Gustave Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert (December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880) [gystav flobɛʁ] was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary (1857), and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style, best exemplified by his endless search for "le mot juste" ("the precise word"). December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 19 days remaining. ... The coronation banquet for George IV 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (129th in leap years). ... Year 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... For the film, see Madame Bovary (1949 film) Madame Bovary is a novel by Gustave Flaubert that was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors when it was first serialised in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, resulting in a trial in January 1857 that...

Life

Early Life and Education

Flaubert was born in December 12, 1821, in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, in the Haute-Normandie Region of France. He was the second child of Achille-Cléophas Flaubert (1784-1846), a surgeon, and Anne Justine (born Fleuriot). He began writing at an early age, as early as eight according to some sources. He was educated in his native city and did not leave it until 1840, when he went to Paris to study law. Rouen Cathedral The entrance to Rouen Cathedral The Church of Jean dArc Abbey church of Saint-Ouen, (chevet) in Rouen Rouen, medieval house Rue St-Romain on a rainy day in Rouen Rouen (pronounced in French, sometimes also ) is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northwestern France on... Seine-Maritime is a French département in Normandy. ... Capital Rouen Land area¹ 12,318 km² Regional President Alain Le Vern (PS) (since 1998) Population  - Jan. ... A cardiothoracic surgeon performs a mitral valve replacement at the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) The Eiffel Tower in Paris, as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... Lady Justice or Justitia is a personification of the moral force that underlies the legal system (particularly in Western art). ...

In Paris, he was a lackluster student and found the city distasteful. He made a few acquaintances, including Victor Hugo. Towards the close of 1840, he travelled in the Pyrenees and Corsica. In 1846, after an attack of epilepsy, he left Paris and abandoned the study of the law. Victor-Marie Hugo (pronounced in French) (26 February 1802 — 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France. ... Pic de Bugatetin the Néouvielle Natural Reserve Central Pyrenees For the mountains in Victoria, Australia, see Pyrenees (Victoria). ... “Corsican” redirects here. ...

Personal life

Portrait by Eugène Giraud

After leaving Paris, Flaubert returned to Croisset, close to Rouen, and lived with his mother. Their home near the Seine became Flaubert's home for the rest of his life. Flaubert never married. From 1846 to 1854, he had an affair with the poet Louise Colet (his letters to her survive). According to his biographer Émile Faguet, his affair with Louise Colet was his only serious romantic relationship. He sometimes visited prostitutes. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 413 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1058 × 1535 pixel, file size: 164 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Gustave Flaubert, portrait by Eugène Giraud (1806-1881) Source: scanned myself Musée National du Château, Versailles Faithful reproductions of two-dimensional original works... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 413 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1058 × 1535 pixel, file size: 164 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Gustave Flaubert, portrait by Eugène Giraud (1806-1881) Source: scanned myself Musée National du Château, Versailles Faithful reproductions of two-dimensional original works... This article is about the river in France; it should not be confused with the Senne, a much smaller river that flows through Brussels. ... Louise Colet (August 15, 1810 – March 9, 1876), born Louise Revoil, was a poet born in Aix-en-Provence in France. ... Whore redirects here. ...

With his life-long friend Maxime du Camp, he traveled in Brittany in 1846, and to Greece and Egypt in 1849. After 1850, Flaubert lived in Croisset with occasional visits to Paris and England, where he had a mistress. He visited Carthage in 1858 to conduct research for his novel Salammbô. Maxime Du Camp (February 8, 1822 - February 9, 1894) was a French writer. ... Historical province of Brittany, showing the main areas with their name in Breton language The traditional flag of Brittany (the Gwenn-ha-du), formerly a Breton nationalist symbol but today used as a general civic flag in the region. ... Carthage (Greek: , Latin: , from the Phoenician meaning new town; Arabic: ) refers both to an ancient city in North Africa located in modern day Tunis and to the civilization that developed within the citys sphere of influence. ... Salammbô is a fantasy 1862 novel by Gustave Flaubert. ...

Flaubert was a tireless worker and often complained in his letters to friends about the strenuous nature of his work. He was close to his niece, Caroline Commanville, and had a close friendship and correspondence with George Sand. He occasionally visited Parisian acquaintances, including Émile Zola, Alphonse Daudet, Ivan Turgenev, and Edmond and Jules de Goncourt. George Sand in 1864 (picture by Nadar). ... Émile Zola Émile Zola (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France. ... Alphonse Daudet (May 13, 1840 - December 17, 1897) was a French novelist. ... Ivan Turgenev, photo by Félix Nadar (1820-1910) “Turgenev” redirects here. ... Edmond de Goncourt (May 26, 1822 – July 16, 1896), writer, critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt. ... Jules de Goncourt (Paris, December 17, 1830 – Paris, June 20, 1870) was a french writer, who published books together with his brother Edmond. ...

The 1870s, however, were difficult. Prussian soldiers occupied his house during the War of 1870, and in 1872, his mother died. After her death, he fell into financial straits. Flaubert suffered from veneral disease most of his life. His health declined and he died at Croisset of a stroke in 1880 at age 58. He was buried in the family vault in the cemetery of Rouen. A monument to him by Henri Chapu was unveiled at the museum of Rouen in 1890. Combatants Second French Empire North German Confederation allied with south German states (later German Empire) Commanders Napoleon III Otto Von Bismarck, Helmuth von Moltke the Elder Strength 400,000 at the beginning of the war 1,200,000 Casualties 150,000 dead or wounded 284,000 captured 350,000 civilian... Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu (29 September 1833 - 21 April 1891) was a French sculptor in a modified Neoclassical tradition. ...

Writing career

In September 1849, Flaubert completed the first version of a novel, The Temptation of Saint Anthony. He read the novel aloud to Louis Bouilhet and Maxime du Camp over the course of four days, not allowing them to interrupt or give any opinions. At the end of the reading, his friends told him to throw the manuscript in the fire, suggesting instead that he focus on the day to day life of normal (banal) people rather than on fantastic subjects. The Temptation of Saint Anthony (French La Tentation de Saint Antoine) is a book which Gustave Flaubert spent practically his whole life fitfully working on, in three versions he completed in 1849, 1856 (extracts published at the same time) and 1872 before publishing the final version in 1874. ... Louis Hyacinthe Bouilhet (27 May 1822 - 18 July 1869) was a French poet and dramatist. ... Maxime Du Camp (February 8, 1822 - February 9, 1894) was a French writer. ...

In 1850, after returning from Egypt, Flaubert began work on Madame Bovary. The novel, which took five years to write, was serialized in the Revue de Paris in 1856. The government brought an action against the publisher and against the author on the charge of immorality, but both were acquitted. When Madame Bovary appeared in book form, it met with a warm reception. For the film, see Madame Bovary (1949 film) Madame Bovary is a novel by Gustave Flaubert that was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors when it was first serialised in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, resulting in a trial in January 1857 that... Revue de Paris was a French literary magazine founded in 1829 by Louis Desiré Veron. ...

In 1858, Flaubert traveled to Carthage to gather material for his next novel, Salammbô. The novel was completed in 1862 after four years of work. Carthage (Greek: , Latin: , from the Phoenician meaning new town; Arabic: ) refers both to an ancient city in North Africa located in modern day Tunis and to the civilization that developed within the citys sphere of influence. ... Salammbô is a fantasy 1862 novel by Gustave Flaubert. ...

Drawing on his childhood experiences, Flaubert next wrote L'Éducation sentimentale (Sentimental Education), an effort that took seven years. L'Éducation sentimentale, his last complete novel, was published in 1869. Sentimental Education (original France title: LÉducation sentimentale ) (1869) was Gustave Flauberts last novel published during his lifetime, and is considered one of the most influential 19th century novels. ...

He wrote an unsuccessful drama, Le Candidat, and published a reworked version of La Tentation de Saint-Antoine, portions of which had been published as early as 1857. He devoted much of his time to an ongoing project, Les Deux Cloportes (The Two Woodlice), which later became Bouvard et Pécuchet, breaking from the obsessive project only to write the Three Tales in 1877. This book comprised three stories: Un Cœur simple (A Simple Heart), La Légende de Saint-Julien l'Hospitalier (The Legend of St. Julian Hospitator), and Hérodias (Herodias). After the publication of the stories, he spent the remainder of his life toiling on the unfinished Bouvard et Pécuchet, which was posthumously printed in 1881. It was a grand satire on the futility of human knowledge and the ubiquity of mediocrity. He believed the work to be his masterpiece, though the posthumous version received lukewarm reviews. Flaubert was a prolific letter writer, and his letters have been collected in several publications. Bouvard et Pécuchet is a savagely satirical work by Gustave Flaubert, published in 1881 after his death in 1880. ... Three Tales is the title of multiple works: Three Tales, a novel by Gustave Flaubert Three Tales, an opera by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Bouvard et Pécuchet is a savagely satirical work by Gustave Flaubert, published in 1881 after his death in 1880. ...

Character

In his youth, Flaubert was vigorous, had a certain shy grace, was intensely individual, and apparently lacked ambition.

The personal character of Flaubert offered various peculiarities. He was shy, and yet extremely sensitive and arrogant; he passed from silence to an indignant and noisy flow of language. The same inconsistencies marked his physical nature; he had the build of a guardsman with a Viking head, but his health was uncertain from childhood, and he was neurotic to the last degree. This ruddy giant was secretly gnawed by misanthropy and disgust of life. His hatred of the bourgeois and their bêtise (willful idiocy) began in his childhood and developed into a kind of monomania. He despised his fellow-men, their habits, their lack of intelligence, their contempt for beauty, with a passionate scorn which has been compared to that of an ascetic monk. Misanthropy is a hatred or distrust of the human race, or a disposition to dislike and mistrust other people. ... In psychiatry, monomania (from Greek monos, one, and mania, mania) is a type of paranoia in which the patient has only one idea or type of ideas. ... The word ascetic derives from the ancient Greek term askesis (practice, training or exercise). ...

Work and legacy

Flaubert's curious modes of composition favored and were emphasized by these peculiarities. He worked in sullen solitude, sometimes occupying a week in the completion of one page, never satisfied with what he had composed, violently tormenting his brain for the best turn of a phrase, the most absolutely final adjective. His incessant labors were rewarded. His private letters show that he was not one of those to whom easy and correct language came naturally; he gained his extraordinary perfection with the unceasing sweat of his brow. Many critics consider Flaubert's best works to be models of style. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ...

That he was one of the greatest writers who ever lived in France is now commonly admitted, and his greatness principally depends upon the extraordinary vigour and exactitude of his style. Less perhaps than any other writer, not of France, but of modern Europe, Flaubert yields admission to the inexact, the abstract, the vaguely inapt expression which is the bane of ordinary methods of composition. He never allowed a cliché to pass him, never indulgently or wearily went on, leaving behind him a phrase which almost expressed his meaning. As a writer, Flaubert was nearly equal parts romantic, realist, and pure stylist. Hence, members of various schools--especially realists and formalists--have traced their origins to his work. The exactitude with which he adapts his expressions to his purpose can be seen in all parts of his work, especially in the portraits he draws of the figures in his principal romances. The degree to which Flaubert's fame has extended since his death presents an interesting chapter of literary history in itself. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Wanderer above the sea of fog by Caspar David Friedrich Romanticism is an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in 18th century Western Europe during the Industrial Revolution. ... Realism in the visual arts and literature is the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation. ...

The publication of Madame Bovary in 1857 was followed by more scandal than admiration; it was not understood at first that this novel was the beginning of something new: the scrupulously truthful portraiture of life. Gradually, this aspect of his genius was accepted, and it began to crowd out all others. At the time of his death he was famous as a realist, pure and simple. Under this aspect Flaubert exercised an extraordinary influence over Edmond de Goncourt, Alphonse Daudet and Zola. But even after the decline of the realistic school, Flaubert did not lose prestige; other facets of his genius caught the light. It has been perceived that he was not merely realistic, but real; that his clairvoyance was almost boundless; that he saw certain phenomena more clearly than the best of observers had done. Flaubert is a writer who tends to appeal to other writers more than to the world at large because of his deep commitment to aesthetic principles, his devotion to style, and his indefatigable pursuit of the perfect expression. Edmond de Goncourt (May 26, 1822 – July 16, 1896), writer, critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt. ...

He can be said to have made cynicism into an art-form, as evinced by this observation from 1846: Cynicism (Greek ) was originally the philosophy of a group of ancient Greeks called the Cynics, founded by Antisthenes. ...

To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness; though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless.

His Œuvres Complètes (8 vols., 1885) were printed from the original manuscripts, and included, besides the works mentioned already, the two plays, Le Candidat and Le Château des cœurs. Another edition (10 vols.) appeared in 1873–1885. Flaubert's correspondence with George Sand was published in 1884 with an introduction by Guy de Maupassant. George Sand in 1864 (picture by Nadar). ... Guy de Maupassant. ...

He has been admired or written about by almost every major literary personality of the 20th century, including philosophers and sociologists such as Pierre Bourdieu and Jean Paul Sartre whose partially psychoanalytic portrait of Flaubert in The Family Idiot was published in 1971. Georges Perec named Sentimental Education as one of his favorite novels. The Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa is another great admirer of Flaubert. Apart from Perpetual Orgy, which is solely devoted to Flaubert's art, one can find lucid discussions in Vargas Llosa's recently published Letters to a Young Novelist. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... Sociology is the study of the social lives of humans, groups and societies. ... Pierre Bourdieu (August 1, 1930 – January 23, 2002) was an acclaimed French sociologist whose work employed methods drawn from a wide range of disciplines: from philosophy and literary theory to sociology and anthropology. ... Jean Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre (June 21, 1905–April 15, 1980) was a French existentialist philosopher, dramatist, novelist and critic. ... Image of artist Georges Perec (March 7, 1936 - March 3, 1982) was a 20th century French novelist, filmmaker and essayist, a member of the Oulipo group and considered by many to be one of the most important post-WWII authors. ... Sentimental Education (original France title: LÉducation sentimentale ) (1869) was Gustave Flauberts last novel published during his lifetime, and is considered one of the most influential 19th century novels. ... Mario Vargas Llosa in his youth. ...

Bibliography

Major works

• Madame Bovary (1857)
• Salammbô (1862)
• L'Éducation sentimentale (1869) (tr. Sentimental Education)
• La Tentation de Saint Antoine (1874) (tr. The Temptation of Saint Anthony)
• Trois contes (1877) (tr. Three Tales)
• Bouvard et Pécuchet (1881, posthumously published)
• Dictionnaire des idées reçues (1911, posthumously published, tr. Dictionary of Received Ideas)
• November (written, 1842)

For the film, see Madame Bovary (1949 film) Madame Bovary is a novel by Gustave Flaubert that was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors when it was first serialised in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, resulting in a trial in January 1857 that... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Salammbô is a fantasy 1862 novel by Gustave Flaubert. ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Sentimental Education (original France title: LÉducation sentimentale ) (1869) was Gustave Flauberts last novel published during his lifetime, and is considered one of the most influential 19th century novels. ... Year 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Temptation of Saint Anthony (French La Tentation de Saint Antoine) is a book which Gustave Flaubert spent practically his whole life fitfully working on, in three versions he completed in 1849, 1856 (extracts published at the same time) and 1872 before publishing the final version in 1874. ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Three Tales is a work by Gustave Flaubert that was originally published in French as Trois contes in 1877. ... Bouvard et Pécuchet is a savagely satirical work by Gustave Flaubert, published in 1881 after his death in 1880. ... Year 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Dictionary of Received Ideas (in French, La Dictionnaire des Idées Reçues) is a satirical work by Gustave Flaubert, lampooning the cliches endemic to French society under the Second French Empire. ...

Correspondence (in English)

• Selections:
  • Selected Letters (ed. Francis Steegmuller, 1953, 2001)
  • Selected Letters (ed. Geoffrey Wall, 1997)
• Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour (1972)
• Flaubert and Turgenev, a Friendship in Letters: The Complete Correspondence (ed. Barbara Beaumont, 1985)
• Correspondence with George Sand:
  • The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters, translated by Aimée G. Leffingwel McKenzie (A.L. McKensie), introduced by Stuart Sherman (1921), available at the Gutenberg website as E-text N° 5115
  • Flaubert-Sand: The Correspondence (1993)

Francis Steegmuller (1906 - 1994) was an American biographer, translator and fiction writer, who was known chiefly as a Flaubert scholar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ...

Biographical and other related publications

• Brown, Frederick, Flaubert: A Biography, Little, Brown; 2006. ISBN 0-316-11878-8
• Hennequin, Émile, Quelques écrivains français Flaubert, Zola, Hugo, Goncourt, Huysmans, etc., available at the Gutenberg website as E-text N° 12289
• Barnes, Julian, Flaubert's Parrot, ISBN 0-330-28976-4
• Steegmuller, Francis, Flaubert and Madame Bovary: A Double Portrait, Viking Press; 1939.
• Tooke, Adrianne, Flaubert and the Pictorial Arts: From Image to Text, Oxford University Press;

2000. ISBN 0-19-815918-8 Barnes as Francophile and Francophone in Bernard Pivots Double je (France 2, March 2005) Julian Patrick Barnes (born January 19, 1946 in Leicester) is a contemporary English writer whose novels and short stories have been seen as examples of postmodernism in literature. ... Flauberts Parrot is a novel by Julian Barnes that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984. ... Francis Steegmuller (1906 - 1994) was an American biographer, translator and fiction writer, who was known chiefly as a Flaubert scholar. ...

• Wall, Geoffrey, Flaubert: A Life, Faber and Faber; 2001. ISBN 0-571-21239-5
• Various authors, The Public vs. M. Gustave Flaubert, available at the Gutenberg website as E-text N° 10666.
• Sartre, Jean-Paul. The Family Idiot: Gustave Flaubert, 1821-1857, Volumes 1-5. University Of Chicago Press, 1987.

External links

Online Texts

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Gustave Flaubert

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Gustave Flaubert

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gustave Flaubert

• French Audiobook (mp3): La femme du monde (taken from Flaubert's early works)
• Works by Gustave Flaubert at Project Gutenberg
• Flaubert's works: text, concordances and frequency list

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More links

• Overview
• site of the Centre Flaubert at Rouen
• Multilingual research links
• Flaubert entry at the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism site
• Bibliomania page
• Long page about Flaubert
• A comprehensive site in French
• Flaubert 'Bookweb' on literary website The Ledge, with suggestions for further reading.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...