Sentimental Education
“Sentimental Education” by Gustave Flaubert, published by Penguin in 2010, is a significant literary work that delves into the life of Frédéric Moreau, a young man navigating his ambitions and desires in 19th-century France. Spanning 473 pages, this edition presents a nuanced exploration of Moreau’s journey from his provincial roots to the vibrant city of Paris, capturing the complexities of his infatuation with the married Madame Arnoux and his subsequent disillusionment with societal progress during a transformative era.
Readers will find that Flaubert’s narrative intricately portrays the struggles of the middle class, emphasizing themes of love, ambition, and ennui. The novel reflects on the social and political climate of the time, revealing a generation marked by irony and a lack of genuine passion. Through Moreau’s experiences, the author critiques the aspirations and disappointments of his contemporaries, making “Sentimental Education” a pivotal work in the canon of literary classics.
Official synopsis Publisher
First published in 1869, this deliberately written work follows the ambitions and whims of the young Frédéric Moreau as he travels from his provincial hometown to the enticing metropolis of Paris. Though he survived the Revolution of 1848, Moreau is still prone to all the mistakes and petty concerns of a young man of the middle class: he develops an infatuation for a married woman, Madame Arnoux, and falls in and out of love with her throughout the novel; his ambitious endeavors soon bore him and leave him with Parisian ennui; and, despite the founding of the Second French Empire, Moreau is disappointed by the lack of social progress around him. Through all of this disillusionment, the author makes it very clear that he saw his generation as one without true passion or genuine feeling, utilizing irony and pessimism to underscore the mood of that social and political time in the history of France. The last work of Flaubert published in his lifetime, ‘Sentimental Education’ has since been hailed as one of the most influential novels of the 19th century.
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