On Jan 26, 2009, at 3:58 PM, [email protected] wrote:
I spent part of the afternoon in the library trying to find
something on
sentimentality, or at least 18th century sensibility. All the
presumably helpful
texts are in library use only,which seems strange for so supposedly
trivial a
subject as populous sentimentality.
Let's not forget Flaubert's influential book, L'education sentimental,
meaning, not a smarmy touchy-feely education, but an education of the
feelings, in the form of a novel about a young man in Paris,
unfettered and alive (cue Joanie Mitchell), caught up in the mid-
century revolution. As Flaubert said, "I want to write the moral
history of the men of my generation-- or, more accurately, the history
of their feelings. It's a book about love, about passion; but passion
such as can exist nowadays--that is to say, inactive."
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Michael Brady
[email protected]
