On December 12, 2021, we are celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Gustave Flaubert. The famous writer is the subject of many events and several television programs are devoted to him in this month of December.
To celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Gustave Flaubert, the major television channels are increasing the number of reports and evenings devoted to the famous writer. If you missed some of them, it’s not too late. Thus the “Secrets d’histoire” on Flaubert, presented by Stéphane Bern and broadcast on December 6, is still visible in replay on the France Télévision site: “Gustave Flaubert, the fury of writing!“. As for the issue of François Busnel, the “Grande Librairie” of France 5 also dedicated to the writer, it is also accessible on the chain’s website: “Sur les traces de Flaubert”. To not miss anything of this bicentenary, it will be necessary to spend the evening on France 2, on December 13th to watch the telefilm by Didier Bivel with Camille Metayer and Thierry Godard: “Emma Bovary”.
The year 2021 marks the bicentenary of the birth of Gustave Flaubert, born in 1821. From April 2021 to June 2022, the writer is celebrated through the event “Flaubert 21” which brings together nearly 150 projects and 200 meetings. you in Normandy. Exhibitions, conferences, shows, guided tours … take place in many towns in Normandy, its region of origin, such as Rouen, Le Havre or Deauville … “This commemoration should be an opportunity to have access to a part of the work of Flaubert that we are not used to discovering “explains Yvan Leclerc, professor emeritus of modern letters at the University of Rouen on France 3 Normandie.
Gustave Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, at Rouen. He leads a quiet childhood with a father, chief surgeon at the Hôtel-Dieu in Rouen. His youth is marked by his meeting with Mme Schlésinger, of whom he mentions in his novel theSentimental education (1869). After brief law studies in Paris, he suffered from a nervous illness which forced him to return to his quiet property at Le Croisset. He got down to writing his work, which turned out to be particularly substantial. At the crossroads between romanticism and realism, he publishes Salammbô in 1862, then Madame Bovary (1857), which earned him a lawsuit for “insulting public and religious morals and good morals”. In particular follow Three tales (“A simple heart”, “The Legend of Saint Julien l’Hospitalier”, “Hérodias”) in 1877 and Bouvard and Pécuchet which will appear after his death (1881). Gustave Flaubert died on May 8, 1880 in Croisset.
Madame Bovary is the life story of a mediocre couple from the countryside: a talented doctor, Charles, and a rich peasant’s daughter, Emma. The latter quickly sees herself locked in a deep boredom within her marriage, and turns to other men to live out her romantic passions, thus committing adultery. The story, without real twists, with very repetitive, has the will to make this simple life feel that can lead to extremes. Charles’ stupidity is contrasted with Emma’s naivety and the cold calculations of those around them who take advantage of the situation. Debt is the last straw that overflows the dishonest acts of Emma, who commits suicide in terrible suffering. Charles dies of grief, alone, in his garden. This work is considered to be a turning point in the romantic genre.
For each of his works, Flaubert devotes a significant amount of preparation time. He reads, he travels, he wants to be as close as possible to reality. After writing, he also takes the time for numerous proofreading. Gustave Flaubert appears today as one of the greatest novelists of his time and is one of the great figures of literary movement of realism. Realism was born in France in the 1850s, in reaction to the rejection of romantic sentimentalism in literature. The need to represent life as it is and the reality of characters gives rise to this realism, which is based on middle class and popular characters. Flaubert wishes to show nature as it is by carrying out long and in-depth research.
His novel Madame de Bovary is the fruit of a long observation of the environment which surrounds it, which created a scandal when it appeared in 1857. This current was born in the wake of the failure of the popular uprising of 1848 and the coup d ‘ State of Napoleon III which announces the return to a very authoritarian regime. Gustave Flaubert, through his investigations which precede each or almost every one of his books, also approaches another literary movement: naturalism. Emile Zola and Guy de Maupassant are also great figs of realism and naturalism.
His novel Sentimental education, completed in 1869, is considered a major work of its time. Masterpiece by Gustave Flaubert, Sentimental education is his most successful and most mysterious novel. It has many autobiographical elements. In a controlled style, Sentimental education is built around experiences that he knows. Classified as a learning novel, “the author transmits to us a philosophy of history, a moral of existence and an aesthetic of memory which remain surprisingly sharp to elucidate today’s puzzles. “
Many women have marked Flaubert’s writings without him ever getting married. In 1836, Flaubert met Élisa Schlésinger, a married woman older than himself. For a summer, they live a platonic passion. From this relationship, the novel is born: Sentimental Education. The character of Madame Arnoux being directly inspired by Élisa Schlésinger. Years later, Flaubert had an irregular and tumultuous affair with the woman of letters Louise Colet. Their correspondence is for the writer, the opportunity to develop his different points of view, in particular on the relations between women and men. These amorous and intellectual exchanges will last ten years.
Among the literary works of Gustave Flaubert, we will retain these books, which are worth reading once in a lifetime:
- Madame de Bovary, 1857
- Salammbô, 1862
- Sentimental Education, 1869
- The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1874
- Three tales, 1877
- Buvard and Pécuchet, 1881
Gustave Flaubert: key dates
- December 12, 1821: Birth of Gustave Flaubert, French writer
- Gustave Flaubert first studied law. He met many literary personalities and abandoned his studies in 1844. In 1849, he undertook, with Maxime du Camp, a trip to the East. He will use his observations during this trip to feed many writings. In 1851, he began writing “Madame Bovary” and completed it in 1856. This realistic-style novel caused a scandal and a lawsuit was brought against the author who was acquitted thanks to his relations with the empress. During the following years, he wrote many novels and completed “Sentimental education”. The end of his life is synonymous with sadness. He is ill, has money problems, and many of his friends die. He died in 1880.
- September 19, 1851: Flaubert brings Emma to life in “Madame Bovary”
- The French writer begins writing “Madame Bovary”. He will devote himself to this work for four and a half years.
- November 17, 1869: Flaubert publishes Sentimental Education
- Flaubert wanted to write a book on nothing, maintained only by “the force of his style”. The illustration of this desire to write is revealed with Sentimental Education, a superb learning novel in which Frédéric Moreau gradually loses his illusions by rubbing shoulders with the reality of the 19th century world in indecision. The writing and the journey of this irresolute character who will only live for a moment, and very late, his passion for Madame Arnoux upset the genre with their modernity.
- May 8, 1880: Death of Gustave Flaubert
- The famous French writer Gustave Flaubert died on May 8, 1880. Born in Rouen on December 12, 1821, he began studying law in Paris in 1841, before abandoning them in 1844. Back in Rouen, he began to write. Renowned for his realism and his very accomplished psychological portraits, Flaubert is especially famous for having written “Mme Bovary” in 1857, or even “Sentimental Education” in 1869.
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