Flaubert: A Biography

I understand that another author's biography was more psychological and I understand that Frederick Brown wanted to examine Flaubert in a more social, historical context. I just wish Brown had come up with a slightly different title for his biography of my all-time favorite writer. Titling the biography *Flaubert* lent me to think the biography would be more psychological, rather than historical. Perhaps Brown should have considered something like *Flaubert and Normandy* or *Flaubert's Normandy.* The historical passages are well done, but I wonder if they could have been trimmed a bit. Though I have been trained in European history, I gritted my teeth while reading every word. I wonder if Brown thought to himself, "Now let me get through this so that we can get back to Flaubert's literary tribulations and relationships." Flaubert's literary struggles and relationships are the most fascinating part of this biography. My gripes aside, this biography is densely (in the best sense of the word) and beautifully written. Flaubert's best and not so great moments are limned gorgeously. The most touching aspect of the man is how good he was to his niece Caroline and how she honored his memory. I wished I had been Willa Cather when she encountered Caroline to talk about "les ouevres de mon oncle."

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'Madame Bovary,' Flaubert's signature work celebrates 150 years of basically continuous publication. Shocking at the time because of its portrayal of the infidelities of a married woman, its publication caused Flaubert to be tried for lewdness. Flaubert, like many writers was a tortured soul. One page from his original manuscript of 'Madame Bovary,' shows pained writing, much crossing out and re-writing. For him writing was not something he enjoyed, but more along the lines of something that he had to do. The words did not flow easily and fast, instead he struggled over each sentence, each word. But at the end, a book still in print in perhaps a dozen editions in English alone a century and a half later. This new biography gives a look at both the life of Flaubert and also of his times. Here is a picture of the literary world that was Paris in the middle 1800's. Flaubert observed first hand the Revolution of 1848 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1871. While not a history of these events, Mr. Brown presents a view of them from their impact on Flaubert. This is likely to remain the definitive biography of Flaubert for many years.

Julian Barnes in his excellent survey of this book in NY Review of Books states that Brown shows how Flaubert in the few intimate relations of his life preferred the memory of the experience in solitude where he could control it, to the actual experience itself. He cites an instance where Flaubert wrote to the woman closest to him Louise Colet explaining to her that if people truly loved each other they could do so without seeing each other for ten years. Colet appeared to be somewhat skeptical of the matter. Barnes also says that Brown in telling the story of Flaubert's relation to his long- time friend Maxine du Camp shows how the lifelong friends nonetheless aimed differently in life, and had subtle criticisms of their best - friends' enterprises. So Flaubert upon hearing that du Camp had been accepted as member of the 'French Academy' hinted that it was an honor not at all worth receiving. So du Camp criticized Flaubert for being stuck all the years in the same attitude he had early on. Barnes says that Brown's book is truly admirable though it contains no significant great revelation about a writer who has fascinated more than one devoted biographer. Nonetheless he makes it clear that this is by and large a first- rate biography, and one well- worth reading.

In his book, "Flaubert: A Biography," Frederick Brown portrays his book by giving the readers a closer look at Paris during a period of radical change. He writes his book to illustrate a wonderful biography Madame Bovary as Gustave Flaubert. Interestingly and what makes this book fascinating is how Frederick Brown keeps his distance away from the audience to make us decide what the apparent contradictions in Flaubert's life really is. The 24 chapters not only offer a vivid, detailed, and accurate account of Flaubert's life, they also provide relevant historical background for Europe, France, and Rouen, Flaubert's birthplace. Flaubert (for those who don't know) was romantic and optimist yet his most famous work required a degree of discipline to keep his emotions out of it. He loathed the bourgeois, but perhaps was one of the greatest symbols of the social class in the middle nineteenth century when he hugged fame. Flaubert's loving relationship with his mistress Louise Colet really summed up the complexity of the subject of this fine work Mr. Brown provides in his biographical masterpiece in literature today. I really love this book a lot...since I am a fan of Gustave Flaubert. I highly recommend for those who are intellect and love to learn more about the life of Falubert and his career. Overall, 9/10!