Description: "Gustave Flaubert conceived Sentimental Education, his final complete novel, as the history of his own generation, one that failed to fulfill the promise of the Revolution of 1848. Published a few months before the start of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, it offers both a sweeping panorama of French society over three decades and an intimate bildungsroman of a young man from a small town who arrives in Paris when protests against the monarchy are increasing"--
Review Quotes:
"A perfect picture of the confusion, wrong turns, and bad directions that seem inseparable from growing up."--Michael Wood, Lapham's Quarterly
"Flaubert, among other talents, proves a stunningly scrupulous historical novelist, bringing us a richly textured account of the aspirations, illusions, and defeats of the insurgents."--Peter Brooks, Publishers Weekly
"Sentimental Education is a new translation of a classic novel about youthful optimism curdling into cruel cynicism in the face of dissatisfaction."--Foreword Reviews
"This great masterpiece, often undervalued, rises to a penultimate chapter you will never forget...It is one of the most perfectly written, emotionally powerful scenes in all fiction."--The Washington Post
"This newest translation by MacKenzie (Univ. of St. Thomas) is superb. An expert translator (Balzac, Stendhal, Zola, Flaubert's Madame Bovary), MacKenzie avoids anachronisms and colloquialisms. He captures Flaubert's voice and delivers the first English version of Flaubert's definitive text, as published by Gisèle Séginger in Gustave Flaubert, Oeuvres complètes (2021)."--CHOICE
"Sentimental Education has an incredible ending. It's bleak, but also incredibly funny, and I'll never forget it."--Rachel Kushner in ELLE Magazine
"Raymond MacKenzie's translation is excellent."--Michael Wood, London Review of Books