes and that which follows the incriminating passages, it isevident that you wish to suppress the debate by restricting the groundof discussion. In order to avoid this twofold difficulty, there is butone course to follow, and that is, to relate to you the whole story ofthe romance without reading any of it, or pointing out any incriminatingpassage; then to cite incriminating texts, and finally to answer theobjections that may arise against the general method of indictment.
What is the title of the romance? Madame Bovary. This title in itselfexplains nothing. There is a second in parentheses: Provincial Moralsand Customs. This is also a title which does not explain the thought ofthe author but which gives some intimation of it. The author does notendeavour to follow such or such a system of philosophy, true or false;he endeavours to produce certain pictures, and you shall see what kindof pictures! Without doubt, it is the husband who begins and whoterminates the book; but the most serious portrait of the work, the onethat illumines the other paintings, is that of Madame Bovary.
Here I relate, I do not cite. It takes the husband first at college, andit must be stated that the boy already gave evidence of the kind ofhusband he would make. He is excessively heavy and timid, so timid thatwhen he arrives at the college and is asked his name, he responds:"Charbovari" He is so dull that he works continually withoutadvancing. He is never the first, nor is he the last in his class; heis the type, if not of the cipher at least of the laughing-stock of thecollege. After finishing his studies here, he goes to study medicine atRouen, in a fourth-story room overlooking the Seine, which his motherrented for him, in the house of a dyer of her acquaintance. Here hestudies his medical books, and arrives little by little, not at thed