Flaubert life. Gustave Flaubert, short biography

The 19th century in the field of culture was rightfully considered the century of the novel. The novel was to the educated classes what the series are now. Both entertainment and learning. At Gorky's call "Love a book - a source of knowledge!" legs are growing just from that era when the novelist not only entertained the public with a plot, but at the same time screwed it with a lot of useful information. Victor Hugo will always be an example to us in this.

Why Victor Hugo! He is not alone! The 19th century is the century of glory for the French novel. It was then that literature in France became a source of decent income for many, the most diverse, writers and journalists. The circle of consumers of literature, those who could read and enjoyed it, grew many times over. For which special thanks should be said to the system of public education and the industrial revolution. The "production" of novels has also become a kind of entertainment industry. But not only. Literature and journalism shaped the national consciousness and the French language itself.

And if we talk about language and style, the main success in this area has been achieved by Gustave Flaubert (1821 - 1880). He is sometimes called the creator of the modern novel.

“Flaubert's Normandy mustache” is remembered by everyone who listened to and fell in love with D. Tukhmanov's disc “According to the Wave of My Memory”, which appeared in 1975. What is true is true, Gustave Flaubert's mustache was luxurious. And yes, he was a native of Normandy.

Gustave Flaubert was born in the "capital" of Normandy, Rouen. His father was the chief physician of the local hospital. Studying at the Royal College of Rouen made the boy fall in love with history and literature. And not only French. Gustave read both Cervantes and Shakespeare. Here, in college, he acquired a true friend for life, the future poet L. Buie.

Now from Paris to Rouen - two hours by train. At the beginning of the 19th century, this was also not very far away, so Gustave Flaubert went to continue his studies in Paris. At the Sorbonne he studied law. After three years of study, he did not pass the exams and said goodbye to the thought of a career as a lawyer. But he had a burning desire to become a writer.

In 1846 my father died. After him, the family was left with a sufficient fortune so that Gustave could return to the Croisset estate near Rouen, which belonged to their family. Here he lived, taking care of his mother and doing literature. From here, he used to travel to Paris, where he met with famous colleagues E. Zola, G. Maupassant, the Goncourt brothers and I. S. Turgenev. By the way, the Russian writer had a considerable influence on all the listed French writers. A translation was not required for communication. Turgenev spoke excellent French.

Flaubert's life is not particularly eventful. Although there were travels in it. For example, in Tunisia, which has recently become a French colony, and in the Middle East. But still he locked himself in the provinces and concentrated entirely on literature. He did not have to constantly earn a living by writing. Therefore, he could at his pleasure hone each phrase in search of the “right word” (“mot juste”). In the already mentioned song from the disc “According to the wave of my memory”, written after a poem by M. Voloshin, the Goncourt brothers are called “chasers”. Perhaps this nickname would be more suitable for the great perfectionist Flaubert. In short, G. Flaubert became famous as an outstanding stylist.

Throughout his creative life, Flaubert published five books. His first novel, Madame Bovary, was published in 1857. The release of the novel was accompanied by a scandal, which attracted additional attention to it.

The main theme of this work is the conflict between invented life and real life. The heroine of the novel is not a heroic person at all. Moreover, the unforgettable MS Panikovsky would call Madame Bovary a pitiful and insignificant person. An ordinary bourgeois from a small town near Rouen (a province of the province, so to speak), in search of adventure and "high" (in her understanding) love, squanders her husband's money and eventually commits suicide. At the same time, it is etched with arsenic. Who knows - not the most aesthetic way to settle scores with life. A long and painful death, black vomit... And G. Flaubert painstakingly described all this. And in general, Flaubert's work made a splash with its realism. Before that, no French writer had described in detail how the heroine of his novel was being fucked in a carriage circling the city. Ah, the morality of the French nation was terribly traumatized by this! The author and editors of the magazine in which the novel was published were sued for insulting public morality

The lawsuit by the writer and journalists was won. In 1857, the novel "Madame Bovary" was published as a separate book. Completely, without cuts. And critics stuck a label to G. Flaubert: a realist. However, the realism of the French writer has little to do with the critical realism that flourished in pre-revolutionary Russia, and even more so with the socialist realism that frightened philology students in the Soviet Union for seventy years.

The second book of G. Flaubert came out five years later. It was the historical novel Salammbô. The action took place in Carthage after the first Punic War. That is, long before our era. Exotic, however. The writer's impressions of the trip to Tunisia had an effect. Carthage was in these parts. By the way, the novel was and remains a very fascinating reading matter. There is a lot of eroticism in it, which at that time could be considered pornography too.

The third novel, "Education of feelings" ("L "éducation sentimentale") was published in 1859. This is a story about a young man who lives in the difficult times of the next French revolution. The young man was brought up in a romantic spirit, but faced with real life. Honestly speaking, this is a phenomenon that occurs with every generation of young men in any, even not very revolutionary, time.So the novel may seem interesting to many boys of the 1990s.(There was also a turbulent time in modern Russian history) And yes, in this the story also has a sexual zest - the love of a young man and an adult woman, fifteen years older than him.

In 1874, a book was published that Flaubert had been writing for almost twenty years, "The Temptation of St. Anthony" ("La Tentation de Saint-Antoine"). Flaubert does not so much describe the feat of the saint as broadly and generously, in a Brueghelian way, paints all existing and conceivable heresies, religions, philosophies and sins. It is interesting to write about sins, and it is not boring to read.

Reading all of these novels is still interesting. Flaubert is not a boring writer. Not Émile Zola, who fired up the firebox of his creative imagination for the feature-length book series Rougon-Macquart (21 "production" novels are no joke!). In terms of subject matter, it is closer to Maupassant, whose books in the days of my adolescence were not given to schoolchildren in the library. The only difference is that Flaubert wrote one novel on a topic about which Maupassant wrote a dozen short stories. So if someone has not read Flaubert, we can advise you to fill this gap. At least the time spent on this will not be a pity. And the translations into Russian are good, making you feel the skill of the great stylist.

It is difficult to talk about the kind of life that G. Flaubert lived in his last years. No adventures, no love affairs. True, they say that he had love with Guy de Maupassant's mother. Death began to creep up on friends and relatives, in 1869 his friend, the poet Buye, died. During the Franco-Prussian War, the Croisset estate was occupied by the Germans. Critics of his novels were treated with some suspicion. Both the plots and the language of his novels caused rejection. So the publication of Flaubert's novels did not bring commercial success. And the maintenance of the estate required more and more money, but incomes did not increase.

Flaubert died at his estate of Croisset on May 8, 1880. By that time, no one denied his influence on the development of the French novel. And since French literature at the end of the 19th century was exemplary for all writers of the enlightened community, it can be said without exaggeration: the work of Gustave Flaubert had an impact on all world literature. Including Russian. One way or another, Leo Tolstoy wrote with an eye on the French. And "Anna Karenina" is, in a sense, a Russian version of the story of Madame Bovary, a bad woman who chased the so-called "love".

The influence of French literature on Soviet literature is even stronger and not at all beneficial. The fact is that the Union of Soviet Writers was created by people for whom Flaubert, Maupassant, Zola were stars of the first magnitude. And, having begun to lead the Union, they wittingly or unwittingly pushed the seething literature of the Soviet 1920s into the already established and therefore boring frame of realism, knocked together by the great French novelists. At the same time, they understood realism in a completely different way than the great French. Therefore, this frame was significantly narrowed down, wrapped in a kumach and called socialist realism. And since the leadership of the Union was united, and feeding came from one hand, practically none of the writers who declared themselves Soviet could resist the pressure. The more talented sculpted, as best they could, epics about modern life, encrusting them to the best of their talent and non-conformism with pearls and diamonds. The untalented also achieved some success in composing according to the recipes of the great ones. They were published in mass circulation, but it was difficult to read this brew. Masochists can read Babaevsky, and suicides - M. Bubenov. Some of the sovpis already in the 1970s brought to life what was gossiped about A. Dumas the father a hundred years before. Huge "opupei" like "Eternal Call" scribbled "literary slaves." And how multinational Soviet literature was created is a separate lament.

However, Gustave Flaubert is not at all to blame for these “excesses on the ground”.

The youth of the writer is associated with the provincial cities of France, which he repeatedly described in his work. In the year Flaubert entered the Faculty of Law in Paris, but dropped out of school.

Flaubert's personal life was not easy. Not wanting to put his offspring at risk (he was diagnosed with epilepsy in childhood), he did not marry and did not continue his family, although he had several mistresses. After all, despite his average height, Flaubert made an impression on women who liked his green eyes and slightly curly hair. He was known as an athlete, fond of swimming, canoeing and horseback riding.

The last years of Flaubert's life were plagued by misfortune: the death of his friend Bouillet in 1869, the occupation of the estate by an advancing enemy army during the Franco-Prussian War, and finally serious financial difficulties. He did not experience commercial success when publishing his books, which for a long time caused rejection by critics. Gustave Flaubert died on May 8 of the year as a result of a stroke.

Bibliography

Compositions:

• Sobr. cit.: in 8 volumes - M., 1933-1938;
• Sobr. cit.: in 5 volumes - M., 1956;
• Literature, art, writing. Letters. Articles: in 2 volumes - M., .

Critical Literature:

• Trenchekova V.D.- "Cinematic potential in Flaubert's Madame Bovary"
• Dezhurov A.S. Objective novel by G. Flaubert "Madame Bovary" // Foreign literature of the XIX century. Workshop for students, graduate students, philologists and high school students of humanitarian schools. M., . - S. 304-319.
• Ivashchenko A.F. Gustave Flaubert. From the history of realism in France. - M.,;
• Morua A. literary portraits. - M., . - S. 175-190;
• Puzikov. Ideological and artistic views of Flaubert // Puzikov. Five portraits. - M., . - S. 68-124;
• Reizov B. G. Flaubert's work. - M.,;
• Khrapovitskaya G. N. Gustave Flaubert // History of foreign literature of the XIX century. - Part 2. - M.,. - S. 215-223.

Links

• Russian site of Gustave Flaubert Biography, bibliography, texts of works, letters, gallery, forum.
• Library of French Literature - novels in Russian and French; Maurois, Nabokov on Madame Bovary
• Collected works in French - apparently the most complete collection of Flaubert on the Internet
• "The Temptation of St. Anthony", Letters - version of 1856, translated by M. Petrovsky, Correspondence 1830-1880

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See what "Flaubert" is in other dictionaries:

Gustave (1821-1880) French writer, one of the classics of bourgeois realism. R. in Rouen, in the family of the chief physician of the city hospital, who was also a landowner. In 1840 he passed the baccalaureate exam, then moved to Paris to study ... Literary Encyclopedia

- (Gustave flaubert) the famous French. novelist, head of the realist school in France, b. in 1821, in Rouen, d. in 1880. His father was a very famous doctor who was in charge of the surgical department in the Rouen hospital; mother was from the old ... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

- (1821 1880) famous French novelist, head of the realist school in France. Along with vividly realistic works, Flaubert also wrote fantasy novels, such as Salammbault's novel. A first-class master of style, Flaubert created ... ... 1000 biographies

- (Flaubert) Flaubert (Flaubert) Gustave (1821 1880) French novelist. Aphorisms, quotes There is no such donkey, which, contemplating itself in the river, would not look at itself with pleasure and would not find the devil of a horse in itself. If a woman loves a boor, ... ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms

- (Flaubert) Gustave (1821-1880), French writer. Brilliant stylist, master of realistic writing. In the novel Madame Bovary (1857) and Education of the Senses (1869), he showed the moral insignificance of heroes from the environment of the provincial and Parisian bourgeoisie, ... ... Modern Encyclopedia

- (Flaubert) Gustave (December 12, 1821, Rouen - May 8, 1880, Croisset, near Rouen), French writer. Born in the family of a doctor. After graduating from the Rouen Lyceum, he entered the law faculty of the University of Paris, but developed in 1844 a nervous ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert Writer novelist Date of birth: December 12, 1821 ... Wikipedia

- (Gustave Flaubert) famous French novelist, head of the realistic school in France; genus. in 1821, in Rouen, died in 1880. His father was a very famous doctor who was in charge of the surgical department in the Rouen hospital; mother was from... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Flaubert- (1821 1880) famous French novelist, head of the realist school in France. Along with brightly realistic works, Flaubert also wrote fantastic novels, such as, for example, the novel Salammbault quoted in the text. First-class master of style, ... ... Historical reference book of a Russian Marxist

FLAUBERT- (Gustave F. (1821 1880) French writer) Oh, companion of the eternal romance, Abbé Flaubert and Zola From the heat, a red cassock And round hats. OM915 (102.2); (Although he (the young man) was a lawyer, But he did not disdain a poetic example: Constant was friends In him with Pushkin ... Proper name in Russian poetry of the XX century: a dictionary of personal names

Gustave Flaubert (fr. Gustave Flaubert). Born December 12, 1821 in Rouen - died May 8, 1880 in Croisset. French realist prose writer, considered one of the greatest European writers of the 19th century. He worked a lot on the style of his works, putting forward the theory of the "exact word" (le mot juste). He is best known as the author of Madame Bovary (1856).

Gustave Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821 in the city of Rouen into a petty bourgeois family. His father was a surgeon in the hospital of Rouen, and his mother was the daughter of a doctor. He was the youngest child in the family. In addition to Gustave, the family had two children: an older sister and brother. Two other children did not survive. The writer spent his childhood bleakly in the doctor's dark apartment.

The writer studied at the Royal College and Lyceum in Rouen, starting in 1832. There he met Ernest Chevalier, with whom he founded Art et Progress in 1834. In this edition, he first printed his first public text.

In 1836 he met Eliza Schlesinger, who had a profound influence on the writer. He carried his silent passion through his whole life and displayed it in the novel "Education of the Senses".

The youth of the writer is associated with the provincial cities of France, which he repeatedly described in his work. In 1840 Flaubert entered the faculty of law in Paris. There he led a bohemian life, met many famous people, wrote a lot. He dropped out of school in 1843 after the first epileptic stroke. In 1844, the writer settled on the banks of the Seine, not far from Rouen. Flaubert's lifestyle was characterized by isolation, the desire for self-isolation. He tried to devote time and energy to literary creativity.

In 1846, his father died, and after a while his sister. His father left him a solid inheritance on which he could live comfortably.

Flaubert returned to Paris in 1848 to take part in the Revolution. From 1848 to 1852 he traveled to the East. He visited Egypt and Jerusalem, through Constantinople and Italy. He wrote down his impressions and used them in his works.

Since 1855, in Paris, Flaubert has been visiting many writers, including the Goncourt brothers, Baudelaire, and also meets with.

In July 1869 he was greatly shocked by the death of his friend Louis Boulay. There is evidence that Flaubert had love affairs with his mother, which is why they had friendly relations.

During the occupation of France by Prussia, Flaubert hid in Rouen with his mother and niece. His mother died in 1872 and at that time the writer had already started having problems with money. There are health problems as well. He sells his property, leaves an apartment in Paris. He publishes his works one after another.

The last years of the writer's life were overshadowed by financial problems, health problems and the betrayal of friends.

Gustave Flaubert died on May 8, 1880 as a result of a stroke. Many writers attended the funeral, including Alphonse Daudet, Edmond Goncourt and others.

Flaubert's writings:

"Memoirs of a Madman" / fr. Memoires d "un fou, 1838
"November" / fr. Novembre, 1842
"Education of feelings", 1843-1845
"Madam Bovary. Provincial manners” / fr. Madame Bovary, 1857
"Salambo" / fr. Salammbô, 1862
"Education of the senses" / fr. L "Education sentimentale, 1869
"The Temptation of Saint Anthony" / fr. La Tentation de Saint Antoine, 1874
"Three stories" / fr. Trois contes, 1877
Bouvard and Pécuchet, 1881

Film adaptations of Flaubert:

Madame Bovary (dir. Jean Renoir), France, 1933
Madame Bovary (dir. Vincente Minnelli), 1949
Education of the Senses (dir. Marcel Cravenne), France, 1973
Save and Save (dir. A. Sokurov), USSR, 1989
Madame Bovary (dir. Claude Chabrol), France, 1991
Lady Maya (Maya Memsaab), (dir. Ketan Mehta), 1992, (based on the novel "Madame Bovary")
Madame Bovary (dir. Tim Fievell), 2000
Night after Night / All Nights (Toutes les nuits), (dir. Eugene Green), (based on), 2001
Simple soul (Un coeur simple), (dir. Marion Lane), 2008
Madame Bovary (dir. Sophie Barthez), 2014

Gustave Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821 in the family of a famous surgeon, spent all his childhood and youth at the hospital where his father's apartment was located. Flaubert himself thought from an early age that he was destined for a different career, although he began to write already in his teens. Interest in life, but more than death, which largely determined the semantic core of future works, was born here, within the walls of the Rouen hospital, when, as a boy, secretly from his parents, Gustave made his way into the autopsy room and watched the bodies disfigured by death.

After receiving his initial education at the Royal College of Rouen, in 1840 Flaubert went to Paris to study law. This decision was not dictated by the heart: jurisprudence did not in the least interest the young man. In the most romantic capital of the world, he lives more than secluded, he has practically no comrades.

After studying for three years at the Sorbonne, Flaubert failed to pass the translation exam. In the same year, he was diagnosed with a disease that resembled epilepsy in symptoms. Doctors strongly recommend Gustave to lead a sedentary lifestyle, and constant seizures, from which he saw salvation only in taking hot baths, plague him. To find salvation from the disease, the future writer goes to Italy.

The year 1845 radically changes his life vector: his father dies, and then his beloved sister, Carolina. Flaubert takes care of the daughter of her sister and her husband, and also decides to return home to his mother in order to overcome the pain of loss with her. Together with her, they settled on a small, picturesque estate in Croisset, near Rouen. From now on, Flaubert's whole life will be connected with this place, which he left for a long time only twice.

The inheritance received allowed Flaubert not to know material worries, having no official service, he daily and painstakingly worked on his works.

In line with the then dominant romanticism in literature, his first stories were written: Memoirs of a Madman (1838) and November (1842). But in the novel "Education of the Senses", which did not see the light of day, work on which lasted from 1843 to 1845, the notes of realism are clearly traced.

By 1846, the beginning of his relationship with Louise Colet, a well-known writer in those days, whom he met in Paris, dates back. This affair, lasting eight years, was the longest affection in Flaubert's life. Due to the fact that the writer was very afraid to pass on his illness by inheritance, he, not wanting to continue his family, did not propose to anyone, although he was always popular with women.

Glory fell on Flaubert when, in 1856, his first novel Madame Bovary, which is the writer's calling card, was published in the Revue de Paris magazine in 1856. Painstakingly, day after day, for five years, thinking over every written word, Flaubert wrote a book about how illusion can destroy reality. The plot is simple: an unremarkable, more than ordinary bourgeois woman, in order to add color to her life, starts two intrigues, not noticing that a loving person has always been there.

The novel, which ended in the suicide of the heroine, made a lot of noise. The author and editors of the magazine were sued for immorality. The sensational trial ended in an acquittal. But in 1864, the Vatican listed Madame Bovary on the Index of Forbidden Books.

The subtlest psychology in revealing the image of the main character became a real discovery in literature and largely determined the path of development of the entire European novel.

In 1858, Flaubert travels to Africa, bringing not only impressions from the voyage, but also his second novel Salammbo, the action of which takes the reader to ancient Carthage, making him a witness to the love of the daughter of a commander and leader of the barbarians. Historical accuracy and careful attitude to every detail of the narrative allowed this book to take its rightful place in a number of historical novels.

The third novel of the writer "Education of feelings" is devoted to the theme of the "lost generation".