Gustave Flaubert is probably the most famous novelist of nineteenth-century France, and his best known work, "Madame Bovary, " is read in numerous comparative literature and French courses. His fiction set the standard to which other authors turned to learn their craft, and his cult of art and his unrelenting search for stylistic perfection inspired many later writers, such as Maupassant, Proust, Conrad, Faulkner, and Joyce. His denunciation of materialistic, corrupt society; his fascination with altered states of consciousness; his oscillation between metaphysical longings and a radical nihilism; and his deep-seated mistrust of the adequacy of words themselves anticipate the works of contemporary authors. This reference is a convenient guide to his life and writings.

Included in this volume are several hundred alphabetically arranged entries on Flaubert's individual works and major characters; historical persons and events that shaped his life; the themes that run throughout his writings; the critical approaches employed by scholars studying his works; and related topics of interest. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and most close with a brief bibliography. All of his major works are treated at length, and the volume mentions nearly every unpublished project of his that has a title. The book concludes with a selected, general bibliography of major studies.

Beginning in ancient Greece through the present day, women writers have confronted the male urge to make war by imagining communities in which intuitive bonding among individuals questions and replaces masculinist values of aggression and competition. Women's Vision in Western Literature traces the "gender gap" in literature from 600 B.C. to the present day through an examination of seven extraordinary women writers from Sappho to Christa Wolf. Combining close readings with a comprehensive overview of the careers of these women, Porter shows how the threat, the experience, and the aftermath of war incites them to imagine tolerant, empathic communities. This careful consideration of these seven great writers brings to light an underappreciated aspect of Western women's writing. Starting with Sappho, Porter illustrates this ancient poet's ability to rewrite the Homeric war rhetoric to reflect a non-possessive love experience. Marie de France arranges traditional animal fables to imply an open-ended "situation-ethics," according to the author, and Madame de Stael--in a Europe torn by Napoleonic conquests--advocates cross-cultural unions among countries. In the works of Mary Shelley, we see the warnings of the dangers of vainglorious, soulless technology, and Virginia Woolf depicts intuitive bonding beyond gender stereotypes, amid the ruins of war and crumbling empire. He shows how Marguerite Yourcenar dreams of a new era of world peace after Hitler's defeat, and how Christa Wolf tries to cope with her country's Nazi past even as she reaffirms European identity threatened by annihilations in nuclear conflict.

This comprehensive reference begins with an introductory chapter that overviews Flaubert's life and career. A detailed summary of the novel's plot is followed by a close examination of the novel's genesis, its publication history, and the merits of various editions and translations. Later chapters discuss the social and cultural contexts informing the work, Flaubert's literary craftsmanship, and the novel's critical reception. The volume concludes with extensive bibliographic information.

Flaubert's determination to achieve stylistic and structural perfection led to the creation of his masterpiece, "Madame Bovary." The achievement was long considered the exemplary novel in Western literature, and writers remain deeply indebted to its legacy.