{"product_id":"the-letters-of-gustave-flaubert-18301857-9780674526372","title":"The Letters of Gustave Flaubert  1830-1857","description":"\u003cp\u003eFlaubert wrote to his mistress  Louise Colet: \"An author in his book must be like God in the universe  present everywhere and visible nowhere.\" In his books  Flaubert sought to observe that principle; but in his many impassioned letters he allowed his feelings to overflow  revealing himself in all of his human complexity. Sensuous  witty  exalted  ironic  grave  analytical  the letters illustrate the artists life--and they trumpet his artistic opinions--in an outpouring of uninhibited eloquence. An acknowledged master of translation  Francis Steegmuller has given us by far the most generous and varied selection of Flauberts letters in English. He presents these with an engrossing narrative that places them in the context of the writers life and times. We follow Flaubert through his unhappy years at law school  through his tumultuous affair with Louise Colet; we share his days and nights amid the temples and brothels of Egypt  then on to Palestine  Turkey  Greece  and Rome. And the letters chronicle one of the central events in literary history--the conception and composition of what has been called the first modern novel  Madame Bovary. Steegmullers selection concludes with Flauberts standing trial for immoral writing  Madame Bovarys immediate popular success  and Baudelaires celebration of its psychological and literary power. Throughout this exposition in Flauberts own words of his views on life  literature  and the passions  readers of his novels will be powerfully reminded of the fertility of his genius  and delighted by his poetic enthusiasm. \"Let us sing to Apollo as in ancient days \" he wrote to Louise Colet  \"and breathe deeply of the fresh cold air of Parnassus; let us strum our guitars and clash our cymbals and whirl like dervishes in the eternal hubbub of forms and ideas!\" Flauberts letters are documents of life and art; lovers of literature and of the literary adventure can rejoice in this edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651947552821,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674526376","price":264.16,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674526372.jpg?v=1781846940","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-letters-of-gustave-flaubert-18301857-9780674526372","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}