Showing results for "A Simple Story" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Gustave Flaubert is one of the major figures of French literature. He was known for his scrupulous devotion to his style, sometimes working for a whole week to achieve a single page; he was made famous by his first novel, Madame Bovary. "A Simple Soul", sometimes translated as "A Simple Heart", is a short story containing a lifetime of human emotions. After her one and only love purportedly marries a well-to-do woman to avoid conscription, the simple servant Félicité picks up work in a widow's house.

After a devastating car accident, Carole escapes from an oppressive marriage in England to begin again in rural France. Yet she is haunted by the knowledge that Paul, her husband, has tracked her down before...and will do his best to do it again. Afraid to share her fears with her new neighbours, Carole nonetheless finds herself drawn to a local farmer, who helps her to create a new and independent life. But then she learns that Paul is on her trail and closing in fast....

"A Simple Soul" is the perfect Gustave Flaubert short story: a tale told in spare, straightforward language full of richly observed details. The "soul" is Felicite, the exemplary servant of the austere Madame Aubin. Orphaned and illiterate, Felicite devotes her life to her mistress and Madame's two children. Her kindheartedness extends to her nephew and a local beggar, but it is seldom reciprocated.

"Je n'ai jamais imaginé que l'acte d'écrire pût s'accomplir à l'extérieur. Et ce fut le penchant que j'avais pour le repli qui me mit dans la voie de l'écriture. Sortir de soi, de chez soi, signifie se perdre. Écrire, à mes yeux, est un acte intime. Nul geste ne me rapproche davantage de moi-même. De ce à quoi je tiens le plus. Rien ne me fait me sentir moins seule, absente, écartée de tout : pas même l'acte d'aimer." (Silvia Baron Supervielle)

Хроники простого волшебства - сборник фантастических рассказов Надежды Мамаевой. Семь рассказов о сказочном и повседневном, случившемся давно и только грядущем в далеком будущем, - их всех объединяет одно. Чудо. Здесь в канун Нового года поведает свою историю девушка с характером из стали, а тамплиер развернет свиток со свои резюме. Здесь в морозное утро о чуде, глядя глаза в глаза небесам, попросит обычный хирург и его слова услышат.