Gustave Flaubert

A fresh and vivid translation of Flaubert’s influential bildungsroman Gustave Flaubert conceived Sentimental Education, his final complete novel, as the history of his own generation, one that failed to fulfill the promise of the Revolution of 1848. Published a few months before the start of the 1870 Franco–Prussian War, it offers both a sweeping panorama of French society over three decades and an intimate bildungsroman of a young man from a small town who arrives in Paris when protests against the monarchy are increasing. The novel’s protagonist, Frédéric Moreau, alternates between aimlessness and ambition as he searches for a meaningful life through love affairs and republican politics. Flaubert’s narrative includes scenes of high drama, as scattered protests across Paris swell into revolution, and quiet moments of self-aware romanticism, crafting a story that possesses the sweep and scope of a historical novel combined with deep emotion and scandalous intimacy. Suffused with tragedy and the poignancy of lost chances and wasted lives, Sentimental Education is sharpened by satirical observations of what Flaubert condemned as the Second Empire’s endemic hypocrisy and willful blindness. This vibrant, new translation by Raymond N. MacKenzie includes an extensive critical introduction and annotations to help the modern reader appreciate Flaubert’s achievement. Sentimental Education intertwines the personal, the intimate, and the subjective with the political, social, and cultural, embedding Frédéric’s story in the larger arc of what Flaubert saw as France’s decline into mediocrity and imbecility in its politics and manners.

Gjustav Flober voshel v mirovuju literaturu kak sozdatel obektivnogo romana, kogda avtor ostaetsja bestrasstnym nabljudatelem i ne navjazyvaet chitatelju svoikh otsenok. "Gospozha Bovari" - blestjaschee tomu podtverzhdenie. Roman "Gospozha Bovari", plod shestiletnego truda pisatelja, stal poistine entsiklopediej frantsuzskoj provintsialnoj zhizni XIX veka. Zhena lekarja, Emma Bovari, mechtaet o svetskoj zhizni, i vstrecha s vladeltsem pomestja Rodolfom Bulanzhe, izvestnym pokoritelem serdets, daet ej takuju nadezhdu. Ona vljublena, gotova radi svoej ljubvi na vse, no iskhod etoj strasti nepredskazuem...

"Gospozha Bovari" prinesla Gjustavu Floberu ne tolko skandalnuju slavu, no i status mastera frantsuzskogo realizma, a kharakter Emmy Bovari - "toska nesostojavshejsja zhenschiny", do sikh por vdokhnovljaet pisatelej i khudozhnikov. Geroinja neschastna v brake: ona vyshla zamuzh za zaurjadnogo cheloveka, no prodolzhaet iskat vsepogloschajuschuju ljubov i mechtaet o svetskoj zhizni. Vstrecha s vladeltsem pomestja Rodolfom Bulanzhe, izvestnym pokoritelem serdets, daet ej takuju nadezhdu. Ona vljublena, gotova radi obretenija schastja na vse, no iskhod etoj strasti nepredskazuem...

Roman "Gospozha Bovari", v svoe vremja osuzhdennyj za pokushenie na obschestvennuju moral, vot uzhe poltora stoletija potrjasaet i voskhischaet chitatelja. Razrusheny mechty ob "idealnom brake", vydumannyj Emmoj "prints" okazalsja skuchnym provintsialnym vrachom, i ona, zadykhajas v unylom, bezotradnom zamuzhestve, ot otchajanija prinjalas iskat schastja v "romantichnykh" ljubovnykh svjazjakh... Takova sjuzhetnaja zavjazka odnogo iz samykh znachitelnykh proizvedenij v istorii frantsuzskoj literatury, - mnogo raz ekranizirovannogo shedevra o "malenkoj tragedii" molodoj zhenschiny.

Istorija obretenija zhiznennoj mudrosti zhestokim putem postepennoj utraty vsekh i vsjacheskikh illjuzij - odna iz ljubimykh tem frantsuzskoj literatury psikhologicheskogo realizma. Odnako malo komu udavalos propisat etu temu tak zhe gluboko, umno i ironichno, kak sdelal eto Flober v svoem blistatelnom romane "Vospitanie chuvstv". Molodomu Frederiku Moro, mechtajuschemu stat pisatelem i tajno i beznadezhno vljublennomu v zamuzhnjuju (i khranjaschuju vernost ne zasluzhivajuschemu etogo podletsu muzhu) krasavitsu madam Arnu, predstoit projti dolgij i nelegkij put ot junosheskogo idealizma, chistoty i naivnosti k kholodnomu ponimaniju, kak v dejstvitelnosti ustroen etot mir, - prichem zhiznennyj opyt stanet gorkim ne tolko dlja nego, no i dlja nemalogo chisla zhenschin, imevshikh neschaste podarit emu serdtse...

Roman "Salambo" vyshel iz pechati v 1862 godu, kogda imja ego avtora - Gjustava Flobera - uzhe poluchilo shirokuju izvestnost blagodarja ego predyduschemu opublikovannomu romanu "Gospozha Bovari". Rabota nad "Salambo" potrebovala ot Flobera poezdki na Vostok i v Severnuju Afriku - tri mesjatsa on provel v Tunise, izuchaja istoricheskie istochniki. "Salambo" byl vostorzhenno prinjat publikoj, presyschennoj glavenstvujuschim v literature realisticheskim napravleniem: v modu voshli platja v "punicheskom" stile, i uzhe spustja god uvidelo svet vtoroe frantsuzskoe izdanie romana. V 1862 godu pojavilsja pervyj russkij perevod "Salambo". V 1877 godu Flober opublikoval tsikl iz trekh povestej, kazhdaja iz kotorykh mozhet byt sootnesena s odnim iz uzhe opublikovannykh ranee proizvedenij: "Legenda o svjatom Juliane Milostivom" - s "Iskusheniem svjatogo Antonija", "Prostaja dusha" - s romanom "Gospozha Bovari", a "Irodiada" - s romanom "Salambo", blagodarja chemu tsikl vosprinimaetsja kak svoeobraznaja antologija, podvodjaschaja itog tvorchestva pisatelja. Dlja russkojazychnogo chitatelja eti nebolshie sochinenija Gjustava Flobera primechatelny esche i tem, chto perevod dvukh iz nikh byl osuschestvlen I. S. Turgenevym.