Gustave Flaubert

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born

in France

December 12, 1821

died

May 08, 1880

gender

male

genre

Literature & Fiction

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Bulgarian: Гюстав Флобер

Gustave Flaubert (December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880) is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, in the Haute-Normandie Region of France.

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. It cannot be said that his incessant labors were not rewarded. His private letters show that he was not one of those to whom easy and correct language is naturally given; he gained his extraordinary perfection with the unceasi...more Bulgarian: Гюстав Флобер

Gustave Flaubert (December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880) is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, in the Haute-Normandie Region of France.

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. It cannot be said that his incessant labors were not rewarded. His private letters show that he was not one of those to whom easy and correct language is naturally given; he gained his extraordinary perfection with the unceasing sweat of his brow. One of the most severe of academic critics admits that in all his works, and in every page of his works, Flaubert may be considered a model of style.

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. Being, as he is, a mixture in almost equal parts of the romanticist and the realist, the marvellous propriety of his style has been helpful to later writers of both schools, of every school. The absolute exactitude with which he adapts his expression to his purpose is seen in all parts of his work, but particularly in the portraits he draws of the figures in his principal romances. The degree and manner in which, since his death, the fame of Flaubert has extended, form an interesting chapter of literary history.

The publication of Madame Bovary in 1857 had been 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 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 Émile 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 must always appeal more to other authors than to the world at large, because the art of writing, the indefatigable pursuit of perfect expression, were always before him, and because he hated the lax felicities of improvisation as a disloyalty to the most sacred procedures of the literary artist.

He can be said to have made cynicism into an art-form, as evinced by this observation from 1846:

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 Oeuvres 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 avurs. 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.

He has been admired or written about by almost every major literary personality of the 20th century, including philosophers such as Pierre Bourdieu. Georges Perec named Sentimental Education as one of his favou(less)

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Average rating: 3.62 · 95,307 ratings · 4,729 reviews · 114 distinct works · Similar authors

	Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, Margaret Mauldon (Translator), Malcolm Bowie (Introduction) 3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 avg rating — 81,665 ratings — published 1856 — 141 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert, Robert Baldick (Translator), Geoffrey Wall (Annotations) 3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 avg rating — 6,259 ratings — published 1869 — 147 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Three Tales by Gustave Flaubert, Roger Whitehouse (Translator), Geoffrey Wall (Editor, Introduction ) 3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 avg rating — 1,575 ratings — published 1877 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert, A.J. Krailsheimer (Translator, Introduction) 3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 avg rating — 1,345 ratings — published 1862 — 116 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bouvard and Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert, Mark Polizzotti (Translator, Introduction), Raymond Queneau (Preface) 3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 1,193 ratings — published 1881 — 101 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert, Arthur McDowall (Translator) 3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 avg rating — 1,002 ratings — published 1877 — 60 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Temptation of St. Antony by Gustave Flaubert, Lafcadio Hearn (translator), Kitty Mrosovsky (Annotations) 3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 avg rating — 716 ratings — published 1874 — 76 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Dictionary of Accepted Ideas by Gustave Flaubert, Jaques Barzun 3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 283 ratings — published 1913 — 30 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	November by Gustave Flaubert, Nadine Gordimer (Foreword by) 3.63 of 5 stars 3.63 avg rating — 194 ratings — published 1842 — 17 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour by Gustave Flaubert, Francis Steegmuller (Translator / Editor) 3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 avg rating — 166 ratings — published 1979 — 9 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Gustave Flaubert

“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”
― Gustave Flaubert

tags: books, inspirational, life, reading

6,494 people liked it

“Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.”
― Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

tags: abstraction, language

1,208 people liked it

“There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it”
― Gustave Flaubert

tags: life, poetry

325 people liked it

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Leo Tolstoy

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1 vote, 2.4%

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Gustave Flaubert

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