Flaubert: A Biography

From the highly acclaimed author of Zola: A Life comes the definitive biography of Gustave Flaubert, author of Madame Bovary.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), whose Madame Bovary outraged the right-thinking bourgeoisie, is now brought to life as the singular person and artist he was. As Frederick Brown reveals, Flaubert was fraught with contradiction--a sedentary man who took epic voyages through Egypt and the Middle East; a man of genius who could be flamboyantly uncouth, but was fanatically devoted to beautifully cadenced prose. While making much of his camaraderie with male friends, Flaubert depended upon the emotional nurture of maternal women, notably George Sand, with whom he engaged in a justly celebrated correspondence. His assorted mistresses--French, Egyptian, and English--fed both his richly erotic imagination and his fictional characters, and his letters provide a record of them.Flaubert's time and place literally put him on trial for portraying lewd behavior in Madame Bovary. His milieu also made him a celebrity and, indirectly, brought about his financial ruin. Flaubert died suddenly at the age of fifty-nine, and soon afterward, his beloved retreat near Rouen was torn down and converted into a distillery to cover his niece's debts. He privately dreamed of popular success, which he in fact achieved with Madame Bovary, but never sacrificed to it his ideal of artistic integrity. Frederick Brown's magisterial biography honors his subject's life, times, and legacy.

Author: Frederick Brown
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Published: 04/01/2006
Pages: 638
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.07lbs
Size: 9.60h x 6.22w x 1.36d
ISBN: 9780316118781
Award: National Book Critics Circle Award - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 02/15/2006 pg. 118
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2006 pg. 168
Booklist 02/15/2006 pg. 32
Publishers Weekly 03/13/2006 pg. 51
New York Times 04/16/2006 pg. 1
New York Review of Books 05/25/2006 pg. 12
Choice 10/01/2006 pg. 303
LJ Best Books of Year 01/01/2007 pg. 48
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2007 pg. 6