This book offers an in-depth re-examination of Gustave Flaubert, placing his obsessive quest for stylistic perfection at the heart of the analysis. More than a portrait, it is an intellectual and sensitive exploration of a writer who brought about a lasting transformation in literature.

Through an examination of his major works, including Madame Bovary, and his correspondence, this essay highlights a rare standard: writing against one's own inclinations, rejecting the easy way out, and crafting prose of an almost musical precision. Flaubert emerges here as a craftsman of language, engaged in a constant struggle against imperfection.

The book also sheds light on the fundamental tensions within his work: between ideal and reality, desire and disillusionment, subjectivity and impersonality. It shows how Flaubert turned the novel into an instrument for analysing the modern world, by revealing the mechanisms of illusion and the pitfalls of language.

Accessible yet rigorous, this book is aimed at a wide audience: students, teachers, writers and curious readers. It offers valuable insights for understanding not only Flaubert, but also the foundations of the contemporary novel.

With 'Flaubert', Buraq presents his fifth literary biographical essay, following those on Kafka, Hermann Hesse, Elif Shafak and Marguerite Duras, all published by GEW.