Artwork is Everything

The selected correspondence of Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) reflects the trajectory of his life – letters to his sister Caroline, Chevaliér, Alfred le Poittevin, Maxime du Camp, his mother, uncle Parain, Louise Colet…, letters from his travels in Palestine, Syria, Greece, Italy, Turkey…, letters related to his novels; enable us to analyse the backdrop of Flaubert’s work and help us understand his method. Each chapter is linked to the work on one of his novelistic masterpieces. Flaubert’s correspondence offers a fascinating and often unexpected insight into the original world of thought of this great realist. His sharp and surprisingly open comments range from the attitudes towards his literary contemporaries to than rather outright references to his “delicate” diseases. This captivating combination of intimate details with literary and philosophical reflections and observations makes Flaubert’s correspondence a stirring reading.