Herodias

Gustave Flaubert

May 2016 · The Floating Press

About this ebook

In this gripping novella, French literary master Gustave Flaubert revisits one of the most dramatic events of the Bible and presents his own imaginative spin on the tale. The Herodias of the story's title is a princess who has concocted a devious plan to compel her husband to fall in love with her young daughter from a previous union, Salome. Once Salome has won his heart, Herodias instructs her to request the execution of John the Baptist.

About the author

Born in the town of Rouen, in northern France, in 1821, Gustave Flaubert was sent to study law in Paris at the age of 18. After only three years, his career was interrupted and he retired to live with his widowed mother in their family home at Croisset, on the banks of the Seine River. Supported by a private income, he devoted himself to his writing. Flaubert traveled with writer Maxime du Camp from November 1849 to April 1851 to North Africa, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. When he returned he began Madame Bovary, which appeared first in the Revue in 1856 and in book form the next year. The realistic depiction of adultery was condemned as immoral and Flaubert was prosecuted, but escaped conviction. Other major works include Salammbo (1862), Sentimental Education (1869), and The Temptation of Saint Antony (1874). His long novel Bouvard et Pecuchet was unfinished at his death in 1880. After his death, Flaubert's fame and reputation grew steadily, strengthened by the publication of his unfinished novel in 1881 and the many volumes of his correspondence.