Satire PDF EPUB

Bouvard and Pécuchet

A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life, part 1

Downloads: Under 100
First published: 1881
Pages: 181

Download

About this book

On a sweltering Sunday, two office copyists sit on the same bench and discover that each has written his name inside his headgear. This small coincidence begins a friendship sustained by shared complaints, lively conversation and a wish for more time to study. Bouvard is sociable and expansive; Pécuchet is serious, cautious and surrounded by books. Their enthusiasm for knowledge gives Gustave Flaubert's novel its comic momentum.

This first part follows interests ranging from agriculture and chemistry to archaeology, literature and politics. In their discussions of the French Revolution, the friends gather accounts that support their opposing views, then find themselves troubled by contradictions among historians. The comedy turns on their eagerness to learn and the difficulty of reaching a sound judgment.

About the author

Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary put its author in a Paris courtroom. Serialised in the Revue de Paris in 1856, the novel earned Gustave Flaubert a prosecution for offending public morals and religion; he was acquitted in February 1857 and the book sold hard on the scandal.