The Kugelmass Episode by Woody Allen
"The Kugelmass Episode" is a short story by Woody Allen that explores themes of dissatisfaction and escapism through the experiences of its protagonist, Professor Sidney Kugelmass. Frustrated by his second marriage and burdened by financial obligations to his first wife, Kugelmass yearns for a more exciting life, leading him to fantasize about an affair with the iconic literary character, Emma Bovary from Gustave Flaubert's novel. His opportunity arises when he encounters a tinker named "The Great Persky," who possesses a magical cabinet capable of transporting individuals into fictional worlds.
Kugelmass successfully enters the realm of Madame Bovary, where he and Emma indulge in a passionate romance, but his escapades are complicated by the realities of his life back home. When a malfunction in Persky's device prevents Emma from returning to her original world, Kugelmass's fantasy begins to unravel, exposing the fragility of his desires. Ultimately, the story culminates in Kugelmass seeking new adventures, leading to a humorous and chaotic conclusion. Through this narrative, Allen juxtaposes the allure of literature with the often mundane aspects of everyday life, inviting readers to reflect on the nature of escapism and the complexities of human relationships.
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The Kugelmass Episode by Woody Allen
First published: 1977
Type of plot: Parody
Time of work: The 1970's
Locale: New York City and Yonville, France
Principal Characters:
Sidney Kugelmass , a professor of humanities at City College of New YorkDaphne Kugelmass , his unappealing second wifeDr. Mandel , his psychoanalystPersky , a magician/inventorEmma Bovary , the heroine of the novelMadame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Story
Psychoanalysis is incapable of curing the civilized discontent of Professor Sidney Kugelmass. He feels frustrated in his second marriage—to a woman whom he regards as an overweight oaf—and pressured by the alimony and child support that he must pay his first wife. He longs to transcend the banality of his existence and fantasizes doing so in an adulterous affair with a glamorous woman.
His opportunity comes with an unexpected phone call from a tinker in Brooklyn who dubs himself "The Great Persky." Persky has constructed a cabinet that can somehow transport its occupant into the world of a literary work. All Persky need do is toss in a book, tap three times, and whoever is inside will find himself within that book's fictional universe.
Kugelmass decides that he wants to pursue a romance with Emma Bovary. He pays Persky twenty dollars, and soon after getting inside the cabinet with a paperback of Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary (1857; English translation, 1886), finds himself in the Bovary house in provincial Yonville. Kugelmass and Emma spend a romantic afternoon alone together in the French countryside, which ends when he must return to meet his wife Daphne at Bloomingdale's. Kugelmass goes back to nineteenth century Yonville many times during the next several months. He and Emma become passionate lovers.
Fascinated by Kugelmass's tales of the world from which he comes, Emma is eager to visit it. Persky manages to transport both of them back to New York City, where they pass a rapturous weekend at the Plaza Hotel. On Monday morning, Kugelmass must return to his wife and his job, and he brings Emma to Persky's house to have her dispatched back to Yonville. This time the cabinet does not work, however, and Emma must spend the week ensconced at the Plaza Hotel, while Persky desperately attempts to repair his invention and Kugelmass, afraid that his liaison will be discovered, begins to panic. By the time Emma is able to return whence she came, her relationship with Kugelmass has disintegrated. He is now reconciled to a banal life with Daphne in twentieth century America.
Nevertheless, three weeks later he returns to Persky to seek another romantic adventure, an affair with one of the beautiful women in Philip Roth's sexually explicit Portnoy's Complaint (1969). The cabinet malfunctions, however, killing Persky, and substituting an old Spanish textbook for Portnoy's Complaint, so that a terrified Kugelmass finds himself pursued at the end by the irregular verb tener ("to have").