BOUVARD & PÉCUCHET: A Satirical Novel

Gustave Flaubert

des. 2023 · DigiCat

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Bouvard et Pécuchet details the adventures of two Parisian copy-clerks, François Denys Bartholomée Bouvard and Juste Romain Cyrille Pécuchet, of the same age and nearly identical temperament. They meet one hot summer day in 1838 by the canal Saint-Martin and form an instant, symbiotic friendship. The work resembles the earlier Sentimental Education in that the plot structure is episodic, giving it a picaresque quality. Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) was an influential French writer who was perhaps the leading exponent of literary realism of his country. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary and for his scrupulous devotion to his style and aesthetics. The celebrated short story writer Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert.

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Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) was a highly influential French novelist renowned for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style. He is often considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. Born in Rouen, Normandy, to a family of doctors, Flaubert was passionately drawn to literature from a young age. His masterful command of the craft is evident in his best-known work, 'Madame Bovary' (1857), a book that sparked scandal and was subject to a legal trial upon publication due to its frank portrayal of adultery. Though less known, 'Bouvard et Pécuchet' is another remarkable novel by Flaubert, published posthumously in 1881. This ambitious novel satirizes the bourgeois and depicts the comical endeavors of two city clerks who, having inherited a fortune, retire to the countryside to live a life of intellectual pursuit. The book, though incomplete, represents Flaubert's last laugh at human folly and stands as an exemplar of his tireless pursuit for perfection in literature. His writing style is noted for its precision of language, depth of psychological insight, and subtleness in capturing the nuances of human behavior. Despite writing only a handful of novels, Flaubert's influence on literary modernism and perfectionist prose style continues to resonate within the realm of world literature.