Michael McCooe – Common Era: War and Peace

Set in the Russian city of St. Petersburg in 1805, War and Peace is set in the era of Napoleon’s conquest of Western Europe.

The novel’s characters are introduced at a party, including socially awkward Pierre Bezukhov, ambitious Andrew Bolkonski, as well as the Rostovs – a notable Moscow family.

Napoleon

The Russian troops are mobilised in alliance with the Austrian empire, which is currently resisting Napoleon’s onslaught. Nicholas Rostov joins Andrew in heading to the front, where Andrew is wounded and long presumed dead at the Battle of Austerlitz, though he survives.

Read the article in full with Michael McCooe.

Michael McCooe – Common Era: Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary begins with a young Charles Bovary starting a new school where he struggles to fit in. Ridiculed by his classmates, Charles grows into a mediocre, dull adult.

Charles’ tough start

He first fails a medical exam but passes the second one to become a second-rate country doctor. His mother marries him off to a widow who dies soon afterward, leaving Charles much less money than he expected.

Charles then falls in love with a patient’s daughter named Emma and the two are married before Charles sets up his own dental practice. Emma had dreamed that marriage would be the solution to all of her problems as a young woman, but this is not the case and she immediately begins to dream of a more sophisticated life.

Read the article in full with Michael McCooe.