Ubiquitous and Invisible

"An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere."
- Gustave Flaubert

This is the third of the three quotations my son placed on stepping stones near my barbecue, and it is, by far, the most interesting to me. First, Flaubert. I took his novel, Madame Bovary, with me on vacation in Mexico. About eight years ago, I was sitting under a palapa in Puerto Vallarta, reading an unwieldy, leather-bound copy of the book, wondering about the effects of sand on archival quality paper, when I encountered Flaubert's sense of humor. The point of view character of his story was a rural man who referred to his wife's feet as "two cold stones at the end of the bed." Because I remember the metaphor and still laugh at the image, though I've read nothing else by Flaubert, I like him.

As for his quotation about an author in his book, I have mixed feelings. I of course appreciate Flaubert's truth, but what of this elevated comparison of an author to the God of the universe? I wonder at a tone of arrogance, but if a story is a universe and its author a creator, then Gustave said it well. Ubiquitous and invisible, writers write.


© 2009, Steven R. Lundin, all rights reserved