kugelmass episode
Plot Summary (The Kugelmass Episode)
"The Kugelmass Episode" opens with Kugelmass, a middle-aged, unhappily married humanities professor seeking the advice of his analyst, Dr. Mandel. He is bored with his life, and he needs to have an affair. His analyst disagrees, however, telling him "there is no overnight cure" for his troubles, adding that he is "an analyst, not a magician." Kugelmass then seeks out a magician to help him solve his problem.
A few weeks later, he gets a call from The Great Persky, a two-bit magician/entertainer who shows him a "cheap-looking Chinese cabinet, badly lacquered" that can transport the professor into any book, short story, play, or poem to meet the woman character of his choice. When he has had enough, Kugelmass just has to give a yell and he is back in New York. At first Kugelmass thinks it is a scam, then that Persky is crazy, but for $20, he gives it a try. He wants a French lover, so he chooses Emma Bovary. Persky tosses a paperback copy of Flaubert's novel into the cabinet with Kugelmass, taps it three times, and Kugelmass finds himself at the Bovary estate in Yonville in the French countryside.
Emma Bovary welcomes Kugelmass, flirting with him as she admires his modern dress. "It's called a leisure suit,"' he replies romantically, then adds, "It was marked down."' They drink wine, take a stroll through the countryside, and whisper to each other as they recline under a tree. As they kiss and embrace, Kugelmass remembers that he has a date to meet his wife, Daphne. He tells Emma he will return as soon as possible, calls for Persky, and is transported back to New York. His heart is light, and he thinks he is in love. What he doesn't know is that students across the country are asking their teachers about the strange appearance of a "bald Jew" kissing Madame Bovary on page 100.
The next day, Kugelmass returns to Persky, who transports him to Flaubert's novel to be with Emma. Their affair continues for some months.
"The Kugelmass Episode" opens with Kugelmass, a middle-aged, unhappily married humanities professor seeking the advice of his analyst, Dr. Mandel. He is bored with his life, and he needs to have an affair. His analyst disagrees, however, telling him "there is no overnight cure" for his troubles, adding that he is "an analyst, not a magician." Kugelmass then seeks out a magician to help him solve his problem.
A few weeks later, he gets a call from The Great Persky, a two-bit magician/entertainer who shows him a "cheap-looking Chinese cabinet, badly lacquered" that can transport the professor into any book, short story, play, or poem to meet the woman character of his choice. When he has had enough, Kugelmass just has to give a yell and he is back in New York. At first Kugelmass thinks it is a scam, then that Persky is crazy, but for $20, he gives it a try. He wants a French lover, so he chooses Emma Bovary. Persky tosses a paperback copy of Flaubert's novel into the cabinet with Kugelmass, taps it three times, and Kugelmass finds himself at the Bovary estate in Yonville in the French countryside.
Emma Bovary welcomes Kugelmass, flirting with him as she admires his modern dress. "It's called a leisure suit,"' he replies romantically, then adds, "It was marked down."' They drink wine, take a stroll through the countryside, and whisper to each other as they recline under a tree. As they kiss and embrace, Kugelmass remembers that he has a date to meet his wife, Daphne. He tells Emma he will return as soon as possible, calls for Persky, and is transported back to New York. His heart is light, and he thinks he is in love. What he doesn't know is that students across the country are asking their teachers about the strange appearance of a "bald Jew" kissing Madame Bovary on page 100.
The next day, Kugelmass returns to Persky, who transports him to Flaubert's novel to be with Emma. Their affair continues for some months.