FLAUBERT, GUSTAVE

born Dec. 12, 1821, Rouen, Fr. died May 8, 1880, Croisset novelist regarded as the prime moverfile the realist school of French literature and best known for his masterpiece, Madame Bovary (1857), a realistic portrayal of bourgeois life, which led to a trial on charges of the novel's alleged immorality. Additional reading The definitive text of Flaubert's novels, short stories, and travel notes is the critical edition, 12 vol. (193846), by Ren Dumesnil, which gives variant readings and an introduction and annotations. For Flaubert's juvenilia and for his plays, reference may be made to the Conard edition, 9 vol. (192633), and to the Supplment la correspondance gnrale, 4 vol. (1954), ed. by Ren Dumesnil, Jean Pommier, and Claude Digeon. The Letters of Gustave Flaubert, 18301857 (1980), ed. by Francis Steegmuller, is the broadest and most varied selection in English.The standard biography is Ren Dumesnil, Gustave Flaubert: l'homme et l'oeuvre (1932); for a record in English of his life, see P. Spencer, Flaubert: A Biography (1952). Flaubert's passion for Elisa Schlsinger is the subject of E. Gerard-Gailly, L'Unique passion de Flaubert (1932) and Le Grand amour de Flaubert (1944). A.A. Bertrand, Gustave Flaubert et ses amis (1927), gives an account of Flaubert's significant relationships with contemporary writers and thinkers.Of the many critical works on Flaubert, the following 19th-century studies are especially recommended: P. Bourget, Essais de psychologie contemporaine (1920); and F. Brunetire, Le Roman naturaliste (1896). The novelist's work is put into historical perspective in L. Degoumois, Flaubert l'cole de Goethe (1925); F. Mauriac, Trois grands hommes devant Dieu (1930), compares Flaubert to Molire and Rousseau. A. Thibaudet, Gustave Flaubert (1935), and E. Maynial, Flaubert (1943), combine biography with critical chapters on the major works and on style and aesthetics.There have been a great number of studies that deal with the individual works by Flaubert, but among the more modern general criticism are: V.H. Brombert, The Novels of Flaubert (1966); Stratton Buck, Gustave Flaubert (1966); and B.F. Bart, Flaubert (1967). Enid Starkie, Flaubert: The Making of the Master (1967), is a penetrating analysis. Jean-Paul Sartre, L'Idiot de la famille: Gustave Flaubert, 2 vol. (1971), is a study of the novelist, whom the writer uses as a tool for his own dissection of France's bourgeoisie. Major Works: Novels. Madame Bovary, Moeurs de province, 2 vol. (1857), notable translations are those by Gerard Hopkins (1949) and F. Steegmuller (1957); Salammb (1862; Salambo, trans. by E. Powys Mathers, new ed., 1950); L'ducation sentimentale: Histoire d'un jeune homme, 2 vol. (1870; Sentimental Education, trans. by Robert Baldick, 1964); La Tentation de Saint Antoine (1874; The First Temptation of Saint Anthony, trans. from the version of 1856 by Ren Francis, new ed., 1924; The Temptation of Saint Anthony, trans. by Lafcadio Hearn, new ed., 1932); Trois Contes (Un Coeur simple, La Lgende de Saint Julien l'Hospitalier, and Hrodias, 1877; Three Tales, trans. by Robert Baldick, 1961); Bouvard et Pcuchet: Oeuvre posthume (1881; Bouvard and Pcuchet, trans. by T.W. Earp and G.W. Stonier, 1936, reprinted 1979); Novembre (1928; Eng. trans. 1932). Plays. Le Candidat (1874); Le Chteau des coeurs (1885). Other works. Par les champs et par les grves (1886); Le Dictionnaire des ides reues (1913; Flaubert's Dictionary of Accepted Ideas, trans. by Jacques Barzun, 1954); Bibliomanie (1926; Eng. trans. 1929).