TROUVILLE-SUR-MER: GUSTAVE FLAUBERT

The history of French literature was a subject for the library students who studied at the Norwegian Library school in Oslo in 1970. I do remember the lectures because I was interesting in reading the books written by the French author Andre Malraux and above all: Books about the dramatic life of the author. I must admit that the famous French novelist Gustave Flaubert was not to be found on my agenda of writers in year 1970. I had forgotten about him until I passed a statue of Gustave Flaubert last week in the French city Touville-sur-Mer in Normandy.

The city of Touville is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. A white statue of the famous French novelist was set up close to the sea to inform me and other tourists that he too had stayed in the city. It was nice getting knowledge of the French author again after all these years! Gustave Flaubert was born in 1821 in Rouen, in the Seine-Maritime department of Upper Normandy, in the northern France. He is known for his debut novel MADAME BOVARY (1857). The work of the novel took about five years  to finish.The publication of the novel was regarded as a scandal. The government brought an action against the publisher and the author on the charge of immorality.
Gustave Flaubert was the leading exponent of literary realism in France. Finding “ the right word” was an important aim to achieve quality in literary art. The precise writing style of Gustave Flaubert had a large influence on writers like Franz Kafka and J.M. Coetzee. The opera MADAM BOVARY by Emmanuel Bondeville, was based on the novel of Gustave Flaubert.

Gustave Flaubert died on May 8, 1880.