The Kugelmass Episode

The Kugelmass Episode Summary | Detailed Summary

Professor Kugelmass teaches humanities at City College in New York City. Kugelmass is in the middle of his second unhappy marriage, to Daphne, and has two unremarkable children from his first marriage. The professor is also short of money as he pays his first wife a healthy alimony check along with child support. He had thought Daphne would be different than his first wife and that he would be happy, but Daphne nags him, and he is bored.

Kugelmass tells his therapist that he wants to have an affair. He wants romance and excitement not the continuation of this unhappiness. His therapist tells Kugelmass that having an affair would not solve his problems but Kugelmass continues his verbal train of thought musing about whom he would like to have an affair with and where the affair would take place. Finally the therapist interrupts Kugelmass's wondering thoughts and explains that they must get to the root of the professor's unhappiness by analyzing his feelings. The therapist tells him that he is not a magician and so he must expect it to take time. With that Kugelmass leaves his therapist and never returns.

A few weeks later a person identifying himself as The Great Persky, a magician, calls Kugelmass. He has heard that Kugelmass has been looking for a magician and tells him that he can help him with his problems. The next day Kugelmass meets The Great Persky against his better judgment at his apartment in Brooklyn. He tells Persky that he wants romance and excitement. Persky wheels a large Chinese cabinet into the room and tells Kugelmass to get in the cabinet. The magician tells Kugelmass that all he needs to do is add to the cabinet any written work, be it a novel, short story, or poem, and he will be transported into the story and able to have an exciting affair with any of the women in that written work. When Kugelmass is finished with his affair he only needs to call out for Persky and he will once again be in Brooklyn. Kugelmass is still skeptic but decides to give it a try and chooses to have an affair with Madame Bovary, as he feels like having an affair with a French woman.

Persky tosses the novel written by Flaubert into the cabinet with Kugelmass and knocks on it three times. Suddenly Kugelmass is in Yonville with the beautiful Emma Bovary. Emma is excited to meet this new stranger as her husband does not pay her much attention and they talk as they ramble about her property. The couple kisses and holds each other until Kugelmass realizes he has an appointment to meet his wife so he calls out to Persky and is once again in Brooklyn. He is late to meet his wife and she is suspicious. Kugelmass has no idea that as students across the country are reading the classic novel Madame Bovary they are wondering who the new professor character is.

Kugelmass goes to Persky's apartment in order to visit Emma Bovary again the next day. He and Emma talk about their romantic ideas and they make love, as they are doing so Kugelmass cannot believe that he is having sex with Madam Bovary. Kugelmass continues to visit her many times over the next few months and Emma is always excited to see him and hear about his world. She even likes his wardrobe and the new garment he wares called a leisure suit. She talks about becoming an actress as she thinks she can win an Academy Award. Kugelmass asks Persky if he might bring Emma back with him next time. Persky agrees to try and figure out a way to bring the character back and sure enough by the next day he has it worked out.

Kugelmass once again visits with Emma and when he wishes to go back to Brooklyn he simply holds tight to her and calls out to Persky. One moment the couple is in a carriage in Yonville and the next they are in a carriage in front of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan where Kugelmass has made reservations. He has already told his wife that he has a conference out of town and he and Emma spend an amazing weekend together doing the things that couples in New York City do. They tour the different neighborhoods, take walks in central park, and eat in fancy restaurants. As the weekend draws to a close the couple goes back to Persky's apartment so that he may send Emma back. However, when he tries to do so the cabinet malfunctions. Persky does not know how long it will take to fix the cabinet so Kugelmass takes Emma back to the Plaza and goes to work to teach a class. Meanwhile a Stanford professor who is reading the classic novel wonders why Emma is suddenly missing from the story.

As the days pass Kugelmass becomes increasingly tense, and he and Emma begin to fight. Their second weekend together is not nearly as magical as the first and Kugelmass has to tell his wife that he has another out of town conference causing her to suspect something. Emma is bored sitting at the Plaza all day long watching television and wishes to take acting classes as she has met a producer in central park who told her he could make her a star. The expense of keeping Emma at the Plaza is also beginning to add up building upon Kugelmass's stress. Moreover another professor at City College has identified the new character in Madame Bovary to be Kugelmass and is threatening to tell his wife. Kugelmass calls Persky daily to tell him the problems that are resulting from his affair with Emma only to be told that Persky is not a therapist.

Finally Persky calls with news that the cabinet is fixed and Kugelmass rushes Emma to Brooklyn. Once again Emma returns to Yonville and Kugelmass promises never to cheat on his wife. However, three short weeks later Kugelmass is back at Persky's apartment restless for another affair. This time he chooses to be transported into Complaint by Portnoy. Persky knocks on the cabinet three times but once again it malfunctions and a small explosion occurs. The shock causes Persky to have a heart attack and die as the Chinese cabinet bursts into flames. Meanwhile Kugelmass is not transported to Complaint instead he finds a Spanish textbook and the verb tener is chasing him.