Flaubert et sa pauvre Bovary

In preparing to give a presentation on Gustave Flaubert's 1857 French novel, Madame Bovary, I came across this beautiful quote, which he wrote during the years he was writing the story:

" Tout ce qu'on invente est vrai, sois-en sûre. La poésie est une chose aussi précise que la géométrie. L'induction vaut la déduction, et puis, arrivé à un certain point, on ne se trompe plus quant à tout ce qui est de l'âme. Ma pauvre Bovary, sans doute, souffre et pleure dans vingt villages de France à la fois, à cette heure même. "

(my translation) " Everything one invents is true, be sure of this. Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry. Induction requires deduction, and, when one arrives at a certain point, one is no longer cheated of all that is the soul. My pour Bovary, without a doubt, suffers and cries in twenty French villages all together, at this very hour. "

Flaubert impresses me while at the same time confusing me. I am at a loss as to what exactly to think of this man who seemingly wrote a woman character so well. Can a man, really, "write a woman character?" Is there, really, enough human in us that one can take on so different an identity and do it justice? Or can only a woman genuinely write from a woman's perspective? When I read some of the quotes from the personal letters he wrote during the years he was writing Madame Bovary, he was redeemed in my eyes by his many expressions not only of frustration, confusion and inadequacy, but by this very perceptive observation:

" Bovary m'ennuie . . . Bon ou mauvais, ce livre aura été pour moi un tour de force prodigieux, tant le style, la composition, les personnages et l'effet sensible sont loin de ma manière naturelle. Dans Saint Antoine j'étais chez moi. Ici, je suis chez le voisin. Aussi je n'y trouve aucune commodité. "

(my translation) " Bovary annoys me . . . For good or bad, this book has already been for me a prodigious tour de force; the style, the composition, the characters and it's whole effect are so far from my nature! When writing Saint Antoine I felt at home. Here, I feel I'm at some neighbor's place; a neighbor's where I find no conveniences offered. "

Here and in other quotes, I see a writer rather than "a man," a person who stepped into the shoes of the "other" and told a story beautifully. I hope for a day when as many women are able to write (and paint, and direct film, and the list goes on) as there have been men telling the human story over time. I hope for fairness. But it is still inspiring to read stories written by "old white men" that still somehow ring true to a young, lesbian, me, today.