100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Enjoy overnight NZ-wide delivery from our NZ-owned independent bookstore! 🎉

Bouvard and Pecuchet

By Gustave Flaubert
0.0 (0 reviews)
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.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock

Sorry, we're currently out of stock of Bouvard and Pecuchet. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.

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.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

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.

Book Hero reading reviews

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 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.

Also by Gustave Flaubert

View all
  • Madame Bovary
    VINTAGE CLASSICS FRENCH SERIES - stunning flapped paperback editions showcasing the bestselling, most acclaimed French writers of the twentieth century. Madame Bovary is one of the greatest, most beguiling novels ever written. Emma Bovary is an avid reader of sentimental novels; brought up on a Normandy farm and convent-educated, she longs for romance. At first, Emma pins her hopes on...
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Madame Bovary
    Madame Bovary tells the story of Emma Bovary, a beautiful and bored woman trapped in her marriage to a mediocre doctor and stifled by the banality of provincial life. An ardent reader of sentimental novels, she longs for passion and seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, voracious spending, and eventually, in adultery. However, even her affairs bring her disappointment,...
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Madame Bovary: Popular Penguins
    Madame Bovary presents the compelling story of Emma Bovary, a beautiful yet dissatisfied woman, trapped in her mundane marriage to a mediocre doctor. Stifled by the banality of provincial life, Emma becomes an ardent reader of sentimental novels, longing for the passionate adventures she reads about. In pursuit of these desires, Emma indulges in fantasies of high romance, engages in...
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Paperback
    $1599
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Sentimental Education
    Sentimental Education begins with the hero, Frederic Moreau, leaving Paris and returning to the provinces and his mother. Part love story, part historical novel and satire, it tells of how Moreau is driven by passion for an unattainable older woman. His 'sentimental education' turns out to be more of an anxious quest than a happy one, echoing Flaubert's own life...
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Three Tales
    First published in 1877, these three stories are dominated by questions of doubt, love, loneliness, and religious experience, and together form a triumphant conclusion to Flaubert's literary career. With elegant simplicity, A Simple Heart relates the story of Felicite - an uneducated serving-woman who retains her Catholic faith despite a life of desolation and loss. Inspired by a stained-glass window...
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Paperback
    $1900
    Elsewhere:
    $2100
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Madame Bovary
    Over 150 years since its first publication, the power of Madame Bovary remains undiminished. Stunningly translated by Adam Thorpe, this edition brings us closer to Flaubert's original. A NEW TRANSLATION BY ADAM THORPE 'A great novel that is also an inexhaustible pleasure to read' - Guardian Emma Bovary is an avid reader of sentimental novels; brought up on a Normandy...
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Madame Bovary
    The searing, tragic French classic in a gorgeous clothbound edition. Madame Bovary is beautiful and bored, trapped in her marriage to a mediocre doctor and stifled by the banality of provincial life. An ardent reader of sentimental novels, she longs for passion and seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, in voracious spending and, eventually, in adultery. But even her...
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Hardback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The First Sentimental Education
    This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. The First Sentimental Education was originally published in 1972....
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Hardback
    $18099
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Salammbo
    Salammbo
    A heady perfume of blood and rage across the stars featuring Philippe Druillet's legendary Lone Sloane. In the third century BC, mercenaries employed by Carthage during the First Punic War rose against their employers, who repeatedly postponed their pay. Two barbarian clan chiefs, Matho and Narr'Havas, fell in love with the beautiful and ethereal Salammbo, daughter of Hamilcar of Carthage....
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Hardback
    $8999
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The First Sentimental Education
    The First Sentimental Education
    The First Sentimental Education is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972....
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Paperback
    $9499
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • A Simple Heart
    Little Black Classics - the new series to celebrate Penguin's 80th anniversary. One of 80 Little Black Classics - 80 books at 80 pence each to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of the Penguin Classics list - from drama to poetry, from fiction to history, with books taken from around the world...
    By Gustave Flaubert
    Paperback
    $999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Madame Bovary (Signature Editions)
    Gustave Flaubert's classic novel of a bored French housewife who goes to great lengths to escape the staleness of provincial life, freshly repackaged for the Union Square & Co. Signature Editions line. Beautiful and bored, housewife Emma Bovary is trapped in her marriage to a mediocre doctor and stifled by the banality of provincial life. A passionate reader of romance...
    By Eleanor Aveling, Marx and Gustave Flaubert
    Paperback
    $3500
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks

More from General Fiction

View all
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people — but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    By Alison Espach
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Throne of Glass Box Set (Paperback)
    Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. Discover the worldwide phenomenon of the #1 New York Times-bestselling Throne of Glass series in this gorgeous 8-book box set! In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not...
    By Sarah J. Maas
    Set
    $12400
    Elsewhere:
    $15500
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Goal
    Welcome to Briar U!Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy!Read The Goal now for the perfect forced proximity romance! She's good at achieving her goals . . . College senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick...
    By Elle Kennedy
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Red Rising
    The first book in the incredible New York Times bestselling series Darrow is a Helldiver, toiling beneath the surface of Mars. As a member of the Red caste, he performs grueling labor in the belief that his sacrifice will enable future generations to one day inhabit the surface of the Red Planet. The Reds are humankind's lowest caste, living in...
    By Pierce Brown
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    The Ballad of Falling Dragons [Special Deluxe edition]
    The No.1 Sunday Times bestselling sensation When the Moon Hatched continues with the second book in The Moonfall Series, The Ballad of Falling Dragons… Raeve’s thirst for vengeance continues to burn, as does her love for Kaan Vaegor – a staunch beacon from a past she’s yet to face. With Rekk’s blood still fresh on her hands, she learns the...
    By Sarah A. Parker
    Hardback
    $5999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Project Hail Mary
    Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of The Martian, offers a gripping new adventure in hard science fiction. With endorsement from notable figures such as Barack Obama and a slew of five-star reviews, this novel promises a thrilling and intellectually stimulating journey. Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut, finds himself on a...
    By Andy Weir
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    (4)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Carl's Doomsday Scenario
    Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat Princess Donut as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series -now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They've already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever...
    By Matt Dinniman
    Hardback
    $4699
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Score
    Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession... Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Score now for the perfect friends with benefits romance! He knows how to score, on and off the ice... Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn't have...
    By Elle Kennedy
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Golden Son
    ENDER'S GAME meets THE HUNGER GAMES in this, the second in an extraordinary trilogy from an incredible new voice.'I'm still playing games. This is just the deadliest yet.' Darrow is a rebel forged by tragedy. For years he and his fellow Reds worked the mines, toiling to make the surface of Mars inhabitable. They were, they believed, mankind's last hope....
    By Pierce Brown
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Dylan's Pick Dylan's Pick
    Theo of Golden
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance –...
    By Allen Levi
    Paperback
    $2899
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (5)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    On Mystic Lake
    One of the greatest storytellers of our time - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school in England. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Left alone in the beautiful California house which was once a home, Annie...
    By Kristin Hannah
    Paperback
    $3100
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • East of Eden
    Set against the backdrop of the fertile Salinas Valley in California, East of Eden is a profound and compelling novel by John Steinbeck, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. This masterful narrative charts the intertwining destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—across multiple generations. Steinbeck's intricate portrayal of human nature and enduring exploration of moral themes...
    By John Steinbeck
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

General Fiction lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!

The Latest at Book Hero

View all