Sentimental Education

Sentimental Education
Title page from the first edition of L'Education sentimentale
AuthorGustave Flaubert
Original titleL'Education sentimentale
LanguageFrench
GenreRealism
Set inParis and Normandy, 1837–1867
Publication date
1869
Publication placeFrance
ISBN9781471727740
843.8
LC ClassPQ2246 .E4
Preceded bySalammbô 
Followed byThe Temptation of Saint Anthony 
Original text
L'Education sentimentale at French Wikisource

Sentimental Education (French: L'éducation sentimentale, 1869) is a novel by Gustave Flaubert. The story focuses on the romantic life of a young man named Frédéric Moreau at the time of the French Revolution of 1848 and the founding of the Second French Empire. It describes Moreau's love for an older woman, a character based on the wife of the music publisher Maurice Schlesinger, who is portrayed in the book as Jacques Arnoux. The novel's tone is by turns ironic and pessimistic; it occasionally lampoons French society. The main character often gives himself over to romantic flights of fancy.

Considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century, it was praised by contemporaries such as George Sand[1] and Émile Zola,[2] but criticised by Henry James.[3]

  1. ^ "George Sand's criticism of "L'Education sentimentale"". Pagesperso-orange.fr. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  2. ^ "Emile Zola's article on "L'Education sentimentale"". Pagesperso-orange.fr. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  3. ^ citation needed