A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert
Jul 21, 2026 · 59 min · 11 segments
This week, Aatif Rashid discusses Gustave Flaubert's 1877 novella *A Simple Heart*.
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Jul 21, 2026 · 59 min · 11 segments
This week, Aatif Rashid discusses Gustave Flaubert's 1877 novella *A Simple Heart*.
Aatif RashidHost
What is more, she remained faithful to her mistress, who, it must be said, was not the How does this novella open? How does the story open? It opens with a description of Felicite, but I think it's important to note that the description is very distant.
As we're going to see by the end of the novella, we will be deeply in Felicity Tay's perspective.
So over the course of the novel, we have this movement in terms of point of view.
It's almost as if we start not in Felicite's perspective, but in the perspective of the ladies of Pont-le-Vec who envy Felicite.
The very first line, she is essentially possessed, quite literally, grammatically, she is possessed by by Madame Aubon.
But of course, over the course of the novel, as I said, there's going to be this movement from this distant point of view to a very close point of view, a very close third-person point of view in which we empathize deeply with Felicite, and we see her as so much more than a housemaid, so much more than a servant.
If anything, the word housemaid, having read the whole thing and rereading the opening, the word housemaid comes across as quite ironic because that is clearly not all Felicite is.
Pont-le-Vecq, by the way, I think that's also important because one of the things we're going to see in this novella is that Flaubert is a master of capturing a place.
So Pont-le-Vec is the main setting, but we're going to see lots of other little towns in this region.
What is more, she remained faithful to her mistress, who, it must be said, was not the How does this novella open? How does the story open? It opens with a description of Felicite, but I think it's important to note that the description is very distant.
As we're going to see by the end of the novella, we will be deeply in Felicity Tay's perspective.
So over the course of the novel, we have this movement in terms of point of view.
It's almost as if we start not in Felicite's perspective, but in the perspective of the ladies of Pont-le-Vec who envy Felicite.
The very first line, she is essentially possessed, quite literally, grammatically, she is possessed by by Madame Aubon.
But of course, over the course of the novel, as I said, there's going to be this movement from this distant point of view to a very close point of view, a very close third-person point of view in which we empathize deeply with Felicite, and we see her as so much more than a housemaid, so much more than a servant.
If anything, the word housemaid, having read the whole thing and rereading the opening, the word housemaid comes across as quite ironic because that is clearly not all Felicite is.
Pont-le-Vecq, by the way, I think that's also important because one of the things we're going to see in this novella is that Flaubert is a master of capturing a place.
So Pont-le-Vec is the main setting, but we're going to see lots of other little towns in this region.
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