Authorial presence in Flauberts Parrot and Madame Bovary

Flaubert’s intent was to make himself disappear from his work, he wanted to become “god” and leave no direct evidence of his opinions and views. He wrote in an objective manner to create the appearance of reality. This “absent” narration makes an illusion of objectivity and detachment by pushing the character into the foreground as the narrator recedes into the background. This third person approach attempts to achieve complete absence but does not succeed.

Barnes aims to have the same distance from his work. He attempts to do this with a different method. He uses first person narration. Barnes creates two narrators, Braithwaite and Colette. By doing this, he weakens the idea that these aren’t his opinions. He allows us to see his own thoughts by creating the two narrations.

Flaubert and Barnes seek to have total separation from their books. Complete authorial absence and objectivity cannot be achieved.

In Louise Colet’s Version, Barnes creates another first person narration. “He told me not to write with the head, and not with the heart…he told me not to put myself into my work…”(150) We can see straight through this character because it’s the second narration, it doesn’t make sense that you can have two first person narrations. It makes us question the validity of the detachment. We can see that it is impossible to have complete absence.

Both authors aim is the same, but it is achieved in very different ways. Flaubert creates his own self-reflecting character, while Barnes creates two narrators. In both of these books, the illusion of objectivity deteriorates. Each author tries to occlude their own personalities. In some way, you can always see the views of the author. Objectivity can never be achieved.

The third person approach allows an intense close up focus on Emma. You can learn about her actions through this approach, and you can better understand her thoughts and feelings as a result of this style. Despite his attempt to distance himself from his characters, Flaubert’s involvement with Emma seems so deep that we can see a self-portrait of the author. Flaubert himself said, “Madame Bovary, c’est moi”(I am Madame Bovary!)

Flaubert’s illusion of objectivity falls apart at many times in his book. We can see this when Flaubert mocks religion and romanticism by being overly dramatic. Emma’s ideal world is dramatized and very romantic, so it seems like

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