Staff Pick
A Sentimental Education is considered by many to be Flaubert's greatest work, and one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. Yes, even more so than Madame Bovary. He spent years going over every word, every sentence and every historical reference to assure that it was as perfect as it could be. Set in France in 1848, A Sentimental Education is the story of a young artistic man who falls in love with a married woman. On the surface, the book is about his struggle to overcome the cynicism and pessimism that surrounds him, but, at its heart, it is about unfulfilled dreams and the reality that destroys them.
Recommended by Shawn, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Based on Flaubert's own youthful passion for an older woman, Sentimental Education was described by its author as the moral history of the men of my generation. It follows the amorous adventures of Frederic Moreau, a law student who, returning home to Normandy from Paris, notices Mme Arnoux, a slender, dark woman several years older than himself. It is the beginning of an infatuation that will last a lifetime. He befriends her husband, an influential businessman, and as their paths cross and re-cross over the years, Mme Arnoux remains the constant, unattainable love of Moreau's life. Blending love story, historical authenticity, and satire, Sentimental Education is one of the great French novels of the nineteenth century.
Synopsis:
This novel begins with the hero — Frederic Moreau — leaving Paris and returning to the provinces and his mother. Part love story, part historical novel and satire it tells of how Moreau is driven by passion for an unattainable older woman.
About the Author
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), the younger son of a provincial doctor, briefly studied law before devoting himself to writing, with limited success during his lifetime. After the publication of
Madame Bovary in 1857, he was prosecuted for offending public morals.
Robert Baldick translated many volumes from the French for Penguin Classics.
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