Flaubert in the Ruins of Paris: The Story of a Friendship, a Novel, and a Terrible Year

by Peter Brooks

Overview

From a distinguished literary historian, a look at Gustave Flaubert and his correspondence with George Sand during France's "terrible year" -- summer 1870 through spring 1871

From the summer of 1870 through the spring of 1871, France suffered a humiliating defeat in its war against Prussia and witnessed bloody class warfare that culminated in the crushing of the Paris Commune. In Flaubert in the Ruins of Paris, Peter Brooks examines why Flaubert thought his recently published novel, Sentimental Education, was prophetic of the upheavals in France during this "terrible year," and how Flaubert's life and that of his compatriots were changed forever.

Brooks uses letters between Flaubert and his novelist friend and confidante George Sand to tell the story of Flaubert and his work, exploring his political commitments and his understanding of war, occupation, insurrection, and bloody political repression. Interweaving history, art history, and literary criticism-from Flaubert's magnificent novel of historical despair, to the building of the reactionary monument the Sacréoeur on Paris's highest summit, to the emergence of photography as historical witness-Brooks sheds new light on the pivotal moment when France redefined herself for the modern world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465096077
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	04/04/2017
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	49 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Peter Brooks is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Yale University. The author of several award-winning books, Brooks currently teaches at Princeton University and lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Table of Contents

List of Figures ix

Timeline xi

Introduction The Terrible Year, Two Writers, and a Novel xv

Chapter 1 From Emma Bovary to the Terrible Year 1

Chapter 2 The Terrible Year 25

Chapter 3 A Tour of the Ruins: Photography Makes History 71

Chapter 4 A Generation on Trial: Sentimental Education 87

Chapter 5 Hearts and Minds 123

Chapter 6 "A Simple Heart" 147

Chapter 7 The Historical Imagination 169

Epilogue 197

Acknowledgments 207

Notes 209

Index 229

Editorial Reviews

01/16/2017
Brooks (Enigmas of Identity) has written an intricate examination of Gustave Flaubert’s novel Sentimental Education against the backdrop of what is known in France as “the terrible year”—summer 1870 through spring 1871—when the country suffered defeat by Prussia, followed by bloody internal strife. This multi-layered book is the perfect companion piece while reading Flaubert’s novel. Through intimate correspondence between Flaubert and author George Sands, Brooks explores how their personal struggles during a tragic time gives perspective on “what history will do to your life.” One intriguing detail here about Sentimental Education—published in 1869—is that Flaubert believed its plot anticipated the terrible year, remarking that, had the book been better received and understood, it might have helped avert France’s upheaval. In the midst of recounting momentous historical events, Brooks includes small but meaningful details of Flaubert and Sands’s relationship and Flaubert’s efforts to “reorganize his life at age 50.” Students of Flaubert—or of history—will enjoy exploring this book’s insights into one of the 19th century’s greatest writers. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Deploying his characteristic precision, eloquence, nuance, and wit, Peter Brooks has produced not only a brilliant book about the relationship between history and culture but an oddly prescient and timely map for how contemporary writers might respond—with a useful and intelligently political art—following America's own 'terrible year.'"—David Shields

"Challenging and judicious, wide-ranging yet consistently focused, Flaubert in the Ruins of Paris is a delight to read. In full control of literary and political history, Peter Brooks makes an unimpeachable case for the importance of Flaubert's Sentimental Education as a prophetic historical novel, and in the process corrects and redeems the conventional image of Flaubert as a political reactionary and aloof resident in an ivory tower."—Victor Brombert, Henry Putnam University Professor at Princeton University and author of Trains of Thought

"From one of our finest literary critics, Flaubert in the Ruins of Paris reminds us of the power of great novels in dark times. This story about the entangled relationships of friends, fiction, history, and politics couldn't be more timely, and nobody tells it better than Peter Brooks."—Maya Jasanoff, Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University

From the Publisher

03/15/2017
Renowned for his 1856 novel, Madame Bovary, and the scandal it caused, French author Gustave Flaubert (1821–80) wrote several other novels, which tend to receive less attention. Here, Brooks (comparative literature, Princeton Univ.; Enigmas of Identity) examines one of these other works, the misunderstood and poorly received Sentimental Education, using the backdrop of the "Terrible Year" (1870–71) during the Franco-Prussian war and the Paris Commune. Using Flaubert's correspondence with writer George Sand, as well as other sources, he explores Flaubert's firm belief that a better initial reception to Sentimental Education would have prevented the destruction caused by these conflicts. He examines how these and other events influenced Flaubert's political evolution from a hard-line monarchist to a republican sympathizer. Brooks also includes chapters on photography (that documented the destruction of Paris) and the building of the Sacré-Coeur cathedral. The author's description of 19th-century French politics not only documents the rifts found between Parisians and the rest of France, they also resonate in today's divisive political climate. VERDICT This work will appeal to academic readers interested in 19th-century French literature, history, and politics.—Erica Swenson Danowitz, Delaware Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Media, PA

Library Journal

2017-01-18
Detailed examination of Gustave Flaubert's historical novel Sentimental Education (1869) and how it may have prophesied the "terrible year" of 1871.At least that is what Flaubert claimed as he walked through the ruins of Paris: the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, collapse of the French Army, defeat of Napoleon III, the Siege of Paris, and civil war could have been prevented had only people read his book. Brooks (Comparative Literature/Princeton Univ.; Enigmas of Identity, 2011, etc.) provides a long summary of Sentimental Education, which he admits might try readers' patience. His professorial tone and deep diagnosis of Flaubert's style will reawaken one's sense of being a student trying to comprehend a profound university teacher, and the book will require some rereading to fully comprehend some of Brooks' insights. Nonetheless, he keeps the narrative moving. Flaubert's friendship with George Sand and their correspondence give a good indication of his attempts and intentions to convey the history of his contemporaries in 1848 that he felt was just a dress rehearsal for 1870. The history of France in this period is vital to understanding Flaubert's work, and Brooks presents a thorough picture of the lessons of the revolution as farce and the significance of class conflict. The terrible year was bad enough with the loss to Prussia and their siege of Paris, but the civil war and the folly of the Paris Commune resulted in horrendous atrocities and devastation. "It was a year of almost unimaginable suffering, defeat, humiliation, hatred, and fratricidal conflict," writes Brooks, "a year when war and surrender were followed by siege, cold, hunger, then class warfare on a scale never seen before." Flaubert claimed that Sentimental Education showed how most of the suffering was caused by ignorance and the immense human capacity for self-deception. Flaubert's writing is vitally important to anyone seeking to understand the history of the period, and Brooks provides a scholarly but not inaccessible entry point.

Kirkus Reviews