Sentimental Education - Gustave Flaubert

A new translation of one of the most important of all French novels, admired for its artistry and its impact on the history of the genre

Flaubert's portrait of an idealistic but indecisive protagonist suggests that in a disenchanted bourgeois world heroism can only be imagined in ironic terms. Fr'ed'eric Moreau's abortive search for fulfilment through love, art, and politics has new things to say in today's postmodern, ostensibly post-ideological age

Flaubert's experiments with form and narrative techniques inspired modernist writers in particular, and inspired the later experiments of Proust and Joyce

Helen Constantine's translation is faithful and eminently readable

Patrick Coleman's introduction incorporates recent research into the genesis of Flaubert's novel as well as current critical interest in the fictional representation of historical events and Flaubert's place in the history of literary modernism

The edition includes extensive explanatory notes, an Historical Sketch clarifying the relation between the sequence of fictional and historical events, a Glossary of Historical Figures and an up-to-date bibliography