Sentimental Education

I want to write the moral history of the men of my generation--or more accurately the history of their feelings declared Gustave Flaubert who envisioned a book about love about passion; but passion such as can exist nowadays--that is to say inactive. First published in 1869 this novel fulfills Flaubert's conception with a realistic ironic portrait of bourgeois lives played out against France's tumultuous revolution of 1848 and the founding of its Second Empire.<br>Frédéric Moreau a law student in Paris dreams of achieving success in art business journalism and politics. His aspirations take a romantic turn upon a chance encounter with a married woman who inspires a lifelong obsession. Frédéric befriends his idol's husband an influential art dealer and quickly finds himself seduced by society life--and bedeviled by financial problems ideological conflicts and betrayals of trust. Blending romance historical authenticity and satire Flaubert's <i>Sentimental Education</i> ranks among the nineteenth century's great novels.