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Bouvard and Pecuchet

By Gustave Flaubert
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Bouvard and Pecuchet by Gustave Flaubert is a satirical novel that follows the misadventures of two clerks who meet by chance and become fast friends. After inheriting a fortune, they retire to the countryside, where their relentless quest for knowledge leads them through various fields like agriculture, medicine, and literature. Despite their enthusiasm, their endeavours often end in humorous and absurd failures, ultimately leading them to a deeper critique of bourgeois society and human folly.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate satirical narratives, as it follows two clerks who embark on a series of ambitious yet comically disastrous adventures in self-education. This book may appeal to you if you're intrigued by stories that critique the futility of intellectual pursuits and the absurdities of human nature, all delivered with Flaubert’s signature wit and irony.

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Includes Flaubert's Dictionary of received ideas.

Although unfinished during his lifetime, Bouvard and P cuchet is now considered to be one of Flaubert's greatest masterpieces.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Although unfinished during his lifetime, Bouvard and Pécuchet is now considered to be one of Flaubert's greatest masterpieces. In his own words, the novel is "a kind of encyclopedia made into farce...A book in which I shall spit out my bile."

At the centre of this book are Bouvard and Pécuchet, two retired clerks who set out in a search for truth and knowledge with persistent optimism, despite the fact that each new attempt at learning about the world ends in disaster.

In the literary tradition of Rabelais, Cervantes, and Swift, this story is told in that blend of satire and sympathy that only genius can compound. The reader becomes genuinely fond of these two Don Quixotes of Ideas.

Apart from being a new translation, this edition includes Flaubert's Dictionary of Received Ideas.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Bouvard and Pecuchet by Gustave Flaubert is hailed for its depth and exploration of diverse doctrines, highlighting the futility and contradictions within various fields of knowledge. Guy de Maupassant describes it as a profound examination of intellectual endeavours. Jean Echenoz expresses deep admiration for Flaubert's unique style, while Claudine Cohen notes how the book challenges conventional literary forms.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781564783936

Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 January 2006

Country: United States

Imprint: Dalkey Archive Press

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Translated by Mark Polizzotti
  • Translated by Mark Polizzotti

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 27.0mm

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 204.0mm

Weight: 462g

Pages: 328

Collections

Classic Fiction Classic General Fiction Fiction Fiction in Translation General Fiction Gustave Flaubert Literary Fiction

About the Author

Gustave Flaubert (1821-80) is considered to be one of the most important French novelists of the nineteenth century. He's most well-known for his novel Madame Bovary, and for his desire to write "a book about nothing," a novel in which all external elements, especially the presence of the author, have been eliminated, leaving nothing but style itself. Often considered a member of the naturalist school, Flaubert despised categorizations of this sort, and in novels like Bouvard and Pecuchet demonstrates the inaptness of this label. In addition to these two novels, he is also the author of A Sentimental Education, Salambo, Three Tales, and The Temptation of Saint Anthony.

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