The Family Idiot: Gustave Flaubert, 1821–1857, An Abridged Edition

· University of Chicago Press
Ebook
304
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

An approachable abridgment of Sartre’s important analysis of Flaubert.

From 1981 to 1994, the University of Chicago Press published a five-volume translation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s The Family Idiot: Gustave Flaubert, 1821-1857, a sprawling masterwork by one of the greatest intellects of the twentieth century. This new volume delivers a compact abridgment of the original by renowned Sartre scholar, Joseph Catalano.

Sartre claimed that his existential approach to psychoanalysis required a new Freud, and in his study of Gustave Flaubert, Sartre becomes that Freud. The work summarizes Sartre’s overarching aim to reveal that human life is a meaningful adventure of freedom. In discussing Flaubert’s work, particularly his classic novel Madame Bovary, Sartre unleashes a fierce critique of modernity as nihilistic and demeaning of human dignity.

About the author

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was a French philosopher and leading figure of the existentialist movement. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964. Joseph S. Catalano is professor emeritus of philosophy at Kean University. He is the author Reading Sartre and The Saint and the Atheist. Carol Cosman was a translator of French literature and letters, including works by Camus, Balzac, Beauvoir, and Durkheim.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.