Description

"I know nothing more noble," said Flaubert, "than the contemplation of the world."

His acceptance of all the realities of life (rather than his remorseless exposure of its illusions) principally recommends what many regard as a more mature work than Madame Bovary, if not the greatest French novel of the last century. In Robert Baldick's translation of this story of a young man's romantic attachment to an older woman, the modern English reader can appreciate the accuracy, the artistry and the insight with which Flaubert reconstructed in one masterpiece the very fibre of his times.

"I know nothing more noble," said Flaubert, "than the contemplation of the world."

His acceptance of all the realities of life (rather than his remorseless exposure of its illusions) principally recommends what many regard as a more mature work than Madame Bovary, if not the greatest French novel of the last century. In Robert Baldick's translation of this story of a young man's romantic attachment to an older woman, the modern English reader can appreciate the accuracy, the artistry and the insight with which Flaubert reconstructed in one masterpiece the very fibre of his times.