It is difficult to imagine two people less alike than romantic, freewheeling George Sand (1804-1876) and impeccably refined Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880). Yet the two French writers sustained a warm, touching friendship from 1863 until Sand's death. Their vibrant, expansive correspondence is well served by this expertly translated selection of more than 400 letters. During the German occupation of 1870-1871, Flaubert, forced to lodge Prussian officers, laments the "civilized savages" of modern warfare: Sand, outraged at the horrors of the Commune, sees her proletarian dreams crumbling. Elsewhere Madam e Bovary's creator, for whom "cynicism is next to chastity," fulminates over the bourgeoisie, philistines, publishers, the writer's lowly status and the damned human race. The older Sand tries to allay his hypochrondria, his loneliness, his rages and melancholy; at one point she scolds him and urges marriage as a solution to his problems. Both writers disclose their deepest needs and longings in these affectionate, unguarded letters.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The letters exchanged between George Sand and Gustave Flaubert from 1863 until Sand's death from intestinal blockage in 1876 vividly depict the daily lives of two greats of 19th-century French literature. Sand, liberal and idealistic, possessing republican principles but disillusioned in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, was 17 years Flaubert's senior and the more prolific of the two. She authored countless books and plays while surrounded by her considerable entourage at Nohant. Flaubert, more sullen, admittedly the greater talent, wrote in solitary isolation at Croisset, sustained by a small allowance from his mother. Fortunately, editor Jacobs intrudes only when clarification is required. An extremely readable translation recommended for academic libraries to be used by scholars of 19th-century French literature and civilization.
- Bob Ivey, Memphis State Univ., Tenn.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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