"What a scholar one might be if one knew well only five or six books"

>"What a scholar one might be if one knew well only five or six books"
What did he mean by this?

>5 or 6 works

>Memoirs of a Madman
>Madame Bovary
>Salammbo
>Sentimental Education
>The Temptation of Saint Anthony
>Bouvard et Pécuchet

really makes you think...

quality > quantity

He is a Straussian

It's basically specialization.
If you devote yourself to a focused field of study without dividing your time or effort, you will likely understand it more than anything or anyone else. You will essentially be a scholar of those 5 or 6 books.

Quality over quantity

What was the 7th chapter of the 6th most recent book that you read about?

That's not the point at all you fucking retard

This

Having an in-depth understanding of 5 or 6 books via thorough analysis and repeated readings vs having a cursory, superficial understanding of a great amount of books that you've read only once

>tfw fit more into the latter camp

I disagree with him though. He was a fat and bored burgeois. My curiosity is vast and insatiable and I prefer to read a lot of different stuff.

he wasn't a mere bourgeois, he was a NEET who lived with his mom and devoted his life to writing

why do we read him, again?

Why do you equate an active, interesting life with being a good writer?

We read Flaubert because he was a master of the novel.

Fair enough

>He was a fat and bored burgeois.

What's wrong with this

I don't like fat and bored burgeoises

t. Skinny overworked prole

Why have I never heard of this guy? Any authors these days with clear line of influence from him?

lol

>Why have I never heard of this guy?

Because English speaking countries are too busy reading Stephen King

God damn it.

Correct answer

FUCKING GENIUS
I live by these words

Currently rerererereading forever

>Narrative of FD
>Lolita
>Dubliners
>Catcher in the
>Tao Te ching
>goodnight moon

>Any authors these days with clear line of influence from him?
is this bait?

I'm new to brain and world.

if you read his works like temptation of saint anthony and salambo you can clearly see he was well-read in a lot of different subjects. it's a pretty self-deprecating quote: the author knows that writing a book requires reading hundreds of them yet admits that the only reader who could understand the artistry put into a great work is one who would have to read it so many times over they'd barely have time for anything else. and since the writer writes, he is denied the opportunity to know books at this deep level.