Gustave Flaubert

About this book

William J. Berg and Laurey K. Martin offer a complete overview of Flaubert's fiction, from the early pieces to the major works: Madame Bovary, Salammbo, Sentimental Education, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Three Tales, and Bouvard and Pecuchet. Through detailed readings based on stylistic and thematic analyses, the authors show how in each work Flaubert develops new literary forms and techniques that enable him to explore problems that plague humankind in a world devoid of sense and structure. In their thorough study, Berg and Martin consider many of the critical approaches applied to Flaubert's works in order to add new perspectives. Their cogent examination of the novelist's own innovative theories about literature demonstrates how Flaubert inaugurated new ways of reading the novel. In answer to the question "Why Read Flaubert?" underlying this study, Berg and Martin contend that Flaubert's writings present an uncannily modern painting of the human condition and confirm the redemptive power of art in dealing with the problems that beset humankind.