Madame Bovary

Born in the town of Rouen, in northern France, in 1821, Gustave Flaubert was sent to study law in Paris at the age of 18. After only three years, his career was interrupted and he retired to live with his widowed mother in their family home at Croisset, on the banks of the Seine River. Supported by a private income, he devoted himself to his writing. Flaubert traveled with writer Maxime du Camp from November 1849 to April 1851 to North Africa, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. When he returned he began Madame Bovary, which appeared first in the Revue in 1856 and in book form the next year. The realistic depiction of adultery was condemned as immoral and Flaubert was prosecuted, but escaped conviction. Other major works include Salammbo (1862), Sentimental Education (1869), and The Temptation of Saint Antony (1874). His long novel Bouvard et Pecuchet was unfinished at his death in 1880. After his death, Flaubert's fame and reputation grew steadily, strengthened by the publication of his unfinished novel in 1881 and the many volumes of his correspondence. Gustave Flaubert nacio en Ruan en 1821. En 1844 abandono sus estudios de Derecho por razones de salud, lo que le permitio dedicarse exclusivamente a la literatura. Asi, en 1846, se retiro en Croisset, un pequeno y tranquilo pueblo normando, donde escribio la mayoria de sus obras. Su primera novela publicada, Madame Bovary, aparecio por entregas en la Revue de Paris en 1856, y fue objeto de un juicio por escandalo publico, lo que le garantizo el exito inmediato. Luego vinieron otras obras maestras como Salambo (1862), La educacion sentimental (1869), La tentacion de san Antonio (1874) y Tres cuentos (1877). En 1880, mientras trabajaba en la inconclusa Bouvard y Pecuchet, publicada postumamente en 1881, murio en Croisset a la edad de cincuenta y nueve anos. Ademas de narrador, Flaubert tambien fue autor de numerosas obras teatrales, asi como de una voluminosa correspondencia.