Souvenirs, notes et pensées intimes

by Gustave Flaubert, Lucie Chevalley Sabatier (preface)

A french translation of Gustave Flaubert's journals from when he was 18 years old. It includes his thoughts about literary fame, ambition, religion and French Romanticism. The journal gives readers a glimpse of themes that play a part in his later works.

Genres: Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Gustave Flaubert was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realism strives for formal perfection, so the presentation of reality tends to be neutral, emphasizing the values and importance of style as an objective method of presenting reality". He is known especially for his debut novel Madame Bovary (1857), his Correspondence, and his scrupulous devotion to his style and aesthetics. The celebrated short story writer Guy de Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert.

Reviews

[Oziel Bispo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essas anotações são apenas um pequeno vislumbre do que iria ser esse gênio da literatura mundial. Flaubert era apenas um jovem quando escreveu este livro. Era também muito imaturo, mas muito polêmico.
É um livrinho para você conhecer um pouquinho de Flaubert por ele mesmo antes da fama, antes de madame bovary.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little gem; it provides a stunning glimpse into nascent genius, all tender and vulnerable.

[Tatyana · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There are thoughts and actions that you admit to no one, not even to your usual confidant, not even to your friend, that you never say aloud even to yourself. Have you sometimes blushed at the secret, ignoble impulses that surge up in you and then die down, leaving you astonished, surprised at having had them ?"

"Melancholy is a sensual pleasure that is deliberately provoked. How many people shut themselves away to make themselves sadder, or to weep beside a stream, or choose a sentimental book ! We are constantly building and unbuilding ourselves."

"I am a mute who wants to talk."

"I like being angry; anger enjoys itself."

"I love to dream of her contours. I love to dream of the charm of her smiles, of the softness of her white arms, the shape of her thighs, her attitude as she bends her head."

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars A brief glance into the thoughts of teenage Flaubert, who never intended anyone to see these notes, as they were written before he was ever a writer, much less a world famous one. These are the reflections of a brooding, cynical, misanthropic young man who claims to admire Sade, who has little need for the false trappings of morality, and who dismisses Goethe’s Werther as too sentimental. Many of the short pieces here would be adapted or touched upon in both November and Salammbo. Having just read the former and soon to read the latter, I happened to crack open this small book at just the right time. I chuckled as Flaubert dreamed in vivid flourishes of visiting “the Orient,” since I just read his Egyptian diaries, which paint a decidedly grittier and more carnal portrait of his actual travels about a decade after jotting down his fanciful dreams. Recommended only after reading most of Flaubert’s other work to gain a little insight into his frame of mind as a young man.