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Sentimental Education

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Sentimental Education

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Also known as A Sentimental Education, L'Éducation sentimentale

novel by Gustave Flaubert

Book · Open Library

Author
Joyce Carol Oates
First published
1978
Editions
6
Subjects
Social life and customs, Fiction, British and irish fiction (fictional works by one author), Fiction, general, Fiction in English

via Open Library

Key facts

Author
Gustave Flaubert
Original title
L'Education sentimentale
Language
French
Genre
Realism
Set in
Paris and Normandy , 1837–1867
Publication place
France
Library of congress classification span
PQ2246 .E4
Preceded by
Salammbô
Followed by
The Temptation of Saint Anthony
Original text
L'Education sentimentale at French Wikisource

via Wikipedia infobox

~14 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Sentimental Education: History of a Young Man (French: L'éducation sentimentale : histoire d'un jeune homme) is an 1869 novel by Gustave Flaubert. It focuses on the romantic life of a young man named Frédéric Moreau at the time of the French Revolution of 1848 and the founding of the Second French Empire. It describes Moreau's love for an older woman, a character based on the wife of the music publisher Maurice Schlesinger, who is portrayed in the book as Jacques Arnoux. The novel's tone is by turns ironic and pessimistic; it occasionally lampoons French society. The main character often gives himself over to romantic flights of fancy.

Considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century, it was praised by contemporaries such as George Sand and Émile Zola, but criticised by Henry James.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sentimental Education” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.