Table of Contents

Introduction Reflections: Gustave Flaubert's Correspondence I. The Billiard Table, The College, 1821-1840 II. The Law, 1840-1843 III. Breakdown, Travel, Mourning, 1844-1846 IV. Louise Colet I, 1846-1848 V. Voyage en Orient, 1849-1851 VI. Louise Colet II: Madame Bovary, 1851-1855 VII. Publication, Trial, Triumph, 1856-1857 Appendix I: A Self-Portrait of Louise Colet Appendix II: Flaubert and Syphilis Appendix III: A Letter from Maxime DuCamp Works of Related Interest Index

Promotional Information

An enchanting book, one that combines so happily the art of the biographer and the art of the translator--and Francis Steegmuller is a master of both. Once one starts reading Flaubert's love letters, it's difficult to stop. -- Leon Edel Deserves to be reread and cherished by all admirers of the finest and most fastidious of French novelists...The love-letters to Louise Colet are so packed with subtle observation and profound psychological insight that, despite their spontaneity, they are works of supreme literary art. Francis Steegmuller's translations of these and of the letters from the Orient are beyond praise--as vivid in English as in the original French. His critical and historical text is extremely illuminating throughout, and I have been amazed and enthralled by this splendid contribution to our knowledge of a literary colossus, so completely objective in his other writings. Here we may see the total man...without his impassive mask. -- Harold Acton

About the Author

Francis Steegmuller is the author of more than twenty books and a recipient of numerous awards and honors. His translation of Madame Bovary is an acknowledged classic. In 1982 the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters awarded him its Gold Medal for Biography.

Reviews

Deserves to be reread and cherished by all admirers of the finest and most fastidious of French novelists… The love-letters to Louise Colet are so packed with subtle observation and profound psychological insight that, despite their spontaneity, they are works of supreme literary art. Francis Steegmuller’s translations of these and of the letters from the Orient are beyond praise—as vivid in English as in the original French. His critical and historical text is extremely illuminating throughout, and I have been amazed and enthralled by this splendid contribution to our knowledge of a literary colossus, so completely objective in his other writings. Here we may see the total man…without his impassive mask.
*Harold Acton*

An enchanting book, one that combines so happily the art of the biographer and the art of the translator—and Francis Steegmuller is a master of both. Once one starts reading Flaubert’s love letters, it’s difficult to stop.
*Leon Edel*