Introduction

Abstract

Like many of Woody Allen’s heroes, the title character of his short story “The Kugelmass Episode” is a New York intellectual who is dissatisfied with his marriage and his psychotherapy. Kugelmass, however, finds a very unique solution to his problems: he decides to exchange the services of his shrink for those of a Brooklyn magician, who calls himself “The Great Persky.” Persky has invented a special cabinet that projects its contents into the action of whatever book is enclosed with them. For a modest fee, he offers Kugelmass the opportunity to use this mechanism to commit adultery with the literary heroine of his choice. Glancing at Perksy’s bookshelves, the two men quickly run through the canon in search of the ideal lover:

“So who do you want to meet? Sister Carrie? Hester Prynne? Ophelia? Maybe someone by Saul Bellow? Hey, what about Temple Drake? Although for a man your age she’d be a workout.”

“French. I want to have an affair with a French lover.”

“Nana?”

“I don’t want to have to pay for it.”

“What about Natasha in War and Peace?”

“I said French. I know! What about Emma Bovary? That sounds to me perfect.” (44)

Kugelmass enters the magic box with a translation of Flaubert’s novel and instantly finds himself in Yonville with Madame Bovary, who speaks “in the same fine English translation as the paperback” (45).