LAW & LITERATURE | Democracy in Ruins: Flaubert's Sentimental Education and the fate of radical Democrats.

• Date: 01 March 2020
• Author: Normey, Rob

I recently read Peter Brook's book Flaubert in the Ruins of Paris: The Story of a Friendship, a Novel and a Terrible Year. The book provides a fascinating account of the composition and the literary and wider political history of Gustave Flaubert's 1869 novel Sentimental Education. Brook's book led me to return to Flaubert's difficult literary classic at least 30 years after first reading it. This time, I inevitably focussed on different aspects of the work and was rewarded with a rich experience. One should of course turn to Brooks' intriguing account only after reading Sentimental Education itself.

The novel focusses on a rather hapless, albeit somewhat sympathetic, protagonist, Frederic Moreau. Frederic tries and tries but fails in fulfilling his various dreams. He fails because he is too passive at critical moments and really lacks the resolute character that would be required to find genuine success and happiness. The setting is shortly before and during the revolutionary events of 1848 in and around Paris, France. The novel wraps up with a long denouement covering the next two decades.

I want to sketch out a few key themes that struck me and convinced me of the great significance the novel possesses for us today.

Much of the novel focusses on Frederic's relationships, particularly his romantic entanglements. The great love of his life is a married woman, Madame Arnoux. His love for her is unrequited, at least in any meaningful sense. Throughout his relentless pursuit of Madame Arnoux, he has a succession of mistresses. Running parallel to the plot of Frederic's romantic affairs are important political and social aspirations, held by...