Exclamatory Love!!!

I love the new exclamation…you’ve done some nice work there.

I wish I had had that particular nugget of exclamatory delight last night when I nearly concussed myself while cleaning my fridge in preparation for my big move.  I was deeper in the fridge scrubbing than I realized so when I rose up to wring my rag I knocked my noggin on the fridge roof…it would of been “For the love of Bovary” left and right.

While you’ve been unpacking, mapping and generally wasting time I’ve been trying to get into Emma’s head…and I think I’ve got her figured out.  I think Emma feels about marriage as I did about the movie Madhouse, the 1990 laff-fest starring John Larroquette and Kirstie Alley.  As a ten year old (as I was when the movie came out in theatres) I could imagine nothing funnier than two of my favorite TV personalities (Dan Fielding!, Rebecca from Cheers!) together in the same movie…comic alchemy!

…and then I saw the movie and it wasn’t as good as the movie that I’d concocted in my head (my imaginary movie included a lot more pratfalls).  Similarly I believe Emma has created some unrealistic expectations about marriage (maybe her vision also included more pratfalls)…and now that she’s watching Madhouse and she’s not laughing.  (Me neither…more pratfalls!)

So basically I think Emma should go out and rent Richie Rich (Larroquette at his finest!).

Did this post make any sense at all?  Maybe I did concuss myself yesterday!

“For the love of Bovary!”

Jon

For the Love of Bovary!

Part I??? Finished???

Notice my use of multiple punctuation marks. (That’s right, buddy, three question marks! That is how astounded I am.) Your reading pace continues to be mind boggling.

While I have not technically been “reading” Madame Bovary over the last few days it has never been far from my thoughts. I have been mapping tropes and unpacking metaphors left and right, so that I can provide some meaningful commentary on the book.

While mapping and unpacking, I got a little distracted though, and I started thinking of ways that I can bring the Madame into my everyday conversation…and I thought what better way than by coming up with a catchy phrase that I can insert into my conversation, for those particularly vexatious moments. And from that, “For the love of Bovary!” was born.

Now, I am not an overly vexed person, but there are moments (i.e. when I stub my toe, lose my car keys, have nothing really relevant to post on the blog) where a little vexatiousness rears its ugly head, and in those moments, I can let out a mighty:

“Oh, for the love of Bovary!”

I can then parlay a particularly vexing moment into a spirited conversation on a Flaubert favorite.

That, my friend, is taking a few of life’s bitter lemons and making some particularly fine lemonade.

Your friend in Bovary,

Justin